Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain: Volume 5 (eBook)

Ageha Sakura (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-5176-9 (ISBN)

Infos

It's now the third year of Agnes's life in Sutrena, and the developments just keep on coming, including an increase in their territory (and administrative work!) as well as Nazelbart successfully developing a crop that can thrive in this barren land. Agnes's pregnancy means that she's taking a break from all her responsibilities-whether she likes it or not, as Nazelbart won't risk anything happening to his dear wife. But he's as soft on her as ever, so when she asks to go visit her brother in Polpystan, he easily gives in. The pair get ready for a trip to watch Paul's graduation, but also to learn more about the legendary saint, whose magic apparently has some similarities with Agnes's. Paul's school has plenty of literature about her, so Agnes and Nazelbart will be killing two birds with one stone during their visit. But as is usual with these two, things never just play out peacefully.

Textauszug

“I’m home, Agnes.”

“Um, er, Lord Na— Mnh?!” While I was still feeling bashful, Lord Nazel placed his hand around my back, embraced me tightly, and stole a kiss from me. My drowsiness was blown away in a second. “Ah! Wai— Mm!” I was really shaken up, but Lord Nazel did things his way like usual and didn’t seem to care at all. “Mh! Mnh!” I was so overwhelmed that I went red-faced and closed my eyes, but Lord Nazel was still merciless. He sighed.

“Open your mouth, will you?”

“No, stop it. Not out he— Fgh?!”

Lord Nazel placed one hand on my cheek and kept kissing me deeper and deeper. After a short pause, he slowly moved his lips away from mine.

“Heh heh, it’s adorable how you’re always shy no matter how much time passes, Agnes. You seem fully awake now, so let’s head back to the manor. There’s something I’d like to show you.” Lord Nazel took both my hands in his and helped me stand up, and then with his free hand he picked up both the now-empty sandwich basket and my canteen filled with herbal tea before walking across the garden.

We crossed a path surrounded by large flowers, which were in full bloom thanks to the dry season, and arrived at the kitchen’s rear entrance. Lately, we often used this entrance to come and go from the kitchen. We quickly went inside and came across Mather getting dinner ready. The entire room was filled with the aroma of vegetable broth—no doubt meant for soup—and the assistant maids were peeling a large number of potatoes. Did this unique, refreshing aroma belong to some kind of herb?

“Thank you for the tuber sandwiches, Mather. They were delicious. The same goes for the herbal tea.”

Mather smiled as she accepted the empty basket from Lord Nazel.

“I’m glad you enjoyed them. Please look forward to my next creations.”

“Yes, I’ll be eagerly waiting to try them out.” My appetite had been ravenous lately, so I really meant that.

I followed after Lord Nazel as he left the kitchen and headed toward his laboratory in the depths of our manor.

“Um, Lord Nazel? You don’t need to hold me so closely. I can still walk just fine.” He had been overly attentive to me ever since learning of my pregnancy.

“I’m worried. The very thought of something happening to you or the baby makes me shudder.”

“Hmm, aren’t you worrying a bit too much, though?”

Once we arrived at the laboratory, I saw some light brown, bumpy tubers arranged on the front desk. They were of various sizes and were a bit misshapen.

“Lord Nazel, these are...”

“Sunchokes, yes. I had them imported from a country to the east in order to study them.”

Various fruits and vegetables were being stored in this room, including these sunchokes. They were very resilient tubers, but even then, it had been impossible to cultivate them in their current form in Sutrena. We were currently trying to cultivate them in specific fields using both Lord Nazel’s magic and my own.

“So, what about the sunchokes?”

“I succeeded in some new selective breeding, so I’d like to hear your opinion.” Lord Nazel pointed at a somewhat large planter in a corner of the room. Sunchokes with thick leaves and cute yellow flowers were planted in it. While sunchokes were tubers, they actually didn’t belong to the potato family, but to the family of a flower called chrysanthemum that bloomed in the East. “These sunchokes are planted in local soil, but they’re growing properly even without your magic. I recently planted some seeds, and those sunchokes grew normally.”

“Wow... So that’s actually possible.” Lord Nazel and I stood side by side observing the sunchokes, and also looked at each other with smiles on our faces. Back when we’d arrived, no crops could be grown in Sutrena. I would occasionally see some plants growing by themselves, but they were all wild species that had grown by chance—it was impossible to cultivate them.

