Chapter 3

“I thought we wouldn’t be able to catch her until that person joined the extermination force…”

“Basilisk poison! Spit right here! This is the guy!”

“Exactly, there was a person here… Oh? This person…!”

The woman was examining Cain’s body when she suddenly noticed the crest of House Bellaon and flinched in surprise.

Then, as though she knew him, she brushed Cain’s hair aside and examined his face. She even used her fingers to lift his eyelids and take a closer look at his eyes.

“Cain Bellaon… Why is he already here?”

“Ack! This oppa is ugly.”

Even as he drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness, the child’s cry struck Cain straight through the heart like a dagger.

He had been praised as one of the Empire’s most handsome young men ever since birth.

Though he was only from a collateral branch of the family, his sculpted nose and cool, sharp eyes had made him the subject of high expectations in high society.

It was a little unfair that he had to receive an evaluation of his appearance while looking the most wretched he had ever looked in his entire life.

“You’re right, Lucy. He is ugly. That’s because his face is swollen from the monster poison. According to the setting, he’s actually handsome.”

“…Ugwy. Only his eyes are pretty.”

“Is it my fault…? Maybe the guards stationed at the Imperial Army headquarters got pulled away after that incident, creating an urgent need for more troops in the extermination force.”

Cain could barely understand what the woman was saying.

Why were the Imperial Army’s security personnel her fault?

“Mommy… my head hurts.”

“Oh, right, my baby! You used up all your mana, so let’s go get your headache treated. The valley would be a shortcut, but I guess we’ll have to take the long way around today.”

“Are we going to see Doctor Ddaeng?”

“Of course. The doctor will give you a mana-replenishing potion. And after this, you mustn’t casually put buffs on your cooking anymore, okay?”

“Buffs… fun, though.”

“What am I supposed to do with him, though? One point of stamina, one point of strength, and his mana is completely depleted. If we leave him here to die…”

Cain’s ears, already robbed of his sight and with much of his hearing damaged, could not properly make out the conversation between the two.

And even of what he could hear, much of it made little sense.

But they did not leave.

It was almost as though they were trying to figure out a way to save someone who had been soaked in monster poison and was practically a corpse.

“Basilisk Wyrm poison. It drains a human’s life force and desiccates them to death… So the problem isn’t really the toxicity itself, but the life force being drained away.”

“If he doesn’t get his life force back, will he stay ugly?”

“I suppose so?”

“Then save him. He’s too ugly. He can’t even breathe. Lucy’s heart hurts.”

“……”

Perhaps the child’s words had moved her.

There was a rustling sound, and then the woman brought something right in front of Cain’s face and whispered.

“Eat this. If you can chew and swallow it, you might survive. If you do survive, cross the river and find Lady Bellamot. She may be a swindler, but when it comes to treating monster poison, she’s better than most doctors.”

After saying that, the woman pushed a small, soft lump into Cain’s mouth.

At the same time, he felt the child’s soft, warm palm pat gently against his cheek.

“Is the ugly oppa better now?”

“If he’s lucky. If we happen to meet him again someday, we’ll have to make him pay us handsomely for the bread… No, never mind. He probably won’t remember us anyway, so let’s forget about him too. It wasn’t in the original story, so we might only get confused later.”

The warmth against his cheek disappeared, and the woman left with the child.

Cain never even got the chance to protest being called ugly.

The moment he began to register the taste on the tip of his tongue, all the sensations he had left were suddenly overwhelmed.

It was a softness and sweetness he had never experienced even once in his life.

The fishy taste of the egg vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing but a warm, comforting flavor that filled his mouth.

Cain’s family, a collateral branch of House Bellaon, was not particularly wealthy, and frugality was practically a family tradition.

He had grown up chewing nothing but hard rye bread.

To him, this texture was nothing short of shocking.

No.

It wasn’t just the rye bread.

Cain could confidently say that even the Imperial Palace would have trouble finding bread this light and fluffy, as though it were made of clouds.

Then something even stranger happened.

The moment he swallowed the bread, his blurry vision cleared, and strength returned to the muscles that had been limp and useless.

His mana circuits were cleansed, and even the severe swelling on his face receded by about half.

Through some miracle, Cain managed to get back on his feet, cross the river, and find Lady Bellamot.

She did, of course, take advantage of his identity and raise the treatment fee from the ten gold she had originally quoted to a hundred.

But in the end, Cain returned home with all four limbs still attached and functioning.

The duke kept his promise.

