“Young Lady, perhaps we should still dine together…”
“Absolutely not! Why should I endure the presence of a mere baron? Tell him to be gone.”
“What about your meal, then…?”
“Order them to bring it to my room!”
“…Yes, I understand.”
As the conversation, draining merely to overhear, concluded, a sharp-featured woman approached, her face etched with weariness.
“You heard, didn’t you? It appears sharing a meal will be quite out of the question.”
“…”
She certainly appeared venomous, yet I couldn’t help but feel that anyone serving such an obstinate master would inevitably adopt a similar demeanor.
While the woman’s sharp temperament was understandable, the ducal daughter’s vitriolic outbursts were utterly insufferable.
It seemed imperative to humble her inflated pride, even if just this once.
“My escort?”
“Yes.”
“The letter I received explicitly stated that any action is permissible, so long as it doesn’t mar the Young Lady’s face or compromise her virtue. You are aware of this, are you not?”
“Yes, I am aware.”
I glanced at Rainy, who was standing beside me.
True to form, Rainy, my kindred spirit, seemed to grasp my unspoken intentions, offering a supportive nod in affirmation.
Having secured the assent of even Rainy, the former Saintess, there was no longer any reason to hesitate.
“So, we are free to ‘educate’ the Young Lady as we deem appropriate, aren’t we?”
“…Yes, as long as it doesn’t pose a threat to the Young Lady…”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
Rainy had a justifiable reason for her behavior, attributable to her illness, but this Young Lady appeared to be without such extenuating circumstances.
Therefore, there was no reason to hold back; a forceful approach would be entirely appropriate.
After all, a spoiled child prone to tantrums must be firmly disciplined and guided toward proper conduct.
****
The Ducal House of Mastain.
The Ducal House of Mastain, guardians of the northern territories where snow falls year-round and which border the demon realm, was a lineage renowned for its members being born with innate, extraordinary talents.
Laura von Mastain, the beloved second daughter of that very Ducal House of Mastain, was blessed with an innate genius for magic.
Having mastered 1st Circle ice magic at the tender age of seven, she now, at eighteen, wielded 5th Circle magic with such proficiency that her renown echoed across the entire continent.
Yet, she possessed a singular, devastating flaw.
‘The very idea of sharing a table with a mere baron is utterly repulsive.’
This flaw was an extreme sense of elitism concerning her own noble status.
To her, commoners were little more than articulate beasts.
Even lesser nobles, while acknowledged as human, were met with her extreme disdain and avoidance.
Thus, the dinner invitation from a baron—the lowest rung of nobility—was rejected without a moment’s hesitation.
She would sooner starve to death than share a meal with such a paltry noble.
Laura thought so.
****
“Yumi, where’s the food?”
“They say it will arrive shortly.”
“Hmph, I suppose it’s to be expected from an inferior baronial family. Not only is the room wretched, but even the food takes an eternity to arrive.”
Laura slammed her fist onto the blanket in irritation.
Yumi, who stood by, observing Laura’s petulant display, parted her lips as if to speak, only to press them shut once more.
Unfortunately, Laura didn’t notice this.
“Still, the smell is nice.”
Despite her profound dissatisfaction with a room even more squalid than the academy dormitory she’d scorned as trash, Laura found solace only in the delicate scent of lemon verbena that permeated the air.
Though it was the first fragrance she’d encountered since arriving in this domain, its fresh and sweet notes perfectly aligned with her preferences.
Thus, she reveled in the aroma, idly turning on the bed.
-Knock, knock.
A knock sounded from outside.
“Is that the food?”
“I’ll check.”
Yumi cast a quick, apprehensive glance at Laura before opening the door, her face betraying a hint of unease.
Beyond the threshold, Laura discovered Raden, a smile gracing his lips, holding a silver tray piled high with food.
‘He’s handsome…’
Never having conceived that Raden himself would be delivering her meal, Laura vaguely assumed a handsome servant had arrived. She subtly wiggled her toes, gesturing towards the desk.
It was her unspoken command: place the food on the desk, then depart.
Yet, despite her subtle signal, Raden remained rooted to the spot, his smile unwavering.
Laura felt a surge of indignation at Raden, who seemed utterly incapable of comprehending her clear, albeit silent, instruction.
Suppressing her anger for a moment, mollified by his handsome features, she articulated her command aloud this time.
“Place it on that table and be gone, commoner.”
Whenever Laura adopted such an imperious tone, servants would invariably cower in fear, scrambling to escape. Thus, she fully expected the man before her to react in kind.
Instead, Raden merely continued to beam, ignoring her command, and began to advance towards her.
‘Wh-what is this?’
As a mere commoner dared defy her god-like command, Laura’s anger was tinged with a nascent fear.
For Laura, still but a girl, the sight of a large, robust man silently approaching her with only a smile was undeniably terrifying.
“Yumi! Kill that vile man!”
Overcome by fear, Laura desperately summoned Yumi, her escort.
“…Young Lady, that man is not a commoner; he is Baron Raden. He is not someone I can simply dispose of.”
As she spoke, Yumi pointedly averted her gaze from Laura’s.
