episode_0011

Astia recalled the flowers confined within her personal space.

A verdant flower with a somewhat carelessly given name, fittingly had no particular meaning to its haphazard name.

Though not particularly beautiful, the flower, which had the effect of slightly boosting vitality, was one of the various types of flowers she sold, thriving even in the harsh environment of the north.

“I’d like to buy a prettier flower if I could, but…”

She had no justification.

As the second-in-line to the throne of the Kingdom of Cristia, it would be quite an event for a woman of such high standing to go to a flower shop and purchase flowers without any apparent reason.

Therefore, Astia always ended up buying the verdant ones.

At least she could justify purchasing them by claiming they boosted vitality.

Of course, Astia had never consumed the verdant ones.

No matter how much of a commodity they were, they were flowers she herself had personally trimmed, neatly arranged in a corner of her room.

“If you’re not going to eat it… why did you buy that flower?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

After giving a vague response, Astia changed her stride, pondering over what Lua had said about personal flowers.

****

“Hmm, you want a personal flower?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hah, even after I told you not to be so timid, in the end, isn’t this just proving that you didn’t dare to get a personal flower despite my warning?”

“No matter how much your favor is like the sun, how could I possibly have a personal flower when there’s no favor from you, sir?”

Did he really want a personal flower that badly?

I couldn’t help but marvel at the resolute tone, almost unbelievable considering his hesitance during our last conversation.

From the context of their conversation, it seemed that Cristia hadn’t taken a personal flower until now, which meant other knights hadn’t taken personal flowers either.

“Even if it’s not for tormenting like the original Cristia, personal flowers are indeed quite important.”

“They aren’t just ordinary 4th-rank knights; they are high-ranking knights with tremendous power, so it must have been frustrating for them to spend quite a long time without a personal attendant.”

Even if there were attendants employed at the mansion, they couldn’t fully open up to them or disclose any secrets.

“You do understand that a personal attendant’s salary is entirely your responsibility, right? We’ll provide room and board, but you must pay their wages yourself, Lena.”

“Of course, I will take care of it!”

The fact that Lena’s face looked so bright made me wonder if a personal attendant was really necessary.

“Well, this place is fundamentally medieval, after all.”

It was strange that someone in such a high position didn’t have a personal attendant. But then again, this was a kingdom in itself. A kingdom’s middle class not having personal attendants?

Of course, living in a mansion like the king of the kingdom was odd from the start, but it certainly wasn’t a normal situation.

“Alright, just make sure to report properly later and then you can leave.”

“Yes!”

With that, the woman named Lea quickly left the study.

“Do personal attendants here get treated like dirt, just like in the neighboring area?”

I said, thinking about the original Christiana.

“Hmm? How one treats their personal attendant is their own business. As long as they don’t do anything strange in public, I have no interest in how they are treated.”

Looking into Christiana’s eyes, it seemed like she wasn’t lying.

“By the way, you’re working really hard today.”

I hadn’t seen much yesterday as I had been cuddled up almost all day, but now that Lea had come in and given me a break, I could see her focused expression.

“Wow~ She’s really cool after all.”

Of course, it’s not that my girlfriend isn’t pretty, but… compared to Christiana’s appearance, there were some shortcomings.

And since I wasn’t cuter than a soccer ball, it wasn’t something I should say.

Anyway, with that elevated appearance, making my favorite expression, this is totally…

“Is there something so great that you’re giggling like that?”

Before I knew it, the corners of my mouth had turned up.

“Should I call you ‘Miss Christiana’ only?”

Just the time she spent smiling at me would add up to an hour.

After just two days.

Who would point out who’s laughing at what subject…

“The reason I’m working hard right now is simply because I want to inspect the territory with you in the afternoon.”

Is this a date proposal?

“A date proposal?”

“It’s different.”

With a still focused expression, Christia spoke.

“I suppose you could call it a forced date.”

“I will comply with your orders.”

If it was this kind of coercion, she could endure it as much as necessary.

***

“Wow.”

He said “wow,” as if he was expressing admiration for something, but… in reality, he didn’t feel that much excitement.

Well, there was no comparison.

Compared to cities in South Korea, this city’s development was significantly lacking, and since he didn’t know the appearance of other cities, it wasn’t fitting for him, as a soccer god in this city, to be moved by the sight of the city.

The only surprising thing was that the entire city was very lively.

If it had been the original Christia, all sorts of things would have happened, such as knights harassing citizens and using force to oppress them.

“And… above all…”

“Cr… Christia? Good heavens.”

It felt like people were flocking around Christia, who was walking unsteadily.

Still, it was fortunate that he wasn’t bowing his head and greeting them anymore.

The expressions of the citizens looking at Christia were very consistent.

Awe, reverence.

No one had any fear.

It was truly amazing.

The original Christia was such that citizens would collapse in fear just by passing by.

And there were many citizens looking at me.

Most of them were filled with surprise and doubt in their eyes.

“But I thought they’d try to hide it a little.”

Is it because I’m already the ruler of the north?

There was no hesitation in revealing myself.

Christia, who was receiving everyone’s reverence, did not allow anyone to approach her side.

She didn’t exude a threatening attitude as if she would attack them immediately, but the intimidation she possessed was considerable.

“You don’t seem particularly surprised.”

“Yes, there’s hardly anything to compare it to.”

However, it was clear that Christia had accomplished something remarkable.

After all, this was an extreme land.

Building a city with this level of civilization in such an extreme land itself proved her extraordinary abilities.

“But really, you must have worked very, very hard.”

If only I were just twice as tall, I could somehow pat her on the head, but it was a pity that I couldn’t even dream because of my short stature.

“Fine, whatever.”

Although we came out under the pretext of a date, we couldn’t create a real date-like atmosphere.

Christia stood out wherever she went.

As she often came out for inspections, the citizens seemed to have become somewhat accustomed. While things settled down quite a bit when staying in one place for a long time, there was no way to prevent the commotion every time we went to a new place.

“This is a city I’ve built over 15 years of hard work.”

From her words, I could be sure that she had been in this world for 15 years.

Christia’s age definitely wasn’t 15 years old.

She was probably 21, or maybe 22.

“You’ve really worked hard. It would have been nice if I had been with you on that difficult path.”

It wasn’t an empty compliment.

No matter how much she claimed it was a world she created, suddenly being transmigrated to a strange place and enduring all sorts of hardships for 15 years must have been truly, truly difficult.

She must have done even more than the original Christia, so it must have been really, really tough.

“… A difficult path, huh.”

Christia gave a small smile.

“There was nothing difficult about it. Except for one thing.”

Christia approached me, grabbed my shoulder, and looked into my eyes.

Even though she was lifted so high that her feet didn’t touch the ground, there was no fear.

“Adapting to a new place? It wasn’t difficult. After all, this is the world I created.”

“Living while portraying Christia? That wasn’t difficult either. When I came to this world, Christia was very young, so it was much better than my previous life. I had many talents and never once experienced hunger.”

“To rack one’s brains to conquer the world? It was rather a joyous occasion. It was easier than the struggles I had when dreaming of becoming a webtoon artist in the past.”

However, there was just one thing.

Christia’s eyes met mine.

“A life without you is too difficult in itself.”

Tears began to well up in Christia’s eyes.

“Every day without you has been nothing but agony for me.”

I held her tightly as she cried, this fragile girlfriend of mine.

“Don’t cry now.”

Because I’m right here.