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Side Story 1-4

Side Story 1-4: In Front of a Warm Fireplace

After a hectic year, winter has come.

I don't know how long I've been waiting for winter since the wind started getting chilly.

This is because I planted sweet potatoes in the castle's small field this year.

The plump, ripe sweet potatoes dried well and were stacked in the pantry.

"It's snowing a lot," Killian said as he drew the curtains and peered outside for a moment, lighting a lantern in the dark room despite the morning.

He added, "I feel like I've been lied to by my father. He said it was going to snow 'a little bit,' but this isn't 'a little bit.'"

Mount Philiac, already turned into a white snow mountain, was faintly visible through the blizzard.

"Well, we can all have a bit of a rest period, I guess." I stretched, got up, and called for Anna.

After washing our faces with the water Anna had brought, and drying ourselves off with a towel, we changed into warmer, more comfortable clothes and took a walk around the castle.

We checked to see if there was any snow damage to the castle, if any of the stored food had spoiled, if there were any problems with the heating, and if anyone was sick or struggling.

"No problems today, thankfully."

"It would be nice if the snow would just come and go."

We always have to be careful about whether there will be problems in the estate due to heavy snowfall, but this year we have done quite a bit of construction work for winterization, so I don't think there will be any major accidents.

"Let's roast some sweet potatoes."

"Okay."

I sat down in front of the large fireplace in the parlor on the first floor of the castle and gently swept the ashes from beneath the blazing firewood.

Then I buried some dried sweet potatoes.

"Hmm, I think you're obsessed with roasted sweet potatoes these days."

"Actually, I love sitting here with you and talking to you more than I love sweet potatoes."

"For something like that, you eat way too many sweet potatoes."

"Well.....I'm not saying sweet potatoes don't taste good."

The first time I started roasting sweet potatoes, Killian wondered why a Countess would rummage through the ashes in the fireplace.

Of course, that fuss subsided when I popped a hot roasted sweet potato into his mouth.

"How on earth did you know how to grow sweet potatoes? Is that also knowledge you had in your previous life?"

"Oh, no. That was...... something I learned from the farming books in the library at the Ludwig mansion."

Killian, who was carefully using a poker to spread the ashes over the sweet potatoes, looked back at me.

"What did the would-be Countess have to do with knowing how to grow sweet potatoes?"

"Well...... I thought that one day I might have to run away at night, and then I might have to grow something for a living, so I learned how to grow some things, mostly tubers."

Killian's hand paused. "Run away?" he asked.

"Yeah. Looking back, it was really serious back then, because the Rigelhoffs were ready to do something even if I tried to stop them, and the Ludwigs were always suspicious of me."