“I don’t know,” Cassian replied curtly.
Zinnia was stunned; if her jaw could have dropped, it would have hit the ground right then and there; she was so baffled.
“You! How could you say that!” Zinnia gritted her teeth in frustration.
“Well, what else can I do? I really don’t know; they’re wearing hoods, so I can’t see them,” Cassian explained, shrugging indifferently.
“Ugh! So what do we do now? What if they attack us again?” Zinnia asked seriously this time.
“I’m sure they won’t act recklessly. Even so, we have to find a way to deal with them right away, before they decide to attack again.” Cassian’s voice took on a dangerous edge at that moment.
Zinnia nodded slowly, then she went back to thinking about the shadowy figure she’d seen earlier.
Now she wondered if she should tell Cassian what she’d seen.
After thinking for a moment, Zinnia decided to tell Cassian.
“Actually, I haven’t told you this yet. But when you came home that night, I saw a shadowy figure outside the Manor gate,” Zinnia said softly.
For some reason, she felt a little uneasy telling Cassian this.
For a few moments, Zinnia got no reaction from Cassian; out of curiosity, she looked up at him.
Earlier, Zinnia had intended to make it clear that she was serious; she had truly seen that shadowy figure.
However, when Zinnia looked up at Cassian, she could see his eyes widen in shock.
“Why… why didn’t you say so from the start?!” Cassian narrowed his eyes sharply, his voice sounding loud and piercing at that moment.
“I-is it-t dangerous?” Zinnia got goosebumps hearing the way Cassian was speaking to her right now.
Seeing how Zinnia asked timidly, Cassian blinked a few times to calm himself down.
He shouldn’t have overreacted like this; if it were him, he’d also hesitate to tell Zinnia this.
“Next time, tell me if you see something suspicious. Even if you suspect me, at least I don’t intend to kill you… for now.” After pausing for a moment, Cassian continued casually.
“Huh?! What do you mean, ‘for now’? So you do intend to kill me?” Zinnia was offended upon hearing that.
Cassian didn’t care; he took a step forward, intending to walk away from Zinnia’s plantation.
However, before Cassian could walk away, Zinnia had already grabbed the back of his shirt collar.
Zinnia snorted loudly when she saw Cassian trying to walk away from her; she couldn’t believe he thought he could just leave after provoking her like that.
“Where do you think you’re going? Don’t you remember you still owe me a debt?” Zinnia grinned widely, her chin held high as she shot Cassian a scornful glance. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“Don’t you remember that I’m still sick?” Cassian could feel the corners of his lips twitching stiffly as he saw just how terrifying Zinnia looked right now.
“Why should I care?” The smirk on Zinnia’s lips grew even wider as she said it.
Cold sweat began to form on Cassian’s temples as he watched Zinnia move closer to him.
In the end, Cassian couldn’t escape Zinnia’s grip and ended up as her assistant in the garden today.
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.
.
“I don’t get it. What am I supposed to look for in these plants?” Cassian tilted his head in confusion.
“Are you blind? Can’t you see these damn weeds eating away at my beloved plants?” Zinnia shot a sharp glare at Cassian, though her gaze softened when she looked at her plants.
Cassian ended up face-palming when he saw Zinnia’s reaction; it seemed her eccentricity was truly beyond cure.
Not wanting to be yelled at by Zinnia again, Cassian used his keen eyesight to search for the weeds she was referring to.
Zinnia, standing next to Cassian, could be seen carefully removing the weeds and parasites, making sure not to harm her plants.
[Farming Proficiency increased!]
Once she had gotten used to the system notifications, Zinnia no longer paid attention when her proficiencies increased while she was farming.
Zinnia’s focus remained on the plants she had tended with all her heart.
However, out of the corner of her eye, Zinnia noticed Cassian’s stiff, confused movements as he tended to his plants.
“Hey, you! Go to the small greenhouse next door. Water the seeds I put there, just spray them lightly; don’t use too much water!” Zinnia made sure Cassian was careful.
“Are you sure?” Cassian looked at Zinnia uncertainly.
The thing was, Cassian didn’t understand how much water he was supposed to spray on the seeds Zinnia was referring to.
“Of course. You need to know this if you want to pay off your debt,” Zinnia replied with a smile on her face.
Cassian felt a chill run down his spine as he watched Zinnia smile at him.
Watching Cassian leave, Zinnia slowly exhaled, then continued checking on her plants, which were almost ready for harvest.
“I hope that idiot doesn’t ruin my seeds,” Zinnia muttered as she gently scratched her cheek.
Zinnia shrugged it off, not giving it much thought; after all, only a fool would make a mistake.
Since the seeds Zinnia had sown would be ready soon, she had to quickly prepare another plot to plant them.
“Looks like I’ll have to plow the adjacent plot right away,” Zinnia said, glancing at the land next to her.
Previously, Zinnia had plowed a plot five meters wide and ten meters long.
And to plant the first batch of crops, she had already used a two-meter-wide section of that plot.
With a one-meter gap between plots, Zinnia still had two meters of land she could use to plant seeds from the next batch.
[Soil Condition: Hardened]
[Cautions: Must be plowed again to loosen the soil. Current conditions do not allow for planting.]
“Just as I thought…” Zinnia put her hands on her hips as she looked at the System’s report.
“Looks like I’ll have to plow it again,” Zinnia said, then began to stretch her body.
“This time, I think I’ll try softening it with the well water I’ve filtered!” Zinnia grinned as she finally got the chance to try something new.
Zinnia then got up from her spot to grab a container and began transferring the filtered water into it.
Only then did Zinnia use the water she’d brought to water the still-hard soil, making sure to distribute it evenly.
After making sure the soil she was going to hoe had been moistened by the water, Zinnia let it sit for a few moments to ensure the water soaked in completely.
[Soil Condition Improved!]
Only then did Zinnia pick up her hoe and begin breaking up the soil, which had softened after being moistened.
Unbeknownst to Zinnia, Cassian was watching everything she did in the front yard.
In his mind, Cassian couldn’t stop thinking about the nasty rumors circulating about Zinnia.
“Are those rumors a lie? It’s impossible that the wicked young lady they’re talking about would plow the soil like a buffalo like that.” Cassian stared at Zinnia from a distance with an expression that was hard to read.