It Looks Like Ducks
The sound of hammering echoed through the air as houses rose from the ground.
It was a sound I hadn’t heard when I first arrived here.
They said yesterday the entire village had ground to a halt because the village chief’s bride had come.
Guided by Jinwoo, Marguerite walked through the village and realized all over again just how immense her good fortune truly was.
This village was different from any other.
Unlike the places that didn’t even have a single shack, here they were already building proper fences.
Stones pulled from the fields had been coated in mud and stacked thick and strong. It would still be some time before they enclosed the whole settlement, but in a few years the barrier would be formidable.
“It’s incredible,” Marguerite murmured.
Jinwoo smiled softly. “Thank you for saying so, but we’re still far from a proper village. With so few hands, we’re a little too eager.”
“It’s not th—”
Marguerite cut herself off with a small laugh.
On top of Jinwoo’s head, Popcorn was performing a bizarre dance. He wasn’t proudly thrusting his bottom out; instead he was shaking his fluffy head from side to side while bouncing up and down. His thin arms waved strangely, as if pushing the whole world away.
“This little guy is at it again on my head,” Jinwoo said, reaching up to catch him.
Popcorn only shook harder and bounced even higher.
“He really is like a vibrating ball. Impossible to grab.”
Even when you thought you had him trapped in your fist, he slipped through the gaps somehow. Jinwoo laughed at the ticklish feeling, only for Popcorn to fly straight to his face and repeat the same dance.
It looked like a challenge.
“He’s invented a new dance just to taunt me, hasn’t he? Fine—catch me if you can?”
Jinwoo reached again. Popcorn slipped away with clever grace.
Jinwoo gave Marguerite a meaningful look. “You try. I think that’s what he wants.”
As if he understood the words, Popcorn spun in a delighted circle while still dancing.
When Marguerite reached out, her palm tingled for a split second before Popcorn was already outside her grasp again.
“How does he do that?”
“He seems to vibrate and create tiny openings.”
Deciding we could never catch him, Popcorn let out a joyful ppi ppi and flew off.
“Looks like he’s heading to the field. Probably gone to brag to Sprout.”
“Sprout?” Marguerite tilted her head.
Jinwoo’s expression turned awkward. “One day he suddenly came back carrying a little sprout. He waters it every single day and tends it with great care.”
He added that it might be a sprout from the Spirit Tree, sounding slightly apologetic. Even if that were true, he had nothing to apologize for.
“Let’s go see our field. Though it’s still too early to really call it a field.”
She followed behind his gentle smile.
Suddenly Marguerite looked up at the sky.
The me of yesterday and the me of today are different. Completely different.
The blue sky had not changed at all, yet the body that gazed at it had been transformed. Power overflowed inside her. A quiet rapture swirled through her veins.
Watching the spirits dance across the blue expanse, Marguerite understood at once.
That droplet Popcorn had brought and fed her—it must have come from her husband Jinwoo. She didn’t know exactly what it was, only that it had emerged from his body.
The one who protected me was this man.
Marguerite watched Jinwoo’s back as he walked ahead. Popcorn, the spirits—everything moved for his sake. Whether this had been fated from the beginning or simply the result of Popcorn’s chance discovery of her, every action had been for her husband.
At the same time, a bitter truth settled in her heart.
Her husband’s essence still lingered inside the Saintess’s body. That was why the spirits approached despite their confusion. She didn’t know whether the Saintess’s power was truly her own or a borrowed gift from Jinwoo. She only knew the spirits gathered because of it.
It was conjecture, but she felt certain. If it continued, she would go on living as the Saintess. And as long as spirits hovered around Jeong So-hee, the capital would never notice Jinwoo’s existence. Her presence was clearly helping him live peacefully in this village.
She understood all of that.
But I still hate it.
She hated that her husband’s power remained inside her. Even if he no longer loved her, even if he felt nothing for her, she simply hated it.
Have I always had such an ugly heart?
When she fell silent, Jinwoo glanced back, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all.”
Marguerite smiled brightly. She would never speak of this to him. Jinwoo had said he no longer loved Jeong So-hee, and she believed him, yet she still refused to let that woman cross his mind even for an instant.
She remembered the words her mother had once told her.
When a woman falls in love, her heart grows narrow. You must be careful of that. Men dislike women who try to bind them.
So, Marguerite, if you fall in love, hide your ugly side. Pretend you feel nothing. Pretend you know nothing. Bury it deep inside your heart so it never shows on the surface, and instead let your eyes sparkle. And quietly remove any woman who stands in your way. Look closely and you will find a method. But never, ever let your husband know.
— Mother
Her mother had taught her many other things—how to behave to capture a man’s heart, what to say, what never to say. Jinwoo might be a little different since he was not a man of this world, but human nature remained the same everywhere.
Very well.
Marguerite secretly clenched her fist. Whether it was Jeong So-hee or the greatest beauty in the world, she would not let any woman steal her husband. She would use every lesson her mother had taught her to claim this man’s soul down to the marrow of his bones.
Her gaze suddenly fell on the space between her clenched fist and Jinwoo’s hand. They had been holding hands when they left the house, but the villagers’ beaming smiles had caused them to let go at some point. The absence felt strangely lonely.
In his original world things might have been different, but in this one even married couples did not walk hand in hand. It was natural for nobles and commoners alike. So it was only to be expected… and yet.
I want to hold his hand.
As she thought this, Jinwoo gave a soft laugh.
