episode_0023

The princess and prince drink tea while glancing at Christie, who has been standing in front of the room door with a dry smile for over an hour. Only the sounds of sloshing and clanking linger in the quiet room.

“Do you two usually not talk much? Conversation is important between lovers.”

“… Yeah, what are you talking about when your guy is standing right there in the room?”

The crown prince, who almost spilled his tea when she, who was standing like a mannequin, suddenly opened her mouth, said a word.

“They came here to spy on us anyway.”

“If you want, I can step aside for you. I’m here to protect you, not spy on you, and the last thing I want is for you two to get on bad terms.”

“Then, wouldn’t it be okay to take all the guys outside and leave the palace?”

“… As you know, we came here to rescue the royal family from the traitors who have taken over the palace. ”

“That’s funny. Believe me when I say that… .”

“Oh, princess?”

Christie interrupts, jutting out her chin and pointing across the table.

“… … Ah.”

As the princess turns her gaze in his direction, she notices a cookie crumb at the corner of the prince’s lips. She leans over and picks it off with her slender fingers.

“It looks good.”

Christie added a word to the two who were smiling and flirting. The little ones turned their heads away from each other out of shyness.

***

After emptying his plate, Holt approaches Algaet, who is licking her fingers, and hands her a handkerchief.

“Oh, thank you, inspiration.”

He smiled brightly, took the handkerchief, wiped his hands, and then wiped his trembling lips. He folded it in half and placed it on the table.

“Do you like the food?”

Ray nods and folds the handkerchief in half again.

“Whoa, swoosh… .”

Mila, with her lips and tongue bright red, was about to say something with tearful eyes, but when she saw Ray’s answer, her face turned into one of disbelief.

“Is it very spicy?”

“Ss …

“I’m the type of person who absolutely hates playing around with food. I’m not as girly as I look, but that’s okay.”

Mila jumps up from her seat and scoops up some of the sauce left in Ray’s bowl.

“Huhhh…! You don’t even like this?”

He asks Ray with a tear rolling down his eye and running down his cheek. Ray tilts his head, wondering if it was really that bad.

“Hahaha, was it a little strong for breakfast? Oh, old man. No more tea. Old man, eat quickly too.”

Despite Mila’s reaction, he laughs nonchalantly and waves his hand at Holt, who is taking out a box of cookies from the kitchen. He stops walking and heads back to the kitchen.

“A little…? A little?!”

Mila asks again, wiping her tears with a handkerchief.

It wasn’t that woman who was like a pole that I secretly wanted to see, panting and sticking her tongue out while crying, but Algaet felt a little sorry, but didn’t show it out loud.

“You must have seen all sorts of things while wandering around here and there, but this is unexpected.”

“I know, huh. I know. I’ve had it before. But this is the first time I’ve seen it poured so much into a dish!”

Mila said, stirring the remaining food on her plate with a spoon.

“Sister, you can’t eat spicy food well.”

Ray laughed, finding it amusing that he had seen the reaction he had only seen when he took foreign employees to a company dinner. Mila felt strangely humiliated, contrary to Ray’s intention of casually throwing it out, thinking, “Well, that could happen.”

“Ugh… .”

“Hehehe. It’s a spice that has captured my heart since I was little. I thought other family members would like it too, so I once grabbed a handful and put it in the cooking pot while the servant was looking away. … … Well, I guess that’s when I started to think that maybe I was a little crazy. ”

Algaet spoke with a bitter expression, and now she met eyes with Holt, who had become accustomed to it and was eating spoonfuls without any problems. Ray, who had been a little tired of the world’s bland and oily cuisine, nodded with a certain degree of sympathy.

“Whoa… . Even if I were you, I’d kick you out before you get a hole in your stomach.”

Mila, who was gulping down water, says something.

“Now that I think about it, it’s time to buy again, but how much is left?”

Algaet, who was trying to call for inspiration, saw that she was still eating, so she got up from her seat and came to the kitchen with a large bag of spices in one hand. She placed it on the table, then reached into the bag and took out a spice that looked like a black chestnut about half the size of a finger. Ray, who had thought it would be red and long, leaned over to examine the spice, amazed at the completely different appearance of the plants in this world.

Mila also leaned over to look at it. The difference was that what caught her attention was not the spices, but the pattern drawn on the sack.

“… … .”

“Hmm? It looks like something is bothering you.”

Algaet glanced at the pattern on the cannon following Mila’s gaze and said with the corners of her lips raised.

“What on earth are you doing? Are you involved in this incident?”

“Wait, wait. Let’s talk a little slower. My sin, my soul? I want to show you around my room.”

Algaet cut off Mila’s words and turned to Ray.

“… … Don’t keep quoting weird things when you call me from earlier.”

