Chapter 11

"Lady, did you have a good look around?"

"Of course. The people are friendly, and the streets are clean. I never knew that the North could be such a wonderful place."

"I-I am glad, then."

When I clasped both of my hands and complimented Lyden, Sir Jerome was taken aback and stuttered.

I noticed it before, but this man does seem to be very weak at conversating with women.

I stared at his brunette hair that swayed in the wind.

「Jerome, who used to be popular when alone, immediately lost his light when the Archduke appeared.」

"Hmm.."

Why did I suddenly think of this line?

From all sides, Sir Jerome was a hard-to-find handsome man.

It was definitely what I thought before I explored around Lyden, but I felt something was lacking when I came back.

Hmm...

I already knew well the reason why I changed my opinion about this kind and friendly knight.

That was right after I saw that man.

A sun-like blond hair covered one of his moon-like silver eyes.

His face was like the whole handsomeness in the universe combined in one face together. It was no exaggeration to say that he looked like an actual painting even when he only crossed his leg.

It was like pampering my taste buds and eyes at the same time.

I wasn't going to deny that De Milch was the best dessert shop in Lyden. But this man, I had only seen him briefly at the shop a while ago, yet after seeing him, everyone on the street looked like a paper doll.

"What's wrong, Lady?"

"No. Nothing."

As I averted my pitiful look away from Sir Jerome, I shook the unnecessary thought away.

What is wrong with you.

Being born in the same era with such a handsome man, it wasn't like Sir Jerome could do anything about it.

However, now I understood why the original author kept emphasizing such copy and paste phrases.

Still, I wish I could have had a closer look earlier.

It was the first time I have seen such a gorgeous man, so I was disappointed that I couldn't engrave a more detailed look in my head.

To be honest, it wasn't because he was my type or something.

I was just thinking, even the little lady in 'Rain Shower'* said she would be buried with the best memories of her life. I was about to marry a beast, and I thought at least wanting to see the man's beautiful face was justifiable.

(*Rain Shower is a classic Korean short story about heart-rending love between the boy and the girl who met by chance.)

"Hmm…"

But, why did he smiled?

The last time I remembered, that man turned his head away. The rest of the man's appearance was hazy because I was busy informing teaching the sleazy human being a lesson.

But, from afar, I thought I could see that he was trying to hold back his laugh.

"Lady, where did you put the items that you bought? Should I put that in the loading cart?"

"No, how could I leave such items to a knight?"

A shy smile.

It was no exaggeration to say that a small gesture was enough for Sir Jerome.

I quickly held out the cake just when Sir Jerome almost turned completely red under that silver armor.

"This is…"

"No matter how kind the Northerners are, how could they give me all of these when I only bought one cake."

Now, now. Don't ask me anything else and just eat this.

With a bright smile, I handed him the bribe cake given by De Milch to me.

There was nothing better than food to keep people's mouths shut. I couldn't finish it all anyway, so it made a perfect nice-to-meet-you gift.

"Please enjoy it. That's a thousand Gold… worth of cake."

"T-Thank you, Lady."

Seeing the armed knight carefully hold the cake as if it were fragile, I could forget how much I spent on that cake.

After making sure that Sir Jerome had completely out of my sight, I opened the chest again.

"Oh my God, Rose. How could a lady look like that?"

"Sister! Uh.."

The sight of Rose with the cream smeared all over her mouth blinked her purple eyes.

Her mouth stuffed with cake and the cream all over her cheek, she looked exactly like a cat got caught.

"This is so delicious! Sister, you have to eat too!"

"Just eat it slowly. Do you really like the cake that much?"

It was only after the carriage departed when I got Rose out of her hiding place and sat her on my lap. I left her the cake that I cut in half before we got back to the carriage early to hid her in the chest.

The cat thief, Rose, protested with her eyes.

"No, I took a small bite and ate it very slowly, but.."

"But?"

"The cake was melting. Uh.."

Is that so?

In the end, I couldn't stand the sight of Rose's pouting lips, and I ended up hugging her tightly.

