Chapter 17

This wasn’t it.

That wasn’t it either.

I was certain as I smelled each and every grain of rice improved by the students and researchers of the Empire’s Wizard Association and Academy. This was a failure.

Can’t a river-like peace settle in my taste buds? Do I have to keep eating only greasy soup, bland bread, and fresh salad?

I suspected if this was all because I threw a tantrum over side dishes to my sister. But isn’t the hardship and torment I’ve experienced a bit too much for refusing the meal my sister prepared once or twice?

Sister, I was wrong. So if I did something wrong, please don’t do this and tell me… Well, not that I would understand if you told me.

“This isn’t it either.”

“Pardon?”

“Not this either……”

Whooa, the rice I wanted is not this kind of rice! But I didn’t have the energy to flip the table lined with different kinds of rice. Deeply heartbroken, I lay on the bed and imitated a rolled-up bug under the blanket.

Ugh, if my sister saw me, she would scold me for doing something unproductive instead of recycling.

But there was no sister here to nag me, nor a black cat to yowl annoyingly.

“Our Minsu, who’s like a little hamster…”

Our cute Minsu would nudge me with his front paws if I lay down lifelessly. It meant I should do something and move around. If I obediently filled his food according to Minsu’s signal, he would turn away without hesitation. If I still lingered around like a bug, he would make an unpleasant sound.

Haaahhhhh!

“I am a stone…”

“Madam, there’s a letter-”

“I am a rice pot…”

There’s rice inside a rice pot! Oh no, I’m even worse than a rice pot…

“Madam? There’s a letter.”

“If it’s from the Duke, just burn it. Or bury it in the ground,”

“No, that’s not it. From the Wizard’s Association-”

After sending a string of failed results, did someone finally conduct a proper research this time? I quickly sat up and received the letter.

Though it was called a letter or correspondence, it was just one piece of paper, and inside it was rice wrapped in rough cloth.

That rice-

“Madam?”

“Huuuuhuuu…….”

This scent, this taste! I chewed the raw rice and shed tears of joy. You can tell love at once, and you can tell the taste of rice when you chew it.

This could be a big hit.

But it was impossible to cook rice with just a handful of rice. I needed to get more, much more. I had to order it here by the sackful.

If you want more, come in person.

Sender, Eselmond Bellua.

It was a very informal sentence, but that didn’t matter. Following the orders of this annoying witch, I changed my clothes and stormed into Callian’s office.

“Hey!”

“Hey? You’re getting more and more-”

“I’m going to the capital.”

“……What?”

“It won’t take long, well, it might. I’m taking a train – and for your information, I didn’t come to ask for permission, but to inform you, so don’t misunderstand.”

“Why on earth are you suddenly going to the capital-”

Callian frowned as he adjusted his quill pen. He truly had a magnificent appearance that would be remembered throughout history. His pale, long hands were like delicately carved wax, and his red eyes were deep and luminous like a candle touched by darkness.

“I’m going to find my first love.”

Ah, the pen broke. Callian, who had thrown away the half-broken pen, asked in a low and cold voice.

“What did you just say,”

“You heard it right? I said I’m going to find my first love. Or should I call it fate?”

Indeed, it is not suitable to describe the relationship between me and makgeolli with clumsy words like first love.

“Hmm, it must be fate. Let’s call it fate.”

The temperature in the office seemed to drop below zero. The aide, who was sitting near Callian and doing paperwork, looked almost dead as he alternated between looking at me and Callian.

Oops, I almost got caught in the crossfire of a boss fight, didn’t I?

“Ah, it’s not a person.”

“……What?”

“It’s not a living entity.”

It also felt like playing twenty questions.

“Around my birthday, the work I had requested from the wizard’s association and academy was finally completed. So, I’m going to check on it. Geez, can’t you take a joke? Relax your face, it’s wrinkling. Although there’s nothing to see but your face – it’s important to me because it’s your face……”

“The thing I asked for is that,”

“Yes. It’s about crop improvement. Eselmond Bellua has succeeded. They said if I want it, I should come directly, so I’m planning to go. Do you have any complaints?”

Even if there are, I won’t listen. I wanted to tease a little, but his face is so vicious that it’s not fun to tease. It’s a relief that the genre of this novel is light romance. If it was a serious political corruption story, I might have been beheaded here or received a jewel box with someone’s eyeball in it.

……This novel’s keyword is #light, right?

“So today-”

“I will go with you.”

“……What?”

“I can’t leave you alone.”

“No, if that’s the case, rather a guard or another servant,”

“How do you know how to roast others.”

I wouldn’t say this because it seems like a flag, but the one who got roasted the most by me is you, right? Saying this not only seems like a flag, but it also feels too much like a K-drama, which I didn’t like.

The servants now overlooked whatever I did, but the only person who took my nonsense more seriously than anyone else was Callian de Winter.

“I will go with you.”

“Your Grace, the Grand Duke? What about the work you were just doing-”

“I don’t think it’s something I need to worry about.”

