Heroine On Strike

Ella couldn’t tell Evan she knew about the upcoming drought from reading a novel. As such, she claimed she saw it in a dream. Although it was never mentioned in the story, a daughter from one of the three duke families occasionally experienced a special kind of dream likethat from a fairytale that could save the nation from a disaster. But here, it wasn’t a fairytale, but a reality. She learned after arriving in this world that many former empresses had often used those dreams to save the empire. 

Immediately, Evan’s expression became serious. He, too, understood the significance of those dreams. In fact, it was common knowledge within the empire. Although it was difficult to believe that Ella had premonitions through dreams like many legendary empresses from historical texts, Evan believed that his sister was worthy of such an ability. Thinking about the disaster she had warned about, he jumped off his seat. The story was now taking a drastic turn because of her words. Evan became desperate.

“I will send men to Dollan at once! We have to let his majesty know if we find any evidence of this.”

“Brother!” cried Ella.

Just as Evan was about to run out, Ella had called out to him. She couldn’t let him go now. There was more she needed to tell him, so she said, “Wait! We have to do this quietly. At least for a month.”

“Why is that?”

“The man who I want to give the Stone of Water might run away. I need to meet him first. He is the only one who can stop this drought. We need to be discreet about this.”

“I understand. We’ll do this quietly then.” Evan nodded, then was reminded of something and asked, “How did Count Mellin’s family know that a drought was coming six month ago and ready for it? Do you know? Actually… Was this why you wanted me to look into Lady Mellin?”

“No, no. I just wanted to know more about her. I never thought they would assume a drought would come and start preparing for it,” replied Ella.

Evan’s expression was grim. He needed to investigate this thoroughly, so he announced, “If they really did foresee this drought coming and kept it to themselves out of greed, I will not stand by this. We must investigate further. They will pay for their actions. You may rest now. I will handle this myself.”

After Evan had left the room, Ella thought about the drought for a while. She couldn’t handle this problem by herself, nor could she discuss it with anyone. If the future continued to be distorted by her actions and she couldn’t meet the man who could solve this problem, things could get much worse.

‘I have to be very careful about this. I can’t afford to deviate from the novel too much,’ thought Ella. Although Ella’s love affair had deviated from the novel due to Clara, she couldn’t let other changes happen. Clara may have been gathering grains, but she wasn’t collecting Stones of Water. There was a possibility that she knew how to stop the drought but chose not to do anything. Maybe she wanted the drought to be more severe.

“What is she thinking? Or… maybe she doesn’t know?” questioned Ella. Whether Clara was a foreigner like herself or not was a question that confused her quite often.

‘Is it really possible to ignore the lives of many and just look after herself?’ Despite Ella’s efforts to find an answer, it was difficult to understand. They were gathering grains but not enough to last through the drought or make Evan question their motives. That part confused her the most. She was about 90 percent sure that Clara was an outsider like herself, but there were instances that proved otherwise. Ella then looked at the documents in her hands.

“I hope there’s an answer in here,” said Ella as she began reading the documents. As she read, she noticed that Evan did a thorough job investigating Clara as the documents included everything since her birth. There were even details describing how many assumed that Clara’s younger sister stole Clara’s hairpin when she was 10 years old. What’s interesting about that event was how the situation ended. 

It turned out all long her sister was innocent. Instead, it was Clara who had just lost it. Not only that, the hairpin was eventually given to her sister. That night, when no one in her family stood by her side, Clara cried alone all night long, but her family did not come to comfort young Clara’s sadness. The documents also included her personal information like having a scar on her leg from chickenpox and some excerpts from her diary.

“How the hell did he find all this anyway?” mumbled Ella as her curiosity grew. She wondered how Evan had gathered this information in the first place. As she flipped through the pages, she found what she was looking for.

After her 17th birthday, Clara began acting like a different person. She distanced herself from Lady Drolin, her friend. In addition, she stopped attending every party she was invited to, unlike her usual self. In addition, she was interested in housework and didn’t drink wine every night like she used to. 

Then one day, she suddenly announced her enrollment to the Academy. Her two sisters almost fainted from crying a lot and tried to stop her. Ultimately, Clara persuaded them and even the count himself.