* * *
It seemed that when she was comfortable, Marguerite often let her inner thoughts slip out loud. She had suddenly clenched her fist as though making a solemn vow, then the very next moment stared at my hand like a child begging for candy, murmuring that she wanted to hold hands. Had that whole resolution simply been because she wanted to hold hands?
Adorable.
“Shall we hold hands?”
When I offered my hand, Marguerite quickly took it.
When we reached the field, Popcorn was performing the same bizarre dance in front of Sprout. He kept circling the sprout as if daring someone to catch him, but of course the sprout gave no reaction. If it had reacted, it wouldn’t be a sprout.
Yet Popcorn seemed to think he had won, because he snorted heung heung at the sprout, then stuck his bottom out and spun in another victory dance. He was clearly counting it as a triumph.
Marguerite crouched in front of the sprout and tilted her head. “Hmm… I wondered if it might be a spirit tree sprout, but it just looks like ordinary grass. There’s no sacred feeling to it at all.”
She seemed a little disappointed. She must have been hoping, even slightly, to see a true spirit tree sprout.
I felt relieved. Even if it was a spirit, casually plucking something so precious would have terrifying consequences. If the kingdom demanded compensation, it would be a disaster. The bill would surely come straight to me, the spirits’ master.
Still, our field really is tiny. Compared to everyone else’s, it’s embarrassingly small.
I worked hard on it, too.
It felt a little shameful to show my wife. I grew slightly dejected.
But Marguerite’s reaction was completely different. The moment she saw the field her eyes sparkled.
“It’s wonderful. There are so many spirits here.”
There seemed to be twice as many as usual. It looked as though more had gathered beyond the ones she had brought. There were more spirits than crops. Every spirit in the vicinity must have come running. The sheer number was dazzling.
“I thought all spirits looked the same,” she said, moved. “But seeing them like this, they’re all so different.”
There were butterfly-shaped spirits, bee-shaped ones, and even some with limbs resembling humans. Normally only I could see them, yet now we stood side by side, looking at the same scene and talking about it.
Someone who sees the same landscape as me.
For some reason the thought made my chest feel strange.
After watching the spirits a while longer, Marguerite turned her gaze to the wide stretch of land that would become our field.
“From now on, this is our field.”
She smiled at me, radiant. “Expect great things. I’m really good at farming. When I was little they even called me Farmer Marguerite.”
Little Farmer Marguerite. She must have been incredibly cute.
Without thinking I started to pat her head the way I would any village child, then quickly pulled my hand back.
“Hmm?”
Marguerite tilted her head, then smiled and pressed her head against my arm. She lifted my arm with both hands and placed my palm on top of her head.
Just like a child. So cute.
Without realizing it I pulled her into a tight embrace. Popcorn, who had been playing with Sprout, came flapping over and wedged himself between us, wrapping us both in his tiny arms. For some reason Orange came waddling over too and clung to my leg.
What are you all doing?
Marguerite burst into bright laughter and looked up.
“Ah… I suddenly want to sing. I haven’t felt this way since I was a child. May I?”
“Of course. There’s no one around, so sing as much as you like.”
At my answer she stepped back and gazed across the field. A song flowed from her lips.
What I had expected to be an ordinary song turned out to be something closer to a melodic incantation. As her voice spread, a gentle rain began to fall.
So this really wasn’t just a song.
She truly can bring rain.
The rain fell everywhere except in a perfect circle around us, showering the wide field and the land beyond. In the soft drizzle the spirits began to dance with joy. Popcorn leapt into the rain, and even Orange joined them. I worried a little—didn’t they all have wings? Would getting wet cause problems?—but none of the spirits seemed bothered.
Marguerite stopped singing and turned to me, eyes wide.
“Goodness, did you see? I can make rain fall over such a wide area, and it doesn’t tire me at all. My power is overflowing. It feels completely different from before. If I wanted, I think I could cover an even larger space.”
She rejoiced that it was her first time experiencing this.
As expected, this was the result of what had happened between us. If she hadn’t realized, I would keep it a secret. I also began to understand why Jeong So-hee was mistaken for this world’s Saintess. I hoped Marguerite would never notice the truth.
She began to sing again, happy as a child, then suddenly tilted her head.
“Look, look over there.”
A flock of birds had flown in and settled across the field. Their coloring was different, but they looked very much like ducks.
“Ducks!” Marguerite’s eyes sparkled with delight. “I used to raise them at my family home. Even wild ones will stay if you feed them.”
Really? Those are ducks?
“Then we can have eggs, too,” I muttered without thinking.
Marguerite laughed. “Of course. We’ll be able to eat eggs every day.”
“That’s excellent news.”
I hadn’t eaten fried eggs once since arriving here. My mouth watered at the thought.
“Just wait. I’m an expert egg collector. Ducks lay eggs in the strangest places, but once they’re in my hands I’ll find every last one.”
“I’m counting on you, Marguerite.”
She thrust her fist into the air with determination.
Above us the drizzle continued to fall while the spirits danced. The sound of quacking and gek-gek cries reached all the way to where we stood. So some ducks really did cry gek-gek. I had always thought they only quacked.
Marguerite’s eyes shone as she explained. “Females quack, males make that gek-gek sound.”
Her proud little lecture somehow reminded me of Popcorn. Popcorn must have thought the same, because he stared at her with a shocked expression.
Suddenly I thought I heard laughter. I looked around, but there was no one. It had seemed to come from Sprout’s direction.
…No. There was no way a sprout could laugh. The sound of rain and spirits must have mixed together strangely.
The rain continued for some time after that—until the children came sprinting toward us, shouting at the top of their lungs.
“Teacher! It’s raining!”
I know. My wife is the one making it fall.