A very long table was in the centre of the hall. How hard would it have been to bring this onto a ship? The tablecloth placed on it was almost too gorgeous to be used. Rosen whistled in admiration, then hurriedly glanced at Alex. In the eyes of a high-ranking person, she was acting vulgarly.
âOh, sorry-â
âItâs okay. Itâs a bit extravagant, but itâs not a table I use all the time. I only use it for formal dinners. Now I have enough people for a dinner party, but because of the circumstancesâŠâ
Alex Reville mumbled the end of his words. She nodded. Treating a prisoner to a decent meal would not look good to others. Alex quickly smiled and added.
âShall we start eating, Miss Walker?â
The moment he clapped his hands, a magical scene unfolded before her eyes. Beautiful attendants lined up carrying plates. When the first five dishes were placed on the table, she was stopped by Henry as she reached for food.
He slapped her hand and gave her a scolding.
âFool, wait! Youâre going to eat with your bare hands? What are you going to do handcuffed? Even if your hands were free, you canât eat now. The Captain hasnât said you could yet.â
âOh.â
Rosen folded her hands in her lap and tried to hide her embarrassment.
âHe told me to start eatingâ.
âItâs another thing to ask, âDo you want to start eating?â Besides, thereâs only soup. You have to wait for the appetizers to come out. What the hell have you been eating all this time?â
He seemed to want to help her, but she couldnât understand Henryâs explanation, so she became rather depressed. Rather, if they treated her like a prisoner, she would have eaten in her own way, saying that she did not understand the manners of high-ranking peopleâŠ
It was embarrassing not to hide the tendencies she learned from the slums in front of those who dressed her in decent clothes and treated her politely.
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There was a misconception that people had, but it was the people of the slums, not the upper-class, who were sick of the slums the most. She, like many others, didnât know where she came from, couldnât read, and had a dirty appearance⊠It was a bit embarrassing.
So she pretended to be confident. However, her concocted boldness did not work all the time.
âJust eat a little.â
Ian Kerner shoved a spoon into her mouth. The soup filled her with warmth, so she forgot what she was going to say and just blinked.
âItâs all the same once it gets to your stomach. Henry, you ate with your bare hands on the battlefield.â
âNo, Sir Kerner. Itâs a different situation. I didnât mean to humiliate Rosen⊠â
âGo away. Did you forget that I told you not to come within 1 meter of Rosen Haworth?â
âAre you serious about that?â
âWhen have I ever spouted nonsense?â
Ian responded coldly, and Henry was puzzled. Without a momentâs notice, Layla criticized Henry.
âUncle should learn to be considerate of others.â
âLayla! You tooâŠ?â
âHmph!â
Alex glared at Henry.
âHenry, Iâll speak to you after dinner.â
âFather!â
Henry quickly became teary. Rosen was elated again. It was strange for her to have everyone on her side.
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âIâve always been treated like a maniac.â
Ian ignored Henry and fed her soup as if he was feeding a baby. Rosen quickly swallowed what was in her mouth and asked.
âYou wonât eat?â
âI take care of my meals. Donât mind me and just eat.â
Her front teeth kept getting hit by the hard spoon. As she grimaced in pain, he switched to a smaller one.
His facial expressions and hand movements played out independently. He had a prideful face, but his touch was infinitely meticulous. At first, Rosen, who was hesitant to eat out of awkwardness, began to make more and more shameless demands.
âGive me meat, not grass.â
ââŠâ
âWhy? Is it a waste to give me meat?â
As soon as she spoke, he ripped off a large turkey leg and cut it into small pieces. After a long time, hot food warmed her stomach, and her hunger got bigger and bigger. She couldnât afford to stop. It was so delicious that she felt like crying. It made her forget that she had just been embarrassed by Henry and Ian Kerner was serving her.
At first she was going to eat quietly, but suddenly she couldnât even speak, and gestured at the food she wanted to eat. She devoured whatever Ian offered.
Alex just watched Rosen eat happily, but Ian frowned and put down his utensils as she was chewing.
âEat slowly.â
âThe way I eat isnât polite, is it?â
Rosen looked at Ian and raised her eyebrows.
âYou are going to have an upset stomach.â
âAnd thatâs something you donât want to see?â
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Rosen retorted. People needed to be consistent. If he was going to say her eating with them was okay, he should stick with that until the end, or show that he despised it from the beginning. She didnât know how many times he had given her hope and crushed it.
âDonât misinterpret what Iâm saying. Think about whose loss it will be if you eat like that and vomit it all up. If you get an upset stomach and start going crazy, Henry and I will sufferâŠâ
âThen why are you frowning?â
âMy face is always like this.â
He pointed at his own face, dumbfounded. Rosen ran out of words to say. She suddenly realised that they were having a childish argument that even Layla wouldnât have. Of course, it was her who disagreed, but it was solely Ian Kerner who had turned this into an argument.
