Chapter 2 …
The reason Angelica decided to go for the āFarming Endingā was simple.
āBecause I donāt have to meet any of the male leads.ā
With a small grunt, Angelica strained to pull herself up the ladder.
Climbing a ladder wasnāt easy when your body was that of a scrawny, seven-year-old girl.
āIs it because I have no muscle strength? Or maybe because I havenāt eaten anything?ā
Her stomach growled, and her strength was draining fast.
Still, Angelica kept climbing the wooden ladder, step after step.
āIf I donāt do this today, Iāll never be able to reach the Farming Ending.ā
She bit her lip and forced her little legs to move.
In the game Please Take Care of the Princess!, there were several different endings.
Among them, however, the least popular ending of all was the āFarmingā ending.
Most of the gameās endings required you to raise the affection level of at least one male lead.
But there was one exception ā the only route that didnāt need any affection points from the male leads:
The Farming Ending.
That ending could only be reached by completing farming-related quests.
No affection points, no other stats ā only farming quests mattered.
Many players complained that it felt like a completely different game altogether.
Even Angelica, in her previous life, had known about the Farming Route but never tried it.
Sheād only liked the game for its graphics and illustrations, not for staring at the same rice paddies and fields all day.
If you chose the Farming Route, you had to diligently tend the fields and clear the farming quests to reach the ending.
But since farming and harvesting consumed so much in-game time, youād inevitably miss all the special timed events with the male leads.
Thatās probably why the developers made it so that you could reach the ending without any affection points ā
to balance things out, Angelica guessed.
So, most players ā including her former self ā avoided this route entirely.
They would rather not farm at all than miss out on the male lead events.
Only a handful of completionist maniacs ever bothered to see that ending.
That was exactly why Angelica, in this new life, decided to choose the Farming Route.
āIām not going to meet those male leads ever again.ā
Even though she knew almost nothing about farming,
and had never attempted this route in her past life ā meaning she had no guide or strategy ā
there was one truth sheād learned after living through two lives:
āI died both times even after following the strategy perfectly.
So maybe it doesnāt matter if I donāt know the guide this time.ā
With that thought, she mustered her remaining strength.
Finally, she reached the top of the ladder.
āPhew, that was hard.ā
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and brushed the dust off her clothes.
The attic, unused for a long time, was full of dust.
Covering her nose and mouth with her small hand, Angelica stepped carefully inside.
The attic was filled with dusty old boxes and clutter,
but she ignored everything else and headed straight for the farthest corner.
To enter the Farming Route ā or Farming Ending ā one needed a specific item:
The āNovice Farmerās Box.ā
Without it, you couldnāt even start the route.
And it could only be found on the very first day, in the attic of the starting point.
Once the second day began, the box would disappear completely,
and the Farming Route would become permanently inaccessible.
Thatās why no one ever bothered with it unless they were true hardcore fans.
Fortunately, Angelica remembered exactly how to access the route.
Thatās why sheād dragged her tiny, fragile body up the ladder to reach the attic.
āI always thought I might try the Farming Ending one day…
but I never imagined itād actually happen.ā
With a mix of anxiety and excitement, she walked forward.
Then she spotted a faint glow seeping out from the deepest part of the attic.
Approaching the light, she found a small box ā
just the right size for her tiny hands to hold.
Like everything else in the attic, it was covered in a thick layer of dust,
yet it emitted a soft, self-glowing light.
āThis is it! The Novice Farmerās Box!ā
Angelica crouched on the floor and looked at it.
She instinctively reached out her hand ā but froze before touching it.
A pang of fear held her still.
āEven though I followed the walkthrough, both of my lives ended in Dead Ends…
Will I really be okay living without a guide this time?ā
What if, by not knowing the right path, she died even faster?
She had been so determined while climbing the ladder,
but now that the moment of choice had come, her resolve faltered.
Then she shook her head firmly.
āNo, donāt think like that.
If knowing or not knowing the guide leads to the same result,
Iād rather take the path where I donāt have to see their faces!ā
The only ending she could reach without raising the affection of any male leads ā
that was the Farming, or more precisely, the Wealthy Farmer Ending.
Angelica grabbed the box tightly with her small hands.
[You have successfully entered the Farming Route.]
[Title acquired: Novice Farmer]
ā¦ ā¦ ā¦
In the southeastern outskirts of the Skelpion Empireās capital
lay a tiny village called Eden, home to only a few families.
Few people ever visited or even knew of its existence.
Deep within it was a forest of breathtaking beauty,
and nestled within that forest stood a small, humble cottage.
Inside that cottage sat Angelica,
a small child beside a wooden round table,
a now-dim box placed in front of her.
With her chin resting on her hand, Angelica wore a sulky expression.
No wonder ā something strange had happened when she picked up the box in the attic.
A brilliant light had burst out of it, filling the attic completely,
and right afterward, a familiar message ā one sheād seen in the game ā appeared before her eyes.
[You have successfully entered the Farming Route.]
[Title acquired: Novice Farmer]
A translucent message window with a brown border ā
exactly like the ones she used to see in the game during her past life.
Such messages appeared when you earned a title,
discovered new information, or obtained a new skill or stat.
But in her previous two lives, she had never seen a system message like this.
In the original game, you could access three windows:
the Status Window, the Skill Window, and the Affection Window for each character.
Yet even after progressing through the story and courting two male leads,
she had never once seen a single message window appear.
Even at the moment of death, no āEndingā message appeared ā
no notification, nothing.
And of course, the affection bars of the male leads were invisible too.
Despite that, she had still managed to receive proposals and reach endings with them ā
probably thanks to how much sheād loved the game in her past life.
Still, after living two lives without seeing a single game-related message,
sheād sometimes wondered if this world was really inside a game at all.
But since the in-game āeventsā she knew did happen in real life,
she always dismissed those doubts.
Until now.
āI never saw any system window in my two previous playthroughs…
so why am I seeing them nowā
just because I chose the Farming Route, the one I donāt know anything about?ā
As she pondered that, a sudden thought came to mind.
āWait… Could it be that the true ending of this game is the Farming Ending?ā
Was that why the system messages, hidden all this time,
were finally appearing?
Now that she thought about it,
the rare players who had chosen the Farming Route had all said the same thing:
āThe true value of this game lies in the Farming Route.ā
She had brushed that off as nonsense before.
But now, realizing what it might mean, her heart began to race.
Unable to suppress her excitement, Angelicaās lips curved into a smile.
She reached out toward the box once again.
As soon as she opened itā
another system message window appeared before her eyes.
