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Chapter 11
I narrowed my eyes and scanned over the male lead candidates. Professor Wid, looking completely confused, pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Do you think you’ll be able to finish writing all the invitations by today? It’ll be hard alone, so maybe you should work on them together with—”
Thud.
Before he could finish speaking, I set down two heavy boxes.
“…Already?”
“I finished them. Yesterday. By myself.”
I lifted the corner of my lips sharply as I looked straight at Rihart.
He had clearly handed the task over to me even though he knew the letters had to be handwritten.
My intuition was screaming.
“It was easy.”
“Did you pull an all-nighter? I thought it’d take at least three days.”
Watching Rihart’s subtle expression, I replied to Professor Wid with a crooked smile.
“I didn’t need to stay up. Magical tools exist for a reason.”
I did stay up.
But I hadn’t lost sleep just to write invitations, so it wasn’t a lie.
The two pens I pointed to had magic circles engraved on them—ones I had spent the entire afternoon developing.
The first pen recorded movements and perfectly copied even the handwriting style.
The second pen had my handwriting registered in it and was linked to digitized documents containing addresses and names.
While the first pen wrote the main text, the second filled in the recipient’s name at the designated spot and wrote the address and name on the envelope.
“From movement to duplication, and even digitizing documents and fonts…”
It took quite some time to design the formulas and fix errors, but compared to writing hundreds of letters by hand, it was nothing.
Once it started, all I had to do was watch the pens fly through the air.
I had woken up repeatedly to check for errors and slept in short bursts, but—
I won!
How satisfying.
“I’m going to the post office.”
Smiling in victory, I lifted the boxes from the desk again.
At that moment, Rihart stood up with identical boxes in his arms and headed for the door first.
“It’ll be heavy alone. Let’s go together.”
He didn’t even wait for my answer.
Staring at his broad back, I felt suspicious.
‘The imperial crown prince is really hard to understand.’
After walking outside the main building for a while and turning left, a small building with a red roof appeared.
While I was comparing the cute roof with Rihart’s red hair, he slowed his pace and spoke.
“I’ll choose the interior design and dessert vendors. I know more about that kind of thing.”
There was no hostility in his green eyes as he looked down at me.
And he was right. Unless it was Medina Village, I had no connections near the capital.
‘At least he has some conscience and is taking responsibility for this.’
My irritation eased a little, and I nodded.
That was when I noticed his hands holding the box.
His nails were cut short and split in layers, looking painful enough to bleed.
That must sting a lot.
I wondered if I should bring him some ointment, but decided it might be unnecessary meddling and kept quiet.
‘He’s been messing with me nonstop, but now he’s helping normally?’
Had I misunderstood him all this time?
Or did he have another scheme?
Or was this just his unpredictable personality?
I couldn’t tell.
‘There’s too little information about him. When I played as Rena, he never acted this ambiguous.’
Without enough detailed information, my role as a matchmaker could be limited.
Feeling the urgent need for intel, I headed to the kitchen alone after leaving the post office.
‘As expected of Judea.’
The large kitchen was neatly organized and fully equipped.
I opened the refrigerator and picked out what I needed: flour, nuts, cream cheese.
“And finally… the most important thing. Carrots.”
After lining up the ingredients on the table, I took out the tools and started baking.
First, I mixed eggs and various ingredients to make batter. Then I added finely grated carrots and carefully selected toppings.
While the batter baked, I diligently made cream cheese frosting.
Finally, I spread the cream evenly in the center and on top of the cake, and decorated it with nuts and tiny carrot-shaped ornaments.
Done.
“Perfect.”
A golden-brown carrot cake—something I’d only ever eaten in Korea—revealed its elegant form.
I took a bite with a fork. The nutty, healthy aroma of carrots filled my mouth.
The gentle sweetness was irresistible.
Satisfied, I packed the cake into a container.
“Now I just need to catch the rabbit.”
At first, I’d been flustered about having Janet Marcella as my roommate.
But thinking about it now, how lucky was I?
‘This means I get benefits too.’
Thanks to the game, I knew Janet was crazy about carrots.
Her usual snacks were raw carrots, but she also loved carrot juice, carrot extract, and dried carrots.
