Chapter 71

The sky was a flawless blue, not a cloud in sight.

“Master! How do I look? Do I seem stronger…?! Ehehe….”

Floating lazily beneath that blue expanse… a single transparent dewdrop rice cake.

She was zipping around, showing off something or other—but honestly, I couldn’t tell what had changed….

Still, they say even a whale will dance if you clap for it. So I clapped.

“That’s amazing, Ninabel. You’ve gotten stronger~”

Clap clap clap—

“Ehehe…!”

What a fool….

Ninabel announced she was going back to train and drifted off toward the spring, and I lay down on the mat, staring up at the sky.

It was peaceful. So peaceful….

And yet, for some reason, my heart felt unsettled.

‘There’s something else I want.’

‘…….’

‘If it ever feels like Muriel truly wants to give it, I’ll accept it then.’

‘Aaaagh.’

The feeling was unbearable. I twisted back and forth, then rolled onto my stomach and pounded my fist against the ground.

Lycian’s face kept surfacing in my mind.

‘Please, just get out of my head….’

The more Lycian pushed his way in, the more I wanted to run. Why? What do I actually feel?

“Ha….”

Am I one of those people? The kind who thinks they’re fine, insists they’re fine—until they end up in therapy because they’re not fine at all….

‘But it’s not like trauma counseling exists in this world…!’

Right as I sank, as usual, into brooding, a system notification abruptly cut in.

Ding!

“Waaah, my radish.”

I pushed myself up with a weak cheer. Better harvest it quickly and toss it into my inventory.

Why did I plant radishes?

To make dongchimi¹.

Growing chili peppers was still tricky, so getting chili flakes was hard… but white dongchimi seemed doable.

‘I bought garlic and ginger when I went to the city.’

Without spicy peppers, it might lack a bit of punch—but still, I want Korean food…!

Back in the day, I used to wonder why isekai romance heroines always went out of their way to cook Korean dishes.

‘Now I totally get it. You can’t resist Korean food. Kimchi fried rice, grilled pork belly, braised short ribs, spicy braised chicken—I want all of it.’

Humans really are creatures that live to eat something delicious.

“Wow, this radish is hefty.”

Grasping both the leaves and the root, I carefully pulled it from the soil without bruising it.

Plump and pale with a faint green sheen, the radish looked high quality at a glance. My cheat-code skill really was something.

‘Yeah, this one’s going to taste amazing.’

The crisp, refreshing flavor of dongchimi bloomed vividly in my mind, and my mouth filled with saliva.

Dongchimi…! I am absolutely making it…!

I shifted slightly to harvest the next one.

That was when—

A small white bird fluttered down and perched on my shoulder.

Startled for a second, I quickly recognized who it was.

“Camilla?”

“Piiiii.”

The bird was none other than Camilla in animal form.

Camilla—usually dreamy, but ferocious when enraged—being this tiny, adorable bird….

“Piiiii, piiii!”

“Camilla… could you turn back into your human form and tell me? I can’t understand you.”

“Pii!”

As if she’d said “Got it,” the little titmouse took off again.

She spun once in the air, then plunged toward the ground like a rocket—transforming into her human form in an instant.

“Whoa….”

I clapped in admiration. Honestly, Camilla’s transformation was way more entertaining than Ninabel’s water show.

Watching me, Camilla shook her head frantically.

“Muriel niiiim…. This is not the time to be admiring meee…. An uninvited guest is on their way….”

“An uninvited guest?”

“Yes, I think Lord Lycian has already noticed toooo….”

As if on cue, Lycian burst out of the house. Wearing a pink frilly apron.

‘He looks serious, but the apron is killing me….’

He strode toward us, eyes fixed somewhere in the distance. His gaze was sharp, grave. The apron was ridiculous.

“…Coming here again without knowing your place?”

Gripping the ladle in his right hand, Lycian muttered darkly.

How powerful could a ladle swing be? I just hoped my only ladle wouldn’t break.

‘I don’t know who’s coming, but go easy. Easy.’

“Muriel niiim’s ex-husband is such a pathetic little mannn…. The divorce happened—why come crawling back? So clingy….”

“…….”

Correction. Hit him hard.

A ladle? If it breaks, I’ll just buy another.

‘So Raul is on his way here….’

It wasn’t entirely unexpected.

I’d guessed—about sixty-five percent sure—that something like this might happen. I just didn’t think he’d return so soon.

‘Has he already met Deborah?’

Deborah was Muriel’s older sister, separated from her in childhood.

In the original story, she comes seeking her sister around the time Muriel is moved to Winterberg Castle after falling terminally ill.

But what awaited Deborah was a sister already sick and dying….

After uncovering how Muriel had ended up with an incurable illness, Deborah explodes in fury and exposes that Muriel is not of Tierney blood.

That’s when Raul’s full-blown regret arc begins….

‘I derailed that storyline. I exposed it myself before Deborah even appeared.’

But Raul probably hadn’t been certain my words were true.

What that suspicious man would do next was obvious.

‘He must’ve sent an investigation team to Lapienne…. And there, he would’ve met Deborah, who was secretly tracing her sister’s path.’

Deborah would have told him everything.

And with her testimony, along with the information he’d already gathered, Raul would have realized that what I said was the truth.

‘So that’s why….’

Is that why he’s come looking like that?

Raul, who had ridden all the way here, didn’t look even remotely well.

His hair was a mess, dark shadows pooling beneath his eyes.

He hadn’t even tied his cravat, his shirt buttons mismatched, his steps slightly unsteady. At a glance, he could’ve passed for a drunk.

Crossing my arms, I glared at him. Whatever he’d come to say, I’d at least hear it.

A moment later, Raul stopped in front of me. He stared as if in a dream—then suddenly collapsed.

No, more precisely, he dropped to his knees before me.

One hand braced on the ground, trembling faintly. Up close, his eyes were those of a man unable to crawl out of shock.

“…….”

He lifted his head to look at me.

I met his eyes with a cold stare.

Whatever change of heart he’d undergone, I had no reason to humor it. Nor did I want to.

I only wished to never be entangled with this man again.

“Muriel….”

Like someone possessed, Raul breathed my name, staring at me with near-obsessive intensity.

As though checking whether I truly existed.

At last, his face twisted with guilt. He clenched his teeth and bowed his head deeply.

A man once unreserved and proud—now fallen to the very bottom of a pit called remorse.

---

Two days earlier, at Winterberg Ducal Castle.

“My lord, the guest has arrived.”

At the words of the knight commander, Michelle, Raul set down his teacup and rose.

Moments later, a woman entered the drawing room.

According to Michelle’s report, she was twenty-three—but she looked far younger.

Her face bore such a striking resemblance that anyone could tell she was Muriel’s blood.

Unlike Muriel, however, her hair and eyes were a deeper shade of green.

“It is an honor to meet you, Your Grace, Duke of Winterberg. My name is Deborah Marconi.”

“…Welcome. I’ve been expecting you.”

There was good reason for Raul’s marked courtesy.

Deborah was the only daughter of Cesarea Marconi, the current ruler of Cornello.

Though the neutral nation of Cornello differed politically from other countries and had no nobility system, powerful politicians and their heirs were treated as nobles abroad.

The woman before him, Deborah Marconi, was no exception.

Though adopted, the ruler had raised Deborah as his own daughter and ensured she received rigorous education as a successor.

And so, the orphan of Lapienne grew into the brilliant scion of a prestigious house.

Unlike Muriel, who had endured relentless abuse in the ducal house of Tierney.

---

Footnotes

1. Korean water kimchi made from Korean radish, characterized by its clear, watery, and refreshing brine. ↩