âWhy do you keep answering when you know I have a bad habit of talking?â
She was just messing around as usual. It was okay if Ian ignored her, just like when they first met.
He was a jailer. He didnât have to listen to his prisoner or respond.
âDidnât you say it with your own mouth? You donât care what I say.â
âBut nowâŠâ
âHey! Why are you being so childish? Miss Walker isnât in good shape right now, and sheâs tied up. If her words are sharp, shouldnât you be more gentle?â
Alex Reville shouted and threw a fork at Ian. Like a true combat veteran, Ian accurately grabbed the flying fork, though his gaze was still on her. He started asking questions again when she swallowed.
ââŠAre you a nurse?â
âNo.â
âThen where did you learn first aid like that? Iâve never seen it in the Empire. Only doctors from Talas⊠Did you use magic?â
âYou guys always say that a woman is a witch if she does something great.â
Rosen didnât want to be interrogated during dinner. But now he was holding a delicious steamed pork hostage. If she didnât answer, that perfect food would never enter her mouth. In the end, she came up with an answer that most people would accept.
âIâm not a nurse, but my husband was a doctor. Although he was an unlicensed quack, I learned a few things.â
âOf course, Hindley had a real witch as his wife. Emily was a witch, I am not.â
âAnd HindleyâŠâ
âOh, I donât know. I donât have much to say about Hindley.â
As soon as her husband was mentioned, the atmosphere at the table became awkward.
âNow you all remember that I am a murderer?â
Rosen chewed the pork Ian had put in her mouth and swallowed it. She didnât know why he was making her talk when everything was already printed in the newspaper.
âThanks to you, the atmosphere got cold.â
It was Alex Reville who cleared the icy atmosphere.
Age was not something to ignore.
âExcuse me Miss Walker, but how old are you? What appears in the newspapers is completely arbitrary. In the tabloids, they say that you are in your seventies and use magic to look younger.â
â⊠The Imperial newspaper is correct. Iâm twenty-five.â
âThen when did you get married?â
âFifteen.â
There was silence for a moment. The average age of marriage in the Empire was about twenty-three years old. The lower classes were more likely to get married at a young age, but even so, fifteen was too early.
It was not strange for slum children to get married, even if they did not get their menarche* at an early age. Actually, she was like that. She was skinny from malnutrition, short of stature, and looked younger than fifteen.
[*E/N: the first instance of a womanâs menstruation, which usually occurs anywhere from 10-16.]
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â⊠You did it very early. Was it something your parents decided?â
âIâm an orphan.â
ââŠâ
âThe girls there get married early. Some of them get married at the age of twelve.â
Rosen answered in a cheerful voice. Her intention was to rectify the atmosphere once again. As soon as she was about to tell a joke, Henry muttered.
âIsnât that crazy? Twelve years old? A twelve-year-old is getting married?â
âNo, I was fiftee-â
âHow old was your husband then?â
A piece of meat was popped into her mouth.
âI donât know exactly how old he was, but he was in his late twenties.â
Henry was shocked and shouted.
âHe should be locked in a cage!â
Rosen smiled and responded calmly.
âIt doesnât matter now. Heâs dead.â
Great care was taken to enunciate the word âdeadâ.
âLaylaâs here, so donât say such mean things. I enjoyed being married.â
Henry hardened in astonishment. He lost his words for a moment and stared at her. She felt like he was measuring whether her words were true or an extension of the lies she had told so far.
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âYouâre making excuses again, right?â
âOh, do you want me to repeat the same thing over and over again? I didnât kill him, I loved my husband, and when I think of him now, my heartâŠâ
She tried to say the same thing and squeeze out tears, but a large chunk of meat was stuffed into her mouth. When she looked up, Ian was glaring at her with an unpleasant look.
âLaylaâs here, so donât say useless things and just eat.â
Rosen nodded in agreement. However, Layla shouted enthusiastically with a fork and spoon in both hands.
âIâm fine. I saw the newspaper article too. As for Rosenâs crime-â
âLayla, letâs focus on the meal.â
âYou killed your husband. I know that!â
Silence fell over the table. Layla was a little wary, but eventually opened her mouth and said what she wanted to say.
ââŠCouldnât it be that Rosen didnât do it?â
âThereâs enough evidence and a ruling, Layla. Rosen is guilty.â
Ian answered immediately. He spoke kindly in his own way, but since he had lived as a soldier for a long time, his voice was hard and cold.
âBut she said it wasnât her. Why doesnât anyone listen to Rosen?â
âBecause itâs a lie.â
âButâŠâ
âItâs true that you survived thanks to Rosen. But it is also clear that Rosen Haworth killed her husband.â
âI swear, if Henry had taken my side, I would have bothered Ian by shouting that Iâve never lied. But I donât want to put Layla in trouble, so Iâll stay quiet.â
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Layla dropped her head and ran into her grandfatherâs arms. She stretched her legs under the table and kicked Ian in the shin.