She never refused anything carrot-related.
‘But carrot cake?’
She’d never had it before.
I had never seen carrot cake in this world.
Back when I was making desserts with Madam Stea at the teahouse, she had said:
“Carrot cake? Oh, Archel. That’s such a strange, astonishing idea. Wouldn’t spinach cake be better?”
To compare it to spinach cake—how insulting.
I vowed to let her taste it someday, then entered the dormitory.
Janet was rolling around on her bed.
“You’re back?”
Wrapped in her blanket and eating snacks, she greeted me cheerfully.
‘Who would think she’s the deputy guild master of the Laksha Information Guild?’
I placed the glass container on her desk.
Janet’s eyes locked onto the orange object inside.
“What’s that?”
“Carrot cake. Want to try it?”
“…Carrot cake?”
Like a rabbit, Janet jumped up and rushed over.
“I’ve never heard of that in my life.”
The moment she saw the orange cake topped with tiny carrots, she kept exclaiming in awe.
The cake disappeared into her mouth in seconds.
“Mmm! It’s delicious! It has a gentle carrot flavor and it’s nutty too!”
With her eyes wide, she took three more bites.
“Where did you buy this?”
“I made it.”
“You? Archel? There’s nothing you can’t do.”
She gave me a thumbs-up.
“Why hasn’t anyone thought of making this before?”
While Janet scolded the entire world—including herself—for being foolish, I got to the point.
“Janet, do you know Rihart well? I’m technically an imperial citizen, but I’m from the countryside, so I don’t know much about the crown prince.”
“Rihart Cavendia? All of a sudden?”
Her expression turned serious.
“He’s a no.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest in an X.
It just made her look like a carrot, though.
“Rihart already has a fiancée. Rena Diclif, the precious daughter of Duke Diclif. You’ve heard of her, right?”
“That’s not why I’m asking, so don’t worry.”
Of course, as the heroine, Rena had ties to the crown prince.
They had been promised to each other since childhood.
The two of them together…
‘I can’t even imagine it.’
Failing to picture their happy 모습, I continued awkwardly.
“We’re both in the student council, so I thought it’d be good to know his personality and quirks.”
More information meant more carrot cake, after all.
As I added quietly and pointed at the cake with my fork, Janet’s face grew serious.
“You mean the parts people don’t really know? Hmm.”
She sat on the bed and hummed.
Then, like unpacking a bag full of gifts, she began revealing information one by one.
“First, as everyone knows, Rihart is the First Prince and Crown Prince of the Tersen Empire. He’s perfect in every way, but there’s one weakness—his maternal family has no power. His mother was a courtesan.”
“What?!”
My mouth fell open.
Is it okay to tell me this?
Seeing my eyes shake like a ship in a storm, Janet scratched her head.
“Well, they’re extremely careful about this, so most people below high-ranking nobles don’t know. To be precise, not many are certain about the Empress’s background. Most think it’s just a bad rumor.”
But it’s true. Hehe.
She thumped her chest confidently.
Trading high-noble-level secrets for a piece of carrot cake… terrifying.
According to her, the Emperor had arranged for Rihart’s mother to be adopted into an obscure count’s family in the southernmost part of the continent to hide her origins.
After perfectly laundering her status, he made her Empress.
However, her past was later exposed through a duke’s daughter who became a consort.
And at that moment, I felt a huge sense of betrayal toward Dumæa.
Rihart’s character description was clearly—
[The perfect and arrogant crown prince who overcomes all hardships while being threatened by the empress’s faction and the second prince.]
That’s what it said!
Couldn’t they write a little more detail?
Did it really have to end in one line?
“Knowing all this, the consort used to mock him, saying things like, ‘Where did that handsome face even come from?’ She’s stopped now, but when he was young, he used to bite his nails whenever he felt anxious.”
‘Stopped, my foot. He’s still doing it.’
Learning about such a vulnerable habit tied to his past made my head spin.
What was he so anxious about?
As I lowered my eyelids in thought, crimson hair fluttered before my eyes.
“So… is all of this mine?”
Janet, holding the cake container close, stared at me expectantly.
Without a word, I handed her my fork.
Only then did she look satisfied and resumed munching.
She was a truly perfect roommate.
