Chapter 174: My Wife is Cute and Resilient
After finishing the regular meeting, Rest returned to one of the cottages. Previously, he had been sleeping in a tent, but after a month of development, he had been assigned one of the newly constructed cottages, which now served as his new base.
“I’m home.”
“Oh, welcome back, Rest-sama.”
Standing at the door to greet him was a girl wearing a white apron. She was Primula Rosemary, Rest’s fiancée. A knife was held in Primula’s hand, indicating that she was preparing dinner.
“It will be ready soon.”
“Ah, I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“No, no, it’s my job. It’s no bother at all.”
Since the development began, Primula had essentially been stationed here full-time, accompanied by her sister, Viola. While one might wonder about the situation of a marquis daughter, it was clear that a magician from the Rosemary Marquis House was waiting in an unseen location as a guard.
“Where’s Viola? Is she in her room?”
“No… my sister went out with Yuri. It seems a new peddler has arrived, and they went shopping.”
“Oh, I see… Did you not want to go, Primula?”
“Yes, I declined since I had dinner preparations to attend to.”
What a good wife she was. Rest thought once more how he was truly blessed to have such a wonderful woman by his side. Recently, cooking had become entirely Primula’s responsibility. While Viola and Yuri would sometimes help, Yuri was not permitted to take charge of the kitchen alone.
“Dinner will be ready shortly, but would you like to have some tea in the meantime?”
“Ah, I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“No, just a moment, please.”
Primula glanced at the pot making a gentle bubbling sound before preparing the tea. Rest sat down at the dining table, bringing the warm black tea to his lips.
“Ahh…”
The pleasant bitterness was accompanied by a hint of sweetness. It seemed she had added milk and a teaspoon of sugar, just as he liked. The comforting flavor eased the tension from the meeting.
“How was today’s meeting?”
“It was nothing special… I think we’re nearing the end of the initial phase of development?”
As he recalled the meeting, he answered Primula’s question.
The most challenging aspect of developing the Demon Realm was the extermination of monsters. However, Subnock, the Master of the Demon Realm, had already been defeated, and most of his corrupted beasts had been vanquished as well. Other groups seemed to be successfully hunting monsters, and there were no significant obstacles in their way.
“At this rate… it seems that the logistics of resupplying and acquiring personnel will be more challenging. I might have it easy for a while.”
“That’s good to hear. I received word from Father… it seems the development in the northern part of the Plain is going well too?”
The northern part of the Plain was set to become Rest’s territory, belonging to the Clover Count House. The Rosemary Marquis House was leading the development there, with the neighboring Cattleya Marquis House providing support. Although it would be Rest’s territory, he was still the son-in-law of the Rosemary Marquis House. In essence, it was as if the territory of the Rosemary Marquis House was expanding. They had agreed to pay the Cattleya Marquis House a substantial fee, so there seemed to be no issues on that front.
“Well… it seems that the Cattleya Marquis has been asking about Yuri, and Father has been grumbling about it.”
“Hahaha… it sounds like my father-in-law is having a tough time…”
It was no secret that Yuri was staying with the Rosemary Marquis House and participating in the development alongside Rest. While the Cattleya Marquis seemed eager to bring her back, forcibly retrieving Yuri would hinder the development, which was a disrespectful act towards Prince Andrew, the Second Prince, and the King who had assigned him the task. No matter how much the Cattleya Marquis adored his daughter, it seemed he couldn’t go that far.
(Could it be… that Prince Andrew intended to pair Yuri with me for that reason?)
He might be overthinking it, but perhaps Andrew had his own motives.
“I’m back!”
“Is dinner ready yet?”
As he pondered these thoughts, Viola and Yuri appeared at the entrance, both carrying tightly packed burlap sacks.
“Oh, Rest. You’re already back?”
“Ah, welcome back… huh?”
As Rest greeted them, he noticed another figure standing behind them.
“Excuse my late arrival, Count Clover.”
“Celestine… is that you?”
The person who had appeared was Celestine Crocus. The daughter of the Chancellor and a lady of the Duke’s House had come to visit.