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Episode 55: Following a Lady’s Voyage
After the sweeping attack of Circe, the ruined imperial carriages had the atmosphere of a funeral parlor.
Gerard’s aide, Avilus Theses, who quickly sent a crow to look around, spoke up.
“
She has completely vanished, Prince.”
Gerard burst out in anger.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
He became a little crazy, such that he couldn’t take into account the dignity of the prince or his usual image.
It was finally within his reach.
He thought he had put that useful, stupid girl into his grasp. But she screwed him up like this?
Due to repeated failures, Gerard was in a highly poisoned state.
Gerard, with blood on his forehead, gave an order with his eyes reddened eerily.
“Gather the quick-footed ones in the army and make a group to track Annette. From the beginning to the end of every continent, to the depths of the sea, to the jaws that go to hell, you must find and bring that girl before me.”
“Yes!”
“And mobilize the rest of the troops to annihilate ‘Circe’! Make every single one of them corpses and bring them to me!”
“I will keep that in mind, Prince!”
The sound of Gerard grinding his teeth could be heard.
“These useless escort garbage shall be dealt with here.”
“

!!!”
Before he even finished speaking, Gerard’s personal troops mercilessly slaughtered the imperial guards who participated in this procession. Their blood spurted like a fountain and their heads fell like fallen leaves.
With red eyes occupied by madness, Gerard shouted to the rest.
“Remember, everyone! If you fail, you will end up like these pieces of meat!”
“Yes! Prince!”
But at this time, Gerard did not know.
Until his numerous military forces were turned into pieces of meat due to the many failures, and the newly transfused forces were wasted.
They would never even find the name ‘Circe’.
Like a lie, there would not be a single person who had seen Circe and Annette since that day.
It was literally <evaporation>.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“Annette, where do you want to go?”
Annette, who fortunately returned to a human from a chinchilla, was hugging the phantom thief boy’s waist while riding his horse.
Dageudak, dageudak—
“Bayonaire!”
I shouted loudly again, fearing that my voice would be blown backwards and could not be heard. Hence, my voice sounded a little excited.
“Please go to Bayonaire Island!”
“Bayonaire Island
?”
“Yeah!”
I answered, sniffing and smelling the phantom thief boy’s back.
‘Oh, without me realizing!’
‘Chinchilla’s habit is still
!’
‘But this sweet body scent is somehow familiar. Where did I smell it before?’
I tilted my head a little, but I couldn’t think of anything. I quickly put on a smile and asked again.
“I will make a fresh start on that island! Can you take me there right away?”
“

.”
The phantom thief boy grabbed the reins with only one hand and looked back at me.
Towards the girl, the corners of his darkened lips rose nicely.
“According to the lady’s will.”
Dageudak, dageudak!
“Ha!”
As the boy grabbed the reins and spurred, the muscular black horse roared out loud and gleefully sprinted across the ground.
The sun was shining brightly, illuminating their path.
Now—
It was a good season for a new life to bloom.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Bayonaire Island.
One of the many islands belonging to the Bortage Territory of the Western Continent, boasting a beautiful natural environment and sunny weather.
It wasn’t a tourist attraction that attracted everyone’s attention, but it was quiet and cozy, beautiful like a flower blooming in the sun, and a good place to live.
The personality of the island’s inhabitants was cheerful and friendly.
In such a place—
<Little Bakery> was still open today.
“Okay, business starts today!”
The windows that were made of logs were wide open.
“Oh, my!”
The smell of croissants baking inside made the already lined-up guests’ eyes sparkle.
The bakery owner lady neatly tied her sweet-looking blonde hair and greeted the guests with a lovely smile.
“Welcome back. Mr. Genji! You’re a little late today?”
Genji, a farmer with a wheat beard, was already salivating.
“Hahaha! I have to be able to withstand the smell of bread as I pass by. What kind of bread would you recommend today?”
“All of our bakery breads are delicious. But today, try potato soup with sweet and savory whole wheat sourdough bread!”
On one side, there was a customer who was already dipping bread into the potato soup while saying, “Wow!”
The slightly sour and savory bread was soaked in the soft and thick potato soup.
Genji’s eyes twinkled.
“Oh! Give me one of that set too!”
“Fufu, the date palm tart is also delicious today!”
“I’d like my dessert wrapped, please. It’s perfect for my daughter!”
“Yes~”
The bakery owner responded cheerfully and finished wrapping the package.
Then, suddenly from the inside, a baker with red hair and golden eyes stuck out his head.
“Glutinous rice!”
He was wearing an apron with a fluffy bread design printed on it.
“The potato soup is almost gone.”
“Ah, Um. Can’t you make more?”
“Soup needs to be simmered for a long time to become a food that goes well with bread. As you know, if it is not for my excellent fire control and devotion, it will not taste good! I can’t make it that fast.”
“—That’s right.”
As if she was apologetic, the bakery owner smiled with her eyebrows lowered at the customer.
“Now the morning set is sold out!”
“Oh my!”
“I can’t believe it!”
Guests brought their hands to their foreheads, looking like a horde of zombies who wanted bread and potato soup.
But that’s what popular bakeries are like.
Morning sets run out 30 minutes after opening.
The small bakery owner comforted the customers and recommended other breads.
The customers vowed, ‘Tomorrow, I must come earlier!’
A small bakery made up of logs had the sign ‘<Little Bakery> is still in business today!’
However, this bakery was not here from the beginning.
The bakery’s owner, Miss Annette, first appeared on the island of Bayonaire when she was 12 years old.
The girl bought a small house on the hill, fixed it by herself, and settled there.
And she walked around the village, smelling like sweet bread all the time.
The villagers slowly became curious.
‘Why does it always smell like delicious bread over there?’
The answer was soon to be found.
A kind-hearted girl often distributed bread to her neighbors.
Sometimes the bread was delicious, and sometimes it wasn’t; but if what was eaten was something not delicious, the girl observed people’s expressions and would touch her chin, saying, “Oh! I failed.”
At that time, the villagers would look closely to see if the girl had poisoned the bread.
Fortunately, no one was poisoned.
As time passed, the frequency of “I failed!” decreased rapidly.
That was when word of mouth began to spread that the bread the girl occasionally gave out was very delicious.
When the villagers began to drool with twinkling eyes whenever the girl passed by

