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Episode 99: Ugly Plan (III)
Entering Johann’s drawing room, I stood up straight, faced him, and said,
“Archduke, I prepared a present because I didn’t want to come empty-handed.”
“Hmm…”
As if Johann was curious, he turned to the escort standing behind me.
The escort was holding a flowerpot with abundant leaves in his arms, the green stems were thin and the leaves were large.
The peculiar thing was that it was scattering a faint light.
I felt a beautiful diamond color, just like jewelry powder flying.
It was quite a famous plant in Spinel.
After I received the fragment of Zephyross’ tombstone as a gift, I thought I had to do something in return for Johann.
So, I immediately sent a message to Spinel and airlifted this plant.
“It is a precious magic plant that only grows in the snowfields of Spinel. Its name is ‘Innocent’.”
Johann looked at the plant with his black eyes, and repeated after me.
“Innocent.”
“Yes! I really wanted to give it to the Archduke as a gift.”
I beckoned the escort to hand over the flowerpot to Melfis.
Melfis received the large flowerpot, hugging it.
Johann asked, gently stroking the leaves of the plants.
“What’s the meaning of this gift?”
“‘Innocent’ is a plant that feeds on good energy, so it grows especially well in the snowy fields near the temple.”
“…….”
“It is very vulnerable to evil spirits, the leaves will quickly dry and the roots will rot. That’s why we nurture a lot of them in Spinel so that evil doesn’t inhabit the house.”
In the house of the Archduke who only prays, it would definitely grow well.
I swallowed the remaining words and smiled.
Johann dropped the hand that was holding onto a leaf and looked at me.
“Are you worried about my health?”
“Yes.”
Actually, no… It meant ‘If you’re bored, don’t keep contacting me, just take care of the plants.’
But there was no need to be honest.
“Thank you, Queen.”
“It was nothing.”
I smiled brightly.
Johann guided me to the table, saying that we agreed to have a meal date.
He seemed to be faithful to his dating concept.
‘I’ll have a quick bite.’
There was still work to be done until the wedding.
‘I’m not hungry anyway.’
However, when I saw the delicious food, I instinctively felt hungry.
Indeed, the residence of Archduke Marquis was like a ‘restaurant’ itself.
“….…”
Lightly-seasoned white fish and white grapes.
A clear soup made with well-marinated meat and vegetables and a dish of pheasant breast with a unique sauce.
The fresh salad was covered with a yellow and sour dressing,
In addition to those dishes, there was also various other delicious looking food.
As I took a sip of the soup, I could feel the deep umami taste in my mouth.
‘Delicious.’
I ate the bread and admired it.
“The Crown Princess seems to like the cooking, so I prepared all these.”
“It’s delicious. Thank you so much.”
“…It seems more sincere than when I gave the fragment of Zephyross’ tombstone.”
“I’m always serious about food, Archduke.”
I enjoyed the food without any servants, just observing the minimum etiquette as a monarch.
Definitely, eating with Johann was comfortable.
With Rixus, every time I ate something, I needlessly worried about how wide my mouth would open and whether anything was stuck in my teeth.
Johann smiled and looked at me while I was eating.
Then, soon after, he grabbed the cheese from a plate and put it on mine.
Then, after that, he scooped up a piece of fish and put it on top.
“….…”
I stopped eating and looked at him.
Johann said with a smile.
“Eat a lot of cheese. Don’t you like it?”
‘……I do like it, but did he observe that at the last meal?’
‘What I eat.’
Somehow I felt weird. Putting things on my plate felt like an overly intimate act.
Usually, the members of the imperial family do not put anything on other people’s plates, even for meal etiquette.
It was also against etiquette to stare at me while I was eating, like what Johann was doing now.
‘What……?’
‘Am I sensitive?’
To exaggerate a little, it seemed like the behavior of someone who was interested in a woman.
If that was the case, it was bound to feel awkward and weird.
But soon, Johann showed care for my marriage with a clean expression.
“You’re busy with wedding preparations, so please eat well.”
“……Thank you.”
‘As expected, I was sensitive.’
……What the hell was I thinking?
I shook my head and asked a question that came to mind to change the mood.
“By the way… the Archduke has no intention of getting married at all?”
“Hmm.”
This was a very personal question, but Johann and I have already exchanged conversations comfortably enough to ask about this.
Taking a low breath, he answered with a smile.
“My eyes are on the high side.”
“Ah…….”
“I’m looking for a woman to be with, ‘forever.”
“Forever. You’re romantic.”
‘It’s not a lifetime, it’s forever. A man who speaks like that……’
In addition to tenacity and obsession, such a romantic aspect seemed to be the temperament that flowed through the bloodline of the Aktoum imperial family.
“Who are you looking for?”
If I knew, I could have introduced you. At the level of ‘collecting items’.
(PR/N: she’s thinking of it like it’s a video game where you collect powerful items that you can use later on during battles)
Wouldn’t my wish item be on my side sooner if I introduce the woman he ended up marrying?
“First…….”
Like a sea otter who would get 100 scallops as a prize for answering the quiz, I listened to him very seriously.
“She has to be a strong woman. We’ll have to spend a very long time together.”