Sure, it was the cake's fault. It should have just stayed still in Rose's mouth, not melting.

As I closed my eyes and was drunk on the cuteness of my youngest sister, Rose handed me the remaining cake.

"Sister, by the way, have you eaten beritz fruit before? I really thought it was strawberry!"

"Huh?"

"Were there really beritz fruits grow in the hill behind our village? How did you know that? That's awesome!"

Uh… Rose, the thing is…

Rose munching on the cake with a mouthful of cake, but I had nothing to say about this.

Of course, I had been climbing mountains and cutting down all kinds of trees for more than a decade, but I had never seen beritz fruits in person.

There's no way such precious fruits grew on the hills behind a small village.

Nevertheless, I knew the manager lied because I remembered the story in detail.

Among all the luxuries the Archduke of Valencia had prepared for the heroine Cecil, of course, the costly items would appear with no exception. But if I couldn't tell Rose about that, I had to keep in mind that this novel was restricted to above 19 years old readers.

「The green juices spread over Cecil's underskirt as she dropped the fruit at the Archduke's sudden appearance. 」

「"Oh, my God. This wouldn't come off easily…."」

「"That's what you worried about?"」

「Kiers smirked as he crushed the fruits all over her body...」

"... crazy."

No, what did you imagine with a 5-year-old child in your arms?

Shaking my head, I tried to focus on Rose, who was happy with her cake.

That particular sentence was enough for me to imagine what the Archduke did with the fruits.

Anyway, thanks to the power of reading, I immediately noticed the manager's lies.

There's no way they would put more than a hundred golds worth of fruit on a piece of cake.

In addition, the knowledge of all kinds of luxuries that appeared in the novel might be helpful in the future.

Even though most of them were used for bedroom activity purposes only.

"Sister, are we arrived now?"

"Huh?"

"I will have to go back into the chest, then?"

Rose, who had already finished eating the cake, stepped into the chest on her own. She was being sensible again.

I was feeling just sad and sorry rather than proud.

"Sister, are you getting me out again today?"

"Of course. I will do it as we planned."

"What if the beast eats me? I am scared, sister."

"No, he doesn't eat people."

He only ate expensive foods. The most expensive of all.

I brushed Rose's hair behind her ears as I was reflecting on the bitter reality.

She looked so pretty even though she hadn't washed for a few days. I didn't see any girl as pretty as Rose when we walked around Lyden's streets today. Perhaps she would be even cuter if she dressed up like those kids.

"Lady! We've entered the Archduke's Castle!"

"Ah.."

Sir Jerome's voice and the sound of the horseshoe was getting near.

Before I hid Rose back in the chest, I held her breathtakingly tight.

I wouldn't let her down.

You have to do well, Bella. This pretty kitten's life depends entirely on you.

"I promise I will do my best! This will be the last time. I will make sure you don't go into this place like this again, Rose!"

"Yes!"

The atmosphere outside the carriage changed as Rose nodded and hid in the chest. It wasn't the same buzz as when we entered the Lyden.

It was rather desolate.

There was nothing but the sound of iron clashing. The sound permeated the inside of the carriage.

Even before getting off the carriage, I knew instinctively that this was the Archduke's manor.

I swallowed the tension and patted my cheek lightly.

"Lady, if you are ready, you may get off."

The carriage had stopped entirely, and the door finally opened.

Before I got off, as calmly as possible, I took a deep breath while reminding myself of Rose's and my life over and over.

"Ah.."

There was no way to admire or comment about the majestic exterior.

Gulp.

My mouth opened unknowingly.

The castle's exterior was black and majestic.

The robes of the knights and the carriages were one thing, but the solemnity of the castle was incomparable.

Everything from the entrance to the castle to the marble on the floor was black.

Everything was all black that I was so overwhelmed that I almost thought my body would be dyed black once I stepped into the castle.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that even the enemies turned around from seeing the entrance.

How do I say this?

It was like you're about to meet the ultimate villain King.