**Stalker Duchess Episode 3**
At that time, he had planned to intervene if Duchess Serabi threw a tantrum, deliberately injure himself, and then throw her in prison on charges of attempting to assassinate royalty.
Whether she knew it or not, Duchess Serabi cleverly dodged Raven's scheme.
Raven felt frustrated once again as he recalled the earlier incident.
He bit his red lips until they turned pale and spat out his words through gritted teeth.
"Enough with the disgusting act. You bribed a servant to drug my meal because you wanted to have my child, then sneaked into my palace like a thief at dawn to force yourself on me—surely you haven't forgotten that already? It hasn't even been a month."
Upon hearing that, Duchess Serabi finally paled and muttered to herself like a soliloquy. She pressed a hand to her forehead with an incredulous expression.
"No... how could she stoop to that level... Does she have no self-respect at all...?"
* * *
Who would have thought there was such a backstory behind the tale of her sneaking into the Crown Prince's bedroom and getting chased out.
Serabi was even more unhinged than I'd imagined. Where on earth do I even start to fix this mess?
It was no wonder the Crown Prince suspected me.
No, it was a miracle he didn't have PTSD from food.
How on earth had Duchess Serabi avoided prison this long?
I propped up my throbbing head with my arm and barely lifted it.
The Crown Prince was still glaring at me with eyes full of murderous intent.
His previous trauma seemed to have resurfaced; he wasn't likely to calm down easily.
"...A moment, please. I had forgotten about that."
"What? You have plenty of other things to forget—really! Hah, fine. What was I even expecting from you."
With that, the Crown Prince irritably ran a hand through his hair.
In truth, while preparing the food, I'd harbored a slight hope that if it turned out well, I might get a little closer to the Crown Prince.
But the reasons he despised me—no, Serabi—were all too clear.
He had probably endured incidents like the one he'd just mentioned countless times throughout his life.
Duchess Serabi's obsession with the Crown Prince had long surpassed all bounds, and his loathing for her ran deeper than I'd imagined.
And sensibly speaking, how could anyone befriend a woman who threatened his chastity 365 days a year!
Anyway, I couldn't force him to eat if he didn't want to. Guess I had to give up?
Ah, I'd half-expected this, but it still stung a little.
I let out a deep sigh that seemed to sink the floor and pulled my chair over to sit.
"Then... I'll eat it myself..."
"What?"
I didn't care if the Crown Prince or anyone else ate the food I'd made, but all the time and ingredients wasted like this was such a shame.
I picked up the spoon, which felt especially heavy today.
Nom nom.
At my utterly dejected appearance, the Crown Prince and the other soldiers seemed flustered and said nothing.
The dining hall filled only with the mechanical sounds of me eating.
Crunch crunch.
Crispy crunch.
As I focused solely on devouring the food before me, my senses dulled by overwhelming emptiness...
Gulp.
Piercing the silence, someone swallowed audibly. In the hush, it rang out especially loud.
I seized the moment and spoke.
"If you're hungry, please feel free to eat."
Naturally, no one moved right away at my words.
In the end, it was just me. As I refocused on my food, the Crown Prince growled bitterly.
"Who would eat food you made? Who knows what you put in it, you shameless wretch. I don't know what scheme you're plotting, but no one here is unaware of your past misdeeds."
Sheesh, what did I even do to make him think I'm plotting something.
His excessive suspicion was unavoidable given what he'd endured, so I couldn't treat it as mere oversensitivity.
I munched on a freshly baked, crisping baguette and said,
"...If I'd poisoned the food, I wouldn't be eating it like this. Besides, what reason would I have to poison Your Highness and your men?"
One word from me, a noble, could cost his men their heads—even if not the Crown Prince himself.
Of course, assuming he didn't interfere.
But voicing that would only prove the rumors of my foul temper, so I swallowed the rest.
"Does that mean I'd feed food you made to my precious subordinates?"
"......"
I set down my baguette and looked around.
They were all covered in dirt and sweat. Clearly fresh from intense training.
I sighed and said,
"...Your Highness, Supreme Commander of the great Distian. It pains me as someone utterly ignorant of tactics or military theory to presume to say this, but..."
"......"
The Crown Prince crossed his arms and stared at me, waiting for what came next.
His expression said he'd crush any featherweight logic of mine, so go ahead and spout away.
His malice-laden gaze was burdensome, so I pretended to focus on the remaining food, avoiding his eyes as I continued.
"...I believe the most important quality in a leader is caring for one's subordinates."
The Crown Prince scowled deeply at my words. He spoke in a tone as if questioning why I'd state the obvious.
"I cherish my men more than anyone. If you want to play word games, find someone else—"
I met the Crown Prince's eyes. Seizing his slight flinch, I cut him off and pressed on swiftly.
"I've heard that military training for Distian, Your Highness's direct special operations unit, is about ten times more intense than what regular soldiers endure."
"......"
As soon as I finished, the Crown Prince glared at me with a murderous expression.
The sharp-witted Crown Prince seemed to grasp my point from that alone.
He looked ready to behead me on the spot.
True to his fearsome title as humanity's first dragon slayer, his presence was overwhelming.
My whole body tingled as if from his killing intent.
I steadied my breath with effort and continued.
"Moreover, there's still afternoon training ahead. And tonight is the infamous dawn training session. On dawn training days, they fast through dinner and go on forced marches, or so I've heard. If they don't eat heartily now, some are bound to collapse."
Unable to bear his killing intent, I deliberately averted my gaze elsewhere to let it slide past.
I tried to sound nonchalant, but couldn't stop my voice from trembling.
"...Even if we started preparing food now, I've used up all today's ingredients. Going to an outside restaurant would take considerable time for a meal this size anyway. It might ruin the entire training schedule."
The moment I finished, the Crown Prince tsked with a fury-filled expression.
"Hah, so that's your game. Threatening me with something so trivial? You're probably planning to demand something to satisfy your perverted desires in return. How predictable."
His weary tone made me freeze.
My perverted desires?
What on earth had Duchess Serabi demanded from him usually...?
I'd stepped on another trauma landmine without knowing.
Or rather, every keyword between the Crown Prince and Serabi was a landmine.
Ah, really. No, no! Please just hear me out as I am, Your Highness.
Perverted desires? I don't have any such thing for you. You're expecting rice cakes when no one's offering any. Stop drinking kimchi soup already!
...The words nearly burst out, but I barely swallowed them.
Hearing that would surely make the Crown Prince flush with shame and try to behead me like in the novel's ending.
I mustered the most aggrieved expression possible and said,
"A threat? No. How dare I threaten Your Highness. I'm speaking out of genuine worry for my comrades."
"Comrades? Now you're insulting my men?"
The Crown Prince seemed to hate me so much that he filtered everything I said as malice.
Otherwise, communication wouldn't fail this badly.
I stood and met the Crown Prince's eyes squarely.
"...Forgive my impertinence, but as a lowly subordinate, I must say this. Whether you hate or despise me matters not, but your men have no reason to suffer due to your personal feelings toward me. I've set aside any emotions toward Your Highness and simply done my duty as one soldier in Distian. That's all. Shouldn't one in a position of command be the most rational of all? Emotional decisions harm not Your Highness, but your subordinates. Even I, a mere woman, know this—does Your Highness, future sovereign of this land, not?"
I hadn't meant to get angry, but my breathing grew ragged as I spoke.
I sat back down, caught my breath, and picked up my utensils again.
"If you think my words wrong, throw me in prison for insulting royalty. But before that, since the ingredients are wasted otherwise, I'll finish it all."
My stomach was already full to bursting, but out of stubbornness, I crammed more food into my mouth.
