Chapter 23:
“What could our princess be thinking about so seriously?”
While I was grumbling to myself, flustered and frustrated, Margaret playfully poked the bridge of my nose.
“Look over there. They’ve already arrived.”
Oh my, has it really come to that already?
I’d only drifted off for a moment, and time had flown by.
“Well then, Princess, I’ll stay here. Call me if anything happens, okay?”
“Okay!”
Margaret gently set me down in front of the nest of the baby spirit beasts and reminded me again.
The babies were shy around strangers, so not just anyone could enter the nest.
Every time Margaret came here with me, she would stay in the resting area outside with other palace members.
“Kwaaa!”
The moment I stepped inside, the baby spirit beasts enthusiastically welcomed me.
Ah, my soft little mochi-like cuties.
Spirit beasts loved people with pure, clear energy, and Asphodel (me) was one of those rare individuals.
I greeted the babies briefly, then, when Margaret went into the resting area, I quietly slipped back outside.
Let’s see…
Where is my tamer friend, the one securing my comfortable future… no, my future?
“Hey, you orphan brat! Can’t you do your job properly? How long are you going to dawdle there?”
Ah, there he is.
Today again, I saw the brown-haired boy being scolded by someone.
Joshua and Karus had some similarities—meaning, you could usually find them by looking where someone was getting yelled at.
“N-no, I wasn’t dawdling. I just didn’t eat lunch earlier, so I was—”
“You mean to say you’re going to keep eating even when your senior is calling you?”
“N-no!”
Under the shout of the older-looking man, the boy I was looking for jumped up and ran to him.
“If you’ve taken in this poor orphan from the streets, at least pay your dues and eat properly!”
The man, looking somewhat middle-aged, lecturing a child like this made my brow furrow.
“Do you know how much extra work has piled up since you arrived? You need to work two or three times harder than the others! There’s no time for leisurely meals, got it?”
“I’m sorry……”
The longer the senior caretaker lectured, the paler Joshua’s already pale face became.
Maybe it was because he hadn’t eaten lunch?
He looked especially haggard today.
That shameless old man!
I thought you weren’t supposed to touch someone while they were eating.
At least feed the kid first before lecturing!
Out you go, man!
Having lived in this world for a while, my K-sense of justice kicked in, and I empathized with Joshua’s cold, neglected rice ball from behind.
“Tch, so clumsy. Hurry up, at least use your wits! You can’t even handle these baby spirit beasts and get dragged around like this…”
Under the constant berating, Joshua pressed his lips together.
“Hmph, I don’t understand why Master Cain hasn’t kicked him out yet.”
The senior even mentioned the name of the nest caretaker who had taken Joshua in.
“Hey, I need to step out for a bit, so you handle this.”
He gestured to the large water container for the spirit beasts to drink.
“Since it’s hot today, the water will run out quickly, so fill it up. Don’t half-ass it—fill it to the top!”
After he left, Joshua started moving busily, with barely a moment to eat the remaining rice balls.
The water channels inside the nest were far apart, so filling the container meant going back and forth at least ten times.
‘Maybe I should just watch for now.’
Originally, Joshua, the future spirit master, would meet me (the heroine Asphodel) only five years later in the novel.
By then, he would already be highly skilled, having bonded with a powerful spirit beast under Lord Roxhan.
Back then, he was confident and assertive, very different from the timid boy I saw today.
The novel briefly mentioned Joshua’s harsh past.
He had been an orphan, taken in by the nest caretaker and made a trainee.
Some colleagues initially bullied him, and once he nearly got badly hurt in a fight.
That incident led him to bond with his lifelong companion spirit beast, Memento, five years ago.
Lately, this lovely princess visiting the nest reminded him of the small baby spirit he once cared for.
In the first round of the story, I had waited the full five years to meet him, but forcing myself to act like Asphodel never worked.
Joshua always found my friendliness burdensome.
So in the second round, I approached him earlier, using my princess authority to help him deal with his struggles.
Joshua came into my orbit much more easily.
The problem, however, was that the bond with the spirit beast that had appeared in the story was now gone.
If I hadn’t helped him develop properly, I would have failed to repel a beast invasion.
Also, unlike the original future, Joshua’s confidence was at rock bottom.
Unable to resolve the bullying issues himself, he remained timid and passive, failing to bond with his spirit beast.
‘So this time, I’ll just watch.’
“Uchaa!”
At that moment, Joshua filled the first bucket with water and poured it into the empty container.
‘Ah?’
It seemed the bottom of the container was slightly cracked.
The moment he poured the water, a thin stream started trickling from below.
Joshua, oblivious, didn’t notice.
Only one baby spirit, who had been peeking at him, noticed and fretted.
“Kwaang!”
“Sorry, I can’t play with you now. It’s hot today, so stay in the shade!”
“Kang!”
Despite the baby spirit’s pitiful eyes, Joshua didn’t look back and ran to fetch more water.
Tap, tap, tap!
Then I saw it.
The baby spirit seemed determined and ran toward the leaking container.
Tap, tap!
It went to the leak and…
Thud! Swoosh!
“….”
It pressed its body to the tiny hole, sealing it perfectly.
Luckily, it worked, and the water stopped leaking.
I was left speechless.
What is this?
This strangely familiar scene… wasn’t it in the old folktale “Kongjwi and Patjwi”?
When the cruel stepmother forced Patjwi to fill a broken dam, a toad blocked the hole with its body to help Kongjwi.
“Done already?”
“Huff, huff… Yes!”
“Well… hmm. You filled it as I asked.”
A little later, the mean senior returned with another task.
He shoved a sack of feed for the herbivore baby spirit beasts toward Joshua.
Some small fruits and grains spilled out from a slightly torn opening.
“Pick out all the unripe toad beans mixed in. They look like the normal beans, but the spirit beasts hate them—don’t miss a single one!”
Then the audacious senior vanished again.
“Phew…”
Joshua sighed and crouched in front of the sack, sorting the grains and beans across a large mat.
Meanwhile, I freed the baby spirit who had been sealing the water leak with its body.
“Kyaa!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. See? That seals it! All done, right?”
The spirit was smart. It tried to resist leaving the hole, knowing water would start leaking again.
Once I used some cotton-like waterproof material to plug the hole, the baby spirit calmed down.
“Joshua! Come here for a moment.”
“Ah, yes!”
As usual, the youngest one at any workplace gets the dirtiest and saddest jobs.
Many people called Joshua to handle chores, so he couldn’t stay in one place long.
“Kku!”
“Koong!”
This time, the baby spirits following me stepped forward.
They ran over like candy tied with ribbons and covered the feed.
Thus, a new discovery was made…
—The rogue princess’s reckless life plan continues.
