Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 40

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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 40
* * *
That night, the candles in the Grand Duke’s Castle never went out.
Ordinarily, when winter was just beginning, the castle grew quiet as soon as the sun set, but tonight was different.
Nearly a dozen maids had gathered by the hearth, stitching cloth for a calf’s garments. No one had asked them to—they’d simply collected the scraps and were busily sewing them together.
“It should be thicker, shouldn’t it, since it’s for winter?”
“Well, you’d have to have made calf clothes before to know…”
Faded cotton pulled from old cushions and blankets lay heaped on the floor, billowing softly.
The kitchen was alight as well. Though dinner was long finished, the smell of stew lingered—a savory fragrance of dried herring and barley that made my nose twitch.
‘I’ve seen a scene like this before.’
That is to say…
—You chose graduate school.
—I’ll show you the price of that mistake.
—All-nighters! Eternal all-nighters!
The image of graduate students working through the night.
A news exposé I’d seen on the break room television, if you must know.
‘That’s why I swore, even if I got better, I’d never become a graduate student.’
My steps quickened as I passed through the first-floor hall.
I moved through this peaceful scene and out into the cold air, which struck like a sharp blow.
I pulled the thick cloak I’d been wearing up to the tip of my nose and hastened my pace.
When I reached the stable beside the chicken coop, far more maids were gathered there, moving about in barely organized chaos.
“Is it done?”
“Your Grace!”
“As you can see, Gavin is doing her best.”
The maids murmured amongst themselves. I looked to where they were pointing. Gavin was planted against a post, swinging a hammer with determination.
“Why is Bridget standing there like that?”
“The head maid said Gavin was being too lazy…”
“So she’s supervising.”
‘Too lazy?’
Erihi, who’d napped in the hand-cart with her, reportedly still hadn’t gotten up.
Knight Order commander or not, Gavin possessed genuinely inhuman stamina.
How else could it make sense—coming here, sleeping only a few hours, then working through another entire night like this?
I’d found it remarkable, but it seemed Bridget’s standards were quite different.
‘What would Shulkan say if he knew?’
If he found out his knight commander was repairing chicken coops, buying calves, and tending to stables…
‘Maybe I should write it in a letter.’
I suppressed a laugh and approached the maids who were tending to the feeding troughs.
“Is there a large cauldron somewhere in the castle?”
“Of course! But how large a cauldron do you mean?”
“About this big.”
I spread my arms to show them the size.
“I’ll check right away!”
The maids vanished. I cast abundant Reproduction Spells over the calves’ sleeping area, then smiled with satisfaction.
‘If graduate school life were like this, it wouldn’t be so bad? Working through the night all together like this… it actually seems fun?’
And then.
Rattle, rattle, rattle. Rattle-rattle-rattle.
I turned around and my eyes widened.
“Your Grace! W-we’ve brought it!”
Six maids came straining under the weight of an enormous Large Cauldron Pot.
‘Good heavens.’
What were they doing with those skinny arms? I’d only meant for them to point me to where it was.
“Put it down! It’s for the kitchen—why did you bring it out here?”
“Oh! Then we’ll move it back right away!”
Their arms were trembling as I hurried toward them, and a gust of wind swept past.
It was Gavin.
“I’ll move it.”
Gavin spoke flatly, then lifted the Large Cauldron Pot with ease and asked, “Shall I take it to the kitchen?”
“Yes.”
I gestured with my chin.

