They all stood in front of the finished-but-empty rows of tilled land—ready to be filled with crops that would nourish them in the near future.
Sebas was glad, seeing how proud the other three were of their hard work so far.
The butler saw the satisfaction on Anastasia’s face, reminiscent of soone who had finally experienced the joy of farming for the first ti and co to understand the simple pleasure it could bring.
The knight, Martha, was also proud of herself—not just from the good work she had contributed, but also from seeing that her efforts once again did sothing beneficial for her mistress.
Bella shared the sa sentint as her fellow aide, but she was also quite excited as a chef—thrilled by the possibility of cooking food raised and nurtured by her own hands.
Although, for the maid… she also regretted volunteering for fertilizer duty, as the pungent sll still clung to her—which had not gone unnoticed by the other two, who had subconsciously distanced themselves because of it.
Sebas, who saw this, couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle—amused but also pitying the blonde maid’s unfortunate circumstance. This did not go unnoticed by Bella, who directed a "sad puppy eyes" look toward the butler.
"S-Sir Sebas, you didn’t lie about having this amazing super soap, r-right…?" she pleaded, hoping for a miracle.
"Haha, why, of course, Miss Maid," he replied with a reassuring smile. "I would never lie to you ladies, you know~."
"Honestly, I find that statent of yours hard to believe, Sir Butler," the knight remarked, throwing sarcasm at the butler.
anwhile, the mistress herself, standing a bit further away, pinched her nose delicately between her fingers—clearly trying to block out the pungent odor clinging to her maid. Her lips twitched in silent agreent with the knight’s words, though she chose not to voice it aloud.
Their doubtful antics only earned another laugh of amusent from the butler.
Nevertheless, there was sothing more important at hand.
Anastasia stepped forward, standing between her servants and the still-empty farmland.
"Everyone," she called out, catching their attention… and with a smile of genuine pride, "great work with everything so far."
The three servants glanced at each other, sharing a smile of their own before returning their focus to their mistress.
"Thank you, my lady!" they shouted in unison, earning a nod of approval from her.
"Now then, we can begin the next step of our farming endeavor," Anastasia announced. "We will begin the seed—"
"Hold it!"
"H-huh-!?" The redhead noble was startled, blinking in surprise from the sudden interruption.
And the one who had stopped her was none other than her own butler…!
The other two were also surprised by Sebas’s abrupt interjection, looking back and forth between their mistress’s shocked expression and the butler’s own serious one.
"S-Sir Sebas… is there sothing the matter?" the redhead inquired, confused but also concerned at his seriousness.
"Unfortunately, we cannot plant our crops right now," he explained in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.
"W-what?!"
All three ladies were equally shocked by the butler’s unexpected statent, their faces filled with disbelief.
"W-what do you an we can’t plant them right now, Sir Sebas…?!"
"Sir Butler, what is the aning of your objection?! We already made the land fit for a farm befitting of Lady Anastasia’s greatness, so what’s the problem now?!"
"W-w-what… is it perhaps because I-I-I didn’t spread the fertilizer properly…?! Was it that?! Or did I do sothing that I wasn’t supposed to?!?"
All three of them naturally threw questions at the butler, demanding an answer to his sudden refusal.
Seeing the desperation clearly evident on their faces… he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, further confusing them.
"Calm down, calm down, ladies," he said, raising a hand slightly in a soothing gesture. "It’s not anything serious like that. This is just a matter of basic farming principles."
"B-Basic farming principles…?" Anastasia echoed back, still not quite sure what he ant.
Sebas had a small smile, seeing Anastasia’s apparent interest in the matter.
"Newly tilled soil can’t be used right away because of the unstable soil composition, my lady."
"U-unstable soil composition…?!" she stamred, further confused but also curious. This, of course, was a sentint shared by her two aides, who were equally puzzled.
"Ahaha, don’t worry if you ladies don’t get it," he reassured them. "There’s like a whole bunch of things happening inside the soil, especially when we are using stuffs like soil enhancer and even more so with fertilizer."
His brief explanation brought silence to the three of them, not expecting that there was more than what ets the eye.
"So, with that in mind…" he continued with a serious expression, "if we plant our crops’ seeds now, they would risk being damaged."
"Ah—! Now that you ntion it—!" Bella suddenly jolted upright, nearly bouncing in place as her voice rang out. "I-I finally rember my cousins ntioning this—! They said you shouldn’t plant crops in freshly tilled soil right away too—! Lest they waste a perfectly good seed!"
The butler chuckled softly at the maid’s excitent, nodding in approval of her recollection as well.
"Exactly, Miss Maid. So, we’ll let the soil settle for at least a day or two before we plant anything."
"I see…" The upstart noble murmured, a grim expression gracing her face. "I never expected that farming would be this complex."
"They sure are, Lady Ana. There’s a ton of stuff that farrs need to watch out for in their crops," he remarked, "if they’re not careful, it could cause quite the catastrophic failure for their entire harvest."
Anastasia fell into silence—disbelief and also frustration simring beneath the surface as she realized just how much she was lacking in knowledge… especially when it ca to being a proper lord.
The naïve lord lowered her head slightly; the weight of her ignorance gnawed at her pride—a reminder of how little she truly knew.
"…I’m sorry, everyone," she said softly, her voice trembling with genuine remorse, "If Sir Sebas hadn’t stopped , I might have ruined all of your hard work… all because I rushed without understanding the basics..."
Her fists clenched at her sides, frustration welling inside of her.
"I called myself a lord, yet I almost destroyed the very foundation we’ve built together... I owe you all an apology for my carelessness."
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