episode_0009

Despite mentioning creating a simple dish for Eden and sending her to the dining room, I sadly lacked any talent in cooking.

I wasn’t the protagonist of a web novel in this world who captivated the locals with various dishes, nor was I someone with culinary skills, having lived a normal life as a man in South Korea. Cooking for me was limited to simple bachelor meals at best.

Moreover, most of what I could cook was impossible here. How could I cook when there were no essentials like instant noodles, canned food, or a microwave in this place?

Cooking involving fire would inevitably leave traces, making it impossible in this situation. So, the best I could manage here was basic raw food preparation amidst the abundance of fruits and vegetables.

The taste might just be passable, but that was beyond my concern.

It wasn’t out of malicious intent, like not wanting to see Eden happy or anything of the sort. It was more about avoiding unnecessary attachment from the little troublemaker if I made something delicious.

Let me reiterate, my goal was to escape from Eden and ultimately break free from the Blackwood family.

Ambitions like educating this troublemaker into a proper man as Eden’s exclusive maid, Lily Rosewood, never crossed my mind even for a moment. Perhaps I had considered ways to minimize interactions with Eden as much as possible.

For now, due to the urgent need to get Eden out of the kitchen, I had to deal with the situation.

“Among these, the ones you can eat raw are… maybe just tomatoes and radishes.”

Well, it should suffice. If she’s truly hungry, she’ll eat whatever I prepare. Otherwise, if she refuses, it means she’s full, and I could send her away.

After cleanly peeling half a radish using Clean Magic and uniformly slicing a tomato, I placed them on a salad plate.

I lightly drizzled something resembling honey on top.

Honey was considered an expensive seasoning in this world, but since I wouldn’t be eating it anyway, it didn’t matter.

If questioned later, I could simply say I fed it to Eden. Harold wouldn’t criticize what goes into his own child’s mouth.

So, I quickly put together a tomato and radish salad with the available ingredients and brought it to the dining area.

Placing it in front of the little troublemaker waiting for me, I set down a fork as well.

“Tomato and radish salad, milady.”

“Tomato and radish…? Is this all…?”

“As I mentioned, I cannot prepare elaborate dishes. If you desire a proper meal, please return at 9 a.m. for breakfast.”

“….”

“If you have no appetite, I will clear it away.”

“Oh, no! I’ll eat! Leave it there!”

Though momentarily hesitant at the sight of the menu, hunger seemed to outweigh pickiness.

She swiftly grabbed the fork, blocking my attempt to take the plate away.

-Clink!

“Sigh, sigh.”

“….”

…Really, I’d rather not watch.

I couldn’t help but think how her noble etiquette seemed to have vanished. Watching Eden eat was akin to watching a pig gorge itself, with food smeared around her mouth as if she were forced to eat, constantly dripping onto the table. A sigh escaped me involuntarily.

Even though she lost her mother and was raised alone, shouldn’t basic etiquette education be a given for a fourteen-year-old noble?

Edan’s anger towards not only Harold but also his father was growing steadily in his mind.

In the midst of this, Edan suddenly emptied his plate and pushed the empty salad plate towards me.

“I finished it all!”

“…I will take care of clearing it up later if you just leave it on the table.”

“Okay!”

-Clang!

“…I said to leave it there, not to throw it.”

Due to the shock, the remaining liquid in the plate splattered across the tablecloth, making the already messy table even more untidy.

In other words, after Edan left, it meant that I had to tidy up this place as well.

Fortunately, I could clean up neatly with a simple cleaning spell. If not, I might have unintentionally blurted out some curses.

“Did it suit your taste?”

“No!”

‘This guy?’

“Well, since you’ve eaten, it’s fine!”

“…Ah, I see. I understand.”

Even if it’s just empty words, acknowledging that it was delicious would have been polite.

However, expecting manners and etiquette from this kid who has food smeared around his mouth might be an issue.

The only fortunate thing was that now that his stomach was full, I could send him back to his room.

“Master, please turn your face this way.”

“Huh? Oh…”

“If you keep walking around with food smeared around your mouth like this, your manners will be questioned.”

‘And if they find out what you were sneaking to eat all night, it’ll be troublesome for both of us.’

“Oh, um…”

“That’s enough.”

After roughly wiping away the dribbles around his chin with the maid’s apron, things improved slightly.

It was mostly my personal aversion to looking at him rather than the fact that the plate was unappealing.

Since I managed to fill his grumbling stomach somehow, it was time to dismiss him to the kitchen.

“It’s best for you to go up to your bedroom to sleep now. Do you need an escort?”

“No!”

“Brave Master, you can overcome the darkness of the night alone. Please go in carefully, Master.”

“Okay!”

“And let’s keep today’s events between us. We won’t gossip about you to the master or other maids, so I ask you to keep our secret as well.”

