Cheese Steamed Cake

One day after returning from Hong Kong.

During a break after wrapping up the ranch work for the time being, a transoceanic call came in from North America.

"Is this Mr. KI...TANO of Mejiro Farm?"

Rather than English, the strange accent sounded more like French.

"That's right."

After that reply, Johnny, a staff member at Adina Springs Farm, stated bluntly that they did not consider Entry Point and Little Sakura to be a particularly ideal pairing, especially given the international transport costs, which were considerably higher than the stud fee itself.

However, the breeding application was not rejected.

Though there was a brief sigh of relief at first, it was immediately followed by a thought that was less a premonition than experience: This is probably going to be troublesome again.

As expected, it was.

Due to a severe staff shortage, Adina Springs Farm could not even provide transportation from the local airport to the farm.

"Please make arrangements according to the information on the application form. I'll transfer the deposit into your account shortly."

With that, the call ended.

In fact, Entry Point, who had been semi-retired from stud duty for several years now, did not seem likely to receive many breeding applications for the coming year either.

If so, perhaps Little Sakura could leave even earlier than Leila—

Besides easing some of the mental stress on the horses being transported, shipping them together could also save part of the cost.

Even so, Little Sakura's application had still been submitted for the earliest possible breeding date.

Even if she really was going overseas for breeding, Little Sakura, who had little reproductive potential to speak of, should logically have departed alongside Leila as her companion horse.

But the decision had still been made according to personal wishes.

That was probably what