The Strongest Man’s Fake Wife Wants to Live – Chapter 13

Author: isuzuuy

When Pesha let out the words with a sigh, Sally, who had been patting her on the back, tilted her head.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing. I-I’m going outside for a bit. My eyes are burning…….”

“All right. Ah, Doctor! I’ll help you!”

While Sally went to help with the work, Pesha hurried out of the raccoon’s den.

She had only been inside for a short while, but the smoke was clinging heavily to her neat clothes and finely braided silver hair.

She felt sorry about leaving without saying goodbye to Sally, but if she stayed any longer, she felt as though she would suffocate and die, so Pesha retraced the path she had come by.

Once she climbed up the hill and breathed in the scent of the trees, she felt as though she could finally breathe again.

“No. Even if this is an era when people don’t know how harmful cigarettes are, surely they must realize that much can’t possibly be good for the body…….”

Having spoken that far, Pesha fell silent for a moment.

The doctor probably knew that too, but the situation must have been so bad that he had no choice but to prescribe it anyway.

Her spirits somewhat dampened, Pesha lowered her head and walked down the mountain path with soft, dragging footsteps. But by the time she reached the bottom of the hill, her head was held high.

“That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that? I have to go before it’s too late!”

The moment the thought occurred to her, she ran all the way from the rear gate to the castle garden.

When she arrived, panting heavily, she found that, just as she had feared, the maids were digging up the blue flowers planted in the flower bed with hoes and shovels in their hands.

“M-My lady?”

The maids were startled at the sight of their mistress suddenly running toward them in such a disheveled state.

Pesha, panting so hard that she could barely catch her breath, finally managed to speak.

“Th-That…… don’t.”

“Pardon?”

“Haah…… haah…… Don’t throw those away.”

“W-What? These?”

One of the maids held up the flower she had just pulled out with her hoe.

A flower dyed blue, looking exactly like a rose.

It was none other than the fake rose that had led the butler to his downfall.

Pesha swallowed dryly and nodded.

“That…… I have a use for it. So don’t dig them up.”

***

It was early dawn, when the still-hazy sun was just barely peeking its head over the horizon.

Minnie, the maid, woke up feeling hungry in the middle of her sleep.

Too lazy to get up, she tossed and turned for a while before finally throwing off her blanket and springing out of bed.

“Should I just eat some bread…….”

It was a little early, but there would probably be bread baked at dawn for breakfast.

Rubbing her stomach as she went down to the kitchen, she saw a light flickering through the gap in the kitchen door.

“Huh? Is the cook already awake……?”

That man really was diligent.

Minnie quietly approached, intending to surprise the cook, whom she had become fairly close with during the short time since arriving in Swapro.

Then she flung the door open and called out,

“Sir…… Gasp!”

Minnie, who had been excitedly calling out to the man, was flustered by the unexpected sight before her.

“M-My lady?”

There was none other than Pesha in the kitchen, stirring a pot nearly half the size of her own body.

“Ah, Minnie! You came at just the right time. Can you help me?”

“Pardon?”

“Roast these tea leaves for me.”

“……Pardon?”

“Stir-fry them until all the moisture is completely dried out.”

Although she had helped with some kitchen work at House Rydell, this was Minnie’s first time roasting tea leaves.

Minnie took hold of the pan with an uncertain expression.

“I’ve never done this before. Will it be all right……? It’ll probably taste bad…….”

The taste of roasted tea leaves varied greatly depending on the temperature, humidity, timing, and technique.

Minnie knew that, which was why she warned Pesha beforehand that she would probably ruin them.

Pesha stirred the pot as she answered.

“Still, it’s better than alcohol, right? Better to have bad-tasting tea than soak it in alcohol.”

“Pardon?”

“Light the stove first. We don’t have time.”

“Yes, yes…….”

As Minnie lit the fire, she thought,

‘My lady is doing something strange again……. She really does start doing things I could never imagine once in a while.’

Her personality of seeming docile, yet starting something big the moment she made up her mind, had not changed.

Even a few years ago, when a precious potted tree that the Duke of Rydell had received from the Emperor began to wither and he had been thrown into a panic, it was the young lady who saved it.

‘Though the duke was absolutely disgusted, saying she was using useless little tricks.’

And that wasn’t all. Around this time last year, she had even run away from home in an attempt to eliminate a grass-borne disease that had turned all the grass in the ducal residence’s garden yellow.

‘Maybe waking up at dawn and raiding the kitchen isn’t so bad compared to that.’

