Chapter 15: Frostwreath

A week later…

—

The wind whistled outside as Yunho stood, looking out his bedroom window. Ropes of wind dragged snow flurries to the already white ground. Yunho tightened the blanket he had wrapped around himself. The chill was beginning to become familiar to him.

With a deep breath, Yunho sat back down at his desk. He looked back to the piece of white parchment he was musing over. A pen was also lying on the wooden desk, judging him for not using it. Yunho sighed. He was refining his plan to essentially snatch the save-the-day famine plot point from the poor female lead. Yunho hummed thoughtfully as he stared at the stationery assortments on his desk.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. 

"Young master, the order for those plants you asked about just came in. The merchant is in the tea room," A voice called out from behind the door. 

Yunho whipped his head around, his eyes sparkling. He knew what that meant!

Right after the festival, Yunho resoluted himself to cultivating the plant that would later be key to ending the famine. The plant that Irene discovered in the novel was an unremarkable weed that grew in the Northern countryside. It was called Frostwreath and was quite common in the North, but due to its weed-like qualities, it was considered a pest by all farmers. 

Yunho just needed to get his hands on a large quantity of Frostwreath. But who would just be selling a weed like that in huge amounts? Frostwreath wasn't commonly eaten or grown since it wasn't a crop, so not many people would be selling it.

This question plagued Yunho for a few days after the festival until he finally mentioned the fact he was looking for Frostwreath to Aris. Aris was tasked with going to the nearby town whenever needed to pick up necessities and get information and occasionally Mr.Rizer would come with her.

Aris, still feeling guilty about losing Iris during the festival, promised she'd find a seller somewhere. The maid didn't know what he needed the plant for, but she knew she wasn't in any place to ask questions. About Three days ago, Aris went to the town and along the way, ended up finding a merchant that could provide the Frostwreath and its seeds. On her young master's wishes, she ordered six crates to the address of the lodge.

The merchant in the tea room now was most likely from this order.

Yunho got up from his desk and placed the blanket wrapped around him back on the bed. He made his way to his bedroom door, opening it. There, outside the door, stood Nym. The servant boy smiled as they made eye contact.

"The merchant came with a few carriages. I think they're carrying your order. Aris told me about it," Nym said as the two of them made their way to the tea room, going down the halls of the winter lodge.

Yunho turned his head towards Nym. He slightly quirked up a light, defined brow.

"Did you see any seeds? Or were the carriages not open?" He asked with a quiet hum.

Nym paused for a moment, recalling what he did see when he let the merchant inside.

"Hm…I can't remember, but I think I did see some crates." 

Yunho pursed his lips. Seeds would be the most beneficial thing to his plan, but a stock of the plant could also provide any in the case of the merchant having none. The two walked down the stairs, the wood giving way comfortably to their feet.

Nym opened his mouth to add to his statement when they finally arrived at the wide wooden door that led to the tea room. The tea room was located downstairs and was comfortably furnished with a few windows and loveseats. It was a place for guests to wait before they could be attended to. It was called a tea room because it also had a table and porcelain tea set of high quality for any guests.

Yunho pushed open the doors. They opened to a cozy, yet classy room with white seats and flower pots on the windowsills. Sitting on the largest seat in the middle of the room was a young man with messy brown-blond hair. The man was sipping tea and had a slightly dignified but still rugged manner about him.

Yunho raised an eyebrow. This was a regular merchant?

The silver-haired youth walked into the room and took a seat in a smaller chair around the table, leaving Nym standing awkwardly in the doorway. Yunho looked at his servant and chuckled to himself.

"Nym, come sit down. You can be here for this," Yunho said, waving him over. 

Nym let out a breath and hurried over to take the seat next to his young master. Wanting to keep himself busy, he started to reorganize the tea set on the table. 

The merchant cleared his throat and looked up from his cup of tea. 

"So an order was placed for six crates of Frostwreath and any available seeds of the plant…and if I'm not mistaken, you, good sir, who was the one who orchestrated that order?" The merchant asked. 

Yunho looked up at the man who looked far too refined to be a mere merchant. 

"No, you're not mistaken. I told my servant to find an outlet where I could buy Frostwreath. She found you, so she placed an order," Yunho said, clearing his throat, "You came with the appropriate supply today, right?"

The merchant raised a brow then lowered it, chuckling. "Yes, I have, so I guess there isn't much need for discussion. I've brought six crates of Frostwreath and one crate of seeds. My price is two silver coins." 

Money wasn't a problem for Yunho who was now in the body of the rich young master that was Iris, especially when his fate was on the line. Who would be dumb enough to still care about money in those circumstances?! 

The youth nodded his head. 

