**Stalker Duchess Episode 4**
The Crown Prince was a genius in inaction and tactics, but inside, he was still just a 14-year-old kid.
That was my evaluation of him after actually meeting him.
Given his position, he'd grown up with a mature demeanor, but the way he nitpicked and rebelled was straight out of a kid that age.
If the Crown Prince still ordered his men to fast after hearing my words, he'd just be a worthless brat.
"......Do as you please."
The Crown Prince stood there looking shocked by my words for a long while before leaving those words behind and exiting the dining hall.
"Haa......"
Tension released, I flopped face-down onto the table.
I'd acted tough and superior, but I thought I'd be crushed by his killing intent.
At that moment, one of the soldiers who'd been watching us spoke to me.
"What scheme is this?"
Oh right, it wasn't just the Crown Prince who hated Serabi.
Of course, it was nothing compared to the Crown Prince's, but the soldiers' hostility wasn't negligible either.
"You worrying about us? Even a stray dog would laugh. Until yesterday, you insulted us as guard dogs, and now you've switched sides?"
"Yeah, no way that wicked woman cooked obediently. She must have tampered with the food somehow."
Mountain after mountain, huh.
I was exhausted from dealing with the Crown Prince and had no energy left to persuade them.
If they refused the food even after the Crown Prince's permission, there was nothing more I could do.
I couldn't force it into their mouths.
It was a shame after all the effort, but I'd have to discard it.
"Scheme? I watched her the whole time to make sure she didn't slack off, and nothing happened."
"Vice Commander?!"
For the first time, someone spoke up in my defense.
I snapped my head up and looked toward the voice's owner.
Ah, it was the man who'd dragged me to the kitchen to put me in a tough spot.
So he was the Vice Commander.
He took a seat two spots away from me and unhesitatingly scooped up some of the soup I'd made and put it in his mouth.
The man called Vice Commander swallowed the food and said to me,
"Not bad. You're always trailing behind His Highness like a shadow, but you've got a decent talent, huh?"
"......"
Ah, his words were still thorny, but was this his way of defending me?
Of course, saying a noble was good at cooking was practically an insult, but I could tell he didn't mean it that way.
My mood lifted instantly, and I smiled faintly.
"Thank you."
"Huh? Uh...... yeah. Hey, you lot, stop standing around like idiots and sit down."
"B-But......"
The soldiers still hesitated. No helping it. They couldn't trust me yet.
But when the Vice Commander glared around with a fierce look, they all sat in less than a second.
Wow...... everyone was so disciplined.
At least now they could finally have a proper meal.
My stomach was full, but I wanted to savor the moment a bit more, so I picked up my spoon again.
* * *
Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna puke......
I'd had a bad premonition, and sure enough, I ended up with indigestion.
It was the most tense mealtime of my life.
Thanks to the Vice Commander, no one openly insulted me, but I still caught it.
The soldiers' fierce glares, eyes full of killing intent, staring at me the whole meal while roughly slicing their steaks.
It was clearly the look of wanting to slice me up like that hunk of meat.
Maybe it was a warning that they'd cut me like this if I pulled any stunts.
I'd swallowed nonstop, not even knowing if the food went down my throat or nose, and this was the result.
After finishing the kitchen cleanup, I finally collapsed onto a bench.
Passing Distian soldiers looked at me pitifully, but I didn't even have the energy to snap back.
Still, the silver lining was that no one openly picked a fight—maybe they knew gratitude after all.
Beasts can be tamed with food, or so the saying goes.
For some reason, a phrase from my previous life crossed my mind.
Looking up at the sky, the sun was already setting. Cleanup had taken longer than preparing the meal.
Regardless of their ill feelings toward me, they all seemed satisfied with the food itself.
The only one who openly praised my cooking skills was the Vice Commander, and even that was debatable as praise.
But they'd grumbled while scraping their plates clean, so I'd secretly swallowed a laugh.
It was sheer luck that the Vice Commander had first taken me to the kitchen.
Cooking ranked 8th out of my 105 talents. For reference, 17th was raising cacti, and 56th was impersonating a has-been pop singer. Cooking was one of my more decent skills.
