episode_0285

Carefully holding a plate with seasoned sauce, I glanced at the guy who suddenly appeared in front of me, Geumyojosheygi, and quickly scanned the surroundings.

Talking to him alone in a place like this could easily lead to misunderstandings with Edan or other people.

“Edan…”

“I asked Seraphine to attract some attention for a moment.”

“Selena…”

“Cerista is handling it well on her own.”

“….”

He’s really cunning. What important conversation does he want to have with me?

“Just in case, if you’re going to ask me for another favor like this time, don’t worry about it. I won’t need your help anymore from now on.”

“…Then what is it?”

“Just, well. I just wanted to thank you for helping me so far. It wasn’t even your business, but you still went through some trouble for me.”

“…Well, it’s fine. Anyway, if I want to live freely in the future, it’s better to subdue the Demon King.”

“From the beginning, meeting you alone like this would make Edan and Seraphine suspicious… Anyway, there won’t be any reason for us to meet or do anything together in the future.

If there’s something you need to tell me, you can tell Agnes or Seraphine. They have tight lips and are mutual acquaintances with you and me, so it should be fine.”

Since she’s a woman, Edan won’t freak out or be on guard. That’s what the nonchalant Geumyojosheygi said.

“Yeah, that’s better. From the start, our purposes in this world were different. It’s better for us to go our separate ways.”

“But it’s really amazing. Didn’t you really hate Edan the most in your past life?”

“…Among the Lumiacca characters, I hated him the most.”

“But you, who used to be like that, are now so enthusiastic about having a lovey-dovey ending with Edan. When we return to reality, I’ll let you know about your current situation with Lua.”

“…Don’t. If you don’t want to die.”

He pretends not to know, but because he was so active in the gallery, he had some friendly activities with some guys, and some guys knew that I was a man.

Especially if this kind of news got to the guys in the Steam cooperative game chat room, they might really get upset and even commit suicide. …Well, I died in my past life, so it doesn’t really matter.

“Well, in the end, didn’t your wish come true? You wanted to see the release lovey-dovey ending in ‘Luminor Academy.’ Your goal seems to be progressing, even if the target is not just the protagonist.”

“…Actually, recently, I really feel like that’s the case, and it’s bothering me, so please shut up.”

“Cough, cough… Oh, really… That Lua girl is Edan’s fiancée…”

“…If you came here to pick a fight, just get lost.”

“Oh, right. And this.”

Seeing the familiar color of the sauce placed on the table, I quietly fixed my gaze, and the hero explained the identity of the food he gave me.

“Here, ssamjang. I thought it might be necessary.”

“…Where did you get this?”

“I made it from the ‘Cooking Recipe.’ You wrote down where to get the recipe in the strategy guide.”

“…Ah.”

“I didn’t collect all of them, just the ones that wouldn’t interfere with the story progression, so unfortunately, there’s no kimchi.”

“…It’s fine. It’s not a situation where I can complain about such things when I’m benefiting from it.”

And if I were to grill kimchi here with meat, I would have to endure countless stares directed at me and Geumyojosheygi, so it was a dream that could never come true from the start.

“Don’t you use the ‘Cooking Recipe’? I heard there were two items you could get from the Blackwood Mansion.”

“…I couldn’t learn it through releases. Maybe it’s because of the protagonist’s special bonus. If that’s the case, would the ssamjang recipe be in your hands right now? Of course, I secured it first.”

“Well, that makes sense. If we had a recipe battle against a veteran, there would be no way for me to win.”

“…Anyway, thank you. I was already missing Korean food. I’ll enjoy it.”

“If you’re going to wrap the ssam, it’s better to eat it with perilla leaves. It’s not exactly the same, but perilla leaves have a similar taste to sesame leaves.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Alright then.”

With those words, Geumyeojochegeotyi left only one plate of ssamjang and leisurely returned to his harem.

Was he really here just to give me ssamjang and not to make me do something difficult? I feel a little sorry for doubting him at first.

But considering how I’ve been at his mercy until now, it was a somewhat justified suspicion. Anyway, now that he said there would be no more trouble, I felt a bittersweet relief.

“It really tastes like ssamjang.”

Having transmigrated to this world and tasting Korean food for the first time in almost seven years, my tongue naturally responded. Well, strictly speaking, in my case, it’s not transmigration but rebirth, and the point where I regained my memories was seven years ago, so it’s a bit different from transmigration.

