My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields

If one were to ask the people of Wiven, “What is the most magnificent thing in this land?” there would be no doubt what their answer would be.

The Wyvern Family Estate.

The Estate, with its hundreds of years of history, exuded an aura of dignity proportional to the passage of time, and the value of the decorations shone as brightly as they were worth.

It was the antithesis of the Portman Mansion, which valued restraint and order as virtues.

Clack, clack–

The lord of the Estate was bustling about today.

He was Joseph Wyvern, the current Viscount Wyvern and Tyria’s father.

“That bastard is coming.”

Joseph said as he tightened his tie. The tie was made of expensive fabric that was valued even in the capital, and was carefully crafted by a skilled artisan.

“Of all the times to come back, he had to come back now. He’s not a person who’s to my liking until the bitter end.”

“Well, he was not someone useful in life anyway. If he was going to disappear, he might as well have disappeared forever. He’s obviously come to seek the inheritance. How much money is that!?”

It was his wife, Annette Wyvern, who had responded.

Her hair was adorned with expensive jewelry over a dazzling lilac dress. A single pin in her updo was worth enough to feed a peasant family for a month.

She spoke with a worried expression.

“What should we do if that guy claims his inheritance rights…?”

“Hmph! What does he even think he can claim as his inheritance right? That money is ours! It’s the money we rightfully deserve from those people who wasted ten years of our daughter’s life!”

“Yes, you’re right!”

The two of them raised their voices, trying to hide their anxiety.

Hoven Portman’s estate was to be theirs.

Regardless of anything else, without that money, the Wyvern Estate was in a situation where it could no longer be run properly.

They were people who placed great importance on their noble dignity.

They believed that dignity came from looking different from commoners, and that they could easily obtain what others could not possess.

Therefore, their consumption of money far exceeded the normal range spent by most people.

This was the reason for the Wyvern’ poverty. 

Despite having wheat fields that produced high-quality wheat, their expenses were greater than their income.

Sending their daughter to the Portman family when they were in dire straits had been an inevitable decision for them at that point.

Wasn’t it the responsibility and obligation of the daughter to serve the family?

They didn’t just abandon her though.

In fact, Joseph had worked tirelessly to turn the Portman family into a noble family of the same caliber as the Wyverns.

At least as far as he was concerned, it was thanks to the Wyverns that the Portmans became a Baronet family, and that he had fulfilled his portion of the deal.

“Ahem, after all, I let my daughter live for 10 years without a husband, so I should receive this much!”

The support that had been coming in from the Portman Family on an annual basis since the initial contract was now not enough to cover their expenses.

At first, it was enough, but their spending habits had increased over time.

He needed a lot of money not only to support the maintenance of their mansion and preserve their dignity, but also to hold hunting tournaments with nobles from neighboring estates and support his wife’s tea parties to expand their influence. And now that he was on the rise, to grasp something bigger, the massive fortune of Hoven Portman was an essential and indispensable element.

“He and the dead Portman must be terrorizing her, otherwise, how does it make sense that Tyria has never answered any of our letters?”

“Of course, Tyria is our beloved daughter!”

Annette feigned sorrow and dabbed at her tears with her handkerchief.

Tyria, now a Portman, hadn’t interacted with her family since she’d left for the city. Only occasionally did she show her face at random gatherings.

And after Hoven Portman passed away, it seemed like she had completely cut off ties with her family.

There was no response to letters, and visits were not allowed.

They didn’t even consider forcing their way in.

If they were to be caught at the entrance of the mansion trying to make their way in, they would have become objects of ridicule among nearby nobles.

“We have to save our daughter!”

“Oh course!”

No matter how she was raised, no matter how many resources were invested in her upbringing:

Her fair skin and golden hair were inherited from her parents.

Her manners had been taught to her by a tutor from the capital.

And what of her noble bearing? She had perfected it through admonition, even at the expense of her dignity.

Tyria Wyvern was, dare they say, the masterpiece of the Wyvern Family.

Originally, she had been a child that was supposed to be given in marriage to a noble that was an earl or higher.

To send such a child away, only to keep her locked up like a bird in a cage.

And yet, the Portmans didn’t even pay the appropriate price for her.

The more they thought, the redder their faces became with anger. 

However, by the time they arrived in front of the reception room, the anger had dissipated without a trace.

Nobles were not supposed to easily reveal their emotions.

Hiss–

The door swung open.

Their hearts were quite apprehensive as he was the son of the inhuman Hoven Portman after all.

But as soon as the two parties faced each other, they were relieved.

“I apologize for being so late in coming to greet you. I am Elric Portman.”

A clumsy, uncultured greeting method, akin to a commoner’s humble greeting.

His impression of being flustered and nervous was somewhat forgivable, but that was about it.

To the both of them, Elric seemed like an easy target to deal with.

Overkill, excessiveness.

