Chapter 128
Ugh.
『When is that Emperor bastard coming? The kid collapsed, yet he didn't immediately come to visit the sickbed. What is he thinking? Does he have no brain?』
"Well, His Imperial Majesty was enjoying a hunt in the forest, so he is hurrying back after hearing the news."
『He invited her for a meal and then went out hunting himself? Hah. Because he lived like that, he confessed his unrequited love in front of the Subjects during the Founding Emperor's reign and got rejected immediately.』
"Ahem! Ahem! Mentioning that incident is forbidden in the Imperial Palace."
『Oh, please. He's doing all sorts of things.』
Ughhh.
"The examination results are out! No poisons were detected, but the demonic energy concentration has exceeded the level a human can handle. This is a value you'd only see in a wild beast that has grown gigantic from high-concentration demonic energy."
『Hand it over. Hmm? It's right after a meal, so why is it this low? Don't tell me.』
"Excuse me? This is low?"
『...No. I misspoke. To think it's this high. It's certain there was a problem with the banquet that Emperor bastard prepared. How did he treat his guest? Can he even be called the Emperor after this?』
"Well, that is."
『I don't want to hear it. Everyone get out. I will take care of Young Craft.』
Half-asleep and half-awake.
Half-awake and half-asleep.
『I went through the trouble of preparing a Strawberry Parfait since I figured she wouldn't be able to eat properly out of nervousness, but has it become useless? No matter how many times I teach this kid, she always forgets one thing. Even so, to forget something she does every time, sigh. I should clear away the parfait before it melts.』
Strawberry Parfait.
Strawberry strawberry.
Parfait parfait.
A parfait is said to be a dessert made by piling plenty of fruit, whipped cream, and syrup on top of a super big scoop of ice cream in a glass.
So if it's a Strawberry Parfait, it would look like fluffy whipped cream peaked on top of ice cream, decorated with plenty of fresh strawberries, and then drizzled with sweet red syrup like stripes.
Gasp.
Sounds totally delicious.
"Give me the Strawberry Parfait!"
Pastel jumped up from the hospital bed.
The Demon, who had been clearing away the Strawberry Parfait by putting it in his own mouth, flinched.
Pastel's eyes went round when she discovered the Strawberry Parfait ruined by a massive spoon mark.
The girl's expression instantly turned tearful.
"Waaah! My Strawberry Parfait...!"
My strawberry strawberry parfait!
The Demon looked flustered. He hurriedly swallowed the contents , his red lips smeared with whipped cream, and approached.
『You're awake. Theoretically, there shouldn't be anywhere that hurts, but how does it feel?』
"My par-parfait...!"
The Demon looked troubled before bringing over the half-eaten Strawberry Parfait.
『There's still some left.』
Pastel stared at the parfait.
Half of the whipped cream Mountain Range was cut off, showing just how massive a scoop he had taken and shoved into his mouth.
My Strawberry Parfait is...
An immense sorrow washed over her. It felt like buying a delicious pudding, leaving it in the fridge, taking a shower while going La-la-la, and coming back only to witness Lord Demon nom-nomming it.
Waaah!
That's my pudding!
So sad.
But it was like she was going to eat it, so she accepted the Strawberry Parfait.
Pastel examined the parfait suspiciously. She put her nose near the whipped cream Mountain Range and sniffed the scent.
"Smells like Lord Demon's spit."
Eww.
『As if it would. That was the first spoonful. Wait. I will bring a new spoon.』
Pout.
"I'm already hungry, you know."
Pastel scooped up a massive chunk of her strawberry friend along with the whipped cream Mountain Range. She opened her small mouth wide.
"Aaaah~."
The whipped cream Mountain Range disappeared into her mouth. The girl's cheeks puffed up.
Nom!
Her Pink Eyes sparkled.
Delicious! Delicious!
The tart strawberries and moist, soft whipped cream exploded in her mouth. As the sweet, cold ice cream melted in between, her mind grew dizzy. Even the subtle sweetness of the Magic Stone Seasoning blended in fantastically.
Gasp.
Right! Magic stones!
This isn't the time to be eating a parfait?!
Her mind returning to the serious matter at hand, Pastel hurriedly chewed. Her pink lips, smeared with whipped cream, twitched.
Mumbling/Mumbling/Chewing Sound/Mumbling/Chewing Sound/Chewing Sound.
Gulp.
Gasp.
It's really delicious.
She scooped up the whipped cream that was no longer a mountain range with her spoon. She carefully placed a strawberry on top and shoved it into her mouth.
Wow!
Her pink eyes sparkled Banjjakbanjjak.
"Wow! Lord Demon! Lord Demon! The best Chef in my life is Lord Demon!"
Hooray! Hooray!
『You're stating the obvious.』
The Demon wiped the whipped cream off Pastel's lips with a handkerchief.
『More importantly, how is your physical condition? You haven't eaten normal food in a while, so it probably isn't in a very good state.』
"Gasp! Right! Magic stones!"
Is Lord Demon a genius?!
"Lord Demon! I forgot to sprinkle the Magic Stone Powder! I mean, Magic Stone Powder on the cherry tomatoes!"
Pastel paused mid-sentence.
Magic Stone Powder on cherry tomatoes.
How do you sprinkle Magic Stone Powder on round, plump cherry tomatoes and eat them? They have super-premium freshness that even water droplets would slide right off.
Her Pink Eyes went blank.
Actually, it wasn't that I forgot; it was a difficult problem to begin with.
