Translator: Nox

Became the Owner of a Poor Estate

Chapter 23

Except for its excessive size, it was undoubtedly the potato Donghee knew.

Excited, Donghee pulled up a nearby stalk, forgetting that it was growing dark.

“Jackpot!”

Calling it thick-fleshed didn’t do its size justice.

To think they were starving while leaving things like this behind.

“My Lord! You mustn’t touch plants so brimming with demonic energy so carelessly!”

Scrooge, who had come running breathlessly like a man who had lost his soul, was pale in the face, his voice trembling violently.

The frantic butler squeezed his eyes shut and snatched the Dural from Donghee’s hands, hurling it to the ground.

“What are you doing?!”

“It’s dangerous! You must not touch this plant recklessly!”

“Why? Is it poisonous?”

Donghee frowned as she watched the potato roll across the ground. She had been in a good mood after pulling it up, and seeing it rolling in the dirt made her feel unpleasant.

“It’s not poisonous, but—!”

“Then why?”

“It is a plant filled with demonic energy!”

“So what if it’s filled with demonic energy? Does eating it kill you?”

“Well, not exactly, but….”

Scrooge looked confused even as he answered.

It was partly because he had never once in his life considered the Dural to be edible food, and partly because of the rumors that touching a Dural would bring three years of bad luck.

“Butler, you said this plant is called Dural?”

“Yes, so please put that dreadful thing down at once! Sigh! If you had studied a bit more usually, you wouldn’t be touching such wicked things!”

At Scrooge’s words, which felt like a subtle reproach disguised as a monologue, Donghee narrowed her eyes and glared at him irritably.

Meanwhile, Scrooge stepped back again, hopping anxiously about two meters away.

“No. I’m taking it with me.”

“Whaaat? You mean to bring Dural into the estate?!”

Judging by Scrooge’s reaction, one would think she was trying to bring a serial killer into the castle.

“Why? Can’t I?”

“As I said before, it is brimming with demonic energy—!”

“I’m touching this ‘brimming demonic energy’ just fine. It’s okay. Nothing’s happening even while I’m holding it. Don’t just stand there watching; take this.”

Donghee crouched back down on the ground to harvest a few more since she had already started.

So the reason they left these potatoes alone until now was that they couldn’t even get close because of the demonic energy.

Donghee looked up and stared at the endless field of potatoes.

With this many potatoes, providing food for the residents wouldn’t be an issue for a while.

But the real problem was the vague fear the residents had toward the potatoes—the Dural.

Unless this was resolved first, the people would surely starve even with food right in front of them.

“Y-you want me to hold it?”

Scrooge’s pupils shook with anxiety.

He had a pitiful and wretched expression as if his lord was forcing him to do something unspeakable, but Donghee remained unmoved.

“Then should I carry it all? It’s heavy. Stop complaining and come take it.”

Donghee nonchalantly tossed a Dural toward Scrooge.

She thought he might just let it fall, but perhaps because it was an order from his lord, Scrooge caught the Dural with both hands while making a face of utter disgust. She heard the residents watching from afar gasp in unison.

“Eek.”

Scrooge barely gripped the stalk, stretching his arms out as far as possible to keep the Dural bulb away from his body.

The sight was so funny that Donghee laughed out loud a few times before harvesting more potatoes.

Watching the potatoes come up in clusters from the fertile soil, Donghee lost track of time. It was only after the surroundings became pitch black that she left the hill, practically dragged away by Scrooge.

“No matter how much you hate it, I should have made you study. Then you wouldn’t have… done such a thing.”

“Is it just my imagination that the words you skipped sounded like a curse?”

At Donghee’s words as she was being led away from the Dural field, Scrooge spoke in a grave voice while staring at the Black Forest.

“The Black Forest has turned completely black now.”

“You definitely just cursed me.”

---

“T-that, isn’t that Dural?!”

The head chef, seeing Donghee walk in with an armful of potatoes, recoiled in horror.

The lumpy potatoes, covered in dirt, looked as ugly as an orc’s face.

“Yeah. It’s a potato.”

Donghee replied in a deliberately nonchalant voice, looking at the fussing chef.

“Pardon? It’s not Dural?”

With Donghee’s single word, the fear and wariness spread across the chef’s face began to melt away. However,

“It’s Dural, but it’s a potato.”

“Heek!”

The chef recoiled in horror once again.

His eyes darted back and forth between the butler and Thelma standing behind her. Standing behind them, Scrooge already looked haggard.

The chef, stepping back and bumping into Scrooge, saw that the butler’s clothes were also covered in dust and dirt, and he scrambled away from him in a panic.

“Yes, it is. I brought Dural all the way here.”

Scrooge’s eyes somehow looked hollow as he answered.

The chef and Thelma turned back toward Chloe with looks demanding an explanation, but no one there could accurately explain the situation.

