Chapter 104: To the Capital (1)

‘Just eating politely with a fork and knife isn’t the end of it?’

Sitting at the dining table, I had to feel like a five-year-old child. Beside me, Elena draped a tablecloth around me, and food scraps lay on the floor where I had spilled them. The thought of dipping my finger into the sauce that dripped splat splat onto the floor warred with the luxurious feeling that I could now afford not to. Beside me, Sophia covered her mouth and giggled.

‘Master. You look like a baby.’

‘Not yet. If you eat like that, they’ll laugh at you there. I can’t stand seeing our Evan mocked.’

This stuffy noble ceremony was shattering even the peace of the household. Even during my time as a slave, I’d been told I ate relatively neatly, and I had some experience with basic dining etiquette training, but it seemed Elena and Isabel, who came from traditional noble families, weren’t satisfied.

Elena, perhaps truly wanting to correct me, looked down at me with a stern gaze and said.

‘Now, let’s try again. You held the knife wrong, and the sauce spilled when you cut the meat. You’re strong, so why can’t you do it? It’s very easy. You can do it with just a little more effort. Let’s try one more time.’

Before my eyes lay a steak brutally hacked to pieces. I lightly stabbed the meat, which had no more corners to cut, with my fork and tried cutting it again, just as Isabel had demonstrated moments before. Both Isabel and Elena held their breath, watching my hands at work.

Elena nodded with a satisfied expression, and I forgot I was even eating as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Why do nobles eat food in such a complicated and irritating way? Are these guys not eating food, but enjoying themselves eating food luxuriously?

My patience was wearing thin, but this unpleasant meal was far from over. Elena said.

‘Good. While you’re eating, a servant will come to pour wine. There are separate glasses for white and red wine, you know? Remember their positions well, and when they ask while pouring, present the correct glass.’

I shook my head back and forth and said.

‘Seriously, you guys live doing every ridiculous thing imaginable. Even just having a water glass and a wine glass like this would get you treated like a crazy bastard flaunting his wealth. Back when I was happiest, we only had one cup for water.’

‘Still, didn’t you have separate wine glasses? It’s pretty gross when the wine smell gets in the water glass.’

‘I was a minor back then, so I couldn’t drink alcohol. And Master didn’t drink things like alcohol either.’

The Master who taught me and my friends back then never taught us how to drink wine. We didn’t know the names or how to drink wine, but we were, in our own way, the happy No. 17, No. 5, and No. 13.

‘Anyway, the place we’re going isn’t just any old mansion, right? It’s the Flancia family, one of the most prestigious families in the capital. If you mess up the dining etiquette, imagine how much they’ll bother our Madam because of it. Have you thought about how much they’ll insult you? I absolutely cannot stand to see that.’

‘What if we just set it up so I’m a cripple who can’t even eat properly? That way, Isabel would have to feed me all the time. I’m good at acting disabled. I did it a lot when I was begging as a kid. When I acted like a simpleton, people at least didn’t hit me.’

‘No way.’

It was something I said just to try, even though I knew it wouldn’t work. In the end, I was stuck at the dining table until I completely mastered the dining etiquette. The meat I had mangled and destroyed was happily eaten by Sophia, while Elena and Isabel waited without eating themselves until I had perfectly learned the etiquette, eating only after I did.

Dancing is something only those who want to dance do, and it couldn’t be learned in a short period, so we skipped it. However, just learning greeting etiquette and the manners required when among nobles took several more days.

‘Will this be okay?’

A few more days passed like that. The carriage that was supposed to come pick us up was arriving, and I changed my clothes. Carson’s formal wear was too big for me, so Elena had to alter it. Neatly cut piles of fabric lay scattered like rags in a corner, and I tied my tie in front of the full-length mirror.

Elena still looked unsatisfied, despite having worked me over so diligently. This was because Elena wasn’t accompanying Isabel and me to the capital. If she came too, only Sophia would be left at the mansion, and it was impossible for Sophia alone to manage the mansion long-term. Old mansions can only be maintained with a skilled caretaker.

I said to Elena.

‘I did my best. They’ll understand there, too.’

‘That’s right. There’s nothing more you can do. I wish those people were a little less nasty… Everyone I remember from the main family has a bad personality.’

‘Seriously, people are such assholes, it’s hard even to be a demon, you know?’

Elena chuckled lightly at my joke and patted my back. The carriage that came to pick us up arrived at the village entrance. The Flancia family crest was clearly visible even from the mansion windows.