Apart from the slightly strong taste of garlic, the ssamjang tasted remarkably similar to the one I had in my past life.

I guess I have to tolerate the pungent taste of garlic that Lillis’s body feels. Still, the salty, sweet, and savory flavors of ssamjang blended well enough to be enjoyable.

As I left the ssamjang on the table like a parting gift and was about to wrap the meat in perilla leaves to eat, suddenly, Seraphine, who had been chatting with Eden for a while, returned to my table.

“Lily, what’s this?”

“It’s a seasoning given by the hero, Ed. He said it’s a seasoning that goes well with grilled meat.”

“…Isn’t it suspicious?”

“I don’t think so.”

“He gave this only to you, Lily? It’s like some strange medicine that makes you feel weird if you eat too much…”

“It tastes similar to the secret seasoning my mother used to make. It’s sweet and salty, so it goes well with plain meat. Maybe it’s a similar dish?”

“Just trying it out. Lily, your mother’s food tastes similar to this…”

In fact, it wasn’t this world’s mother but the mother of my past life who made the taste, and I didn’t even make it myself; it was just the taste of ssamjang from the store.

I brought up this topic to shut Eden up about every little thing, even the smallest kindness, as I felt that if I continued to leave everything suspicious, the conflict between Eden and Geumyeojochegeotyi would continue on parallel lines forever.

Even though Eden must know that Geumyeojochegeotyi has no reason to hold a grudge against me at the point where Cerista truly awakened as a saint, his worries in this state were grateful but somewhat excessive.

‘It’s a problem that he likes me too much.’

Although everything about Eden was different from the original, his obsession with Lillis was truly a pain.

Still feeling a bit sorry for what I said to Eden, I placed a piece of meat on a leaf above the mandrake leaf, added garlic, ssamjang, and some vegetables, and pushed a makeshift perilla leaf wrap in front of him. A ssam carefully prepared by someone else always resolved disputes.

“Here you go, Ed. Ah~ Enjoy.”

“…Huh? Lily?”

“Ah~ I said to enjoy it. Just eat it all in one bite.”

“Lily, you’ve been joking around a lot lately. Even so, eating such a big piece of food in one bite is a bit…”

“Last time, you forced something even bigger and more tasteless into my mouth, didn’t you? And yet, you can’t accept what I offer…”

“Ah! Uh, um… It’s, it’s delicious, Lily…”

Before I could finish speaking, I quietly wrapped a leaf and stuffed it into my mouth, watching Ethan hastily grab a wrap and eat it.

In fact, I wasn’t completely clueless about the recipes for ssamjang or soy sauce. Back in my previous life, when I lived alone and cooked, I was curious about homemade soybean paste, so I bought some meju and tried making it myself.

I had seen the grandmother at the farm making meju when I went down to help, so I could probably recreate it well enough. Adding a few seasonings to the homemade soybean paste and adjusting the concentration would probably allow me to make ssamjang as well.

Of course, as a maid of the Blackwood family, it was impossible for me to make meju, so I had given up on that idea long ago.

“I’ll try it later after I become independent.”

Since I wasn’t going to get married and live alone, there wouldn’t be anyone to criticize me then. I should try making soy sauce and soybean paste as well as ssamjang.

With those thoughts in mind, as I casually looked around, a couple caught my eye.

There was something about the way other people intentionally made way for the two of them to eat together that caught my attention.

“Hey, open your mouth.”

“I-I’m already eating, Agnes.”

“….”

*gulp*

“You finished it all, right? Open your mouth.”

“I can handle the fork at least, Agnes. My right arm is the only one injured, my left arm is still fine.”

“Stop making a fuss. If your right hand wasn’t injured, you would’ve eaten with it.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Just let me help you for three days until you recover, so don’t bother being considerate unnecessarily. It hurts your pride, doesn’t it?”

“Understood, Agnes.”

“If you understand, open your mouth.”

“I can’t eat a lot at once, you know.”

Agnes, strangely stubborn in an odd way, wrapped around Prince Antonio. And Antonio, seeming to refuse her kindness while accepting it with a pleased expression.

I needed to find out what had happened in the battle at the western lake. I needed to at least listen to it once.

I also needed to figure out why a monster that wasn’t in the original work had emerged from the lake.