She simply had to show them firsthand that this Dural—or whatever—was incredibly delicious food.

“Just wait. I’ll show you.”

“Show us what?”

“Something amazingly delicious.”

Fitting for a dirt-poor estate, the only servants working in the kitchen were the head chef and a single assistant. The assistant couldn’t quite bring himself to flee the kitchen and instead stuck to the wall as much as possible to observe.

The chef and the assistant were mainly responsible for Chloe’s meals and dishes for the rare guests who visited.

Thump!

When she placed a large potato on the cutting board, she heard the chef gasp. The assistant covered his mouth.

Having brought that unholy thing into the kitchen, the future looked bleak to them.

Donghee ignored the chef’s whimpering and began to peel the potato skin with practiced skill.

Judging by his writhing, it looked as if the chef was being peeled instead of the Dural.

“Why on earth is the Lord doing that?”

Thelma asked Scrooge while patting the back of the chef, who was squirming like an earthworm.

“Sigh. Just when I thought everything was finally getting better….”

“Still, shouldn’t we wait and see? It’s true that she has changed.”

Thelma said, still holding onto hope.

Meanwhile, the chef, who had stopped squirming, stared blankly at the kitchen and muttered.

“It’ll take all day to disinfect the cutting board and the knife, won’t it?”

“Then how do we disinfect the Lord?”

The final question came from Thelma.

“She must be heavily tainted by the demonic energy. Would a bath not be enough?”

Thelma shook her head.

“Then how about taking the Lord for a walk during the day when the sun is bright?”

“She hates walking.”

“Sigh, this is quite a predicament.”

The sound of the chef, the butler, and Thelma putting their heads together and whispering reached Donghee’s ears.

If she left them be, it felt like they would wash her clean and hang her on a clothesline. How fortunate that bleach didn’t exist in this era.

Tatap, tatap!

Under Donghee’s brilliant knife work, the round potato was soon transformed into long sticks.

A hint of curiosity began to flicker in the eyes of the three worried onlookers.

In truth, they had expected black demonic energy to drift up like smoke the moment the Dural was cut.

But while she peeled it and cut it into hundreds of pieces, let alone black smoke, they didn’t feel any strange energy anywhere in the kitchen.

The chef and Thelma, who had barely been hovering at the kitchen entrance, peeked their heads inside. But Scrooge remained in the exact spot where he had first stood.

The Lord was now pouring oil into a pot.

“Gasp! That precious oil!”

The chef was on the verge of losing his mind.

It was very expensive oil, used only once in a while when an important guest arrived or for major events in the territory.

In wealthy estates with abundant resources, using oil for cooking was a common occurrence, but not in this impoverished land. Cooking with oil was like a rare indulgence for the chef of Grace, a joy he could only occasionally taste.

Even that opportunity was being snatched away by the thoughtless Lord.

Tears finally began to stream down the chef’s cheeks.

Feeling sorry, Thelma couldn’t bring herself to look the chef in the eye and simply patted his shoulder with a forced smile.

It’s okay. Everything will be fine.

Time is the medicine.

However, even Thelma couldn’t feel certain seeing the Lord’s current actions.

She simply watched silently from the side, finding it admirable that the Lord was moving diligently and showing initiative for something.

Donghee poured oil into the pot and prepared to steam potatoes on the other side.

The whispering voices were heard again, but now was not the time to worry about that.

Steamed potatoes and french fries.

Just thinking about it made her mouth water already.

Sssss!

When the sliced Dural was dropped into the bubbling oil, it made a delicious frying sound.

The pale Dural turned golden as it wore its oily coat, spreading a savory aroma everywhere.

Donghee repeated the process several times, scooping the fried Dural out of the oil and into a basket before putting more sliced Dural in.

Who would have thought her past experience working part-time at a hamburger franchise would be used like this?

Thinking that life truly is unpredictable, Donghee put her heart into making the french fries—no, the Dural fries.

A short while later.

“W-what is this?”

“What do you think? It’s delicious food.”

“With… Dural?”

“Yeah. Try it. Which one do you want to try first?”

She asked, placing the golden, crispy Dural fries and the fluffy steamed Dural on plates across the kitchen table.

The bulbs were so large that she had to cut the steamed Dural into quarters to fit them on the tray.

The smell was incredible.

The Dural had been in excellent condition; as they say, all cooking starts with good ingredients.

Though they gulped at the savory scent, none of the three reached out first.

Fries have to be eaten before they get cold to be tasty!

“Look at these cowards. Watch closely! Me eating it!”

“You mustn’t!”

All three reached out at the same time, but Donghee was faster.

The crispy fried Dural had already entered Donghee’s mouth.

“Gasp!”

When Donghee suddenly covered her mouth and her eyes widened, Thelma ran over in shock and tried to force the Lord’s mouth open.

“My Lord! Spit it out! Hurry!”