Grandfather sat us in the cart and pulled it along.
Feeling like we were being unfilial, Yoori and I felt a little uncomfortable.
“H-Grandpa, I don’t think this is right…”
“That’s right, Grandpa… I-I can pull it instead. You and Minho can ride.”
We said so out of discomfort, but Grandpa didn’t seem to mind.
“A lowly man making our princesses pull the cart? I’d be struck by the heavens for that~”
He just chuckled and pulled the cart steadily toward the fields.
It seemed like he just wanted to take care of his granddaughters.
Well, since I had basically become a baby again, I saw no reason to refuse.
I let myself relax into the cart.
Yoori, looking slightly restless, pulled me into her embrace.
She took a whiff of my hair, then, as if comforted, settled in to enjoy the scenery with me.
A vast horizon stretched endlessly before us.
The sun, perched on the edge of the horizon, burned its last light before setting.
“…It’s beautiful…”
I murmured in a trance, and Grandpa chuckled, glancing back at me.
“You look just like your mother, right down to the way you stare blankly while riding the cart.”
“…Hehe.”
“Your mom used to say the same thing. Every time she rode the cart, she’d space out while watching the sunset. It was adorable.”
Grandpa closed his eyes and smiled as if reminiscing about the past.
Hearing that I resembled Mom made me beam with pride.
“Grandpa, what did you harvest from the field today?”
“Hm?”
Yoori, who had been gently stroking my hair, smiled as she asked Grandpa.
Grandpa then began telling us about his day.
“Oh, I harvested a lot~”
“Let’s see, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and do you like strawberries? I picked some of those too.”
“Grandma and your dad were over there with sickles, harvesting the rice.”
“We did all sorts of things.”
I tilted my head in confusion and asked,
“Isn’t it past harvest season?”
“Is it?”
It was already November.
Potatoes were a summer crop, sweet potatoes and rice were harvested in October.
Strawberries were just starting to be harvested, but it still seemed a bit early.
“Our little pup sure knows a lot.”
“Hehe…”
I scratched the back of my head shyly at Grandpa’s praise.
“But that’s only for humans~”
“If dragons need crops, we just use magic, and they grow right away.”
“R-Really?!”
I jumped in shock, and Grandpa let out a hearty laugh.
Wait, what? But during the Birth Festival, they made a big deal about the Harvest Festival happening at the same time.
“T-Then what’s the point of the Harvest Festival…?”
I fidgeted with my fingers as I asked, and Grandpa immediately answered,
“No matter how much magic we have, we must cherish the land.”
“Forcing crops to grow with magic all the time would ruin the soil.”
“So we give thanks to the Earth God, and since the non-magical fields yield the most crops around this time, we hold the Harvest Festival then.”
“Smaller farms in remote areas just use magic whenever they need crops, though.”
Oh.
So they restrain magic use to stay in harmony with nature.
“I-I see?”
“Right? You understand already?”
“Yes.”
“Wow~ Our little pup is a genius. Must’ve gotten it from your parents!”
Grandpa grinned joyfully, and I smiled along with him.
As we continued chatting, the cart steadily moved forward.
We passed rice paddies, vast fields, and more paddies and fields again.
We stopped occasionally to look at insects and plants, then dozed off in the cart as we rode along.
After about thirty minutes, we finally reached our family.
“Darling! Daughter! Son-in-law! I brought the kids!”
Grandpa waved his hand toward our family, who were busy handling sweet potatoes in the distance.
“Dad! Mom! Unni!!”
I bounced beside Grandpa, waving excitedly.
Yoori also called out softly to our family.
Then, from afar, we heard Mom’s delighted squeal.
Were they really that happy to see us?
In the blink of an eye, Mom rushed over and tightly hugged me.
“Minho~ I missed you so much~”
“Hehe, me too.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
Mom rubbed her cheek against mine, and since there was dirt on her face, a little got on me too—but I didn’t mind.
“Mom, did you dig up a lot of sweet potatoes?”
“Yup, a lot.”
She turned to show me the net basket strapped to her back.
It was filled to the brim with sweet potatoes.
Now I understood why she had dirt all over her face.
“Wow…”
“Huh?! Mom, did you dig all of these up by yourself?”
“Yup, I had a little competition with your dad.”
Mom scratched her head with a shy laugh, looking just like an innocent countryside girl.
Behind her, Dad trudged toward us.
His net basket, in stark contrast, was nearly empty.
‘…He lost, huh…!’
Judging by his devastated expression, it was clear Mom hadn’t gone easy on him.
