The Prince and Cinderella (Unilaterally Declared Version)

Sena delivered lunch.

Su Li had originally held no expectations for the food in such a backwater village.

However, as he looked at the soft, stewed beans in the bowl and that piece of meat from some unknown animal, inhaling the aroma mixed with herbs and grease, he couldn't find a single fault with it.

"Did... you make this?" Su Li held the wooden spoon and looked up at Sena, who was peeking in from the doorframe.

Sena still wore that timid expression, her hands rubbing against her apron as if she were trying to spark a fire from the fabric.

"Yes." Sena nodded, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "If... if it's not to your taste, I can go get you some pickled vegetables."

Su Li didn't speak; he lowered his head and took a bite.

The beans melted the moment they hit his tongue. While the meat was a bit tough, it was stewed thoroughly with flavor, and most importantly, the soup contained some unknown wild herb that completely suppressed the beany aftertaste, instead drawing out a fresh sweetness.

This culinary skill was incredible.

Who would have thought that a girl with a pockmarked face and seemingly clumsy hands could be so meticulous when cooking?

Su Li polished off the large bowl of stewed beans and meat in a few quick bites, even using a piece of black bread to wipe the bottom of the bowl clean.

"Delicious." Su Li set the bowl down and let out a satisfied burp. "Truly delicious."

The girl's face lit up instantly. She couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth, wanting to smile but feeling too shy to do so. Finally, she turned beet red, grabbed the empty bowl, and turned to run.

"That... there's more for dinner!"

Watching the back that ran faster than a rabbit, Su Li leaned against the woodpile, rubbed his belly, and squinted contentedly.

Life didn't seem so hard to endure after all.

With food and drink, no need to rack his brain, and no need to worry about being schemed against, he only had to trade a bit of labor to earn this kind of stability that even gods wouldn't trade for.

If he could just keep "lying flat" like this until he was eighty, maybe he could even bump that F-rank evaluation up to a C-rank.

"Kid! Get up if you're done eating!"

Old Buck's booming voice exploded in the courtyard, scaring away the laziness that had just begun to sprout in Su Li.

"Coming, coming." Su Li patted the dust off his backside and stood up, resigned to his fate.

Blacksmithing looked like a job of pure strength, but it was actually a technical craft.

Especially when you had a short-tempered master going through menopause standing next to you.

"Straighten your back! Are you a shrimp?"

"Use your wrist! Don't use brute force! That's finesse! Do you think you're hoeing a field?"

"Pump the bellows harder! Didn't you eat? You're letting the fire die out!"

All afternoon, the blacksmith shop was filled with nothing but the clanging of iron and Old Buck's roaring.

Su Li wasn't annoyed.

Old Buck might have been cursing, but he was truly teaching. From how to identify the quality of iron ore to how to control the heat, and even how to exert force without hurting his back—the old man had a foul mouth, but he taught with meticulous, hands-on care.

Although Su Li had fifty years of life experience, this was his first time blacksmithing.

For the first few days, he felt like his arms didn't belong to him. Every night, lying on the hay in the stable, he had to grit his teeth just to turn over.

But he didn't utter a single complaint.

Not only did he stay silent, but even when his hands were shaking from exhaustion, he would still crawl out at the crack of dawn the next day to sweep the yard and fill the water vat without fail.

This gradually changed the look in Old Buck's eyes, who had originally wanted to see the "pretty boy" make a fool of himself.

His initial disdain turned into tacit approval, and he would even occasionally pass his precious flask of rum to Su Li for a sip.

Time passed day by day.

Spring turned to summer, and the cicadas in Wading Village chirped until one's heart felt restless.

A month later.

The down-and-out young master who once looked pale enough to be blown over by a gust of wind was gone.

In his place was a sturdy, vigorous man.

Although Su Li's frame still couldn't compare to Old Buck's bear-like physique, a thin layer of muscle had formed over his once-slender shoulders.

It was real, functional muscle—smooth, firm, and powerful—rolling beneath his skin with every movement.

His skin, once as white as flour, had been tanned into a healthy wheat color by the furnace fire and the sun.

But this didn't diminish his looks.

Instead, this touch of ruggedness gave his face, which was originally a bit too delicate, a wilder edge.

The [Sword Brows Starry Eyes] trait had undergone a strange chemical reaction in this environment filled with sweat and coal dust.

If the Su Li of the past was a piece of fine porcelain, the current him was a newly unsheathed sword.

Even just standing there wiping away sweat, he carried the cinematic quality of a blockbuster poster.

This afternoon.

The heat was so intense it felt like the sky was raining fire.

Even the cicadas were too lazy to chirp, clinging to the tree trunks as if playing dead.

Old Buck had gone to the neighboring town to deliver goods—an order of fifty spearheads for the town garrison. It was a big job, and the old man had set off early in the morning with his donkey cart. Before leaving, he had nagged and instructed Su Li repeatedly to remelt the remaining scraps of iron.

Su Li was the only one left in the smithy.

The furnace fire was burning fiercely, the heat intense enough to roast a person alive.

Unable to bear the heat any longer, Su Li simply took off his shirt and stood before the anvil, bare-chested.

He swung the eight-pound heavy iron hammer in his hands.

"Clang!"

A crisp sound rang out.

Sparks flew in every direction.

Su Li didn't pay any mind to the sparks landing on him; he had long since grown accustomed to that level of pain.

He was now focused entirely on the glowing red piece of iron on the anvil.

Sweat trickled down his forehead, traced the bridge of his high nose, and dripped onto the scorching anvil, turning into a wisp of white smoke with a hiss.

More sweat flowed down his neck, sliding over the pectoral muscles that rose and fell with his breathing, tracing the well-defined abdominal muscles, and finally pooling at his waistband, soaking the coarse fabric through.

Every time he swung his arm, the muscle groups on his back contracted and stretched in rhythm.

What Su Li did not know was this.

Behind the picket fence outside the smithy, several sneaky figures were crouching.

They were a few of the village girls.

Wading Village didn't have much in the way of entertainment; besides gossiping about neighbors, the only other topic was how many piglets a sow had birthed.

Ever since Su Li arrived, this smithy had become the favorite place for the village's young women to wander.

They claimed they were coming to borrow a needle and thread from Aunt Martha or to chat with Sena, but in reality, their eyes were all drifting toward the figure swinging the heavy hammer in the backyard.

Today was even more extraordinary.

Word had spread that the impossibly handsome young blacksmith was working shirtless, and the news had taken wing, reaching every young girl in the village within an hour.

"Hiss—"

A plump girl with a red hair tie gasped, forgetting to crack the sunflower seeds she held in her hand.

"Goodness, look at that waist... it's really something."

A tall, thin girl beside her was blushing deep red, yet she couldn't bear to look away, her hands gripping the fence post tightly.

"Don't push me! Let me get another look!"

"Look at how he's sweating... I want to go wipe it off for him."

"Forget it, why don't you look in a mirror? Do you really think he'd look at you?"

The girls huddled together, trading barbs while greedily staring at the figure in the yard.

Sena was among them.

She had been dragged here by her friends.

In truth, she had already seen Su Li shirtless many times; after all, they lived in the same courtyard and saw each other constantly.

But every time she looked, she still felt her heart race, that fluttering sensation impossible to suppress.

Listening to the unreserved praise and longing of her friends, a strange emotion surged in Sena's heart for the first time.

It was pride.

And a secret sense of possessiveness.

It was as if she had found a dust-covered gem; she had been the only one who knew his worth, but now that he had been polished, everyone could see him, and everyone was in awe.

"Ahem."