……Strong…… Woman? His ideal type?
Well, since he was soft, a strong woman might be better.
I wanted to counter that a person’s life was not very long, but I kept my mouth still.
For once, I decided to listen to him.
“And?”
Johann stared at me briefly with black eyes, and continued.
“A person who doesn’t like me.”
“…Someone who doesn’t like you?”
Johann’s gaze was on the cheese and fish I had left untouched.
His eyes were fixed on it as he tapped the table with his index finger.
The corners of his lips were somehow raised with interest.
“It’s fun when things don’t go my way.”
Scratch the part of ‘being romantic.’
He was just like a pervert.
“My ideal is a woman I could be obsessed with.”
I asked, frowning slightly.
“…Why?”
His ideal type was so strange and unique that I had no choice but to ask.
He replied, stroking his chin with his long, sensitive fingers.
The tone was sloppy, but the content was a little creepy.
“Rather than love…”
Black eyes deepened.
“The desperate heart of obsession lasts much longer.”
“….…”
I felt somewhat chilly in the heart.
‘Are you looking for a woman to marry, or are you looking for exhilarating entertainment?’
‘She’s strong, out of control, a woman he can cling to…’
Johann was friendly to me and we got along well, but that kind of taste in women didn’t suit my sensibility.
‘There is a surprising side.’
I thought he would answer that his ideal was a faithful, prayerful woman like himself.
Somehow, I lost my appetite, so I tried to get up from my seat.
He asked if I had read the hint.
“By the way, where did you use the fragment that I gave you?”
“…I haven’t used it yet.”
I lied without blinking.
“And I said it was a secret, Archduke.”
“Of course you did.”
As he said that, his eyes were curved.
I wiped my lips and said.
“Lunch was well received. Then I’ll just… take my leave. I’ve been so busy with wedding preparations.”
“Are you leaving already?”
“Yes. I’m already going.”
I calmly stood up before Johann, and declined his offer to take me home.
* * *
“She gave me a tricky present to deal with, just like me.”
Johann looked at Innocent, which had abundant green leaves. It was fun. A plant that fed on divine energy.
“I’ll put this pot here. It’d be nice to show her how it’s growing well.”
At Melfis’s words, Johann nodded lightly. Then he looked out the window.
Outside the window, Berylia was just getting into the carriage.
Johann’s keen eyes persistently followed her footsteps. Then he whispered.
“What deal did she make with the Shadow in Yggdrasil?”
Melfis, who was watching Berylia with him, responded to the inquiry of his master.
“Well, wouldn’t it be a deal for marriage?”
“She lied to me without blinking an eye, that she hasn’t used it yet.”
That aspect of Berylia, Johann found it very interesting and fun.
It seemed to make him curious and obsessed over and over again.
After the last meeting.
It was true that Johann held a ceremony for one day to break the curse placed on the fragment.
Because of that, for the first time in decades, he missed a day of prayer.
So, he just couldn’t give it away.
It made sense to know where the hell she was going to use it. Therefore, a location tracking magic was planted out of a little curiosity.
However, from the moment he found out that the fragment had gone to Yggdrasil, Johann became very excited and delighted.
Who in Yggdrasil could afford such a thing? There was only one correct answer, Shadow.
‘A woman who goes to Yggdrasil with only her body and makes a deal with Shadow.’
Johann slowly took a glass filled with the Dew of Montaigne to his lips and took a sip.
Deep interest and pleasure. And a strange flush made his heart flutter.
“It’s getting more and more desirable.”
His Adam’s apple shook tremendously.
“I want to take it.”
There was nothing he could not have if he decided to have it.
“If it was a woman like that… I wouldn’t be bored forever, would I?”
Johann’s eyes looking back at Melfis shone strangely.
“I think she will give birth to my child well.”
【When the Nemesis Eats the Wicked Woman, Volume 1 END】
–
Well, uh… (⊙_⊙) The team will NOT go on a break just yet, I can just tell there’ll be pitchforks coming at me if I leave it like this haha. Over the weekend, let’s just collect our brain cells, senses, and hearts for the wedding, self-made play, and whatever other drama the author hasn’t tease/set-up!
【I’m not defending Johann’s sus-ness, but I suddenly had the thought that we go “sus/pervert/eww” at his behavior cause we know he ain’t the ML, but if he’s the ML then we might somehow say “obsessive and hot” instead X_X anyways…
The wedding is 3 days away and it feels like an eternity HAHAHA y’know, it’s been 99 episodes but it feels like only 3 months has passed in “novel world” time, y’all get what I mean? Actually, it might really be the case, I’m just too lazy to track back and estimate
Berylia, Rixus, Johann, Deborah, Yuria, Pamela, Lucia, Kalen, and more… What will be the endings of all these characters? Let’s find out together ^^】
—Ame  Translator
【Hello? Officer? I would like a restriction order for that man over there, he goes by Johann.
Can’t believe the first volume is over, now it’s TIME FOR THE WEDDINGG, I wonder what else will go down, poor Berylia has to deal with the oracle, an obsessed priest, an angel that came from hell and one Deborah haha, time to prepare some popcorn and watch from the sidelines】