He granted Cain the baronial title that his own children had been so desperate to obtain.

Ten years passed, and Cain never forgot that taste.

Nor did he forget the strange experience of having his strength return simply by eating bread.

Nor the warmth of the people who had refused to turn a blind eye while he lay on the verge of death.

It was only recently that his vassal, the Lord of Nor, had visited the Imperial capital and proudly offered Cain a taste of a new creation from his castle’s chef.

“Castella.”

The moment Cain took his first bite, he froze.

It was the exact same food he had eaten in that forest ten years ago.

The technique had become more refined, and the texture was far softer, but the way the ingredients were handled was unmistakably the work of the same person.

Even though he could not feel the miraculous restoration of his strength that he had experienced back then, Cain was certain.

He had finally found her.

He absolutely had to meet this chef.

Because he had to feed this miracle to that child who was slowly withering away in a corner of the Bellaon estate.

Two long shadows fell over Luciela’s head.

When she slowly raised her head, she saw two imposing men standing before her.

“Are you a maid of the lord’s castle?”

The brown-haired man, who appeared to be a guard, asked.

“We’re looking for the castle’s chef. I’ve heard he’s exceptionally skilled.”

“…Nigel?”

“Nigel?”

The man tilted his head, apparently not expecting that name.

“That is the name the lord gave us. It’s a rather masculine name, but that is indeed the man we’re looking for.”

The man who appeared to be a nobleman and was standing behind him nodded.

Lucy narrowed her eyes.

Whether it was because the sunlight was too bright or because the strength was gradually draining from her body, she couldn’t make out their faces very well.

But she had the strange feeling that she had seen those vivid blue eyes somewhere before.

“Can you take us to Chef Nigel?”

Cain asked Luciela.

“He is my benefactor. I’ve been searching for him for a long time because I owe him a great debt of gratitude.”

Luciela’s eyes widened.

“…You mean that man whose brain is made of lard?”

Perhaps because all the strength had already left her body, the thought she had only meant to keep to herself slipped right out of her mouth.

As she spoke, she swayed slightly.

Her arms and legs were no longer responding properly.

I should have eaten the potato before I left.

If I had, the buff would have let me last at least another hour.

“Ahem. How dare you speak that way about the baron’s benefactor?”

“……”

Lucan was about to scold her, but Cain raised a hand to stop him.

“Child.”

Cain called out to her in a low voice.

From a distance, he had thought she was merely filthy.

But up close, her condition was even worse.

Her complexion was deathly pale, and her thin arms and legs were trembling so badly that she looked as though she might collapse at any moment.

“It doesn’t matter if his brain is made of lard. I need to find him.”

And so, he spoke to her in a gentler voice than usual.

“Take us to him. After that, Lucan will take you to a doctor—”

Plop.

Before he could finish speaking, Luciela collapsed sideways.

“Hey! Child!”

Cain hurriedly caught her.

Lucan, who had rushed over after him, checked her neck for a pulse and tilted his head.

“Her pulse is steady.”

“She doesn’t appear to have any major injuries… Has she been subjected to abuse over a long period of time?”

Cain frowned as he examined Luciela’s collapsed body.

“What could possibly have happened to her in the lord’s castle…?”

Just as he fell silent, overcome by the grim state of affairs—

Crunch.

A frivolous little sound shattered the silence.

Cain turned his head.

Lucan was standing there, chewing on the potato skewer that the girl had dropped.

“…Lucan, are you eating the potato right now…? At a time like this…?”

A look of disgust appeared on Cain’s refined face.

“Ghk, that’s…!”

Startled by Cain’s sharp rebuke, Lucan hurriedly lowered the skewer.

“I’m sorry, Baron! My hand moved before I even realized what I was doing…”

He looked genuinely bewildered himself.

He had always liked food, but he wasn’t so shameless that he would normally steal food from a child who had collapsed on the roadside.

“I just… I couldn’t resist the appearance and smell.”

“You lunatic, what nonsense are you—”

“I’m serious. And the taste… The taste is incredible! The texture is amazing… What herbs are mixed into this?”

“You idiot, if you’ve eaten it, put it down—”

“Ah, just try a bite before you say anything.”

Before Cain could finish speaking, Lucan pushed the remaining piece of potato toward Cain’s mouth.

“I said I don’t want—”

Cain flatly refused.

But the rich aroma of butter tickled his nose, followed by the savory flavor of salt.

Before he knew it, his mouth had opened slightly.

Nom.