That was Elric’s first thought when he saw the two of them in their finery.

He didn’t remember it being this grandiose at his own wedding ten years ago, but time had certainly been scary.

He couldn’t help but recall his friend Elvus Grayman’s words.

“Excessiveness is just as bad as inadequacy. No matter how expensive something is, it shouldn’t be too obvious. At this point, it becomes clear that the value of the decoration has devoured the owner.”

From his perspective, these two people seemed to have been crushed under the weight of their decorations.

It was a rude thought, but what the hell, it was the truth.

Anyway, his first impression of them wasn’t good, and as the conversation continued, that feeling only intensified.

He tried to suppress it, but he couldn’t help it.

It was due to the attitude that these two people had shown him after their formal greeting.

“Has it been 10 years? It’s really hard to see you as the young man from so long ago.”

“You must have had your reasons and circumstances. You probably haven’t learned anything about your obligations.”

“Well, aside from the Portman Family’s induction into the nobility….”

Aggressive. He continued without changing his expression, as if to preserve his dignity, but his intentions were all too clear.

“…Well, I suppose there’s no way you would know.”

But he was the guilty one.

From their point of view, he had been the one to have neglected their daughter for 10 years.

From that perspective, their attitudes could have been justified.

He would have willingly endured it.

If only they had been sincere.

“What brings you here?”

“I saw the letter that came to the mansion. About that…”

“Ah, so that’s what you’re here to talk about.”

A small noise, bordering on a sneer, floated through the space.

From then on, the events that followed began to make Elric uncomfortable with no small amount of displeasure.

And it was for no other reason than the fact that:

“You’re here to claim ownership of the estate.”

Their words were aimed in a direction that Elric couldn’t ignore.

“You don’t have to try and hide it. But it seems like you don’t have a knack for this flowery language, so I’ll be blunt. We’re going to take what’s rightfully ours.”

“The value for leaving our daughter behind like that.”

“Isn’t it too shameless of you to claim ownership of the estate now? Honestly, it’s questionable whether you’ll even put your father’s inheritance to good use. You and he seem quite different.”

“It would be better to use it for the benefit of the territory….”

“It’s only right for us to use it.”

Elric listened as the two in front of him continued to talk.

Taking in their blunt words with a grain of salt, he analyzed their words for the true meaning behind them.

He also watched their expressions as he did so.

And at the end of it all, he had come to a realization that he really didn’t want to acknowledge.

‘Absolutely nothing.’

They never once mentioned Tyria.

Not once had they asked about her well-being since the two parties exchanged greetings, and they had not mentioned her in any conversation unrelated to the inheritance.

Wasn’t she their daughter who had sufferend for the past ten years?

Moreover, wasn’t she the daughter who they hadn’t been in contact with for the past year?

At least, wasn’t it appropriate to ask about her well-being?

‘Why?’

Aren’t you going to ask about her?

Elric casually blurted out the following words in hopes of having them possibly inquire about her.

“First of all, I apologize that I couldn’t bring my wife along. She’s been busy with her work….”

“Are you trying to beat around the bush?”

His hope was shattered as an angry voice responded to his prompting.

It was a very unpleasant thing.

His emotions started shaping into something close to anger, resembling hatred.

He thought he had shed this kind of resentment since his boyhood, but it was becoming clear that confronting parents who didn’t care about children was still quite a difficult task for him.

Especially when it was for someone he knew.

Elric thought of Tyria’s face.

For some reason, it felt like he could see the process through which her indifference had been formed and perfected. 

Her eyes, which had spoken of obligation, looked different now.

Somewhere within the turbulent emotions surging through him like a swift current, there emerged a sense of empathy for her.

He sympathized with her life, and reproached himself for becoming a sinner in her eyes, like her parents.

But, despite the turmoil in Elric’s soul, Joseph Wyvern continued to speak.

His words poured out as if he were trying to stifle his opponent.

There was one particular phrase that stuck in Elric’s ears as he listened to this bullshit.

“”Excessive greed ruins people. It would be good for you to remember this.””

Excessive greed.

That was the catalyst for all bomb-like reactions between people.

“…If I were to indulge in greed, what could you do about it?”

“…What did you say?”

“I asked you about what you could possibly do if I were to indulge in my greed.”

Elric raised his head.

“Is there really anything you can do to me?”

Viscount and Viscountess Wyverns’ faces went blank at the provocative words, too stunned to react.

Finally, the first to react was Joseph Wyvern, whose face was flushed red in anger.

He jumped to his feet and exclaimed.

“You, you insolent…!”

“That’s right.”

There was a pause; Joseph was taken aback and froze for a moment.

Elric remained seated, still smiling at him.

“I am an insolent man. Maybe only a little bit foolish, or perhaps a lot.”

This was a reference to the past ten years of his life.

Elric’s mood suddenly changed.