As soon as I returned to the Shiaster residence, I made him some food and served it.
“What’s this?”
The red bird, which I had not seen in a long time, was sitting quietly on his shoulder, and on the table between him and me was a dish with steam rising.
The red bird seemed to tilt its head as if curious about the food I offered. Despite its fierce appearance, it was quite cute, but I was currently in a serious situation, so I straightened my shoulders.
I pointed my finger at the food and said:
“This is called rice with soy sauce and eggs.”
On top of the white rice was a lightly placed egg and glossy soy sauce-like sauce.
Although I introduced it as rice with soy sauce and egg, it was not actually soy sauce.
Because, although this world is based on the Korean romance fantasy genre, there was no soy sauce. However, thankfully, there was a sauce that tasted similar to soy sauce.
It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing I can do. Next time, I want to try making soy sauce myself.
He swallowed his saliva with a gulp. A color that I had never seen appeared on his face.
He was ready to extend his spoon and put it in his mouth at any moment.
Then, I quickly covered the bowl with both of my hands.
Ting! The spoon he held out bounced off.
“Wait. Before that. If you want to eat, copy what I say.”
Dazar twitched his lips.
“What?”
“I will serve Celia with all my heart from now on.”
“…….”
“Don’t want to? Then how about this? I will be Celia’s foot washer. The deadline is until Celia leaves here.”
Dazar’s golden eyes shook pitifully. The spoon he was holding also shook violently.
Dazar bit his lip slightly and deeply closed and opened his eyes.
After hesitating for a while he looked at the spoon in his hand and the rice with soy sauce and egg that I was blocking the entrance to, and slowly began to speak one syllable at a time.
“…..Foot…. wash….er…”
“What? I beg your pardon. I can’t hear you well, can you speak louder?”
“…..”
“Who… who…!”
Whiz!
At that time, he stood up suddenly and threw the spoon he was holding far away.
The spoon that flew gracefully in the air and landed on the marble floor with a clang! was thrown so hard that even when it fell on the floor it skidded far away as if skating.
The spoon that had been slipping for a while only stopped after it hit the wall with a ting!
I watched the spoon’s journey to freedom from his grasp with deep emotions and then came back to my senses when I saw him fuming in front of me.
“Who would say such nonsense!”
He shouted at the top of his voice and walked out with great strides. Thanks to this, the red bird sitting on his shoulder flew up and landed on the sofa in front of me.
As he walked out the door, the back of his neck was stained red with anger.
He left his bird like this. He seemed very angry.
“Hmm.”
Well, I was already expecting him to refuse, so I wasn’t surprised by his behavior.
I sat facing the red bird in the now quiet room, and pulled the bowl over.
Then I picked up my spoon that was hidden behind the tray, mixed the soy sauce, eggs, and rice together, and took a bite.
“Mmm!”
As expected. Wherever you eat it, rice with soy sauce and egg is the best. Yum.
I downed a bowl with a smile.
“Your master is really narrow-minded, isn’t he?”
The red bird seemed to nod its head as if agreeing with what I said. I felt satisfied and smiled.
Ah, I feel quite good.
* * *
Several days later, I went back to the ‘Give Me 3 Seconds, and I’ll Poison You’ to return the strange stone that Morrocanil had left behind, but Morrocanil was not there.
“Celia, you seemed to be in a very good mood today.”
“Ah, do I look like that?”
I turned my gaze away from the stone on the desk and looked at Carl.
Carl, who was carrying the sleeping Axion, seemed to be about to cut some fruit and deliver it to him.
He set down a silver tray filled with apples cut into the shape of rabbits.
“Yes. Is it because of the letter that arrived today? Hm, the person named Letsy…. Ahem, are they a man?”
Carl glanced at the letter in front of me, pretending not to look at it, and asked while clearing his throat repeatedly.
I shook my head languidly.
“No, a woman.”
“My goodness.”
“Huh?”
Carl’s voice was trembling. It was a somewhat familiar reaction, I could roughly predict what would follow.
“Miss Celia finally got a same-gender friend…..!”
Carl suddenly covered his mouth and raised his head. He took a deep breath and blinked rapidly.
His eyes that were turned toward the ceiling fogged up with tears.
“Did you make this friend at Her Majesty’s ball? Oh oh…. I was very worried about whether you would be able to make another friend besides Cedric, but I finally achieved my dream before I died. Sob sob. This is all thanks to the foresight Emperor Scarlet has.”
