Chapter 10
Curious, I stepped into the greenhouse.
Chippy grabbed the hem of my dress and tugged me along.
The little squirrel led me to the middle of the garden before stopping.
Then it began frantically digging beneath a tree.
After a while, it handed something to me.
It was a Winter Core.
Not another one from the basement, but a completely different one.
A Gold Stone.
“Is this… for me?”
Chippy didn’t answer, but it gently wagged its fluffy tail.
A squirrel had just proposed to me with a Winter Core.
I take back everything I said about it being a grumpy squirrel.
It was a hopeless romantic.
Did the novel ever mention a Gold Stone hidden inside the greenhouse?
As far as I remembered, it only talked about finding the Red Stone in this house.
Wondering whether the Gold Stone would also be absorbed into my body, I decided I should discuss it with Logan first.
I was just about to place it on the table.
Whoosh!
The Gold Stone suddenly emitted a brilliant golden light and was instantly absorbed into my body.
Immediately, I remembered the Gold Stone’s ability.
When carried, it increased physical strength by ten percent.
When attached to a weapon, it strengthened the weapon’s durability by the same amount.
But…
What would happen if it wasn’t simply carried, but absorbed into a person’s body?
If my strength has increased… I should be able to tell by lifting something heavy.
I looked around and spotted a large terracotta flower pot.
A lemon tree was planted inside it.
It was so heavy that it normally required two grown men to lift it.
The old me wouldn’t have been able to move it even an inch.
But now…
The pot actually slid across the ground.
Not bad.
I continued experimenting.
I couldn’t lift the flower pot…
But I could bend a metal shovel.
That’s… strange.
There were definitely limitations.
Still, there was no doubt that my physical strength had increased.
Drip.
A nosebleed ran down my face every time I used the power.
I’m still getting nosebleeds just like before… but something feels different.
I wasn’t dizzy.
I wasn’t becoming anemic either.
If anything, I felt full of energy.
I spent the next while practicing with both the Red Stone and the Gold Stone, trying their abilities in every way I could think of.
Why had I gained this power?
No matter how much I thought about it, the answer was just as impossible to find as the reason I had reincarnated into the novel Frozen War.
I was sitting at the greenhouse table, lost in thought.
Squeak!
Chippy hurried over to me.
“What’s wrong, Chippy?”
The squirrel immediately stood at attention with its tiny paws neatly together.
Anyone watching would think I was drilling it like a military instructor.
It honestly seemed like the little guy had started treating me as its leader.
Even though the true owner of this greenhouse was Logan.
After all, the mansion had been purchased under his name.
Chippy walked ahead, came back to look at me, walked ahead again, then returned once more.
It was obviously telling me to follow.
So I stood up and followed it.
When I saw the crops, I froze.
They had grown far more than before.
Only a month had passed since we planted the seedlings, yet they were already mature enough to harvest.
I knew the Guardian of the Greenhouse had the ability to help plants grow…
But I had never imagined it would be this powerful.
I stared at Chippy in amazement.
The squirrel proudly placed both paws on its hips and puffed out its tiny chest.
It was so adorable that I reached over and patted its head.
It immediately bit my finger.
It was no longer adorable.
While I was distracted having a tiny martial arts battle with the little squirrel…
“Eve? Are you in here?”
Right then, Logan entered the greenhouse.
Marcus followed behind him.
I quickly smoothed my messy hair with one hand while Chippy continued hanging from my finger.
Logan strode over and grabbed Chippy by the scruff of its neck.
Thankfully, the squirrel obediently let go.
It hadn’t broken the skin.
Its baby teeth were still too tiny.
“Eve, it’s nice that this reminds me of how we first met, but this little guy isn’t ordinary. Be more careful next time.”
Marcus looked around the greenhouse and at the squirrel with wide eyes.
A moment later, his assistant, Jack Harper, stepped inside as well.
“G-Good day, my lady… Ah, I mean, Duchess Chesswind.”
Apparently Jack’s respectful greeting pleased Logan.
“You’ve got yourself a decent assistant.”
By now, Logan’s obvious bias no longer surprised me.
“I never imagined a duke and duchess would retire to a place like this and become farmers.”