It was always so distressing. I believed that the common folk of Sutrena and Mister Henry and everyone else at the fortress felt the same way. Lord Nazel is constantly racking his brain over improving the seedlings. Up until now, Lord Nazel had been using his magic to grow resilient seedlings suitable for Sutrena’s soil, and I had been going from place to place using my reinforcement magic on them, so we’d somehow managed to grow crops here.

Relying on crops that can only grow thanks to the combination of our two magics is really risky. But Lord Nazel’s research had finally borne fruit, giving birth to a breed of sunchoke the people could cultivate normally, even without any help from our magic. This was without a doubt a historical breakthrough for Sutrena.

“Congratulations, Lord Nazel! Our people will be able to freely grow crops even without the aid of magic!”

He smiled at me fondly. His every gesture was charming, and he still made my heart skip a beat even years into our marriage.

“Thank you, Agnes. But there are also things we need to be careful of when planting crops that are tough enough to survive without magic.”

“Like what?”

“It’s well-known in the East that sunchokes have a history of being so hardy that they essentially turn into weeds, and that’s just the natural strains, not our improved variety. Sunchokes improved through magic will infinitely multiply if planted in rich soil, so we must restrict their cultivation to places with poor soil where crops don’t normally grow, like Sutrena.”

“That sounds serious. We need to make sure everyone is aware of this.” I believed that only Sutrena would need such a powerful tuber at the moment. Other places could grow vegetables normally.

“The sunchokes were my first success, but I want to continue increasing the number of vegetables we can grow without magic in the same way. This will also decrease the burden on you.”

I can’t go out much when I’m pregnant like now. The method we’d used up to now was inefficient, so Lord Nazel’s invention was groundbreaking. I was looking forward to all the wonderful tuber fields we’d see cropping up.

“It’s great that everyone will be able to cultivate tubers even without me. Sunchokes can also make delicious tea. You cut them into thin slices, dry them, roast them, then add hot water.”

“You sure know a lot about tuber cuisine, Agnes.”

“Mather told me that even pregnant women can drink sunchoke tea. Sunchokes can also be used in cooking, and Dunk is happy to eat them.” She was a manabeast with a big appetite who loved tubers, especially sunchokes.

During all my excitement, Lord Nazel suddenly started looking at my belly. It was the gentle, warm, and soft gaze that he always had when discussing private matters.

“Say, Agnes? Are you feeling all right? You aren’t overworking yourself, are you?”

“I’m fine. Everyone is kind, so I’m never in a situation where I have to push myself.” The baby in my belly would come out around half a year from now. When I thought about that day, I was filled with anticipation, but also a bit of fear. This would be my first time giving birth, after all.

Those with experience have told me that whatever will be, will be. Kelly had already prepared a large number of baby clothes, and the maids were enthusiastically putting together all the essentials for the baby. I’ll do my best. There was a bit of pressure, but this was another important duty for a margravine, so I’d see this through properly for everyone’s sake.

“Come to think of it, have we decided on the baby’s wet nurse yet?” I asked Lord Nazel the question that suddenly popped into my mind.

Desnim’s noblewomen commonly employed a wet nurse to help with child-rearing. Since noblewomen were busy with work and social obligations, they couldn’t attend to their baby at all times, so a trustworthy woman was appointed as a wet nurse to be by the baby’s side.

Sutrena had been the center of attention lately, and many people approached us with all kinds of intentions. Lord Nazel had told me that some of them might have ulterior motives or evil intentions.

We can’t accept anyone unless we’re completely sure of their background. Our household’s plan was to welcome a woman who’d given birth around the same time as me, and whose background was as impeccable as possible, but we still hadn’t come to a decision.

“We’re still taking applications for a wet nurse, and I’ll also be searching myself, so you don’t need to worry about it, Agnes.” Lord Nazel scooped my hair up and gave me a kiss. “It’s still a long way off, but you shouldn’t push yourself until then.”

“Of course!” I was extremely lively and sturdy so far. Lord Nazel’s overprotective rules were excessive, so I was determined to move around moderately for my body’s sake. I’ll enter the stable stage of my pregnancy soon, so I think I should exercise. The problem was how I would get around Lord Nazel’s declaration that I should stay in bed—I didn’t think I could convince him through discussion.

“What are you thinking, Agnes?”

“Huh?!” I replied with a start. Lord Nazel was looking at me with a pressuring smile, like he could tell what I’d just been thinking....

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.9.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain
• Illustrationen: Ageha Sakura
• Übersetzer: Ageha Sakura
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: aristocracy • Fantasy world • female protagonist • Light Novel • Magic • marriage • Romance
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-5176-3 / 1718351763
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-5176-9 / 9781718351769