I'm A Sucker For Extras - Chapter 76

Chapter 76

“You’ve changed so much, my lady. You seem like a completely different person than you were then.”

Caleb said this after a long bout of crying.

“…….”

‘Ahaha, yes. I am a completely different person, indeed,’ but can she really say that? Brody responded awkwardly, forcing a smile.

“People change.”

“I know. That’s not my place to say.”

Caleb looked at her hand, which seemed like nothing but bones. Brody followed her gaze, then rose from beside her.

She soaked a towel in water, wrung it tightly, and handed it to her.

“Eat well, sleep well, and live hard, My Lady, so that you can help me. You know you have to take care of yourself, right? I’ll make sure you can wear even more elegant clothes than you did at the duke’s estate.”

Caleb laughed awkwardly, wiping her eyes with the towel. Could that really happen here in the North? Was it possible?

The North was…… poor.

Although they were not particularly wealthy to begin with, years of famine and imperial exploitation had made it even worse.

Maybe she didn’t know the situation because she hadn’t arrived in the capital yet. No, it couldn’t be. Brody didn’t seem like the kind of person who would allow such a casual arrangement if she were the same person she remembered from the ducal estate. If she had been like that, she wouldn’t have been so nonchalant about it.

Maybe, just maybe, this woman could accomplish something, she thought.

‘Now that I think about it, I really don’t know anything about Lady Brody.’

Brody went back to her herb-making, tinkering diligently with her hands.

It was comforting to Caleb to see her calmly return to her daily life by her side.

Caleb leaned back in her lap, toweled off, and watched her hands move repetitively. Her heart sank calmly.

Suddenly, Brody’s voice was heard amidst the sound of the herb mortar and pestle clashing.

“By the way, Caleb, did you and the Chief of Staff always know each other?”

Caleb’s body flinched at the sudden question. But Brody couldn’t tell because she wasn’t looking at Caleb.

Caleb cleared her throat loudly, clearing the lump that had formed in her throat from crying, and answered in a calm voice.

“Yes? You mean Sir River, the…… Chief of Staff of the North?”

“Yes, the chief of staff.”

“Of course I knew you; he is the kind of person most Northerners would know.”

“Oh, you don’t know him personally?”

“No. This is the first time I’ve ever spoken to him.”

“Hmm. It seems like the Chief of Staff knows you.”

“Does he…… me?”

“Yes. Although he only recognized you by face, he knows Mrs. Murphy raised you like a daughter.”

Brody glanced in Caleb’s direction. She looked genuinely surprised that the Chief of Staff recognized her.

‘Hmm, or is it just me, but there’s a strange vibe between the two.’

Brody recalled the moment when River first recognized Caleb. It was brief, but she saw a moment of surprise or astonishment in his expression.

Caleb, in turn, seemed to give River an unreadable glance.

Perhaps they were old acquaintances? Were they close? Brody initially speculated.

‘But upon further thought, Caleb was thirty-eight and River was thirty. Caleb had mentioned marrying in her twenties, so River would have been twelve at the time. Caleb went to the capital with her daughter after her husband’s death… Hmm, it seemed unlikely.’

Caleb didn’t respond to Brody’s explanation that River knew him.

‘Well, that’s it.’

And with that, Brody pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

❖ ❖ ❖ ❖

After that, Brody began learning the job in earnest at River’s office.

She learned how administrative documents were organized, what to focus on, what to review, and how to process and organize them.

River is quite the teacher, giving Brody a lot of tasks to do.

But Brody is someone who entered college after going through the hell of the entrance exam, and attended college on a scholarship while studying early in the morning and working a part-time job between lectures. She took a leave of absence for family reasons and worked her way through various jobs to gain experience.

Keeping busy, multiplayer, speed reading, and memorization were Brody’s specialties.

She has a particularly good memory, and once she sees or hears something, she doesn’t easily forget it. Without this ability, she wouldn’t have been able to successfully juggle her college studies with her busy schedule.

Besides, life in the olden days was more relaxed than the hectic pace of modern civilized society. At least in terms of time.

When the sun goes down, you have to live by candlelight, and candles are not cheap. Therefore, the daily schedule was limited.

The level of basic education was also completely different. Multiplication facts alone would be a surprise, and factoring would require a thesis.

River was surprised. Even though Brody tried her best not to startle him.

Brody worked hard to digest the large amount of information and sometimes approached things in new ways to do better.

Seeing River shaking his head and sticking out his tongue, Brody shrugged her shoulders awkwardly.

In the North, Aidan was the more physically active one, while River stayed indoors and fought with papers.

So the amount of time River and Brody spent together was overwhelmingly outnumbered by the time they spent with Aidan.

Aidan wasn’t feeling good about it.

Avoiding him was fine, because he was the one who took the first step back, but being with River? Being estranged from her was supposed to be about letting her go, and that’s not even close.

Aidan subtly expressed his dissatisfaction when he was alone with River.

“I don’t think being a Duchess means you have to do all that work.”

River responded coldly, as if asking what kind of nonsense he was saying.

“What’s the harm in knowing?”

“…….”

Aidan was surprised. River’s words were a compliment to her, for he was a cautious man who would rather do the job himself than have a fool do it.

