Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 32
* * *
After a good night’s sleep, my strength returned completely.
‘I want to see the Chicken Coop!’
But the moment I opened my eyes, if I said again that I wanted to visit the Chicken Coop, I’d only invite worry—or rather, beyond worry, Bridget stood guard at the threshold like an iron fortress, not letting me pass.
For the past two days, Bridget hadn’t left my bedside, and whenever I so much as tried to sit up, she’d materialize from nowhere and press me back down.
In the end, I decided to change tactics. I’d use a stroll as my excuse around noon, when the sun hung high, and slip away quietly.
Since it was the Breeding Season, I wondered—had the chickens grown sturdier in the meantime?
Torn between worry and anticipation, I pulled the bell cord.
“Grand Duchess!”
“You look so much brighter today!”
The maidservants entered with smiling faces.
After washing and eating a light meal, I brushed my teeth and settled at the vanity.
What I wanted to know about was the state of the chickens, but I couldn’t ask that first.
“Just leave my hair down. It’ll be chilly tonight.”
“Then shall we gather just half of it with this Ribbon? It will look quite neat.”
The maidservants combed my hair in moments, then brought a thick Wool Dress.
The winter garment, warmed by the heat of the stove for the past ten minutes, was wonderfully warm.
With carpet trim around the sleeves and collar, my wrists and neck wouldn’t suffer from the cold. The skirt was quilted in two layers, and with each step came the soft rustle of fabric.
“Are they doing the insulation work on the Chicken Coop?”
“Yes. Just days ago, right after returning home, the head maidservant gave the order, and we were about to call workers, but…….”
“Were about to?”
“The head maidservant said the labor costs were a waste, and went to find Gabin to have him lend—or rather, to ask to borrow—some knights.”
I waited silently for the rest.
“So what happened?”
“Gabin grew angry. He said knights wield swords, not tools for construction work.”
“He grew angry?”
My brow furrowed.
In the original story, yes, Gabin kills Bridget—but that’s the original’s affair.
Moreover, all those events happen after Ayu becomes Grand Duchess.
But now?
I’m the Grand Duchess. Wedding or not, hastily done or not.
And he dares to grow angry at Bridget, my maidservant?
Bridget was clearly the person who’d secured the position closest to me. To insult Bridget was to insult me.
It was absolutely not something I could let pass.
With anger beginning to rise in me, I started walking and asked, “Where is Bridget?”
“The head maidservant is at the Chicken Coop.”
“Bring Gabin here at once.”
The maidservant hesitated slightly before speaking.
“Grand Duchess, the thing is……. Gabin is also at the Chicken Coop.”
“What?”
I furrowed my brow and turned to look at the maidservant.
“Are Gabin and Bridget in some kind of confrontation?”
“No, no! Not at all!”
The maidservants shook their heads in alarm and let slip something entirely unexpected.
“Gabin is……doing the labor himself…….”
* * *
So, to summarize what the maidservants had told me, it went like this.
Bridget wanted to save on labor costs.
So she went to ask Gabin if she could use the many knights who were staying at the castle to escort a Cargo Carriage.
But Gabin refused.
The Gonet Knights were swordsmen, he said, not laborers swinging shovels.
Then Bridget smiled and spoke, or so the story went.
“You truly care for your men. That is admirable. But is not easing your superior’s worries—and in particular, bringing happiness to the lady—the very first principle of Knighthood?”
“…….”
“I won’t ask unreasonably. Let your knights continue their training. But as commander of the knights, it seems you must work for the Grand Duchess. That is what Knighthood is, after all.”
“…….”
“Ah. Or perhaps you lack the strength to do it alone?”
In short, that was the gist of it.

Scared?
After that, it was predictable.
Sir Gabin, his face gone rigid, yanked the Tie from around his neck and strode toward the Chicken Coop with purposeful strides.
‘As expected. There’s no one in this world who can outdo Bridget.’
“Look there, Grand Duchess.”
“Sir Gabin has been moving all of that alone since dawn.”
Following the servants’ pointing fingers, I let out a hollow laugh.