Minnie glanced at the bundle of flowers piled up beside them. Though calling it a bouquet was a bit of a stretch, since only the flower heads remained.

“But, my lady. Aren’t these roses? The fake roses…….”

“They are.”

“You’re going to brew these into tea? Why?”

“Yes. I’m going to make a new painkiller.”

“A pain…… killer?”

“Minnie.”

Hearing the signal to stop asking questions and get to work, Minnie hurriedly shoved more firewood into the stove and gripped the pan.

‘Let’s not look too deeply into it. Even if she sometimes does strange things, she’s not someone who causes trouble for no reason.’

There was always a reason behind Pesha’s actions.

The reason she had worked so hard to save the grass in the garden, for example, was because the gardener, who was saving up for his daughter’s hospital bills, was in danger of being fired, and she wanted to help him.

Minnie quickly roasted the tea leaves and let them cool slightly before passing them over, while Pesha steeped the flowers in hot water.

After repeating this several times, blue tea was soon completed.

It was because of the blue dye the butler had used to color the flowers.

“We’re not going to die from drinking this, are we?”

Minnie asked while eyeing the blue liquid suspiciously, and Pesha shook her head.

“No. He would have dyed them with plant juice anyway, so there shouldn’t be any problem with drinking it.”

“What are you going to do with this?”

“Once it cools down a little, we’ll load it onto a freight wagon and take it somewhere.”

“Aren’t you going to drink it, my lady?”

At those words, Pesha burst out laughing.

“Me? Haha. No. We’re going to distribute this to the patients.”

Just as she said that, the cook, who had arrived for work rubbing his sleepy eyes, spotted the two of them chatting away and looked startled.

“Good heavens. My lady! Why are you here?”

“Cook! You came at the right time. Transfer the tea in this pot into an oak barrel for me. There are plenty of empty wine barrels, right?”

The cook looked bewildered, but obediently did as he was told.

By the time the cooled tea was being poured into the oak barrels, the sun had fully risen and morning had arrived.

Before more people woke up and she attracted attention, Pesha told Minnie to prepare a freight wagon.

Then she had the coachman load the oak barrels.

“My lady. Are you really taking this to the hospital?”

“Are you worried? Then do you want to come with me?”

“I’m obviously coming with you……!”

Since this was the first time she would be leaving the count’s castle since arriving in Swapro, Minnie looked rather nervous.

After confirming that the freight wagon had been hitched to the passenger carriage, Pesha set the carriage in motion.

The carriage carrying Pesha went around and around the new town, even entering winding alleyways, before finally stopping at the entrance to the old town.

“My lady. Are you sure this is the right way?”

The coachman asked in an uneasy voice.

“Hmm…….”

Pesha could not give him a definite answer either.

She only remembered the route she had taken through the hill.

“This area connects to the old town, so it could be dangerous if we’re not careful.”

“All right. Let’s go around one more time, and if we can’t find it, we’ll just go back.”

It was at that moment.

Pesha caught sight of someone’s back.

“Sally!”

At that, the girl wearing a white headscarf turned around.

“Sally! It’s me!”

“Ah……!”

Pesha suddenly realized that she had never told Sally her name when she saw Sally looking happy to see her while clearly unable to figure out what to call her.

“Pesha! I’m Pesha!”

“Pe-Pesha. What is all that? And what’s with the carriage…….”

Sally covered her open mouth, apparently startled by the procession.

“More importantly, could you tell me how to get to the hospital tent?”

“The hospital?”

Sally looked flustered but diligently explained the way.

Thanks to her, they were finally able to reach the hospital tent, which was once again thick with smoke and looked just like a raccoon’s den.

As the carriage rolled closer on its large wheels, the doctor, who had been outside the tent taking a break, dropped the cigarette he had been smoking.

“Miss Sally! What have you brought here?”

“Ahaha…… Doctor. Well, you see…….”

The doctor was limping, and his foot was wrapped in a thick cast-like bandage, as though he had twisted it or even broken a bone.

‘So he was smoking those hoban cigarettes because his foot hurt.’

While Sally struggled to explain the carriage that even she herself was not entirely familiar with, Pesha got down from the carriage.

Seeing her, the doctor asked,

“And who is this woman?”

Just as Pesha was about to introduce herself, Minnie, who sprang forward before her, shouted.

“Hey! What do you mean, ‘this woman’?!”

“What?”

The doctor looked between Pesha and Minnie with confused eyes.

Could she be a noblewoman?