He wouldn’t have allowed Brody’s fingerprints to be on the paperwork if he’d had his way.

Aidan grew impatient.

‘Instead of avoiding River, she’s trying to impress him. What are you up to, Brody?  ‘

‘We’ll worry about that in three years. Shouldn’t we be dealing with the daunting task at hand?  ’

She said that, and she lived by her words.

She knows her skills can help.

But isn’t the potato field already enough? Is it really necessary to intervene any further than this?

Northern matters can be resolved in the north. It’s not that weak. They have themselves; they have River; they won the war, after all.

But the more worried glances Aidan sent her way, the further Brody seemed to drift away from him.

❖ ❖ ❖ ❖

River’s new way of seeing Brody gradually seeped into his life.

Now he doesn’t even let Brody out when he has meetings with Aidan.

‘I feel like I’ve been accepted.’

And so, when the time was right, Brody was able to relay her collected thoughts to the two of them.

‘I feel like I’ve been recognized a bit.’

And so, at an opportune moment, Brody was able to convey her thoughts to both of them, which she had organized during that time.

“Do you have something to say?”

Brody nodded seriously and answered the puzzled Aidan and River.

“Yes. I hope you’ll listen.”

And so began Brody’s explanation.

She asked.

“What do you think our country needs most to be strong?”

She said she had something to say, but was this an unexpected question?

But Brody’s urging made them both answer.

“Strong, well-trained soldiers.”

“And a good leader.”

Brody nodded.

“Yes, those are certainly important. But more important than that is-,”

She paused, locked eyes with them both, and finished.

“Money.”

“…….”

Aidan looked at her expressionlessly, while River tilted her head arrogantly, wearing an openly disdainful expression.

“Everyone knows it’s nice to have a lot of money, and since we don’t, we should be discussing how to spend it efficiently within our limited resources.”

“Why isn’t that the case?”

“Don’t you know why the North is poor? It’s a struggle just to put food on the table. Even after the famine, the land is so barren that it doesn’t produce much, and we don’t have any specialties.”

“So why do you think it has to be that way? ”

“…….”

River was about to say something more, but instead, he raised an eyebrow and remained silent. It seemed to be a sign to finish.

“I think earning money is the most important thing right now. To do that, we need-,”

Tap. Brody interrupted herself, resting her hand on the map hanging on the wall.

“Here, we need to build a fortress.”

River and Aidan’s gazes naturally traveled to Brody’s fingertips.

The location was about 900 km south of Perdan Fortress.

It wasn’t difficult to build a fortress there, as it was a wide open space between mountain ranges, but there seemed to be no reason to build one there.

“Why do we need to build a fortress here?”

Aidan finally asked.

Brody smiled as if she had been waiting for the question.

“Because we’re going to trade with the south.”

At that, Aidan turned back to the map.

‘Yes, if we build a fortress here, we can definitely make Tilden Port part of the North.’

Then the north would have a harbor.

‘Tilden Port.’

That’s the harbor that Aidan and Brody used to come north.

From Tilden Port, the northern tip of the south, Tarno Point, was only a short distance away, and the sea between them was inland and relatively safe.

But the reason Aidan and River didn’t necessarily want to secure the harbor was…….

“Trade? The South doesn’t particularly need any goods from the North. Even though the South is very autonomous, they didn’t help the North during the recent famine mainly because there wasn’t anything attractive enough to trade with, even if it meant tolerating the Empire’s scrutiny.”

“Hmm, I suppose that’s true. Up until now.”

Aidan looked at Brody in surprise.

“You mean now…….”

“Yes, the compelling trade item. I’m going to make one.”

“…….”

Aidan’s complexion darkened.

It was undoubtedly something she could do because she was a plant mage.

Even though she hadn’t revealed her ability, it was possible to openly divulge her intentions to use that ability like this. Was she trying to get caught by the observant River?

Brody could read his thoughts in Aidan’s eyes.

But she shrugged it off with a smile.

Brody had no intention of hiding and waiting for three years to pass.

Besides, she was an expert in plants. There were many ways to cover up the scenes of her cultivation without getting caught.

Seeing Brody’s confident face, Aidan pressed his own forehead together.

“How are you going to handle the quantity of export goods? It’s going to be burdensome for you, for sure.”

“Of course, Your Grace. I won’t be making everything myself. I’ll plan and create samples, but ultimately, the goal is to establish a system.”

River, who had been listening thoughtfully, interjected.

“Are you talking about the new medicine you used to treat me before?”

Brody nodded.

“That’s one thing, and I’ve got a couple other things in mind.”

“Are you saying that’s possible in the North?”

“Commerce is about ideas. We’ll involve Lady Caleb for aesthetic finishing touches. Besides what I’ve prepared, if you look carefully, there are plenty of things produced in the North that have trade value.”

“Very well. It’s worth considering since we’ve been too hasty to dismiss it. Let’s start by resolving the food issue, assuming we have products to export. Shall we start organizing the fortress discussion we just brought up?”

For some reason, River actively listened to Brody’s words.

It was a moment when Aidan and Brody’s joys and sorrows intersected.