CH 411

Princess Mia Enjoys Fruit Picking

A day’s travel from Tearmoon’s border was a small town where Mia’s group waited for Rania. The whole town grew fruit, and there were only a few houses in the middle of the large areas of farmland. Fields surrounded the town. With harvest time in full swing, the branches were heavy with fruit and swayed slightly in the wind.

Needless to say, Mia was like, “My, look at this one. It looks ready to eat, doesn’t it?”

…In the middle of having a fruit-picking session, Mia looked like a professional fruit picker. She was wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and work clothes with long-sleeves and long-legged-pants that she had borrowed from the villagers.

“They are like gems you can eat, really. Mmm… They smell so good!”

Mia, a sweets sommelier, twisted a fruit off its branch, held it to her nose, and inhaled its pleasant scent. Then she held it up to the light and looked closely at its color.

“Hm,” she said, “it has been blessed by the sun a lot. Almost ready… Maybe a little too ripe, but that often makes fruit tastier. This one should be a treat for the mouth.”

Fruits called rubyfruits hung in front of Mia and her group. They were red, oval, and had a big pit in the middle that was surrounded by a thin layer of flesh. After peeling the skin, they were usually eaten by biting pieces off with the front teeth. It had a delicious taste that was a mix of sweet and sour.

“Oh, Tatiana, look! There’s also a lot over here.”

Bel smiled and waved at the younger girl from a distance.

“S-Slow down, Miss Bel. If you keep running like that, you’ll trip again,” Tatiana said as she ran after her quickly. When they were in the carriage, they started talking and quickly became friends. Mia smiled as she watched them play.

It’s good to see that after Citrina, Bel has made another friend.

Mia’s inner grandma was happy.

“All right, you two, keep your eyes open! Make sure to pick all the ones that are ripe. It would be a shame to miss any.”

Mia was also having a great time.

“Great moons, this is such a unique event. Taking fresh fruits from the trees and eating them there and then. That’s what I call a real treat!”

She had already talked to Ludwig about her plan to eat their gains during break, and he gave her the go-ahead. Mia was very careful when it came to things like this.

“I can’t wait. I don’t want to wait! Oh, I can’t wait for break time!”

At first, Anne had come up with the idea of going fruit picking. Anne was afraid that Mia is stressed and would eat too much sugar. She had suggested a fruit-picking trip so that her lady could get some exercise before the tough negotiations ahead. Mia was willing to eat as many fresh fruits as she could, so it seems likely that she didn’t know what her loyal subject was really up to.

—

As it turned out, the fruit-picking session had a surprising side effect: it changed how the locals thought of Mia. People in the village smiled more and more as they saw her stroll through the fields. The reason they liked her so much was, of course, because she helped them with their harvest.

Mia was a princess. Her skills at farm work were, to be honest, terrible. It could be said that by joining in, she actually slowed down the locals. From an outsider’s point of view, she was a terrible worker. The fact that she was helping, though, meant a lot to the locals.

To them, a princess was someone who worked hard like they did. During the harvest, they were someone who led them both in spirit and by what they did. And Mia did that very thing. The princess of powerful Tearmoon did the same work as them, which was farming, which was what their country was known for. And that wasn’t all.

“Let’s take a break,” said the mayor of the village. “Princess Mia, are you sure you want to eat these?” he asked nervously.

The mayor was right to be worried. Even though rubyfruits were wonderful, they were a little hard to eat. The skin was too thin to cut with a knife, so the person eating it had to peel it off by hand. Since this was a very juicy fruit, it was inevitable that the hands would get sticky. Also, since there was only a thin layer of flesh covering the large pit, it wasn’t possible to cut off the edible part with a knife and put it on a plate. Instead, the person eating the rubyfruit had to bite into the flesh with their teeth.

In other words, eating a rubyfruit required a bit of bad table manners. This made them easy to make fun of by Tearmoon nobles who didn’t know how to eat them. They thought the fruits and the people who ate them were crude and uneducated. The mayor’s worry that Mia wouldn’t be willing to deal with the awkward process of eating rubyfruits turned out to be unfounded.

“Yes! Finally! I’ve been looking forward to this!”

Mia picked up a rubyfruit, grinned from ear to ear, happily peeled off the skin, and bit right into the fruit’s flesh without a second thought. She chewed her way down to the seed while sucking on the juices that came out. Her childlike indifference to how sticky everything was immediately made everyone feel better.

“My, what’s wrong, everyone?” She asked, noticing that people were looking at her with interest. “Am I eating it wrong?”

“Oh, don’t worry about us,” said the mayor with a soft smile. “We do it exactly the same way. This is the best way to enjoy rubyfruit. It’s just that we’ve met some Tearmoon nobles who refused to eat them because it made their hands dirty or because they thought the way was uncouth, etc.”

“Huh. They’re missing out, though. The best part is getting your hands dirty! It makes eating these so much more fun,” she said as she sucked the juice off her fingers. It was a strange coincidence, but Rania used to do the same thing.

“Quite right,” he said. “Now I see that Tearmoon’s princesses aren’t that different from ours,” the mayor said, saying what everyone else in the village was thinking. They will always remember the sight as a sign of how much they liked Mia. It got rid of all the bad ideas they had about her station, leaving only love for one of their own princess’s best friends.

Anyone who can change the minds of a group of people all by themselves should be proud of themselves, but Mia wasn’t. Was it being humble? Of course not. It was a total ignorance. She thought she was just having a nice day picking rubyfruits and eating them.

—

Ludwig and Anne watched from a distance.

“As usual, Her Highness leaves me completely speechless. The people in the village already like her. I was pretty sure she agreed to pick fruit for Miss Bel and Miss Tatiana, but I had no idea she was going to do it this way…” Ludwig sighed in amazement, but soon his eyebrows pinched with worry. “That being said, I know it’s important to win their trust, but I can’t help but worry about Her Highness’s health. I hope she doesn’t force herself to eat more than she needs to.”

Anne shook her head to reassure him, “Don’t worry. I don’t think you can eat too many rubyfruits.”

She said in a way that made Ludwig raise an eyebrow. He looked at her with suspicion, then back at Mia.

“Wait, is she…”

Mia was peeling her third rubyfruit, but it was clear that her movements didn’t have the same energy as the first. At that rate, it didn’t seem likely that there would be a fourth one.

“It’s the same with my younger brothers. When they eat things that are hard to prepare, they end up feeling full just from the work,” Anne said. That’s why she suggested they pick rubyfruits after hearing from the locals that they were hard to peel. A point for Mia’s right hand against her stomach.

“Oh, I see.” Ludwig looked pleased as he said, “That was very clever, Miss Anne.”

Anne flashed the quickest of smug smiles as she walked over to Mia.

“Excuse me, milady,” she said as she wiped Mia’s mouth.

“My, thank you,” Mia said. “Why don’t you take a seat and try one? These are really good.”

After a bit more chitchat…

“Princess Mia? What are you doing?”

“Oh, Rania. You’re here!”

…Rania Tafrif Perujin, princess of Agricultural Country Perujin, arrived.