“Put it over the fire. I need to use it.”
“Understood.”
……
I’ll have to use it on Shulkan after all.
The moment Gavin lifted the cauldron and vanished, the handmaids’ faces fell in bewilderment.
“That thing was so heavy, though…….”
“Right…….”
Then Bridget approached, wearing that perfectly composed smile of hers as always.
I realized it in a flash, like a lie suddenly made true.
“Bridget. Did you tell Gavin to move the cauldron? That’s quite impressive……?”
Making her work all night is one thing, but now you’re actually manipulating her…….
Bridget’s cheeks flushed lightly.
“It is merely a small talent, I am quite ashamed, Your Grace. But what will you use the cauldron for? Shall I instruct Gavin to prepare a stew instead?”
“Can a knight even cook stew?”
“It is said that knights who march into battle are often as skilled at cooking as professional cooks. I believe the Grand Duke is likely quite accomplished in the kitchen as well.”
At this unexpected mention of Shulkan, my eyes widened.
But I had to admit she wasn’t wrong.
After all, in the original work, there was an episode where Shulkan made soup for Ayu with his own hands.
Ayu had mentioned several times how delicious it was.
“When the Grand Duke visits next time, do ask him to make a stew for you.”
“When His Grace visits?”
The moment I reflexively repeated it back, Bridget tilted her head. She seemed to have caught the instinctive confusion and faint resistance in my voice.
“It is perhaps presumptuous to speculate on the relationships between those of higher station, yet…….”
Bridget suddenly seized my hand, her face swelling with emotion as she spoke.
“Your Grace does not yet understand how far a boy’s first love can reach!”
……
“Oh! I have spoken something most improper! This Bridget is deeply repentant!”
……
“But it is far too cold out here—Your Grace, shall we go inside together!”
Bridget’s hand grasped mine and pulled me toward the castle.
Of course, my mind had become complicated.
I know Shulkan treats me well. I know it far too well.
But I had already read countless times in the original work how he transforms when he loves someone.
The way Shulkan shows affection toward me is closer to a beast clutching meat it loves and lapping at it with joy.
Of course, I can’t say something like that out loud…….
Especially not to Shulkan.
‘If he found out I think of him that way, he might actually get angry?’
But thinking is my freedom, isn’t it?
I smiled inwardly and opened my mouth.
“Bridget. Listen. Fill the cauldron with water and…….”
I started to tell Bridget to go to the kitchen with me first, but…….
“Y-Your Grace!”
“Your Grace!”
“Eek! She’s collapsed again!”
Ah…….
I must have used too much of the Reproduction Spell in the calves’ pen…….
* * *
“Rel woke up after just two nights of sleep!”
Ratku spun around me in circles with delight. I scooped Ratku into my arms and stroked his head.
“Ratku, do I always have to pass out this long when I use the Reproduction Spell?”
“At first you can’t help it, but the more you use it, the better it gets.”
“Is that so?”
During the two days I was unconscious.
The calves had transformed entirely.
They were all wearing puffy quilted clothes, and without exception they looked quite healthy. It was completely different from their weak state just two days ago.
‘It’s really the Reproduction Spell that does it.’
I didn’t even use it directly on their feed and still passed out, yet just spreading it in their pen improved their condition this much.
Should I just pass out a few more times?
‘No, that won’t work. Bridget might liquidate my entire fortune and summon every court physician from the Gaiard Imperial Palace.’
I’m just passing out, that’s all!
For Gonnet’s future, I had to minimize the number of times I fainted.
And so I’d prepared the cauldron.
Though I did lose consciousness in the middle…….
“What are you feeding the calves?”
“Hay and barley straw, Your Grace. We’re planning to mix in oats occasionally as well.”
“Nothing else?”
The ingredients available were quite varied.
Peas, straw, turnips, carrots…….
But it was all thoroughly typical medieval fodder.
Cheap enough, and the cattle ate it readily, but these were the kinds of feed that would kill half the calves if you gave it to them.
“Bring it all. No, wait—just bring enough for today’s feeding. We need to put it all in here and cook it down.”
The servants’ eyes went wide.
The Large Cauldron Pot that I’d set up was already filled to the brim with water.
I dumped all the calf feed into the pot, added a bit more milk, and brought the fire up.
The servants who managed the kitchen had expressions of heartbreak as they poured the milk into the pot, but there was nothing to be done about it.
I had them add bread scraps and ground nutshell fragments, along with just a pinch of salt, and tended the flames higher.
The fodder smell wasn’t particularly pleasant for human noses, but the servants simply wore expressions of curiosity.
“Now boil it down like porridge until it’s soft, let it cool, and feed it to the calves. Just keep making the feed this way.”
“Your Grace, if you feed them like this, will the calves become as healthy as the chickens?”
“Yes.”
I answered with confidence.
If I threw in the Reproduction Spell here and there, we might just end up with a dairy operation that defied all reason, might we not?
Besides, I wasn’t entirely wrong about this.
Calves died most frequently in spring, and the reason was Diarrhea Disease.
Unlike fully grown cattle, their digestive systems were delicate, and the problem came from feeding them nothing but hay-like fodder.
Boiling the feed down like porridge, and the ingredients I’d added—they all worked to strengthen the calves’ bones and furthermore to encourage more milk production.
Ha ha!
It was all knowledge I’d picked up from back-to-the-land videos!
‘That’s right! I would have been perfect as a graduate student in agricultural science in my past life!’
The servants took turns stirring the fodder with a large wooden paddle.
“They say Larunde is descended from the Goddess of Abundance. It must be true.”
“The North Kingdom royal family has special abilities passed down through the bloodline too! Your Grace must be even more special……. Oh.”
The servant who’d been speaking cheerfully fell silent half a beat too late, her face turning pale.
I kept my laughing expression but lowered my eyelashes.
Because the Saint who descended from heaven was so great, and because Ayu, the Saint’s daughter, was so extraordinarily famous, I too had gained a reputation by association.
Or more accurately, notoriety.
The unfortunate first princess of the North Kingdom royal family—the one who’d inherited none of their abilities.
“Oof…….”
Ratku whimpered and clung to the back of my head with a soft thud.
“It’s all right. Just finish cooking the porridge.”
“I-I apologize…….”
The servants bowed their heads, their faces drained of color. I turned and stepped out of the kitchen.
Just then.
“Your Grace!”
Erihi’s voice calling out suddenly snapped me back to attention.
He was striding toward me with great steps, his expression like he’d been cheated out of money.
“What is it?”
“I heard about it! You’re planning to change all the calves’ feed to hot boiled porridge!”
“……And?”
What was the problem?
Erihi held out an estimate he’d been carrying with a grave expression.
“……?”
“If you do that, the firewood costs will come to about this much. Will you be able to manage it?”
“……!”

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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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