The Prince Doesn’t Cry From Mere Onions

“Don’t worry about it.
He definitely went to go drink using this as an excuse.”

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“As an excuse?”

“Yes.
When we return to the village, the chief’s going to vow, ‘I was so drunk, I didn’t even know Bertram was following us back! I didn’t bring him back on purpose!’ He’s only an easy-to-read grandpa, that’s all.”

“Then, we do not need to gain permission explicitly?”

“If he really wanted to keep you away, Mr.
Bertram, don’t you think he would have taken us to the carriage to go back straight away? So what we need to worry about is not getting the chief’s permission, but!”

Anna valiantly took out her wallet.

“It’s preparing a good enough gift so we’re not chased out by my mom.
That plump pig, you can get it, right?”

“I will have to do my best.”

“Exactly, which is why—uncle, one sausage, please.”

Before Bertram could ask what correlation existed between those two statements, Anna was offering Bertram the sausage slathered profusely with mustard.

“Eat this, power up, and win!”

“….What about you, Miss Anna?”

“Haha, don’t tell me you thought of me as the type to ‘yield delicious snacks to other people because we don’t have enough money’?”

“That is indeed what I thought.”

“Guh.
You’re not wrong, but! For me, you just have to bring the pig home, Mr.
Bertram.”

“…..”

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“Hurry, take it! I want to fatten you up, but do you not want me to eat meat?”

The logic was definitely questionable.

It was, but in the face of her mischievous smile, despite her sharp words, Bertram felt there was no need to contradict Anna.

In the end, Bertram accepted the sausage.

When he bites into it, hot, oily fats flow into his mouth.

Though he cannot know what this tastes like…..

Just by looking at Anna’s expression, he could know that this was quite a treat.

A voice from far off called, ‘Participants of the pig festival, come this way!’ Bertram quickly swallowed the sausage and spoke.

“I will be back.
I will bring back the meat, so please make it into something delicious.”

“That goes without saying!”

Bertram immediately headed to the place where they summoned the participants, while Anna and Lara walked to the competition grounds more leisurely.

It seemed they were using the lot left empty after the spring harvest as the game arena.
The sticks they had used for the vineyard were now acting as obstacles.

The ground roughed up from the harvest would probably be settled under the feet of the pigs and people going wild on top of it.

“What a frugal festival!”

“Oh, Anna! Look over there! I can see Mr.
Bertram!”

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“Hm? Whoa….
I see him! I see him too!”

Anna was thrilled.

Short Anna often suffered and had to endure the humiliation of not being able to see whatever anyone was looking at, blocked by others’ shoulders.
Even now, she could barely see the top of other people’s heads at the starting line.

However, thanks to Bertram’s exceptionally tall height, even Anna could see up to his jawline clearly.
This was a first for her.

Without knowing the true reason for Anna’s glee, Lara wore a satisfied smile on her face.

“Anna.
You really like him, don’t you?”

“What?”

“I was really surprised at first, you know.
Who would’ve thought a romantic couple could come out of our village… Since when did the two of you confirm each other’s feelings? Hasn’t it only been a week since you’ve met?”

“Lara, what are you talking about? Me and who confirms what feelings?”

“Huh? Um… You and Mr.
Bertram.”

Only then did Anna remember the previous night.

When Lara had run out on them to ‘give you two some privacy,’ she had been determined to resolve the misunderstanding later.

But then she’d shown Lara the scene of her touching Bertram’s chest when she returned, then became too worried about the pursuers that she’d lost the opportunity to explain herself completely.

“Lara.
I have no emotions whatsoever toward Mr.
Bertram! It’ll take a bit long to explain what that on the bed was, but yeah.
Anyway, don’t misunderstand.
To each other, we are merely a worker and store owner.”

As the older of the two, Anna cut off her words short and turned her head away to show her cool-headed indifference.

But the moment the unleashed boars began running on the competition grounds, Anna’s countenance crumbled instantly.

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“Wait, I forgot to say something important!”

“What is it?”

“I should’ve told him to never get hurt! What should I do?”

“Anna…..”

Lara may have been thinking that Anna was already a lost cause, but the worry itself was quite reasonable.

If Franz had been in this place, he would have realized just how appropriate his own christening of this competition as ‘a game to sift out idiots’ had been.

…..putting aside the problem that his friend-cum-superior was in the middle of those idiots, that is.

The boars go wild.
The young men, who at first giggled as they ran, slowly lost their smiles.
There are even some who are clinging to the fence posts.

“Get me out of here!”

“If you’ve said you’ll do it, stay ‘till the end! Show us your strength!”

The onlookers snickered as they crowded nearer to the fence.

Anna tried her hardest to not be pushed out from her front-row spot, but she was inevitably dragged out by Lara, who was worried her older companion might be squashed to death in the crowd.

“Gaah! I can’t see a single thing from out here! Lara, do you see anything?”

“…..Mr.
Bertram looks like he’s fine, but…”

“But?”

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“Anna, was this an obstacle collection race?”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

On top of the platform—

The first to appear, Bertram stepped up with an injured person under each arm.

The moderator cackled, as if he was drunk.

“You’ve even picked up useless trash on the way! You’re too kind.”

“We had enough of injuries from the war.”

“Bwahahaha! Now that’s a lesson that doesn’t fit the festivities! Anyhow, it looks like we have a winner.
Your name is…”

However, people began moving from then on, making it impossible to observe anything more.

It seemed the spectators only needed a noisy background—be it the snorts of the boars or the screams of people being stepped on by them—to drink to, and thus were rather uninterested in the results.
They chattered to each other about where they should go next.

Just as the crowd thinned, what they heard was—

“I have returned, Miss Anna, Miss Lara.”

“….Mr.
Bertram.
What is that?”

“The prize.”

In Bertram’s arms, now returned to them, laid one adorable piglet.