"CEO."
"Where is Violet?"
"She has crossed the continent and is in a seaside town called Chiron, located in Corsica."
Corsica was famous as a country with many festivals. It was a great place to play as the weather was good all year round except for mid-winter.
"Did she go out to have fun or something?"
Winter grumbled. Then Hayel continued.
"There is an employee in Chiron who returned home after working at our company. I decided to entrust my Little
Lady's safety to him and pay him a salary. He liked it a lot. It's very difficult to find employment there."
"Yes."
"Are you going back to work?"
"I have to do some work to pass the time."
Winter responded nervously, but Hayel sighed in relief. He didn't understand the mentality of killing time with work, but it felt like putting out an urgent fire.
***
The day before, Violet had no sheets after fighting the spider web, so she slept on a bed with only a wooden board. As she got up, unable to overcome her fatigue, she heard a murmur outside the door.
Violet was startled and unconsciously found the clutch and held it. Then, as she was taking out the only object she was carrying, a gun, and holding it. She heard a voice.
"The Lady who lived here said she looked like a noblewoman?"
"Is that possible? In that old house?"
"In today's world, even if you are a noble, if you fail, you have to live in a place like this."
"If she're nobles, shouldn't we all come and say hello?"
Hearing the noise of people, Violet felt a little relieved, put the gun back in the clutch, and opened the door. As soon as they saw her face, a middle-aged man who appeared to be the village representative took a step forward.
"Have you moved in?"
"That's right. What's going on in front of my house?"
The villagers were looking at Violet curiously as she asked that question. The man continued.
"If you are moving here, you have to come to the village hall in the evening and report as a resident, and pay to use the breakwater here."
At his words, Violet raised her head and looked up at the oak tree.
She wondered whether she should say this honestly or not. It was very scary for a woman to come alone to a village she didn't know well and speak up. However, Violet was unable to become a person who weighed the situation and made the wrong choice.
She immediately spoke in a low voice.
"You mean this oak tree?"
"Exactly."
"Rarkround law states that breakwaters are unowned. Since this is the Principality of Dos, the laws should be the same, so who is paying the usage fee? Maybe it's a management fee."
The man flinched at her point. At the same time, people began to murmur.
"What do you mean, Chief?"
"So, what do you mean? Everyone in the village takes turns managing the forest, right?"
"Didn't this forest belong to the Yefimchuk family? I heard you're paying a usage fee to that family?"
As people gathered, the village head broke into a cold sweat and shouted.
"Well, I have some business to do at the hall, so I'll go there first!"
Then he ran away and ran like crazy. The whole village suddenly started running after the fleeing village chief.
As soon as the front became quiet, Violet stumbled and touched the door frame. She couldn't help but point it out, but she was afraid that the village head might do harm later.
Instead of worrying ahead of time about something that didn't happen, Violet started preparing to go say hello to the Yefimchuk family, who had the most influence around here. She was thinking of going and getting some work.
The only clothing she had was a one-piece dress, but she took care to dress it up and put on a hat. As she was about to open thr door to leave, the village women were back in front of her. Violet straightened her posture again and spoke to the people.
"I was too busy earlier to say hello. My name is Violet, who has recently moved here... Why are you coming in?"
"Wow, how can you live in a house like this?"
"Call the carpenter first. It looks like the pillar will collapse soon."
As people started cleaning up, a wide-eyed Violet pulled out a nearby woman who seemed to be the closest in age to her and asked.
"What is happening?"
"Mam, the sailors went to catch that damned bastard, Oh, somehow, ever since that guy became the village head three years ago, he's suddenly been charging us a usage fee!"
"Is that so?"
"If it wasn't for you, we would have never known. So we're going to do some cleaning."
"But how about getting the landlord's permission before coming in?"
"Oh my gosh, they're already in!"
The woman, Pim said teasingly, started cleaning together. In addition, potato soup was suddenly placed on the table, along with freshly picked carrots and freshly baked black bread.
Violet was embarrassed and tried to stop them, but it was no use. Still, she didn't like it when her house was crowded with people from the beginning, so the corners of her mouth went up without her realizing it.
Violet felt like a fool for being afraid earlier.
***
The village head was kicked out the very next day after Violet arrived.
Thanks to protecting the money of the Chiron people from being embezzled, Violet settled down in the village with ease. She was able to get some work from the Yefimchuk family as they needed someone to decorate the flowers for their occasional tea parties.
The big things she was worried about were resolved easily, but the unexpected little things were a mess. Living alone posed a number of problems. Everything was a barrier, especially to Violet, who had never lifted a finger in her life.
