Cynthia’s Point of View

My worst fears came to pass, and my brother became king. It meant that many of my sisters were finally being sold off. I was part of the first sons faction, so I was still safe, but it was only a matter of time before I was passed on as a bargaining chip or reward to a noble who supported him. I hugged my transport golem, Franklin, as I worried about my future.

“Oh, Franklin… What are we going to do?” It wasn’t the first time I asked the mute golem a rhetorical question. It wasn’t the first time I thought about running away from home, either. If… If I could just go live on the farm of the nice farmer who makes this delicious food, I’d be happy. Even if I found a good noble husband, I’d still be forced to keep up my appearance, which meant constantly starving myself.

Only recently did I enjoy eating; every other time, I was met with either extremely small portions of delicious food or large portions of bland food. I was worried I’d be saddled with a fat, ugly noble; there was a real chance I would hate who I was paired with, and they’d still expect me to deal with it. The thought had my stomach in knots, and I was terrified that thinking it would make it come true.

I was so anxious about my future, I didn’t notice my butler had come into my room to get me. “We have some new products from Ultra-lux farms for you to look at.” I couldn’t help but jump in surprise at his calm and passive voice. He didn’t really sneak up on me, but I was so focused on my own thoughts that my servants faded into the background.

What he said finally sank in, and I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of trying something new. We made our way out of my room and to the dining table as I looked at the glass vial and bottle on the table. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t food, but still curious nonetheless. I was about to ask before Jarvis cut off my question with the answer before I could even ask. “The clear bottle of color-changing liquid is a new rejuvenation potion, while the thicker bottle is a new wound salve.”

By the confused look I gave him, he answered another unspoken question. “You said to purchase any new products from them… Although it’s odd to see potions and salves coming from a farm, it is still a new product from them.” I asked the normal questions. “How expensive is this?” He looked at me in a familiar way to let me know I was about to hear something shocking before he spoke. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

“The salve and potion both cost the same amount. Both together cost a single gold coin.” I froze for a moment, thinking I had misheard the price. The cheapest health potions on the market didn’t go for less than a few gold, at the price of five silver, almost every adventurer could afford one as a safety net. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

I didn’t know much about adventuring, but I knew the basics. A basic healing potion would go for a few gold, while a mana could go for close to a mithril, and stamina were even more rare because the demand would never meet the supply, so they went for either an extremely low price because the potion was on the verge of spoiling, or an extremely high price before the demand was there for some reason.

So… Why… No, how was this potion made? It had been decades since someone had come up with a new potion, and I just wasn’t expecting to see one from a farmer of all people. I asked what it did. “Well. From what I heard. It restores health, mana, and stamina. It only restores about half the amount as other potions…” My eyes went wide again at the unspoken part at the end. Even if it was only half as effective, at the price point, you could buy six times the amount of just a single health potion and get all the mana and stamina as a bonus for free.

And it was beautiful on top of everything. My eyes were drawn to the ever-shifting color as if it were made of a kaleidoscope. It was so beautiful I thought it would be a shame to drink it… But now I was curious about the taste. I uncorked the vial and took a hesitant sip, knowing that most potions tasted terrible. I was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness; it tasted more like sugar water with a herbal hint than the disgusting bitter taste normally associated with potions.

It was just about as pleasant to drink as an herbal tea, and I felt the boost the extra stamina provided almost immediately. “Mmm, that’s delicious, I’m surprised that tastes so good.” He moved to put away the salve before I stopped him. “Wait a moment… Since the potion had a pleasant taste to it… What do you think the salve tastes like?” A single one of his eyebrows rose at my incredulous question as I grabbed the jar.

“Princess… I don’t think you should try eating a paste that is meant to be smeared on a wound.” I couldn’t help myself, I was that curious. He hadn’t disappointed me yet with his new creations; I figured that even if it tasted bad, I could just spit it out. I coated my finger in the liquid before bringing it to my nose and smelling it, getting a similar floral smell to the taste from the rejuvenation potion.

With any fanfare, I sucked on my finger. Jarvis leaned forward, ready to come to my aid if I needed it, before I told him. It tasted… Surprisingly good. I could tell it wasn’t designed to be a food, but from whatever herb it was made from, it had the makings of a crop to begin with. “Please bring me a spoon.” “Miss… Do you plan on eating that entire jar?” I just looked at him with an almost glare as he brought a spoon to me.

Another spoonful and I really focused on the taste. Similar to yogurt, it had a slight bitterness to it, but the same sweetness as the potion had as well. Like yogurt and honeywater combined. I finished the entire jar before he mentioned. “I… Well, if you feel sick, please let us know, princess. We have no idea what the effects of consuming the salve will have.”

I didn’t think there would be any negative side effects; if anything, I felt better than normal. Whatever rejuvenating effect the potion had, I could feel was lessened but still there from the salve; it just felt more slow-release than the potion. “I’m fine… What else do we have on the agenda today?” “Well… You can always look at your marriage candidates again… I’ve heard a few new ones were added since you last checked.”

I just grumbled, but knew it was my duty to look at them. I was hoping to find a man who met my standards, but as a younger princess, there was little chance of finding a diamond in the trash that all of us got to look at. Because I wasn’t playing the political game, I would eventually be forced into a marriage, unless I could find someone to marry before then, in this candidate list.

My eyes glossed over the names I knew, ruling them out immediately. Old, fat, old and fat, gross, ugly pervert, a gross old fat pervert, weakling/loser… Those men would never be picked; only my sisters, who didn’t know better, would pick any of them, and their fate would be terrible if they did. The truth was, only lower nobles made the list, so not only did they have normal problems, but they’d spend their entire life as the lackey of a lackey of my brother.

My name scanned the new names added to the list. None of them stood out, which was unfortunate. I was about to toss down the paper when my eyes glanced over owned businesses of one of the new candidates. My eyes locked with Jarvis as I asked. “Is this?” “Yes, I checked. It is the same person who’s been making all the new products you’re so interested in.”

… My mind began racing at the thought. How many of my sisters would put their claim up for this new man? Possibly none, they might not realize what a find he was, but as time went on, he would stand out more and more. I quickly circled him, making my choice as I had finally selected a fiancé candidate. My brain immediately went to the only question it could think of at the moment. “Do you think this Mr. Drizzle is good-looking?”