“No, that’s not-”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

A fellow student of the academy and an aide to Callian, despite being a commoner from another kingdom, his exceptional skills earned him a full scholarship and he graduated as the top student from the only imperial academy in the empire.

However, due to his original sin of getting close to Callian de Winter, he is being exploited in the northern territory! A worker of the era! An ant of the empire! Even if he wanted to work as a royal official, the 24-hour work schedule was visible, so he stayed next to the Grand Duke as a lesser evil!

A disaster brought about by ability and friendship! His name is-

“Ah, by the way, what is your name?”

I don’t know.

It’s not just me, but Adriana is too much. How can she remember the rose-shaped brooch she received as a birthday gift from the Duke when she was only five, but not the name of the aide who has been by her husband’s side for the past few years?

“……Seo, it’s Seo. I don’t have a surname.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry, Mr. Seo. Well…… keep up the good work!”

Goodbye everyone! Unfortunately, I don’t have the strength or time to send Callian back. It was better to just think of him as a huge keyring and get him on the train rather than stubbornly trying to dissuade him and delay my steps.

It seemed like I could hear the scream of the overworked aide through the gap in the pile of documents that Callian threw to Seo. Oh dear…

Callian used that scream as a stepping stone and came to my side. He was truly shameless.

***

Packing was quick. I didn’t change clothes often, and I didn’t have any medicine that I needed to take because of a chronic illness.

The suitcase was somewhat filled when I roughly put in a few thin and light clothes and tight socks. It wasn’t that there were many servants to bring along, nor did it require a lot of luggage.

By the book, I should have attached maids to carry my luggage and look after my mental health. But when have I ever acted by the book?

Callian said that since he was always going to be with me, I should find someone to escort or attend to me if I’m okay with it. The Grand Duke was cumbersome and awkward, but considering safety, it was a good choice for cost-effectiveness.

He can handle dozens, hundreds of outlaws alone! His personality is a bit bad and he has a nasty habit of speaking, but his face and body are decent! Reserve now!

“Be nice to your aide.”

“Suddenly?”

“Even if you pass off your work so lightly, the reason the territory runs well is because of him.”

“Seo is a competent aide, but – shouldn’t you not speak like that?”

“Why?”

“Isn’t Seo and the temple master doing some of your work for you?”

“That’s true, but… I prefer to leave things to competent people rather than handle them myself.”

“If you say you’re learning, I can make room for you.”

“I’m not interested.”

There’s nothing like alcohol to soothe motion sickness, but chocolate isn’t bad either. I nibbled on macarons and chocolates that I had bought in advance before boarding the train. The strawberry jam crumbled at the tip of my tongue.

“Accounting and housekeeping just give me a headache……”

That’s why I don’t feel like a protagonist. How do all the protagonists who have possessed romance novels manage to secure their survival so well? I mean, they can’t do anything in a life-threatening situation.

So is that why I’m playing around like this? The original Adriana played around a lot too. Although, if Adriana had been a competent Grand Duchess, I would have been more alert.

The union between Adriana Magnolia and Callian de Winter was a thorough strategic marriage. There were countless political confrontations, and the marriage between Lady Magnolia and Grand Duke Winter was established without Adriana’s knowledge.

They lived on a line that was neither particularly good nor bad. Adriana, who had expected a husband different from her indifferent father and brothers, gradually adapted to Callian’s indifference.

“Do you have a first love?”

“I guess not.”

“Do you believe in fate?”

“If it exists, I want to slap it.”

If being thrown into this nonsensical world is fate, then it’s a cruel one. It’s pitiful for Adriana, but to call upon an irrelevant soul and extract only what benefits oneself, it’s truly an outrageous act.

“Damn Adriana……”

She should have enjoyed her life with a husband of similar age or spent her money lavishly to live a luxurious life. It wouldn’t be good for the environment, though.

“Do you – like young men?”

“I prefer someone my age.”

“Then why am I,”

“Ah, Callian is too old.”

Even if I act cute and playful, there’s a whisper in the back of my head saying ‘Yeah, you’re the same age as Deputy Kim Jiho-‘. Of course, the solemn Northern Grand Duke Callian would never act playful.

Would he have been tempted if I had acted cute? It felt like watching a parade of aegyo from a male idol who’s been in the industry for 10 years.

“Just- I’d like someone around the Crown Prince’s age.”

“……You said you prefer someone your age?”

“Yes, my age.”

If we consider the actual age.

At my words, Callian looked at me with a rather bizarre expression. If I were to interpret it freely, it was ‘Do you have a conscience?’ kind of look. No, what’s the problem? Considering the actual age of Adriana, it wasn’t an outrageous age difference.

“What’s with the age thing, even the idea of rubbing lips with the real Crown Prince-”

“Rub lips?”

“No, it’s just a saying. If you live so cautiously, your face will collapse.”

“Do you like my face or not,”

“I like your face. But dude, my face is also this pretty, it’s not enough to put up with Callian’s temperament.”

As I responded cheerfully, Callian let out a deep sigh.

When I advised him that sighing would make him age faster, Callian let out an even deeper sigh.