My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields

In his first visit to the city square since he had returned home, he had been met with both memories and relationships that he had long forgotten.

Something that had once sat in the back of his mind as a source of nostalgia was now overlaid with new experiences.

Unfortunately, time passed by relentlessly for Elric afterwards.

“Today is the start of the harvest festival.”

“Ah, that’s right. I was pretty surprised to see that all the wheat fields were now bald”

At the breakfast table, Elric laughed whilst responding to Tyria’s words. 

The wheat fields that had once bathed the world in a golden color were now barren.

The harvest had been successful, and now there was nothing left but to enjoy the fruits of their efforts.

For the people of the territory, of course.

“I suppose you’ll be really busy from now on.”

It was Tyria who would be busy.

She needed to organize and sort the harvest into the amount needed to pay the tax to the royal family, the amount that would be used for commercial needs, and the amount that would be given to the people of the territory.

After that, she would then have to do the tedious task of organizing the year’s profits.

If Aldio was right, she was in for a real treat from now on.

Elric felt sorry for her.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, thank you.”

“Are you sure? I can at least help with sorting the documents.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

She was adamant.

She should have just left it like that, but in that moment, a thought had occurred to her.

“Why don’t you watch from the sidelines this year. I’ll take charge and teach you.”

Ah, so that was what she had meant by not needing any help.

Elric pouted.

“Hmmm…”

“You’ll only be learning the major classifications. The details are too complex to be learned all at once and can only be taught over the course of several years.”

Although her tone was calm and even, there was a weight to her words that made them feel heavy.

His gently drooping eyes had added to that gravity.

“Well, that’s good to hear. Let’s get to work on the paperwork right away then.”

“…Aren’t you going to enjoy the harvest festival?”

“Stopping by for the speech on the last day is enough.”

It seemed as though he had disturbed a beehive with those last words, having implicitly revealed something that she had caught on to.

“…I’m not very smart.” He admitted.

“Very well, I will bear that in mind.”

He shouldn’t have said that.

Elric regretted it belatedly.

He couldn’t really change anything at this point.

It was time for him to pay the price for underestimating her patience.

Anyway, his loose mouth was causing trouble again.

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“Save me.”

“It’s not like I’m killing you.”

“I feel like I’m going to die.”

“People don’t die that easily.”

‘It’s easy to die. It’s fair to say that one stab of a knife is enough.’

Elric forced himself to swallow those words.

They were in her office right now on the morning of the last day of the Harvest Festival.

Her education had been brutal.

Her meticulous and persistent nature meant that if he didn’t understand a part of the lesson, there was no way for them to move on until he had understood that part, and her patient personality resulted in the worst outcome of continuing the class for hours on end.

Elric had actually thought at one points during his education that she was actually a better torturer than most of the torture experts that roamed the Western Battlefields.

It was a terrible experience, and that was why he was so desperate today.

“…Shouldn’t you start getting ready soon? For the speech?”

“It’s still morning.”

“Don’t you have a rehearsal or something?”

“I’ve already done it in advance.”

“When did you have time for that?”

“By sacrificing some sleep.”

Tyria seemed to be a workaholic.

But Elric couldn’t give up.

More than anything, he just wanted to get out of this torturous lesson.

“…Come on, why don’t we take a break? It’s the last day of the festival, don’t you think that we should have a little fun?”

Tyria stopped moving.

Elric was desperate. He wanted her to say yes, even if it was just to rest a little, and for some reason, the heavens didn’t fail him.

“…I was not thinking clearly, my lord. This is your first festival in ten years, right?”

Although it wasn’t his real reason for wanting to enjoy the festivities, Elric nodded his head like crazy.

The more excuses he could come up with, the better his situation would become.

And it actually worked.

Tyria let out a long breath and organized the documents.

“Understood. Then let’s finish the lesson here today. It would be nice to leave a little early and… maybe take a walk around together.”

“What a great idea! I’m really looking forward to it! I’ll dress quickly and come… no, I’ll dress slowly and come!”

Elric exclaimed, jumping to his feet and grabbing his cane.

And, he was in such a hurry to leave her office that he didn’t see it –

Tyria’s head had been bowed, and her lips had been pressed tightly together.

Her face was colored in a deep shade of red.

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Finally, he had been liberated from the tedious classes.

He would finally be able to relax for the rest of the day.

He was sore from doing something that didn’t suit his temperment in the first place.

For Elric, who had not done anything other than cutting people down for the past 10 years, sitting still and looking at ink stains was nauseatingly torturous.

“Milord, you should probably get changed soon.”

“I’ll do it at my leisure.”