The dilapidated house almost had to be rebuilt. In particular, all the pillars of the house were rotten, so she had to call a carpenter to replace them. Until she could save up the money to hire a carpenter, she had to spend every night in the creaking house worrying that the ceiling would collapse.
After about a year, the house became a decent place to live.
Violet fell in love with her home for the first time in her life. It was the first time she felt so relaxed.
Adjusting to Winter's absence wasn't that difficult. Because he wasn't the kind of man who would always be by her side.
However, Violet often encountered visions of Winter sitting cross-legged in front of the round wooden dining table that she especially loved.
In her fantasy, Winter really loved this old house, and even though he was banging his head on the ceiling, he would grumble a little and then quickly laugh it off.
At first, Violet tried her best not to think about Winter, but the lonely longing for him never went away, so she decided to just give up and accept it.
In Chiron's winter, the coldest day was about 5 degrees Celsius, and now that it is February, spring is already starting to feel.
Violet, who woke up late as she had no work today, washed her blanket after a long time on an unusually warm day, shook out the bed sheets, and hung them up on the clothesline that the sailors had hung up.
She was satisfied with the thought that she had now gotten used to doing housework when a group of neighborhood kids came rushing towards her.
"Violet! I'll hide here!"
"Hide me!"
"You had an accident again, you kids?"
Unlike the tough adults in the neighborhood, Violet never made a loud noise or got angry.
All she said was that she was from another continent, but everyone knew she was probably no ordinary noble. She was clear even without all the external details.
Her characteristics, which were foreign to adults, made the villagers uncomfortable, but to the children, Violet was just a good adult who did not get angry. The children laughed and hid in the house, and after a while, adults were seen running around to catch them.
When Violet quietly raised her hand, pretending not to notice, people came rushing in and took their children out of her house.
"Ugh! I hid well!"
"Do you always hide in this house and hope not to be found?"
As the children were caught and dragged away, Violet smiled involuntarily. A little while later, her neighbor Pim showed up holding a bunch of steamed potatoes.
"Violet, take this."
Compared to other villagers, Pim had an especially good relationship with Violet, and she took care of various things she needed and even informed her. Pim was especially so good that sometimes Violet wondered why she was like this. Moreover, it was such an extreme honorific that she even wondered if her identity had been revealed.
Violet laid out the bed sheets and blankets and picked up the potatoes.
"Oh my God. Thank you. Where did you get such good potatoes?"
"Some foreigners came to the port the other day."
"What's wrong with a foreigner? Oh, would you like a drink?"
"Good."
Violet put the potatoes in, took out a glass, and made a cup of apple tea. Pim always likes things cold, so she filled the glass with ice.
The square ice that Violet froze always had small flowers frozen together, which was very lovely to see. Pym nagged as he took the apple tea.
"Oh, since you're so nice, doesn't that mean kids from all over the neighborhood come here and hang out?"
"I like it because it gets crowded when the kids are here."
Violet said with a smile, and Pym, who drank her drink in one go, clicked her tongue as she examined the bed sheets.
"By the way, Violet is really bad at doing laundry. Is this a sucker or a full one?"
"I worked hard."
"I guess you really grew up without evor getting your hands dirty. Let's do it a gain. Please follow me."
"again? There's no need for that, right?"
Violet tried to dry it, but Pim had already finished hanging the laundry. She said as she put her laundry back into the large wooden bin she hadn't put away yet.
"Anyway, I don't think even a Princess from far away would be unable to do something like this."
"I am sorry."
She tried hard, but when they kept saying she couldn't do it, Violet got a little pouty without realizing it and pursed her lips.
Pim laughed heartily at the rare facial expression of Violet, who somehow felt older than her even though she was three years younger than her. She said to Violet as she took and poured the water.
"Take off your slippers and get in here."
"Here?"
"Yes. Step on it firmly with your foot."
When Violet looked at Pym with wide eyes, she clicked her tongue and said,
"Also, 'Oh my God, how could you be so rude.'You make that face."
"Did I do that?"
"That's right. Take off your slippers quickly and go in."
At Pim's urging, Violet had no choice but to enter the wooden barrel barefoot. She laughed, holding her skirt up to keep it from getting wet and stomping on her laundry with both feet.
"Ah. Now I understand why you told me to go in and step on it."
"Yes? Oh my, you don't have any strength at all."
Even though Pim was teasing, she held Violet's arm well to prevent her from falling. Violet, who was sweating so hard, asked belatedly.
"Anyway, where are these people from out of town that they came from?"
"Oh, that's it."
Pim clapped her hands and continued speaking as if she had not explained it to her.
"They say they are building a Kanik Hotel. People were really excited, saying that if there were more tourists here, there would be more jobs, right?"
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