“…Ugh, I lost again…”
“Ahem.”
It must not have been his first loss—Dad muttered in defeat while Mom grinned smugly, puffing out her chest.
Watching Dad sulk, Grandpa chuckled and gave him a comforting pat on the back.
“Our Elie dug up so many sweet potatoes—of course, you’d lose.”
“…Yeah, you’re right.”
Even with Grandpa’s encouragement, Dad didn’t look happy at all.
He just stared enviously at Mom’s overflowing basket.
I walked up to him and gave him a big hug.
“…!!”
“Hehe, Dad, you’re tired, right?”
“What? Nope! Not tired at all!”
“Really?!”
“Of course! My daughter’s the best!”
With just one innocent smile from me, Dad beamed and lifted me into the air.
He seemed to regain his energy instantly.
But behind him…
“Oh my, look at your mom sulking, little pup.”
Grandma, carrying three fully packed baskets, chuckled as she pointed toward Mom.
I turned and saw her crouched in the corner, being comforted by my older sisters.
“…But I worked hard too.”
“…Guess you like Dad more…”
“…I tried my best too…”
Mom murmured in a gloomy voice—she was jealous!
I looked up at Dad, silently asking him to take me to her.
“Alright, let’s go~”
“Hehe!”
Understanding my request, Dad carried me over to Mom.
Once we were close enough, he set me down.
The moment my feet touched the ground, I sprinted toward her.
“Mom! You’re tired, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Thank you~ I love sweet potatoes so much!”
“…Really?”
“Yes! And since you dug them up, they’ll taste even better! Hehe.”
I grinned widely, and Mom immediately pulled me into a tight hug.
“Hah! What do you think, Albi?”
She then proudly showed me off in front of Dad.
Worried that Dad might sulk again, I glanced over at him.
He let out a small laugh, followed by a deep sigh.
Then, without warning, he strode toward Mom and did something unexpected.
—Squeeze~
He wrapped both Mom and me in a warm embrace.
“I’m not jealous at all.”
“…Ah, Albi…!! M-Minho is right here!”
“Yoori went off to play with sparklers. And Emil—”
“…I don’t care.”
Mom’s cheeks flushed red.
Their lips inched closer and closer…
It seemed like they completely forgot that I was sandwiched between them.
‘…This is nice!’
I thought I might get to witness something sweet, and my heart started pounding.
But then—
“…El, Minho.”
“Ah!”
“…What a shame…”
“What was that, Minho?”
“…Nothing.”
Dad was the first to realize that I was stuck between them.
Shouldn’t he have kissed her first and then gotten embarrassed?
That’s the usual way these things go!
But alas, reality was different.
Well… If I went off to play with sparklers, maybe they’d end up playing with fire in another way.
…Not that I’d mind a younger sibling.
My mind raced, and before I knew it, I was with Grandpa, Grandma, and my older sisters.
“…Huh?”
“Minho, throw in more straw.”
“Ah, okay, Yoori unni.”
“Hehe, this is so exciting!”
Yoori unni handed me a bundle of straw, smiling.
Next to her, Emil unni was fiddling with something suspicious in the straw while her eyes sparkled with excitement.
Then, right in front of us, Grandpa lit a fire inside a tin can.
“Alright, little pups? Watch carefully—Grandpa’s gonna show you how it’s done.”
“Yes, sir!”
Grandma chuckled as she encouraged us to focus, while Grandpa cleared his throat dramatically.
Once we answered energetically, his lesson began.
“First, you light the fire like this, then you spin it around…!!”
—Whoosh!
As Grandpa swung the tin can in circles, the fire flared up with a loud roar, burning brightly.
The faster he spun it, the stronger and more beautiful the flames became.
“Wow…!”
My eyes were glued to the fiery spectacle in the dark night.
“And then, you throw it…!!”
—Fwoosh!
Grandpa flung the can into a pile of dried weeds.
The moment it landed, the weeds burst into flames.
“Tada!”
“Wow!!”
“…That’s amazing!”
“It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so I was a bit nervous.”
Grandpa grinned proudly, while we all reacted in different ways.
I clapped excitedly like a little kid.
Emil unni’s eyes sparkled as she kept muttering, “Whoa… so cool…!”
And Yoori unni, having experienced this in her past life, gazed at the fire with nostalgic fondness.
“Now it’s time for my little pups to give it a try!”
With a flick of his finger, Grandpa conjured a small flame, then beckoned us forward.
Feeling a rush of excitement, the three of us eagerly stepped up.
Minho is such a bratty little child