‘Especially the fact that I pointed a knife at you in the warehouse.’

“Okay! Got it!”

Although he had an unsightly face, at this point, there wasn’t much more I could do.

I could only hope that the pig-headed Edan would keep our promise.

He probably wouldn’t want to spread the fact that he left his bedroom in the middle of the night to the whole neighborhood.

…At least, that’s the story when he still had some semblance of dignity.

“You ate well!”

“…Goodnight, Master.”

Finally, Edan gave a somewhat human-like response as he closed the kitchen door and returned to his bedroom.

I tidied up the mess in the dining room and cleaned the dishes Edan used with a cleaning spell.

At least in this aspect, it was convenient not to have to chew garlic every time I cast a spell. Yesterday, I would have had to chew a clove or two of garlic while clearing the plates.

While efficiency may have decreased in terms of growth, it meant that I had grown significantly from yesterday’s magic training.

However, there was no time to revel in the increased maximum mana capacity. Today, wasted time because of Edan meant I had to quickly get to work on today’s tasks, so after swiftly finishing the dishwashing, I started cleaning the garlic for today’s work.

For my growth, and to avoid suspicion from my colleagues.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Edan Richard Blackwood’s childhood was unfortunate.

In the illustrious Blackwood noble family, being labeled as unfortunate may sound odd to some, but at least Ethan himself did not find his life particularly joyful.

Raised without any deficiencies in a family known for its remarkable achievements by his father and mother who departed during his childhood.

Caught between being the heir of the Blackwood family and the empire’s treasure, the Grand Magus, Ethan Richard Blackwood was born into a world with everyone’s expectations on his shoulders.

Being the child born of the two most precious bloodlines under the sky, it was believed that he would undoubtedly inherit a brilliant talent for magic.

His father, at a mere ten years old, split the empire’s walls in half with his magical swordsmanship, while his mother was a prodigy reading advanced academic texts from the academy at the age of eight.

Naturally, growing up under everyone’s expectations from a young age was an expected phenomenon for young Ethan.

“As the son of Harold and Tanashia, you might even show more promise from an early age than both of them.”

The weight of the expectations from those around him, even before taking his first steps, slowly burdened young Ethan’s heart.

With each passing year, the excessive expectations placed upon young Ethan only grew larger.

“Given the brilliance displayed by both of your parents from a young age, you might start showing something by the age of six.”

“If you were born inheriting both of their talents, you might start revealing something by around seven.”

“Tanashia started reading advanced magical texts at the age of eight, so perhaps Ethan might also…”

“If the young lord inherited the talents of both individuals, maybe from this year onwards, something…”

“Harold reached the level of Sword Expert at the age of ten, so perhaps Ethan might also…”

“It’s about time for your talents to start manifesting…”

“Why is the child of Tanashia and Harold still unable to do anything?”

For a child not yet even ten years old, the burden of too many expectations was overwhelming.

Though no one directly told Ethan to excel, even as a child, he was not oblivious enough to miss the atmosphere of expectation surrounding him.

Each time he heard the blind expectations directed towards him, Ethan would always agonize over his own talents.

He wasn’t born with the aptitude for wielding magic in his swordsmanship like his father or the intellectual understanding of advanced magic like his mother.

The first realization that dawned on Ethan before he turned ten was that his talent lay not in handling magic or possessing magical knowledge like his parents but in the fact that his abilities were infinitely lacking compared to them.

Yet, what allowed Ethan to grow unfalteringly until the age of ten was thanks to his mother Tanashia.

Even though he felt inadequate and unable to meet expectations, she was the one who always comforted and embraced him, loving him just the way he was.

One day when he was ten, from the moment his mother passed away due to illness, Ethan’s mind began to deteriorate little by little.

It was the moment when the last person who supported his fragile mind disappeared.

Of course, despite being his father Harold, who cherished Ethan dearly, his affection paled in comparison to Tanashia’s.

Ethan was simply too young to decipher the almost imperceptible emotions of his father.

Losing his only emotional anchor, his mother, and facing his aloof father who did not acknowledge him in their desolate mansion, along with countless gazes seemingly waiting for his talents to bloom.

In a vast space that felt eerily unfamiliar as if he were the only alien presence, Edan absentmindedly wandered around the mansion.

…The trigger that led to a change in the child’s personality was an incredibly trivial incident.

*Bam! Crash!*

“Aaaah!”

“Young master!”

“Edan Young Master has fallen down the stairs! Quickly, fetch a doctor!”

In this topsy-turvy world, as the servants gathered around him, one by one, Edan found himself inexplicably at ease within that atmosphere.

Despite the fact that far more eyes than usual were fixed solely on him, it was the sole moment where he felt no sense of expectation directed towards himself.