“Uh, um…. Carl, Axion’s head is bent….”
“Ah! Master Axion!”
He’d be very shocked to know that Letsy is Emperor Scarlet.
After confirming that Axion was sleeping peacefully, I skimmed over Carl’s reaction, which I had become accustomed to, and finished my reply.
Letsy gave a brief greeting and said that the garaetteok that she had eaten that day was delicious.
[…..and Sir Hael is still limping. Every time I see that I burst out laughing, so it’s difficult every time I review the national affairs (that was haphazardly scribbled over) daily tasks.]
I said that I was happy to make Letsy smile and wished Sir Hael a quick recovery.
After I put the letter in an envelope, stamped it, and sent it through a servant, I went to the front yard of the annex where we were staying.
‘No, how on earth did he know my name?’
A month and a few days have passed since then.
The dandelion Morrocanil was still floating around my head.
‘Is he, by any chance, a noble who participated in the ball at that time?’
I thought of the nobles who were avoiding me while looking at me.
Then it would make sense that he knew me.
‘Because I am famous for my notoriety…..?’
Hm.
But why would you show me such a favor?
I recalled the reactions of the nobles I encountered at the ball at that time. Didn’t they look at me like I was a cockroach and run away?
‘Dazar also tried to use my notoriety as a shield.’
Why would you do that type of favor for such a person? It was strange.
‘Eh, I don’t know.’
I clicked my tongue as I plowed the soil in the garden with a small hoe.
This garden was created as a temporary measure, as this still a farming-nerd body felt itchy if it did not farm every day.
‘You said you’d see me later, so I guess I’ll see you someday.’
With that in mind, I dispelled the thoughts of Morrocanil and greeted the guest who came to find me.
“Celia! Did you have a good time at the imperial palace? How do you feel?”
“Ah, C-Cedric.”
It was Cedric.
Looking at his fluffy pink hair and round glasses, I felt like memories of the past were passing by again.
‘Celiiiaa…. Soobb…!’
Gasp! I put in a lot of effort and focused on the present.
Life is about living in the present.
If you are caught in the past or future, not letting go here and now, you will live an unhappy life, engulfed in thoughts, worries, and anxiety.
I calmed down, put down the tools I was holding in my hands one by one with unwavering eyes, and welcomed him.
“Welcome. I feel very refreshed.”
“Wow! That’s great. As expected, my asking you to go to the ball was effective, right?”
He spoke in a whisper and narrowed his eyes slightly. His appearance was a bit sly, to the point where you wouldn’t think he was someone who had been bullied by this body in the past.
Although what he was saying is, I felt better after going to the ball and beating someone up.
The reason I felt good was because I gave Dazar a hit.
But there was no reason to explain, so I just nodded.
“Well, it wasn’t bad.”
“Hoo-hoo. As expected. No one knows Celia better than I do.”
That’s because you’ve been bullied by Celia for over half of your life. Cedric probably thinks of this body as the most vicious person.
“Anyway, what’s up?”
Cedric adjusted his round glasses and smiled.
“I came here because I wanted to spend some time with a friend. All you’ve done is work.”
“Mm.”
Is today friend’s day?
I glanced at Cedric’s face, which seemed to have the words ‘I am very nice and kind’ written on it, and took off my gloves.
“Come in.”
“Wow.”
Cedric followed behind me with a look of excitement. We quickly entered the living room and sat across from each other with the black tea that Carl had brought over.
“Is that a separate vegetable garden you were making earlier?”
“Yeah. Just as a hobby.”
“Very constructive, Celia.”
“What….”
The brightly smiling face felt very burdensome, so I glanced away. I felt burdened with a face full of good-heartedness.
The conversation went on for a while with Cedric bringing up the topic first and me answering, when he suddenly brought up an unexpected topic.
“It will be the rift day soon”
Rift day.
That was what Letsy said to Dazar a few days ago.
It also appeared in the original novel, so I knew what day it was.
But it was very unexpected that Cedric knew.
This is because Rift Day was a day that the general public, except for the transcendentalists and the high-ranking officials of the imperial family, did not know about its existence.
Wait. High-ranking official?
‘Now that I think about it, I heard that Cedric came here to be in charge of food development education.’
Does he have a high position? I tilted my head and asked him in passing.
“By the way, what is your position?”
Then Cedric replied with a gentle smile. Pink eyelashes fell down beautifully along with the eye smile.
“Me? Prime minister.”
“……?”