Ray, who had a sullen expression on his face, hesitated a little, but then looked back and forth between Holt, who was still absorbed in his meal, and Mila, whose face had suddenly become serious, and reluctantly followed Algaet up the stairs. The two of them passed through the creaking hallway.

“Is my taste in food somehow related to my past life?”

“Well, maybe so.”

“Hoohoohoo… It’s quite exciting to know that there’s a secret story that only we know.”

When Algaet brought up the story of her past life, Ray glanced back to check if she was far enough away from other people, and Algaet spoke happily.

“… … . Well, it was delicious.”

I thought about trying to speak to her in Korean, but there are many countries other than Korea that eat spicy food well, and since she said she couldn’t remember all the languages, I decided not to. I opened a door and went in, and a spacious room appeared. The walls were all densely packed with books, and there were some familiar objects on the shelves.

“All my inventions and books that have helped me with my lifelong research are gathered here. I think you’ll find it interesting, so take a look.”

Ray takes a step or two into the room.

“There are so many of these… . Huh? ”

When I look back, Algaet is already gone. The creaking sound from outside the hallway fades away.

Ray, who felt like he was being treated like he was being put in a playroom at a meat restaurant or something similar, shrugged his shoulders and decided to look around the room a bit more. The room was still neat and tidy, with Algaet diligently making a mess and Holt diligently cleaning up and organizing it. Ray approached the items neatly arranged on the shelves and examined them.

A stapler, tissue paper, a cutter. Although the shape is a bit crude, the functions are good and easy to recognize. Who can make something this well with only vague memories? Doesn’t that mean he’s quite clever? Thinking that, he picks up a strangely shaped wooden stick. The outside feels slippery and there’s a rope hanging down from the bottom of the stick. Ray examines it here and there, not knowing what it’s made of right away. There’s a round ring at the end of a long rope, so he puts his finger on the ring and pulls the rope, just in case. It stretches out with a sizzling sound, and then the rope slowly retracts into the stick, causing the stick to vibrate.

“… … !”

Ray, startled, picks up the trembling stick and throws it away. Then he wipes his fingers by rubbing them against the wall.

“Hey, really…!”

What’s wrong with having a head of hair? If you put it somewhere out of sight, what’s the use of it? Ray’s interest in the remaining inventions had cooled, and he turned his gaze toward the bookshelf.

“The world is so small. You know Memer. Did you meet for business? … Or maybe you’ve already slept together?”

“… No way. It wasn’t a very good relationship.”

“I see. Well, that guy does have a bit of a spicy charm. You didn’t like spicy food, did you? Hehehe… .”

“How do you know each other? I think there are only a handful of people you interact with.”

“Ex-lovers. Our relationship is still pretty clean. Lately, we haven’t seen each other in this city much.”

“You knew this was going to happen? What the hell is he doing? He revealed my identity last time too… . Ahem.”

“He’s a gentleman who’s very perceptive about rumors. He’s also very quick-witted, and I really liked that about him. … Oh. Just in case, I’m saying this, but unlike the people in my family, he’s not someone who’s on the ‘other side’ of things. In fact, he’s the opposite. ”

“Are you against it?”

“He said he was gathering people, although I don’t know how far he’s planning, since he’s a very ambitious man. He showed great interest in my etiquette instillation. However, I declined because I’d rather live as an inventor than a vigilante. I thought a lot about it when he said he’d do it often.”

“Then you weren’t trying to threaten me back then… Haven’t you heard anything about where you’re working?”

“I think he said he was catching bandits in the southern region. He liked the noisy stuff.”

“… … … .”

Mila leans back against the chair and crosses her arms.

***

“… … Then that night, I heard a noise outside the window and looked down to see the princess standing there, right? ”

“You’re more romantic than you look, princess.”

“That… You don’t have to go into such detail.”

Christie, who had taken a seat at the table and joined them, listened to the story of the two children’s first meeting and made a face as if she was proud of the crown prince.

“The teacup is empty. Joao? I want to hear your story too.”

The prince glances at the teacup in front of Christie and pours some tea for her himself.

“… My story? Hmm.”

Christie rested her chin on her hand and thought deeply for a while, while the Crown Prince and his wife looked at her with sparkling eyes.

“I’ve also sneaked out in the middle of the night with my love.”

“Wow… .”

“Oh… .”

Christie leaves out the story that her lover was married and that she ran away without telling her spouse.

“At that time, I held him in my arms and rolled through the thorns. This is the scratch mark from that time.”

He takes off one glove and extends his hand to the prince. The prince takes Christie’s hand in his small hand and feels it here and there. And the crown prince also gets up from his seat and tries to look at the wound. Not knowing that the wound was caused during the affair, and even more so not knowing that Christie is secretly enjoying the feel of the prince’s warm hand.