A chill snaked down Laura’s spine as she watched Yumi deliberately turn away from her.
Magic, by its very essence, involves creating something from nothing, bending the very laws of science; thus, its practitioners must possess an extraordinary imagination.
Even though she was a notorious troublemaker, Laura, widely acclaimed as the Empire’s premier magical talent, naturally possessed a brilliant imagination.
Her formidable imagination instantly connected Raden, grinning as he approached despite her command to leave, with Yumi, who conspicuously feigned ignorance.
It linked her expulsion from the academy and the Duke’s perpetually furious reactions.
Synthesizing all these disparate elements, her mind forged a single, chilling hypothesis.
‘Surely… Father hasn’t truly abandoned me, has he?’
Laura was well aware of the unfavorable glances cast her way.
Yet, armed with her status as a ducal daughter and the most formidable magical talent in history, she had never once entertained the notion of being cast aside, regardless of public opinion.
At most, she’d imagined a few years of quiet reflection before her discreet return to the capital.
But what if she was wrong?
What if she had truly been discarded, like refuse, to a mere baron in some backwater frontier village?
‘No.’
Laura drew upon her mana.
Her immediate thought was to strike down Raden, who was advancing with such a sinister smile.
No normal thoughts could possibly lurk behind such a sly, unsettling grin.
The instant he took one more step closer, she intended to obliterate the man’s head with a blast of magic.
Clang-
A clear, ringing sound echoed as the tray and its metal cover clashed.
From the silver tray Raden carried, a medley of dishes revealed themselves.
Tomatoes, lettuce, bell peppers, chili peppers, garlic, broccoli, cucumbers, and a host of other vegetables.
These were the ultimate weapons against picky eating, capable of silencing even a weeping child.
For Laura, a notoriously picky eater, these were nothing short of a culinary nightmare.
“Wh-what is this…”
Laura, utterly dumbfounded, could only stammer incoherently.
Moments prior, her mind had been consumed with thoughts of blasting Raden to smithereens, but the sight of these dreadful green monstrosities, with their sleek forms, instantly eradicated such notions.
Only profound terror remained.
Raden, his gaze softening upon the petrified Laura, finally spoke.
“This, Young Lady, is the meal you’ve been anticipating! I’ve specially curated it with your health in mind, filling it with dishes so wholesome they’ll invigorate you with every bite! Please, enjoy!”
“Yu… Yumi… this isn’t right…”
With a face on the brink of tears, Laura desperately sought Yumi, her ever-loyal confidante.
“…”
Yumi, however, turned her head, deliberately avoiding Laura’s desperate gaze, and stammered hesitantly.
“Oh, my… these are truly such wholesome dishes. I… I can feel Baron Raden’s genuine concern for the Young Lady’s well-being…”
“…”
The realization that Yumi had betrayed her struck Laura with profound shock.
Yumi, who had always, unfailingly, stood by her side, was now turning her back…
“Come now, Young Lady, do eat up quickly.”
Under Raden’s forceful urging, Laura tentatively picked up a tomato, its grotesque appearance doing little to inspire confidence.
“Ugh.”
She recoiled with a gasp of revulsion at its dreadful texture, immediately pulling her hand back.
In her estimation, these were dishes utterly unfit for human consumption.
And Raden, who had arrived with not just one, but an entire tray brimming with such abominable fare, was nothing short of…
…a demon.
“H-heck, a demon! Get out!”
Laura instinctively seized a nearby pillow and hurled it.
Raden, with an unhurried grace, sidestepped the projectile and offered a gentle smile.
“My, are you perhaps upset, Young Lady?”
“These are not fit for human consumption!”
“They’re all wonderfully healthy, Young Lady. Do try just a single bite.”
“I’ll never eat it!”
Faced with Laura’s vehement resistance, Raden scratched his head thoughtfully before retrieving the tray.
“Haha, what a shame. If the Young Lady truly dislikes it, then I suppose I shall take my leave.”
“Huh? Really?”
Laura, who had braced herself for an all-out confrontation with Raden, felt her tension dissipate at his surprisingly amenable retreat.
“Indeed. I have no desire to force the Young Lady to eat. If you wish not to, then you simply won’t.”
“Th-then get out now!”
“Should you find yourself in need of a meal, please seek me out and let me know. I shall prepare it for you at any time.”
“Yeah, I won’t eat.”
“…Well, if you truly don’t want to eat it.”
Raden, maintaining a composed expression, gathered the dishes and departed the room without further ado.
Exhilarated by her perceived victory over the ‘demon,’ Laura, momentarily forgetting Yumi’s betrayal, triumphantly declared.
“Yumi, I defeated the demon!”
“Ah… yes…”
Despite having clearly vanquished a demon, Yumi’s rather noncommittal response caused Laura to tilt her head in confusion.
At that very moment.
*Grrrroowl.*
A thunderous rumble echoed from Laura’s stomach.
An unfamiliar sensation of hunger, something she had never experienced before, enveloped her.
Only then did Laura realize she hadn’t eaten anything all day, and her face turned utterly pale.