‘Our Evan is so dashing. He’ll be fine.’

Isabel said that and hugged me tightly once more. I felt awkward in the suit I was dressed in, so I tugged at my tie and twisted my head. I didn’t like the feeling of it constricting my neck. It reminded me of the shackles I used to wear around my neck.

People glanced at the carriage that came to pick us up with curious eyes. As we walked proudly through the crowd at that moment, the villagers finally seemed to realize that Isabel was the Madam of that Flancia mansion.

‘Please, get in.’

The attendant assisting us took the luggage I handed over. I quietly boarded the carriage, and Isabel, perhaps recognizing the servant, asked him for an update.

‘It’s been a while. How is the mansion these days?’

Beyond the carriage window frame, it was easy to meet people’s round eyes. They were realizing the fact that I, once a slave, had become the husband of Flancia Isabel. The family’s authority, which had never leaked out due to their old mansion and reclusive, timid nature, was being re-established with just one luxurious carriage.

Lumia was handing over duty shifts with an indifferent expression. The priestess who had to hand over duties to Lumia was reporting carelessly, her gaze fixed on the carriage.

Housewives who had come out to buy groceries were whispering, and some people were looking at me with envious eyes. I didn’t give them any more attention and faced forward. Isabel, having finished her conversation, boarded the carriage after me. When I extended my arm, she scurried into my embrace and sat down demurely.

I stroked her hair and asked.

‘Who was that man?’

‘He’s someone who’s worked at the Flancia mansion for quite a long time. He used to play with me often when I was little, so it feels strange meeting him like this.’

‘How is the mansion?’

‘I don’t know. They say it’s the same as usual, which means it’s still terrible to live there these days.’

‘Interesting.’

That was a truly interesting expression. A mansion that’s the same as usual, and therefore terrible to live in.

What kind of trash could possibly be living there to warrant such a statement? I chuckled and looked at our mansion in the distance. I could see Sophia and Elena waving from the second-floor balcony. I waved back at them.

‘This carriage, you can’t see inside from the outside, so it doesn’t matter anyway.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. It has magical devices installed. Want to check it out later?’

‘So from the outside, it looks like we’re not here? Like we’re invisible?’

Isabel laughed at my question. Her bursting-into-laughter expression was so annoying that I pinched her cheek.

‘Ouch! That hurts…! E-Evan! That’s not what I meant, I meant that inside the carriage looks pitch black from the outside. They applied a special substance.’

‘That’s interesting too? Is it for preventing assassinations against nobles? They gave us a rather expensive carriage.’

Isabel nodded and said.

‘Since we’re formally invited, they’re probably trying to intimidate you with a carriage like this. It’s a subtly common tactic. Usually, they use incredibly luxurious items that are practically unusable to make people feel inferior.’

I wasn’t someone who would fall for such a weak tactic. Hadn’t I faced snobbery multiple times before? If you looked closely, this carriage was indeed something far above my current standing. If I added up all the prices I’d been sold for so far, could I even afford the door of this carriage? The carriage handles were inlaid with jewels, and mana stones of luxurious material shone brilliantly from the ceiling.

Behind the large carriage, there was a separate servant’s seat where footmen could sit, and the interior of the carriage was spacious enough for me to stretch my legs out fully. I swung my legs, leaning back fully against the seat, then felt something brush against my heel and lifted my body again. Reaching down, my hand found a drawer.

‘Whoa, look at this. They’ve put liquor in here.’

I opened the drawer beneath the seat. Seeing a few bottles of liquor roll out from inside, I snorted. Isabel’s eyes widened too, and she said.

‘It has things like this too? I didn’t even know about this. But why did they put liquor in here?’

‘Maybe so they can light it on fire and throw it at burglars later?’

‘You think so? It could be for self-defense.’

Isabel played along with my words and chuckled lightly. Jokes like that went back and forth. The mana stones were grenades, and the jewels on the handles were clearly bribes to offer to thieves. The carriage meant to crush us had somehow become the subject of our jokes, transforming into a ridiculous ensemble. Sinking deep into the plush seat, I asked Isabel.

‘Isabel.’

‘Yeah?’

‘When we get to the capital, I’ll be able to do well, right?’

‘Of course. You’re the best husband.’

The capital was getting closer and closer.

I felt a strange fluttering in my chest.

Did I ever think a day like this would come in my life?