“You’re not being leisurely, you’re already late.”

“Are you defying your master’s will?”

“It’s advice. And someone who can’t even act as a proper master doesn’t scare me at all.”

“I can fire you….”

“You can’t. The Mistress handles all personnel management.”

“….”

Somehow, there was not a single person on his side.

Of course, it was ridiculous to expect anyone to comfort someone who had run away for 10 years and had finally returned. But still, it was a sad pity.

He thought Aldio would be the only one who understood, but…

“You can’t escape this time, Milord.”

He was adamant.

Elric felt like he was back in his childhood when he would get scolded for being stupid.

He was well aware that he was doing something foolish, but realizing this fact was another matter.

Grumbling, Elric got dressed.

It was a casual outfit.

“You will be going up to the podium to help deliver a speech. Even if you aren’t the one giving the speech, you need to get dressed up. I’ll go get the maids.”

“Why do I need maids?”

“To apply your makeup.”

“Men wear makeup? You must be crazy.”

“If I am crazy, then all the nobles, royalty, and even emperors in this world must be crazy.”

“Aldio, your tongue is particularly sharp today.”

“And you’re even more unhinged today than normal.”

Elric sank into the ground.

Finally, after he’d gone through all that nonsense of having his skin made up according to Aldio’s will, he had reluctantly made his way to the study.

Not because he wanted to do more work, but because the window there overlooked the entire estate outside.

Creak–

As the door opened, a room flooded with sunlight was revealed to him.

How could an currently unused office look so beautiful?

Elric smirked at the thought.

‘…Now, even looking at this place doesn’t make me think of that man first.’

It was a realization he had made in hindsight.

Whether it was because of his malicious upbringing or simply because it was a distant memory, when he entered the study nowadays, it was not his father’s face that he saw first but the documents Tyria had left behind that caught his eye first.

As soon as he opened the door to the study, he recalled the image of her sitting at the desk.

This, too, had become one of his overlapping memories.

Just as the transformed city center had been overlaid over his faded memories of the past city center, the image that came to his mind when thinking of the office had changed.

Bittersweet feelings came to his mind simultaneously.

Elric looked over the harvested, bare wheat fields before sitting down at his desk.

Thump―

His hand brushed against the unorganized documents.

“Hmm?”

Elric turned his head and checked the papers.

“This is….”

It was part of the task he’d learned today.

Did he not clear it? Elric picked up the document unconsciously and checked the note that was underneath it.

Elric’s eyes widened.

[Deadline, the 21st.]

The deadline was today.

She had certainly said it was a task that could be handled with ease, but how could this document, which was not even partially completed, be finished within the day?

There were easily dozens of pages to deal with, and it would take at least half a day to get through everything.

As soon as he realized that, it hit him.

“…If I do it while teaching you, it will take half a day.”

If she were to handle the work alone, her pace would have been a lot faster.

Elric knew he was slow to learn office work.

And Tyria was teaching him at his pace.

The tight deadline was probably his fault in the first place due to his sudden return.

The reason why she had allowed him to leave early today despite being behind on work.

That, too, was beginning to dawn on him.

‘Did she consider my situation?’

Perhaps she had slowed her pace out of consideration for his own exhaustion.

Could it be that Tyria, despite her busy work, was concerned about his fatigue first?

This was a strong presumption based on his own self-awareness, but he couldn’t dismiss it easily because of the attitude she had shown him so far.

In retrospect, she’d been looking out for Elric every step of the way.

“….”

If he had continued bothering her by asking her to teach him, what would have happened?

She wouldn’t have expressed a word of dissatisfaction; she would have worked alone and silently, losing sleep over the work. 

Then he would have never known how much harder he had made things for her.

Suddenly, he felt a pang of shame.

His behavior was like that of a child who only knew how to whine.

Elric furrowed his brow.

Then he picked up a pen.

It was a truly despicable thing for someone to simply receive without feeling grateful to those who have shown them consideration.

Elric did not want to be that kind of person.

He shuffled through the papers for a while, and began to fill in the letters little by little, recalling what he had learned.

It was about an hour later when Tyria came in.

“Are you done?”

She looked surprised.

Elric laughed awkwardly and said,

“The deadline for these documents was today. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well….”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t understand the position that you were in.”

A look of surprise washed over Tyria’s face.

Feeling ashamed, Elric lowered his head and spoke.

“I couldn’t do much, so could you help me with the rest?”

Her response came a moment later.

“…Yes, I will try.”

Her voice was a little more subdued than usual.

The mood around them… didn’t seem too bad.

It was a fortunate thing.