Chapter 13
Celine was strongly agreeing with them in her heart.
‘This is serious. Very serious.’
Felix was no better than the old villagers when it came to common sense about the world.
It was obvious that these villagers, both young and old, stayed hidden in this mountain area unless something special happened.
“Still, isn’t charging three times the price enough?”
Olga asked back with a calm expression, as if it were nothing.
And with what she said next, Celine almost broke her composed face.
“After all, if you just dig through Herman’s beech forest, all you get is those mushrooms, right? They are something really common in our village.”
Good heavens.
‘……You mean truffles are lying around everywhere like they are worth as much as gold?’
No wonder this small mountain village had everything.
A ranch, a mill, a brewery, an apiary, and even a new school building.
Celine remembered the buildings she had seen when drawing the village map.
‘No matter how much the merchant cheats with the price, this village is overflowing with resources that can bring in money!’
That was the kind of information other countries would drool over if they knew.
“That’s true, isn’t it? Whenever Mimi digs into the ground, they pop out one after another.”
Toto joined in on his wife’s words.
‘Mimi?’
That seemed to be the name of the big golden dog in the yard behind the official residence.
An omelet with a dog on it.
Suddenly, a bright yellow image flashed before Celine’s eyes.
‘I want to eat it again.’
Celine secretly wiped the saliva at the corner of her mouth with her sleeve while the old people were talking.
She had declared that she would only have one bite, but she had eaten it all the way down to the bottom.
‘But it was just too delicious.’
The omelet Felix made was better than the fancy food she had eaten while working at Étoile Restaurant in New Mabel.
Felix’s omelet was warm. It was like sunlight.
Warm enough to make her want to cry.
‘Tears?’
At that thought, Celine felt her face heat up.
‘But why was I crying?’
She had only felt regret that the soft, comforting taste disappearing down her throat was too painful to lose…… but then tears had gathered at the corners of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
She had not even cried when she parted from Leah. The only days Celine had ever shed tears were when she left the orphanage and came to Shad, and the day 412 became the Black Star.
Did she really cry over a soft little omelet, even after enduring brutal training with her teeth clenched?
Why?
‘……Was it because it was organic?’
She remembered Felix’s confident expression when he proudly kept talking about how it was organic.
‘Well, at least the village chief didn’t see me crying.’
This was a mission. Focus on the mission!
Celine shook her head and pushed away her stray thoughts.
The old people were still talking about the scammer Peddler.
“It’s not that we’re sad about losing truffles. It’s that merchant who cheated us that is so hateful.”
Herman said this while glancing sideways at the merchant, who was still unconscious.
Hearing that, the other old villagers also muttered all kinds of rough, blunt words under their breath.
“Weren’t the younger people also cheated?”
At Olga’s words, the voices of the old people who had been chattering among themselves suddenly stopped.
“Come to think of it, even lively Lillian goes into the city once a month to exchange gold coins for the village, but the moment she finishes her business at the bank, she comes back looking like a deer’s eyes.”
“Can we really get back what we lost? What should we do with that guy? Brother. Shouldn’t we tell Felix?”
“Brother, that’s right! We should hold a village meeting.”
“Even so, don’t we not know the market price? Felix got cheated too……”
The old people grew gloomy again. The mood sank as heavily as their drooping shoulders.
“Elders?”
Then Celine’s calm voice cut through the heavy air.
“I’ll help. Please open a village meeting.”
It was not that she really wanted to, considering her personality.
But she could not miss this perfect chance to investigate Elderwick in one go without having to walk around in the night dew.
“Oh, thank you.”
“That would be a great help.”
“As expected of the teacher!”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
“Leave it to me.”
Celine said while patting the grandmothers’ hands.
Seeing that, Herman smiled warmly and signaled to Betty.
“Ring the bell.”
“Yes, Brother. Leave it to me.”
The sliding door opened at once.
Betty, who handled the youngest member of Elderwick’s long-lived group, vigorously rang the golden bell hanging beside the sign.
Meanwhile, Felix’s two-story house stood wide open.
As if it were saying that anyone could enter at any time.
“You are awfully late.”
Felix, who had finished cleaning the main house and the kitchen, wiped his wet hands on his apron and kept looking toward the open front door.
Then his beautiful lips curved into a satisfied smile.
“Was it embarrassing to eat the omelet while crying?”
Even if he pretended not to notice, he could have let it go. He could have simply waited for her to return.
