TRVBC 09

Chapter : 09
Country Life Is Wonderful! (3)

If I just keep watching, I’ll figure out what his intention is. Anyway, I shouldn’t get too involved.

Once Selvia returned, I’d send her to the Intelligence Division and order them to find out exactly what mission Karl Dryan was carrying out.

The relaxed peace of the quiet suburb slowly tightened again around my mind.

While I remained wary of Karl Dryan inwardly, my mouth continued smoothly explaining how to make rice balls.

“Put the filling inside like this, then shape it into small bite-sized rounds. The ingredients are over here.”

I also explained the fillings, since everything must have been unfamiliar to him.

“This is pickled radish. It’s crunchy and crisp, with a refreshing taste because it’s soaked in vinegar. The one next to it is soy-braised pork. And next to that is a spicy pickled radish. Try it if you like spicy food.”

They were all ingredients that were guaranteed to taste good no matter how you used them.

These were all prepared by Selvia. While scolding me for even thinking of opening a shop when I couldn’t cook at all.

No matter how I thought about it, turning the assassination guild into an intelligence department was a great decision. It suited Selvia far better to hold a kitchen knife for me than to hold a dagger to kill others.

Still, next time I should practice cooking more myself.

Even though I had tried hard while sending Selvia on errands, I still wasn’t improving.

Pouting slightly, I shaped the rice by habit. Struggling with the sticky grains, I finished one rice ball filled with pickled radish.

But by the time I finished just one, Karl was still frozen, holding rice in his palm.

“……”

Why is he doing that again?

I don’t want to pay attention, but I keep getting drawn to him.

I knew he was suspicious, but his actions were so clumsy in unexpected ways that I kept wanting to interfere. Maybe it was because I had experience taking care of my younger brother.

“Why? Are you uncomfortable because I’m watching you?”

“……”

Karl Dryan still didn’t answer. I didn’t expect him to.

I slipped past him and walked deeper into the kitchen.

“I’ll make some hot soup, so you make the rice balls. Got it?”

As I tried to step away, Karl looked at me with something almost like a plea.

I tapped a plate with my finger and explained his task.

“Fill this whole bowl. Make plenty. Mix all three flavors evenly. I like all of them.”

“……!”

At my words, Karl looked like he had just realized something important.

I raised an eyebrow.

“…Were you worried about which flavor to make?”

Nod.

So that’s what it was.

Seriously? He was worried about something so pointless?

He looked like a grizzly bear, but he had an unexpectedly delicate side. I shrugged.

“If you can’t decide, just make all of them and eat them.”

Karl nodded again and began pressing the rice firmly with his fingers, focusing seriously.

Watching his side profile, I sighed softly through my nose.

Could it be that he stood outside my shop for a whole month without coming in because he didn’t even know if he was allowed to enter?

No way.

Ah, come on. The heir of House Dryan wouldn’t be that bad at communication. He must be on a mission. Maybe Crown Prince Adolf really did order him to watch me?

Crown Prince Adolf—the male lead of the original story and my former fiancé.

He seemed impressive in the novel… but fiction is fiction, reality is reality.

The “prince on a white horse” who saved the heroine from noble-family oppression was actually a politically clueless fool with flowers in his head.

He was even terrified of me. We barely spoke, but that’s what I remember most.

If he had just told me what scared him, I could’ve fixed it—but he couldn’t even speak properly in front of me.

So I could understand why such a timid man would still feel uneasy after I left the capital and send Karl Dryan to monitor me.

And that ridiculous order… this man is too dutiful for his own good to ignore it.

I stared at Karl for a moment longer, then turned away.

Watching him wouldn’t change anything, and I was getting hungry for real now.

Without Selvia, the only soup I could make was a simple egg soup with green onions and eggs.

As I boiled water and whisked two eggs, the bell rang and the café door opened.

“Vivi~”

It was Madame Madeleine, a regular customer.

The moment she stepped in, she spotted Karl making rice balls and jumped in surprise.

“Eek! You startled me!”

Of course—anyone would find him intimidating. Feeling a strange sense of solidarity, I greeted her.

“Welcome, ma’am.”

“I thought he finally gave up and left since no one was standing outside today. So you were the one who gave up, Vivi?”

“What do you mean I gave up?”

“What else?”

Madame Madeleine leaned in with a mischievous smile.

“So you finally accepted that man’s confession?”

I froze, searching for words, when a strange sound came from beside me.

Clunk!

Karl stumbled slightly, then quickly regained his posture.

That’s new. Karl just staggered.

I smiled faintly and replied to Madame Madeleine.

“No, not at all. He just said he hadn’t eaten breakfast, so we decided to make it together.”

“Make it together? Oh my, you’ve already gotten that close?”

“No, that’s not it.”

As the misunderstanding kept piling up, I frowned.

Clunk!

Karl staggered again.

I glanced at him, confused—he didn’t seem like the type to be affected by this. But Madame Madeleine just smiled knowingly.

“I’m rooting for you, young man! Hang in there!”

“No, seriously, it’s not like that!”

What do you mean “hang in there”?

As I shot her a glare, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

At this rate… won’t it eventually become normal for him to just be here in my café?

* * *

Karl looked down at the breakfast placed before him with his silver eyes as smooth as a blade.

Hand-shaped rice balls and a bowl of steaming egg soup.

Both were unfamiliar foods.

Where did she even learn to make something like this?

It was the kind of exotic food you’d expect only in the distant Northern Kingdom, not the Empire.

When Karl simply stared without eating, Viviana snapped in a haughty voice.

“It looks strange, but it tastes good. Even if it doesn’t, just eat it.”

“……”

Karl silently picked up a rice ball and put it in his mouth.

The spicy pickled radish and chewy-crisp texture brushed across his tongue.

He closed his eyes tightly.

It’s delicious.

He could feel “taste” itself.

I knew her food would taste like this.

The sense of taste he had lost during his transformation process was now vividly returning.

She hadn’t done anything intentionally—no magic, no awareness. Viviana didn’t even seem to know she had any kind of power.

And yet the pain was already gone.

Did she even know? The moment he opened that first letter she wrote, the burning pain throughout his body had disappeared. Only faint remnants remained, like embers after a great fire, but it was nothing compared to before.

And now… I can taste.

Viviana’s guess wasn’t entirely wrong.

Karl Dryan had indeed come to this café with a purpose.

A very personal purpose—completely unrelated to Crown Prince Adolf.