This was like how the smart Pastel got a question wrong, not because she didn't study the exam material, but because the question was too hard in the first place.
Meaning she would have gotten this question wrong from the start even if she hadn't forgotten to study. The examiner failed to adjust the difficulty; it wasn't the fault of Pastel, who didn't study.
The Demon, seemingly giving up on hearing it from her directly, placed a hand on Pastel's forehead and then peered into her Pink Eyes like a doctor.
『Try raising your arms.』
"Pardon? Wow! Hooray!"
Pastel raised her arms first and spoke belatedly.
"But why am I raising my arms?"
『You're perfectly fine. Your mind is slightly in dreamland, but you're always like this anyway.』
The Demon gave a recommendation to use her spoon.
『You must be hungry since you couldn't eat properly. Finish eating the parfait.』
Unlike studying for an exam, this experience wasn't difficult in Pastel's life!
Pastel diligently ate the parfait.
#
The parfait glass was scraped clean, not a drop wasted. A clear sound rang out as the spoon was set down.
Your Excellency Pastel, having gotten somewhat full and entering super serious mode, interlaced her fingers and put on a straight face.
"Lord Demon."
『Speak.』
"Should we run away?"
Looking back at the situation objectively, she felt her heart pound and her skin grow cold.
She had collapsed after eating poison and heroically shouted that the Culprit was His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.
She shouted it, but...
It was actually a misunderstanding~.
Hehe.
Pastel chuckled softly before her face crumpled into a tearful expression.
But framing His Imperial Majesty the Emperor wasn't a misunderstanding.
Her body trembled.
A confirmed future. A wrong future.
A Wanjeonwanjeon bad, bad future.
『Hmm.』
The Demon rubbed his chin.
『Since I don't know the exact Current Emperor of the Central Political Circles, it's difficult to judge clearly. However, there is no need to run away.』
"Pardon? I framed His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, though?"
Summary execution for Imperial Family Defamation!
『It would have been a headache during the time of the Former Tyrant, but thanks to your Mother's efforts, there are currently many institutional devices to Restrain the Monarch's rampage. Let alone the fact that it's difficult to treat a Great Noble recklessly.』
The Demon's finger lightly tapped the parfait glass. The glass flowed like melting candy and drew the entire structure of the Central Political Circles on the table. Glass letters wrote down the names of the Nobles and categorized them by faction.
"Whoa."
『Basically, the Royalist Faction and the Noble Faction are in conflict. The current Emperor is in a position of factional inferiority as the price for dealing with the Kraft Family, which had grown bloated enough to dethrone the tyrant. The Emperor, who even had a close relationship with your Mother, ruined the Krafts, who had been of the Royalist Faction for generations, simply because they were too much of a threat to the imperial authority. He will have to suffer for a long time to recover his faction.』
Heh.
Serves him right.
Ah, bad thoughts.
Bad thoughts, go away, go away.
Pastel rubbed both her cheeks.
Gone.
Yeah, yeah!
"Then isn't this an even bigger crisis for me? To think one of the Nobles who frame the Emperor would appear in a situation where political maneuvering is desperate!"
Waaah!
The Demon chuckled. It was a look meant for a naive girl.
『That political maneuvering is impossible right now. In a situation where a Great Noble—and a Marquis at that, whose death would cut off the Family line—vomited blood and collapsed, the Emperor, who is losing ground in his faction, cannot make the insulting remark of checking the Truth or Falsehood. Such a claim would only become good prey for the Noble Faction, under the pretext that the Imperial Family, as expected, does not respect the rights of the Nobles.』
Eek.
A sign that something was going to become a very big deal.
Her Pink Eyes spun round and round.
Naive Pastel doesn't know about these complicated things...!
Her thoughts wandered aimlessly.
"Ah! Come to think of it, I dropped my pepper shaker!"
『Hmm?』
She hurriedly checked her embrace. Naturally, it wasn't there. Even after she looked around the hospital room, the Magic Stone Pepper Shaker was nowhere to be found.
"Because my last words were 'magic stone pepper-pepper'!"
Even though I didn't die!
"Regardless of the Truth or Falsehood, if my collapsing is a bad thing for His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, what if he claims that I staged a self-made drama by eating Magic Stone Powder to get revenge on the Imperial Family that ruined my Family? There's evidence for this, you know!"
And no one knows about my strange Physical Condition that I have to eat magic stones to live!
The Demon's expression grew somewhat serious.
『That might become a headache if that Emperor bastard bites and doesn't let go.』
Waaah!
Serious! Serious!
『However, I haven't heard any talk of them picking up your pepper shaker. They might have kept it a secret from me, but seeing as it's quiet when it would have been better to announce it as a political countermeasure, the Imperial Officials must not have been able to secure the pepper shaker.』
"Pardon?"
Then where is my pepper shaker?
Where is my pepper-pepper?
The hospital room door was knocked on.
The Demon frowned and headed toward the door. When the door opened, there was an Attendant who looked like an ordinary handyman.
『What is it?』
The Attendant came in and closed the door. And then he bowed his head politely.
"I have come because there is something you left behind."
The Magic Stone Pepper Shaker was calmly taken out of his clothes. It was accompanied by some sort of note.
Eek.
The Appearance of the evidence that the Imperial Family should have taken is.
When the note was received and unfolded, an address like a hideout and a single sentence were written on it.
Trembling Pink Eyes read the sentence.
—We welcome the joining of the Empire's greatest scheming family.
Waaah!
Such a suspicious sentence...!