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Salvier.
Of all people, it was the worst one out of the lot.
Doah quickly hid the earring in her sleeve.
Bunny’s quick reflexes and fast hands were unwarrantedly helpful.
“You’re doing something suspicious again.”
“……”
“Yeah, sure, no wonder you’ve been so calm.”
Already suspecting what was there, he checked to see the pit that Doah had dug through to see if she had stuffed a few of Ophelia’s stolen belongings there.
But naturally, there was nothing to see.
The earring was already in her sleeve.
“Where did you hide it?”
In a pointless endeavor, Salvier strode up to Doah and glared down at her threateningly.
He was only a year older than Bunny, but he was already so tall.
As he stood in front of Doah, her small body seemed to shrink in his shadow.
‘Um…’
Doah looked away, trying to think of an excuse. Then, she stuck out her left hand that was holding a plant.
“I was looking for something I could eat, that’s why.”
She said the first thing that popped into her head.
Doah thought, ‘Ah, I might get grabbed by the collar again for saying some nonsense.’
But then…
“Y-You, are you saying you’re scarfing down dirt right now?”
Salvier’s reaction was different from what she imagined.
Without a doubt, he believed what she said just then.
Needless to say, she thought he’d persistently accuse her and tell her to show what she was hiding.
This was a surprise, but she was relieved in any case.
“Scarfing down dirt, huh. This is something you can eat, you know. Isn’t this an herb?”
“What herb, this is a weed!”
Ah, so it’s a weed?
‘It looks nutritious though.’
She thought it was ginseng or something.
“Are you crazy? Hey, just scarf down the soil, why don’t you. It’s not like you didn’t know that most plants growing in the north are a little poisonous…”
Uh, of course she didn’t know.
Doah glanced again towards the root plant she was holding.
“I think I ate something similar to this back in the Garbage Dump though.”
And she thought that the taste was pretty good, too.
Although she did have a stomachache.
Doah traced Bunny’s memories as she protested, but at this, Salvier opened and closed his mouth like a fish as he was at a loss for words.
She couldn’t believe that the great second young master of the household couldn’t speak properly. His complexion even got a little pale.
It’s really amazing.
‘What’s with that reaction?’
Dear Young Master, just because one piece of weed was eaten, does that mean that the world has split in half? Have you never met such a primitive human?
While Doah was guessing what he might be thinking, suddenly—
“Chef…”
Salvier muttered something.
“What?”
“Call the chef this instant!”
He suddenly shouted at the escort knight standing behind him.
* * *
There was a sudden commotion in the middle of the night.
The head chef and all the other cooks, who were already sleeping soundly, rushed to the kitchen urgently.
“What would you like us to cook, sir?”
As the cooks tried to sense the atmosphere, the chef answered nervously with a trembling voice.
“The Second Young Master has asked that we cook everything there is that could be cooked.”
“W-What on earth…”
But that’s unlikely, right?
Salvier was famous for being aggressive and demanding, but he was one of the easiest masters to serve from the perspective of the servants stationed at the kitchen.
As long as he was given his meals on time, he wouldn’t go on a rampage like a beast when he was hungry. He also ate whatever he was given well.
He was different from the other nobles who made unreasonable demands to the chefs and tried to torment them for no reason at all.
“What are you all standing around for? It’s urgent!” The chef cried out.
Everyone couldn’t understand the reason behind it, but they had no choice but to cook a lot of random dishes.
But really. Out of everyone here, the one who’s the most mystified was Doah.
Salvier had just stared at the weed as though she was holding something so contemptible, then he suddenly dragged her back to the palace and shoved her into her room.
With a huge amount of food that was enough to fill the room entirely.
“Eat everything.”
“……”
“I’ll check back later to see if everything’s finished or not.”
Then soon, the door slammed shut.
‘That nutjob…’
Rubbing her wrist, Doah swallowed down the curses that were about to flow out of her lips.
The wrist he had pulled on earlier was sore. It was difficult to guess whether he really intended to grip that hard or whether he just didn’t know how to control his own strength.
‘Just what do you want me to do here.’
Salvier had trapped Doah together with piles upon piles of food.
It’s not that she was physically confined to this room, but he said that she couldn’t go out until she finished everything. That was as good as being locked up here.
So now, was he telling her to gorge herself to death?
‘I’m not in the right physical condition to eat all this greasy food in the first place.’
Doah sighed deeply.
After entering the central palace, the ones who had tormented Bunny disappeared first, so maybe he was trying to screw with her like this now.
However, she was not going to be swayed by this kind of petty bullying.
“Doah, the difference between luck and misfortune is a single blank sheet.”
These were her grandmother’s words.
She meant that any crisis could become an opportunity.
‘He did say to eat everything, but he never said that I should eat everything by myself.’
Taking aside only one bowl of soup, she pulled the rope by the bed and called the maid.
“You called?”
“Can you move everything to the dining hall?”
“Are you talking about the grand dining hall, Milady?”
Doah shook her head.
“No, the servants’ dining hall.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
The maid asked back in surprise.
“Everything?”
“Yep.”