Marcus muttered while looking around the greenhouse.
Honestly…
He wasn’t wrong.
Logan and I really did look like an elderly couple quietly farming in a remote countryside village.
We all gathered around the greenhouse table and brewed some tea.
Jack was still looking around in complete disbelief.
Marcus and Logan, meanwhile, silently stared at each other, engaged in an invisible battle of pride.
“I have no intention of letting anyone live in this village except Eve and my assistant.”
There it was again.
Logan’s deep-rooted distrust of humanity.
At first, I planned to send them away too…
But after remembering what kind of person Marcus was in the novel…
My thoughts had gradually changed.
Logan had already tried surviving alone with me before.
And every single time…
The result had been the same.
My death.
Maybe our survival plan has to change completely.
Maybe we need to try something that has never happened before.
After hearing Logan’s words, Marcus quietly looked at me.
“Eve. Do you think the same?”
I shrugged.
“Logan is the owner of the house.”
Marcus reluctantly turned toward Logan.
He hesitated for a moment.
Then suddenly…
Bang!
He slammed his forehead onto the table.
Huh?
“Please accept me, Duke… junior.”
I expected Jack to panic at Marcus’s outrageous behavior.
Instead…
He didn’t even react.
As though he had witnessed this countless times before.
Ah.
Now I remembered.
Marcus was the type of person who would do absolutely anything if money was involved.
That was exactly how he had become the wealthy chairman of a railway company at such a young age.
“I refuse, Senior.”
Logan answered without even blinking.
I quietly looked back and forth between them before speaking.
“Senior Rutland, what can you do?”
Logan and I looked exactly like farmers interviewing a new worker for our countryside estate.
Marcus looked at me for a moment before answering.
“I can repair and maintain houses. I also know how to manage farmland. I did all of that growing up.”
The novel did say the protagonist desperately wanted to recruit him.
In truth, Marcus’s greatest talent wasn’t repairing buildings.
It was negotiation.
He was exactly the kind of strategist every survivor camp needed.
“And what about you?”
I asked while turning to Jack.
Jack immediately straightened up and shouted nervously.
“I-I’ve studied medical treatment before! I have some medical knowledge!”
“I see.”
I turned toward Logan.
“Let’s give them each a house in the village for now and watch them. What do you think, Logan?”
“I absolutely hate that idea, Eve.”
He answered without hesitation.
Then he frowned and let out a long sigh.
“…Eve. You trust people too easily.”
There were many things I owed Logan.
He had even sacrificed his life for me without hesitation.
But this time…
I was going to grow stronger.
I would absorb as many Winter Stones as possible.
And…
I would never lose my humanity.
I had to remain the one keeping us grounded.
Because I couldn’t allow Logan to lose his humanity…
To become the villain who exterminated mankind.
I still didn’t know whether Logan truly loved me…
Or whether he had simply become obsessed with someone he had lost nine different times.
But either way…
The result was the same.
He had repeated his life nine times just to save me.
Whether it was love…
Or obsession twisted by countless tragedies…
I couldn’t stand by and watch someone who had sacrificed so much for me fall into darkness.
I told him this before.
If he had truly given up after the ninth life and chosen to become a villain in the tenth…
Then he should have stopped caring whether I lived or died.
“So… do you still hate the idea?”
I meant…
Did he hate it because I trusted people too much?
Logan fell silent.
Of course he didn’t.
That very kindness was probably the reason he had fallen for me in the first place.
“No.”
“That’s exactly why I like you.”
“Then trust me.”
The moment he heard those words…
The expression on Logan’s face crumbled.
He had probably given me opportunities like this countless times across those nine previous lives.
And every single time…
The only thing waiting at the end had been my death.
“This time will be different.”
Yes.
This time…
It really would be different.
“We have the Winter Stones now.”
My first priority was simple.
Collect as many Winter Stones as possible.
The moment I mentioned them, Logan finally looked at me with uncertain eyes.
“…You’re right.”
“This time really does seem different.”
I shrugged before turning toward Marcus and Jack, who had been silently watching our mysterious conversation without understanding a thing.
“In that case…”
My eyes sparkled.
“Let’s start by harvesting the potatoes.”
This is the end of Chapter 10.