Lost in such trivial thoughts while blankly watching the sunset, I suddenly remembered someone I'd forgotten.
Come to think of it, the Crown Prince never touched the food I made.
Well, the Crown Prince was said to be at such a transcendent level that he could go days without eating or drinking, but that didn't mean he didn't feel hunger.
I'd been a bit too harsh earlier. In a moment of lost reason, I'd gotten genuinely angry at a kid as an adult.
"......"
I pulled out the cookies I'd made for dessert.
I'd pocketed them to eat later if I got hungry.
I knew the Crown Prince wouldn't be tamed with mere food, but as an apology for earlier—or maybe out of ulterior motives—I wanted to give him a little snack.
He probably wouldn't accept my goodwill easily.
He'd suspect poison or aphrodisiacs again.
Ah, but what if it led to unnecessary misunderstandings?
It would be trouble if he thought I still liked him.
In normal relationships, if someone looked out for you, you'd feel grateful and develop fondness. But the Crown Prince and I were inversely proportional.
Due to his past traumas, the more he sensed I liked him, the more reflexively he'd despise me.
Even a simple goodwill like handing over cookies would be misinterpreted as me liking him, making him hate me more.
Doing nothing would get me hated just the same. Impenetrable, in a word.
Annoying brat...... The words rose to my throat.
Lost in thought alone, I heard someone scolding me.
"What are you doing sprawled out there? And you're supposed to be a noble? Tch, so sloppy."
"Hello."
As I tried to sit up properly to greet him, the Vice Commander was looking at me pitifully for some reason.
Ah, only then did I realize I'd been lying too casually in my dress. I straightened my back and sat properly on the bench.
"What are you doing in front of lust-frustrated soldiers? Or were you doing it on purpose and I interrupted? Just like the rumors, a lewd woman."
"No one in Distian would feel lust looking at me."
"Those guys would get aroused by worn-out boots. They're beasts."
The Vice Commander clicked his tongue and spoke with conviction.
"No, I don't think so. I overheard earlier by chance. No matter how pretty the appearance, Duchess Serabi is creepy, like she has no chastity...... Ha."
As I calmly recited the insults about Serabi I'd heard just today in a flat tone, the Vice Commander, who'd been listening silently, gradually looked shocked.
"Damn these bastards. You heard all that and just took it? Are you an idiot? You yap away in front of the Commander."
Maybe it was my imagination, but a hint of worry mixed into his scolding tone. He seemed to think I'd been hurt.
"Didn't you call them beasts yourself, Vice Commander? Conversations are for people. No matter how hard I defended myself, it would just sound like lies to them."
"......"
And above all, their words didn't hurt me at all.
It wasn't even about me, really. Duchess Serabi's personality was a billion light-years from mine, so bad rumors felt like stories from another world—I could brush them off indifferently.
I was used to being cursed at anyway.
And originally, what they were saying held no truth.
No chastity? If the pure love obsessive who only had eyes for the Crown Prince heard that, she'd faint.
Considering what she'd done to the Crown Prince, "pure love" was too cute a term, but in my view, Duchess Serabi upheld chastity better than anyone else in this novel.
Of course, setting aside all the things she'd done to the Crown Prince.
"Anyway, I'm off. The Commander summoned me."
Hearing he was summoned by the Commander, a good idea struck me.
Ah, what if I use him as a delivery boy? He's heading to the Crown Prince anyway.
I grabbed the turning man and shoved the cookies into his hand.
Seeing that, the Vice Commander was speechless for a while.
"......Sorry, but you're not my type."
What misunderstanding is this?
Before the misunderstanding deepened, I quickly added,
"Please give these to His Highness on the way. As a meal substitute."
The Vice Commander looked down at the cookies with a thoughtful expression and said,
"You can deliver them yourself. No matter how much he dislikes you, he's a good person at heart. I'm sure the Commander's fondness for you would go up."
His words were spot on.
Crown Prince Raven was a good person.
The hero of a novel rarely turns out to be a villain.