It was exactly as they said. Sir Gabin was hauling logs by himself, dragging hay with a rake.
‘He’s quite stubborn too.’
How many hours had passed since dawn? Yet he hadn’t called for a single subordinate, bearing the entire burden of this grueling work alone.
Though the morning was rather cool, his sleeves were already rolled up past his elbows. Straw clung to his clothes in clumps, and sweat beaded on his forehead, glistening in the light.
And yet he moved without pause, his teeth gritted, his jaw set.
“This must be exhausting.”
“We’ve brought water.”
“Both warm and cold, Your Grace.”
“Well done.”
I nodded and asked,
“Where is Bridget?”
“Over that way, Your Grace. She’s been working steadily since dawn as well.”
“Go tell her to rest a while.”
“And Sir Gabin too?”
“Hmm…….”
I watched Bridget herding chickens with the young servants.
“Tell her it’s up to her what she does.”
I dismissed the servants and stepped into the Chicken Coop.
The scent of dry straw rose from the freshly laid bedding, and the sound of chickens pecking at feed clattered busily from all corners.
Shortly after.
I nearly fainted at the sight of the chickens in Breeding Season.
* * *
“Geese……. They were geese…….”
Sitting at the table and murmuring blankly to myself, Raktku covered his mouth with his tiny hands and laughed.
His round body shook and trembled — whether he was trying to hold the laughter back or give in to it entirely, I couldn’t tell.
“Breeding Season really is something extraordinary…….”
In just four days, the chickens had transformed dramatically. Their feathers gleamed with a lustrous sheen, and even their beaks seemed to shine like gold.
“Grand Duchess. We’re serving lunch.”
Just then, the servants entered carrying trays.
Still lost in thought, replaying the sight of those chickens, I was startled back to myself.
“……What is all this?”
Lunch…….
was extraordinarily lavish.
Normally, I ate lunch simply.
Plain bread, lightly toasted, one egg, butter and jam to go with it, perhaps some juice or tea. But today the variety of dishes was far more abundant.
Fresh white bread steaming warm from the oven, and a fluffy omelet.
Yogurt sat on one side with thinly sliced apples arranged neatly on top. Even the soup was different from usual.
Normally it was always a plain vegetable broth, but today a rich, reddish liquid rose with a sweet-tart aroma.
“Is this tomato?”
“Indeed, Grand Duchess. Your discernment is truly as vast as the ocean.”
“Good heavens…….”
In an age without refrigeration, it was naturally difficult to enjoy the variety of crops that modern times offered.
Of course, high nobility could indulge themselves freely with money to spare, but I had never allowed myself such luxuries.
Seeing tomato after so long was such a welcome surprise. And there was thinly sliced ham atop it, and rabbit stew on the side.
I was honestly dumbfounded by such an elaborate feast.
“Has the Grand Duke arrived already?”
Bridget, who had appeared with the teapot, shook her head.
“Not yet, Your Grace.”
“Then……. Did the knights beg for a banquet?”
“If any knight were so foolish, I would have drawn my sword and split them in two long ago, Grand Duchess.”
“Then where did all this money come from…….”
At that moment, I remembered the Cargo Carriages loaded heavily from the Gaiad Imperial Palace.
‘A gift from the Emperor?’
But that was a gift granted by the Emperor himself, purely and simply.
I couldn’t lay a hand on it without explicit permission from either myself or Shelcan, and besides, such expensive treasures couldn’t possibly be converted into coin so quickly in the first place.
“Bridget. Where on earth did all these provisions come from?”
At my bewildered expression, Bridget set down the teapot with impeccable grace.
“Could there be any other reason? Surely the chickens were collectively moved to tears by the exalted dignity of the Grand Duchess’s refined bearing.”
“Pardon?”
Clap, clap.
As Bridget clapped twice, two maidservants standing behind stepped forward, cradling baskets.
Each movement carried precision, and their eyes shone with barely concealed pride.
“Behold, if you please. These are all eggs laid by the chickens this very morning!”
“They’re this large?”
I sprang from my seat in utter astonishment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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