I Thought It Was a Healing Farming Game - Chapter 71

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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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I thought this was supposed to be a healing farm game.
71

Knock, knock.
“Coming.”
“Hey, Priam!”
“Miel! Come in, come in. It’s cold with all that rain outside—hurry, get inside.”
I stepped through the doorway, taking in his eager, welcoming face.
“You’re soaked through. Did you bring a change of clothes?”
“Yep! You told me to bring something comfortable, so I packed pajamas.”
“Go change in the guest room. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get some snacks ready.”
I scurried into the guest room and changed into my pajamas, then returned.
Priam set a pair of cherry-patterned slippers down at my feet.
“Wear these.”
“They’re adorable.”
“Right? They’re soft and comfortable. Actually, I looked up some movies earlier that you might enjoy—”
Crash!
A sudden thunderclap, loud as an earthquake, cut him short.
“G-geez, that startled me…”
I froze in place, my shoulders instinctively hunched.
Priam turned to me with a puzzled look.
“Are you afraid of lightning?”
“A little? The sound was just so loud this time…”
I laughed nervously, trying to play it off.
Maybe it was because of everything that had happened throughout the rainy season.
These days, my heart would leap at the slightest rumble of thunder.
Priam watched my unconvincing act for a moment, then squeezed my hand gently and smiled warmly.
“It’s okay. I’ll stay right beside you today.”
His green eyes glimmered with an unusual brightness.
I’d never seen Priam look so full of life.
“So don’t be scared.”
He led me deeper into the living room by the hand.
Standing before the bookshelf, he read out each movie title one by one, letting me choose what I wanted to watch.
Once I’d picked one, he placed it in my hands and settled me onto the plush sofa.
“I have a summer blanket for the couch.”
He brought it and draped it over my lap.
“A blanket too? Thank you.”
I pulled the blanket up uncertainly, and a warm, comforting scent drifted from the thin fabric.
While I’d been changing into my pajamas, Priam had prepared a fruit plate, which he now brought over.
“Here. We can eat while we watch.”
“Wow, peaches and plums!”
These were the summer peaches I’d missed desperately while I was in the hospital.
I couldn’t help myself—I immediately picked up a fork.
I popped a soft, juicy slice of peach into my mouth.
The moment I tasted it, I started bouncing my feet with delight, and Priam’s eyes lit up with eager anticipation.
“Is it good?”
“It’s incredible! Perfectly sweet—this is honey peach.”
“This season’s harvest had a higher sugar content. We’ve been getting orders from everywhere, so everything but my own portion has sold out.”
“I shouldn’t eat something this precious. But wow, it’s delicious.”
I should have offered Priam some, but my hand was already reaching for a dark, ripe plum.
“Eat all you want.”
Priam pushed the fruit plate toward me, then pressed a rectangular panel on one side of the living room.
A screen unfolded and the display lit up.
“Alright. Let’s watch and eat.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come sit here, Priam.”
Once he sat beside me, I pulled one edge of the blanket up over his lap as well.
And the moment we sat down side by side and started watching the video, the window outside flashed once more.
A deafening rumble followed, rolling across the earth in a long, unbroken wave.
In the distance, I could see lightning bolts striking downward in sheets.
Thunder had always been loud, but today it seemed particularly fierce.
The tremor reverberating through the floor caught me off guard—I froze, unable to breathe.
“Scared?”
Priam whispered softly from beside me.
I steadied my nerves and turned my head, only to meet his green eyes studying my face.
“I’m fine.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m with someone, so it’s not scary. It’s nice.”
“Being with me puts you at ease?”
“Of course. Completely. If I were alone… I’d probably have my heart racing and wouldn’t have slept at all.”
“So that’s why you’ve been like that lately.”
“Yeah…”
I nodded habitually and looked up at the overcast sky.
Then suddenly, something Priam had said earlier bothered me.
‘What did he mean by that?’
The last time I’d seen Priam was at the village meeting.
Having missed my chance to ask, I hesitated for a moment before turning my attention back to the video.
Lyrical music played as credits rolled—it seemed to be a film.
“Oh, let me turn on the lights.”
Priam leaned toward me and whispered, then reached across to flip a small switch.
Warm light spread softly through the Living Room.
“Does this make it less scary?”
Priam smiled faintly in the glow of the light.
“Yeah. It’s nice.”
Lightning struck several more times, but absorbed in the video beside Priam, I eventually stopped noticing.
I bit into a sweet Plum and watched intently for a long while.
Before long the video ended, and the ending credits began to roll.
I stared at the screen in silence, overwhelmed by the lingering emotion, and sighed softly.
“Ah… an Open Ending makes it even sadder.”
Priam turned to look at me.
“Were you sad?”
“Yeah, but I loved it so much. I think I’ll keep thinking about it.”
“…Is that so? Kaies said right after finishing it that the main character was foolish.”
“What?! Why?”
Priam answered my question with a gloomy expression.
“He said that if you think rationally, you’d know there’s no chance of success, so why cling to something that won’t work?”
“That’s absurd. How can a person’s heart be severed as cleanly as that?”
“I agree with you, Miel. I was sad because Kaies was so harsh about it then.”
“That’s too much. I was so moved I even had tears in my eyes.”
I made a gesture of wiping the corners of my eyes.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I barely held them back because you were beside me.”
As I chuckled and whispered, Priam gazed at me quietly before breaking into a faint smile.
“To be honest, after hearing what Kaies said, I wondered if I was being too sentimental… but knowing you felt something similar somehow puts my mind at ease.”
“Don’t worry about what Kaies says. It’s not that one of us is wrong—it’s just that we see things differently.”
“…Does it not hurt you when others say things like that?”
“Of course it does! I get hurt too. But I try not to judge someone’s entire character based on a single remark.”
“Really? How?”
Priam asked with a puzzled expression, and I paused before answering.
“Well… for instance, my grandmother used to scold me often, you know? She’d nag a lot.”
“Was she strict?”
“Yeah. But it was all out of concern for me. She scolded me because she was afraid I’d get hurt, or fall ill, or run into danger.”
Priam fell quiet for a moment, then nodded as if he understood.
“I see. If you’re too worried, words can come out sharp without you realizing it.”
“Exactly. Just because someone said something hurtful doesn’t mean they don’t care about me or had bad intentions.”
“Yeah.”
“So don’t take Kaies’s words to heart. I’m sure he didn’t mean to upset you on purpose.”
He lifted his head slowly, his gaze drifting from the leftover fruit scattered across the plate.
“Thank you for saying that, Miel. It helped more than you know.”
“Oh, it’s nothing really!”
I shrugged and smiled, and he looked back at me with warm eyes.
“You have a way of understanding what people say, Miel. The truth is, it’s hard to bring up something this serious in front of the other villagers…….”
Priam’s mouth sagged slightly. He looked sorrowful, and at the same time, lonely.
Seeing him like that, I felt my own brow furrow in sympathy.
“Wait, why? Don’t the other villagers like serious topics?”
“It’s not that they dislike them…… but I think most of them see it as pointless now.”
Priam fell quiet for a moment. Then he asked carefully, studying my expression.
“Miel…….”
“Hmm?”
“Have you ever had someone important leave you?”
The moment I heard the question, I drew in a breath, then nodded slowly.
“Of course I have.”

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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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