Cuckoo~!


    The crowing of the rooster set off the day, echoing throughout the vige.


    Francisca’s eyes lit up.


    She rolled around and sat up, tossing her head adjacent to her. Cloud, lying on the floor, was still asleep.


    Francisca slipped out of bed and boiled water over the hearth. As the water began to simmer, she threw two fist-sized potatoes into the pot.


    She squatted and waited for the potatoes to cook.


    ‘Is it cooked yet?’


    When she pushed with adle, it nudged in.


    It was ready.


    She scooped up the potatoes with adle and ced them in a bowl, then she tapped Cloud, who was still sleeping, with her foot.


    There was not a hint of respect for the Hero in her behavior.


    “Eat breakfast.”


    “…five minutes.”


    “No five minutes. If you don’t wake up now, I know how to wake you up. Otherwise, you’ll sleep away the whole morning.”


    “Oh really, a man can’t even sleep.”


    Cloud scratched his head and stood up.


    By the time he roused up, yawning, and got his share of potatoes, Francisca had already finished her meal.


    “I will be going first.”


    “Are you going to do theundry?”


    “Um.”


    “Finish quickly ande to Uncle Dan’s potato field.”


    “You want help? There’s extra workload?”


    “That’s not it, today’s harvest day.”


    “Ah, it’s today! Nice! I’lle running as soon as I finish theundry!”


    She replied in an exuberant voice and left the house. Woof, woof! The dog, who was sleeping in the kennel, woke up and barked at her.


    The dog’s name was Go, Cloud had brought the guy wandering ownerless in the streets and even gave it a name.


    At first, she had wondered why he even bothered bringing a mutt back home, but now she was quite attached to it, too.


    “Go, I’m busy, you know? Go, ask that person for rice.”


    After patting Go’s head a few times, she headed for the vige chief’s house.


    “Frena? You’re here early.”


    A middle-aged woman, wrinkles deepening across her cheeks, greeted Francisca with a smile.


    “Here is theundry I need done today.”


    “Alright. I’ll finish it soon, ma’am.”


    Honorifics, which were awkward at first, now flowed like water.


    Was it because she was now attuned to the thought of hiding her identity?


    Welp, she didn’t feel a snag anymore.


    “About what I said earlier, have you seen my son? Once you two…”


    “I’ll finish theundry first and talkter, ma’am.”


    Matchmaking was a different story.


    Francisca cut off the chief’s wife’s prattle and headed for the river.


    She saw the chief’s wife’s displeased expression, but…


    So what?


    She didn’t care.


    Far from paying attention to her marriage, humming a tune, she sat down by the river. As she pounded the clothes with a club, the other women of her age gathered one by one by the river.


    “You are the first to arrive, again.”


    A woman with brown hair pulled in a braid sat down beside her.


    Aberneen.


    Francisca’s first friend in the vige. Because of her naive and friendly personality, she was also Francisca’s best friend.


    “Aren’t you too diligent?”


    “I just sleep less. More than that, how are people deciding to deal with what happened in the mountain behind the vige?”


    Not long ago, bodies of wild beasts and monsters were found in a pile in the mountain behind the vige.


    Hunter Joe, who witnessed the anomaly, said he only saw afterimages, and all he knew for sure was that he had been hearing eerie wolf howls all night long.


    ‘I mean, Cloud left with a serious face when he heard the wolves’ howl.’


    He came back empty-handed.


    After which he sent a letter, but to whom did he write it?


    “Ah? Oh, my dad said he was thinking of speaking with the government official who ising today. If they hear out our plight, maybe they’ll send over soldiers?”


    Aberneen answered Francisca’s question.


    “Then there should be no problem. Okay, then I’ll be leaving first.”


    “Huh? What! You are done already?!”


    Seeing Francisca stand up with theundry basket, Aberneen eximed.


    “You have changed a lot. It seems like yesterday that I heard you getting nagged for snagging theundry…”


    “Two months have passed, what yesterday are you living in?”


    She smiled and returned the cleanedundry to the vige chief’s house, then ran to Dan’s potato field. Her face was full of smiles because, as Cloud had said, today was the potato harvest day.


    When she arrived at the potato field, she could see Cloud and Dan’s family members squatting and digging potatoes.


    “Frena?”


    “It’s been a while, Uncle Dan! Where’s my hoe? Oh, here you are.”


    Picking her hoe, she hesitated and then asked.


    “No one has touched Elizabeth, right?”


    “The chance doesn’t exist. You warned so sternly, is there anyone so courageous who can touch it? Then again, why is the name of the potato… Elizabeth?”


    “It’s much better than Go.”


    Responding to Cloud’s sarcasm as usual with a diplomatic smile, she squatted down. She grinned and dug with her hoe. As the soil churned up, arge potato gradually emerged.


    Arge potato that easily surpassed her fist.


    “Elizabeth..!”


    Francisca’s eyes shed with ecstasy. She heard Cloud muttering something along the lines of Princess finally insane from behind, but she ignored it.


    Because Elizabeth was more important to her!


    “Uncle Dan, are you really giving me Elizabeth?”


    A question she had been asked dozens of times.


    “Whew, this girl. How many times are you going to ask? Take it, take it.”


    Dan shook his head with borderline exhaustion.


    Receiving the affirmation, she hoed more quickly and soon had the potato in her hand.


    “Hee hee hee.”


    The woman who was the first princess of the Kingdom of Prona, and the first-in-line of sessionughed gleefully at her first sown potato.


    And the potato which was taken away by the tax collector who came a whileter.


    Francisca was left wailing.


    * * *