The first teacher of Elderwick, with her calm appearance and mysterious purple eyes, had unexpectedly cleaned her plate completely.
Even the way she had acted as if nothing had happened.
Of course, the food he made with his own hands could not possibly taste bad. At some point, Rosie, the mill owner, had once asked Felix for the secret behind his cooking skill, but this was not something he could teach.
‘What can I do? I was just born with it.’
Every time Herman told him that he was a descendant of a great bloodline and that he should live properly, and raised his cane at him, Felix never dodged him because he himself knew what his roots were.
That aside.
“……That surprised me.”
He placed a hand on top of his head.
The vivid purple eyes from when he had arranged her hair still remained sharply in his mind.
That small white face. And the cute freckles, like star dust sprinkled across her skin.
‘Come to think of it, were freckles cute?’
His ears grew hot again.
It must have been because she reminded him of the girl from the monastery.
‘Get a grip. She is your teacher.’
“Cough.”
Feeling embarrassed, he cleared his throat for no reason even though no one was there.
Now that he thought about it.
‘She couldn’t have been out for a walk for nearly two hours…… Could she have gotten lost?’
This was a tiny village that even children could walk through with their eyes closed. The roads were not complicated.
‘No.’
Then at some point, his heart sank.
‘……Maybe nobles who lived in the city could get lost! What if she took the road that leads toward the snowy mountain?’
At that thought, Felix’s face turned pale.
No way! She was the teacher he had welcomed properly!
Just as Felix hurriedly took off his apron and draped it over the back of a chair—
Ding-ding, ding-ding.
A bell that should not have been ringing spread through every corner of the village.
‘Did something happen to the teacher?’
Felix gritted his teeth and rushed out of the house.
Murmur, murmur.
Just like the day before, all the villagers had gathered again. More than thirty people stood along the road in front of the general store.
It was the first time they had gathered like this two days in a row, so everyone looked confused.
“What is going on? I came out while shaping bread.”
Rosie the baker, wearing a white headscarf, asked.
She had come out so quickly that flour was still stuck on her cheeks.
“Sister, I don’t know either. I ran over while collecting honey.”
It was Anette, who had greeted Celine on the first day. She tilted her head, her straw hat with mesh netting on it shifting as she did.
“Mom…….”
At the small voice, Anette looked down. A short girl was holding the hem of her skirt.
It was Sophie, Anette’s daughter, who had been in charge of the flower bouquet with her older brother.
“It’s okay. It’s probably nothing serious. Hold your brother’s hand.”
“Yes……”
The quiet Sophie let go of her skirt and took Leon’s hand. Marta, the daughter who had come with her mother Rosie, also held out her hand with a prim expression.
“Here. I’ll allow it just for today, Sophie.”
“U-um. Thank you, sister.”
As Sophie smiled shyly while holding her sister and brother’s hands, Rosie asked her husband standing beside her.
“Theo, did Felix say anything to you?”
“What?”
Theo said blankly, tugging at the towel around his neck.
Good grief. What a clueless man.
“The bell rang! Why are you here?”
“Oh, that? I didn’t hear anything. I was with you at the mill.”
“Could the wolves have appeared again?”
Anette’s voice trembled as she asked.
The wolves of the Eternal Snow Mountain always watched for a chance to steal Elderwick’s healthy livestock or even the children.
As if her words reached them, the murmuring of the people died down.
“Anette, that can’t be it. A month ago I drove them away with Ian and Jaco up on the Eternal Snow Mountain. The two of them will confirm it when they finish their patrol and come back.”
Felix, looking extremely tense, stood beside the young couples.
“Felix!”
“Oh. Everyone was already here?”
Felix, who instantly drew everyone’s attention, asked,
“Then Theo. Who rang the bell?”
“We are all waiting right now. Look over there.”
Theo pointed with his chin toward the sliding door of the shop, which was half open.
Led by Herman, the elderly villagers who symbolized the long-lived village slowly walked out of the shop.
And beside them—
“Wow!! It’s Teacher Celine!!”
Ellen, who no one knew had arrived, shouted first.
Standing there was Celine Ravens, arm in arm with the kind Grandma Betty.
〔[Age-Appropriate Response Manual B4]
Target: Elderly people.
Approach with respect and courtesy.
The lower the angle of your head, the more effective it is.
Proper physical contact is effective (arm-in-arm, holding hands).
Become a trustworthy granddaughter and grandson.〕