"Alright, that can be done," He turned to Nym, "Can you go to Rizer and retrieve a silver coin from him? Fifty bronze coins would also do."

After living in this novel world for a while, Yunho finally had a vague idea of what the currency system was like. It was a base 50 system with bronze coins being the least valuable to mana stones which were mostly produced by the temple and held the highest value. 

Nym straightened up and nodded. He got up from his seat and quickly left the room. 

The tea room fell to silence. 

Yunho fiddled with his fingers in his lap. He almost marveled at himself. He was acting so much like a rich young master now. Yunho didn't want to admit it, but he had gotten comfortable with the comfort and stability that a noble life provided. Additionally, Iris's body was far healthier than his old one, and he was surrounded by people who cared for and acknowledged him. 

It was all the more reason Yunho needed to preserve this life, and right now, the goal was to successfully gain enough Frostwreath weed to introduce it as a solution to the famine and even become an important producer of it. If he was able to pull that off, Yunho could possibly gain backing from an even higher-standing noble.

But Yunho knew that the latter step wouldn't come so easily, there were little people that were on the same level as the crown prince, and by doing this, he would be thrusting himself into the limelight and social politics. 

Yunho's thoughts were interrupted by the merchant clearing his voice. The well-dressed man set down his almost empty cup. 

"So…what is a young master like yourself even planning to do with a bunch of worthless weeds?" The man said, humming to himself.

Yunho knew he couldn't say the actual reason. First, who would believe someone who claimed they knew the future? Second, telling anyone his plan could put it in jeopardy. He hummed for a moment.

"I just wanted something easy to grow, so I could make use of the land. There's no grand reason," Yunho answered. 

The man nodded, "I suppose that's reason enough. It's not like it matters much to me."

The door to the room then opened. 

"I got the two silver coins," Nym said as he hurried back to the seat by Aris.

The merchant smiled as the servant boy placed the two shiny coins on the table. The man took the coins and shook them in his palm a bit before putting them in his pockets

"Well, I'll unload the crates then," The man said, standing up. He paused right before the door and looked at the silver-haired youth.

"The name's Alec in case you want to seek me out for more business in the future," The man said. With that, he pushed open the door and left the room.

Yunho stared at the closed door. He knew that name from the novel. He was sure of it. If he wasn't mistaken, that "merchant" was actually Alec de Windsow from the House of Windsow. The character of Alec was an illegitimate child from an affair and therefore, held no real status in his household. So, to build connections, Alec became a merchant of goods outside.

Merchants, especially successful ones, tended to be wealthy, but they were still considered to be below the nobility. A noble, even an illegitimate one, working as a merchant was certainly unusual and was even a bit scandalous. That's why Alec didn't give Yunho his full title.

But that wasn't the most crucial part of his character. Alec was also the founder of the Knives Guild. The Knives Guild was an unspoken information guild that had ears and eyes everywhere. The Guild was an especially outlet of information for Irene and the Crown Prince in the novel, and its base was in a city a few off from the capital. They had high prices, but their information was guaranteed to be high quality.

Yunho was startled out of his thoughts by Nym's voice suddenly sounding in his ear, "Young master, so what is the plan for all the Frostwreath?" 

Nym was originally from a small southern farm and knew a lot about agriculture. So, he knew of Frostwreath's uselessness besides occasional livestock feed.

Yunho looked at the confused expression on his servant's face and smiled:

"I was thinking about starting a little garden."

This bewildered Nym even more. Gardening a weed like Frostwreath was basically unheard of! What would they even use it for? And most importantly, Iris wanting to garden? What dimension had he fallen into?!

—

Nym thought his young master was joking (he had to be, right?), but before he knew it, everyone was working in the space behind the lodge, clearing the snow and placing the weed's seeds into the dry earth. 

"Is Nym alright?" questioned Marella who was looking at the boy that still had a bewildered expression on his face.

Mr. Rizer, the butler, just shrugged and let out an indifferent humm.

"He'll be fine..I'm more worried about the young master…"

Yunho was planting the seeds into the cold ground with a laser focus and determination. From the outside perspective, it came off as a bit…kooky.

Paired with the previous rumors from the garden accident back at the estate, the butler was admittedly concerned for his young master. He had been with him and Irene since they were little, so he knew their personalities. And ever since Iris fell ill, he had been acting different.

Marella chuckled.

"Who knows? Maybe he has things more sorted out than we think?"

There was a beat of silence before the butler responded tersely,

"Maybe…"

Whilst Yunho and all the servants got to work on starting the Frostwreath garden in the snowy expanse of the lodge's land, somewhere, the first yellowed, curled leaf of a wheat plant fell to the ground, signaling, unknown to no one, the disaster to come.

—

End of Chapter 15