* * *
“My lady, did you enjoy your look around?”
“Oh, absolutely. The people were so kind, the streets were so spotless—I had no idea the North was such a marvelous place!”
“…I-I am glad to hear that.”
When I clasped my hands and gushed like an actress in a commercial, Sir Jerome stuttered, entirely flustered. Once again, it was clear this sweet man was terribly weak to that sort of thing. I gazed quietly at his brown hair fluttering in the breeze.
Jerome was plenty popular when standing on his own, but the moment the Grand Duke appeared, all his luster vanished.
“Hmm…”
Why had that line suddenly popped into my head?
From the left or the right, Sir Jerome was undeniably handsome. That had certainly been true before I stepped out of the carriage, but strangely enough, after returning from our brief outing, he seemed somewhat lacking.
Hmph.
There was no need to wonder why I was feeling this way toward such a kind, attentive knight, because deep down, I already knew the answer.
It was because I had just seen ‘that man.’
Blond hair like sunlight brushing softly over one eye, and silver irises carrying the cool glow of the moon.
A single face that somehow contained the entire universe—in short, an extraordinary beauty unlike anything this world would ever see again. Even the way he sat, legs crossed with his torso turned ever so slightly, looked as if he had stepped straight out of a masterpiece.
Eating cake and feasting my eyes on a gorgeous man!
There was no denying now that The Meltz was the greatest dessert shop around. It had only been a fleeting encounter in the salon, but after laying eyes on him, every person walking the streets looked like a flat paper doll.
“…Is something the matter, my lady?”
“No. Not at all.”
Shaking off my stray thoughts, I pulled my pitying gaze away from Sir Jerome. Right, what fault was it of yours? Being born in the same era as a man like that wasn’t something Jerome could help.
Still, I finally understood why the original author had hammered that copy-paste line over and over again.
Hmm, I really should have gotten a closer look.
It was the first time I had ever seen someone so astonishingly handsome, leaving me wishing I had etched every detail into my memory. Honestly, this hardly even counted as having ulterior motives.
I mean, even that whimsical girl from the short story ‘Rain shower’ said she wanted to be buried holding on to the finest memory of her life, didn’t she? I was on the verge of marrying a beast, so on purely humanitarian grounds, I deserved at least this much.
“Hmm.”
…Wait, why did it feel like he was smiling?
I tilted my head, sorting through my hazy memories. I had been so busy teaching that greasy manager a lesson about the real world that my final glimpse of the man was a blur.
Even from afar, those crimson lips had looked as though they were stifling a laugh…
“My lady, where did you leave the items you purchased? Should I carry them over for you…?”
“Oh no. How could I make a knight carry such things?”
A bashful smile.
It was safe to say this alone worked like a charm on Sir Jerome. When a mottled flush crept up his neck above his silver armor, I quickly thrust a cake toward him.
“…This is?”
“The people of the North are just so wonderfully kind. Would you believe it? I bought a single cake, and they gave me all of this on top of it!”
There, there. Stop asking questions and just eat this.
With a bright smile, I handed him the complimentary cakes The Meltz had given me as hush money. There was truly nothing like good food to seal someone's lips. Since they gave me far more than I could possibly eat anyway, it was the perfect chance to be generous.
“Please, enjoy it. That cake alone is worth… a thousand gold.”
“T-thank you, my lady.”
Watching an armored knight carry off a single cake with such delicate care, it seemed he had completely forgotten what I had actually bought. Once Sir Jerome was fully out of sight, I opened the chest again.
“Goodness, Rose. What has happened to my little lady!”
“Unnie! Mmh.”
With white cream smeared all over her mouth, Rose blinked deep purple eyes that matched my own. Having buried her face directly into the cake plate, both her cheeks were heaped with fluffy cream, looking for all the world like a kitten on a postcard.
“This is so, so yummy! Unnie, you eat some too!”
“Chew slowly. Did you like it that much?”
Only after the carriage began to roll did I pull Rose onto my lap. The cakes I had tucked away when I hid her in the chest earlier were now half gone. Rose, our little thief-cat, protested with a thoroughly wronged expression.
“Nuh-uh. I kept it in my mouth and tried really hard to save it, but…”
“But?”
“It just melted all on its own. Mmh.”
Oh, is that what happened?
Unable to resist her pouting lips, I finally pulled her into a tight hug.
Right, it was the cake's fault. How dare it melt away without permission instead of sitting still in our Rose's mouth?