This <Little Bakery> opened successfully.
The secret to its popularity was not just in the taste of the bread, but a few years ago, the bakery owner lady also started to become famous.
The little girl who walked around the village grew taller and her eyes shone brightly, she grew into a pretty beautiful girl.
Her long blonde hair shone softly as if stardust had fallen, and her pale green eyes were as beautiful as the essence of spring.
When she smiled, a bright light came from all around her.
There was even a joke that the young people of Bayonaire Island adored the owner of the bakery and bought so much bread, and that they all gained 5 kg each.
However, the muscular assistant baker resembling a red wolf always growled next to her, so they couldn’t easily approach her.
This young man was also one of her regulars.
Ding ding—
The door opened and a tall man entered.
He was a young man who seemed to have just turned twenty.
However, the skinny body had a well-established skeleton, so it seemed that a very strong body was hidden under ordinary clothes.
Of course, in the eyes of Annette (an obsessive baker), he just looked like a big fish that always buys bread.
‘What? He’s here again.’
I looked at the man carefully.
‘Whoa, VIP regulars at my bakery
!’
“Welcome!”
“Ah, hello
”
He wore square glasses under his curly brown hair and looked like a nerd.
‘What is he doing?’
The man appeared 6 months ago.
<Little Bakery> opened at 10 o’clock and closed at 3 o’clock at the latest (because the bread would run out), but he would come after 2 o’clock.
It was a time when customers were gone and the store was idle.
After the first visit, he always came at the same time and bought the leftover bread.
‘Hmm, he comes here 3-4 times a week and buys a lot of bread, so the estimated sales are about 100,000 gold a week.’
He was a man who spent 400,000 gold a month for bread.
‘At this point, I should take care of him.’
The sincere self-employed girl quickly approached the man and said;
“Can I recommend you some bread today?”
Crash!
The nerdish man who was choosing the bread was visibly surprised, his shoulders shaking.
I blinked for a moment in embarrassment, he looked as if something radioactive had approached, but when I looked closely, his white cheeks and earlobes were peach red.
‘Ah, the shy type?’
‘He hasn’t initiated a conversation with me within these six months.’
He always came like a ghost and faithfully bought only bread. I sometimes wondered if he was a real ghost, but as he pulled all the money out of his wallet, it was obvious he was human.
“Today, the date palm tart is deliciously baked. Since you are a regular customer, I will specially give you a tart to taste. It’s free!”
It was a lie. Since it’s not selling well today, please take this and buy it. That was my intention.
“

.”
The man carefully took the tart, avoiding my gaze.
Then he opened his plump lips and took a bite (I could barely open my mouth wide to inquire about the taste, but eventually I asked cautiously).
And he answered slowly.
“
It’s surprisingly delicious.”
‘What? The way he talks
’
I thought he was just a young man from the neighborhood, but his accent and pronunciation were surprisingly noble and wonderful.
The young man looked at me with a touched expression, and then smiled brightly with a really handsome face.
“Thank you very much
 for your kindness. Lady.”
Beneath those vivid green eyes, Indian dimples dented his face.
Ame: As promised, we’re back! I wasn’t expecting this time-skip, but I’m not complaining? It just means she’ll reunite with those two faster
 right
? (Future Ame is snorting at how naive Past Ame was)
Lmao @ Um though, he laughed at Annette’s dreams but now here he is, master assistant baker!
Tassie: 
I just want to see my baby Sislin again ;-; I guess I’ll just settle for Gerard *Licks Screen*