She had actually fallen to the point of being bullied like this. They were merely creatures of the earth, tool-like existences, yet they dared treat her this way...
But... this honey smelled so good. Maybe... just a tiny taste?
Seeing the expectant look in the eyes of that woman who insisted on being her mother, Princess Kaguya struggled for quite a while before cautiously approaching her fingertip... and giving it a lick.
It really was delicious...
She had been sealed inside the bamboo for some time and had not eaten anything yet.
"Is that enough? Do you want some more?"
Seeing that more than half the honey on her finger had been eaten, Fu Hua continued asking little Kaguya. For some reason... she suddenly felt like she was raising a baby bird.
When she was younger, she had caught baby birds and raised them herself. It felt roughly the same as feeding this Princess Kaguya, who was only three inches tall.
"..."
Little Kaguya took several steps back, no longer paying attention to this creature of the earth... whom she had once found amusing but had never taken seriously.
Autumn's breath brushed across her cheeks, carrying faint traces of chill amid its crispness. A long path stretched through silent leaves, and the autumn wind swept lightly reddened maple leaves down among the woods. Their paths differed, but their fate was the same.
Watching the river's surface as withered yellow leaves occasionally drifted down onto it, she realized autumn had arrived without her noticing.
Fu Hua sat on the bank with a fishing rod, quietly waiting for a fish to bite, though no one knew what she was thinking. A wooden bucket sat beside her, holding three fairly large freshwater fish.
Those were Fu Hua's catches from the entire morning.