As I closed my eyes, reveling in my little sister's cuteness, Rose held out the rest of the cake for me.
“Unnie, have you ever eaten a Beritz fruit? I really thought it was a strawberry!”
“Hmm?”
“Was there really a Beritz fruit on the hill behind our village? Mmh, how do you know about that kind of stuff, Unnie? You're so amazing!”
Well… you see, little one.
Rose puffed me up with praise while munching a mouthful of cake, but I didn't quite have an answer for her. Sure, I had spent over a decade hiking mountains and chopping down all sorts of trees like a wild woman, but I had never seen a Beritz fruit with my own eyes. In the grand scheme of things, such a rare, precious fruit had no business growing on the hill behind a tiny village.
The only reason I caught the manager in his lie was because I remembered the details from the novel so clearly.
Among the lavish fortunes Grand Duke Valencia splurged on the female lead, Cecil, the finest luxuries made frequent appearances. But when it came to explaining that to Rose, I had to keep in mind that this novel was strictly R-19.
Startled by his sudden appearance, Cecil dropped the Beritz fruit, sending emerald stains blooming across her petticoat.
“Oh dear. These stains will never come out…”
“…Is that what concerns you?”
With an arrogant smirk, Kiers crushed the Beritz fruits all over her body…
“…Insane.”
No, no, no. What in the world was I imagining while hugging a five-year-old child?!
Shaking my head vigorously, I turned all my attention back to Rose, who was perfectly content with a piece of cake. Whatever the illustrious Grand Duke did with those fruits was best left to the imagination.
The power of reading—thanks to it, I had caught the manager's lie right on the spot. Why would anyone ever place a fruit worth over a hundred gold atop a mere slice of cake?
Aside from that, practically every luxury known to man appeared in that novel, so this knowledge might come in handy later. Granted, the catch was that almost every single one of them was used exclusively in the bedroom.
“…Unnie, are we almost there?”
“Hmm?”
“Do I have to go back in the box now?”
Having finished her cake, Rose took it upon herself to step into the chest.
She was simply too quick on the uptake. Rather than feeling proud, I only felt heartbroken and sorry.
“Unnie, will you let me out again today?”
“Of course. I'll make sure everything goes just as planned.”
“…B-but what if the beast eats me? Mmh, that sounds scary.”
“He won't. That man doesn't eat little girls.”
He only eats expensive things—very expensive things.
Stroking Rose’s hair, I swallowed the bitter reality. Who did she take after to look this pretty, even after days without a proper bath? Walking the streets of Liden today, I hadn't seen a single child as lovely as our Rose.
If she were dressed up in fine clothes and pretty dresses like those children, she would look like the most adorable kitten in the world.
“My lady! We have entered the Grand Duke's Castle!”
“Ah…”
Sir Jerome’s shout was accompanied by the closer clatter of hooves. Before shutting Rose inside the chest, I held her in a suffocatingly tight embrace. Doing this felt like steeling my own resolve.
You have to do well, Bella. The life of this precious little kitten rests entirely in your hands.
“I'll do great out there! This is the last time. I promise our Rose will never have to hide in a place like this again!”
“…Mm-hmm!”
Rose nodded without a single whimper of complaint and stepped into the chest, just as the atmosphere outside the carriage shifted completely. This was nothing like the lively bustle of entering downtown Liden.
It was dead quiet.
A heavy stillness permeated the carriage, broken only by the cold, metallic ring of clashing steel. Even before stepping out, I instinctively knew this was the Grand Duke's Castle.
Lightly tapping my cheeks, I swallowed down the rising dread.
“My lady, please step down whenever you are ready.”
“…”
The carriage came to a complete halt, and the door finally opened. Telling myself to stay calm and remembering our two lives were on the line, I drew a long, deep breath, but my throat tightened with a dry swallow before my foot could even touch the ground.
“Ah…”
So this was the Grand Duke's Castle.
There was no time to marvel or pass judgment. My jaw dropped open so wide that my chin ached.
“…”
An imposing fortress cloaked entirely in black, as though casting a dark pall over the very heavens.
The carriages and the knights’ dress uniforms were somber enough, but the sheer gravity of the Grand Duke's Castle was incomparable. From the gates to the citadel, even down to the marble flagstones beneath my feet, everything shimmered in pitch black. It was so overwhelming that it felt as if my very body might be stained black just standing before it.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say most enemies would lose their nerve and turn back at the gate.
How should I put it? It felt as though I was being marched straight to the final boss before I could even learn how to play.
