A Breakfast Worth Comparing
The smooth, savory richness of the cheese omelet, the salty-sweet depth of the bulgogi patty, and the tangy, umami-packed sweetness of the ketchup crashed together in a powerful assault on her taste buds. The complex blend of flavors delivered a shock entirely new to her.
"I had no idea flavors like this existed! It's delicious!"
[Points +1, Experience +1. Current Points: 10,414. Experience: 482/1000]
Ring and Ming began eating their muffins as well. Ring parted her pretty lips and took a small bite. The moment the cheese omelet, bulgogi patty, and ketchup harmonized inside her mouth, her brown eyes sparkled with pure ecstasy.
"Kael-nim… it's too delicious! As expected, everything you prepare is truly amazing!"
Ming slathered her muffin with a generous amount of ketchup and took a huge bite. She, too, was lost in rapture at the sensation flooding her mouth.
"Mmph! It's so good!"
Her eyes sparkled with delight as well.
"Kael-nim… it's too delicious! As expected, everything you prepare is truly amazing!"
[Points +1, Experience +1. Current Points: 10,415. Experience: 483/1000]
"Mmph! It's so good!"
[Points +1, Experience +1. Current Points: 10,416. Experience: 484/1000]
The three of them continued their meal while sipping orange juice. Professor Lucia took a sip and let out a sigh of wonder.
"My goodness! Is this really made from actual fruit? And oranges, at that?"
As a noble, she had eaten her fair share of fruit. But the oranges she knew were intensely sour, tough, and fibrous—difficult to eat. The improvements brought by selective breeding were nothing short of revolutionary.
"Yeah, it's good, right?"
"Yes! It's an incredible flavor! I've never tasted juice like this before!"
"Yes! It's an incredible flavor! I've never tasted juice like this before!"
[Points +1, Experience +1. Current Points: 10,417. Experience: 485/1000]
Ring and Ming, savoring the orange juice for the second time since yesterday, slowly enjoyed every sip with expressions of pure bliss.
"Kael-nim, this juice is amazing no matter how many times I drink it!"
"That's right! It's so good!"
"Kael-nim, this juice is amazing no matter how many times I drink it!"
[Points +1, Experience +1. Current Points: 10,418. Experience: 486/1000]
"That's right! It's so good!"
[Points +1, Experience +1. Current Points: 10,419. Experience: 487/1000]
The three women who had become Kael's now thoroughly enjoyed their delicious breakfast together.
The faces of the academy students gathered in the dining hall looked like they were attending a funeral.
The intense flavors they had experienced last night from the two frankfurter sausage sticks still haunted their taste buds. Now, the coarse texture and sour taste of the coarse black bread felt like torture even to swallow. Having tasted something truly delicious for dinner yesterday, returning to this awful bread for breakfast felt even more unbearable.
With the coarse black bread and cups of water placed on every table, the students sat in utter despair, sighing heavily. Especially pitiful were the ninety-eight students from baron and viscount families who had been stripped of their dinner privileges. Only those from count families and above—excluding Finit—and the select few students they had chosen would be allowed two sausages each for dinner tonight. Even then, one person would only receive a single sausage.
Their protests had ultimately failed to overcome the power of the upper class.
"Ugh… I really can't eat this coarse black bread anymore…"
One female student tore at her bread with tears glistening in her eyes. Her hands trembled so badly that pieces kept falling. The incredible harmony of salty meat juices and modern seasonings from yesterday's sausage was still vividly burned into her memory. There was no way this bread could compare.
"Why… why do we have to starve like this just because of that idiot Finit?"
A male student ground his teeth as he muttered. His eyes burned with a mixture of rage, hunger, and desperate craving.
Finit's foolish actions had condemned half of them to another dinner of coarse black bread. The unfairness and sense of isolation crushed them.
Even in this atmosphere, Irina Rosengart tried to cut and eat her coarse black bread with elegant poise. But unlike yesterday, her fingertips trembled and she couldn't focus. Her emerald-green eyes wouldn't stop shaking either. The phantom taste of yesterday's sausage kept rising in her mind without pause.
Even the lavish feasts of the Rosengart ducal house felt pathetic compared to that sausage.
"Ugh…"
She forced down a bite, but the sour taste twisted her face in disgust. The anticipation of being able to eat sausage again tonight seemed to have made her taste buds even more sensitive. Yet that very expectation only made the horror of the coarse black bread stand out even more sharply.
"Your Highness, are you alright?"
Her follower Marina asked cautiously. Irina shook her head and answered with refined grace.
"I'm fine. It's just… not very tasty."
Marina nodded with a miserable expression.
"Yes, I agree. It feels even more terrible after having that sausage yesterday."
Yuliana nodded along with a heavy sigh. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she tore at her bread.
"Dinner… I wish dinner would come sooner…"
Since Yuliana was one of Irina's followers, she had been included in today's selection. All they could think about was how quickly dinner time would arrive.
On the other hand, some were grinding their teeth in fury. Cad Laddwin, leader of the Cad gang, chewed his coarse black bread with clenched jaws. His gaze was fixed on an empty spot at one of the tables. The seats that should have been occupied by the Ring and Ming sisters—and Kael, who kept them at his side—were nowhere to be seen.
"Those commoner bitches… they're probably eating something delicious with that bastard Kael right now, aren't they?"
Cad recalled the sisters' figures and gnashed his teeth. The way they had looked yesterday in those blue skirts and crop tops had only highlighted their beauty. The fact that Kael had snatched them away twisted his guts.
"Those bitches. I'm sure that Kael bastard has already laid his hands on them. Damn it… if only he'd at least used their pussies and assholes to nourish himself, it wouldn't feel quite so unfair."
Tebin Baldwin and Lyle Carlton from the Cad gang nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. Damn it, those lowly whores who should be spreading their legs naked and serving with their bodies are eating stuff we can't even have…"
"And because of that idiot Finit, we can't even get any sausages tonight!"
Coming from baron families with poor reputations, they had naturally been stripped of the right to purchase sausages for dinner. Still, the fact that they could still express such open anger meant they had some spirit left.
"Hic… Mom… this coarse black bread… it's too awful… waaaaah!"
One female student finally broke down in tears while trying to eat. Sobs echoed from various places around the hall. The ninety-eight students who wouldn't get sausages tonight were in especially dire straits. Those who could look forward to dinner at least had that hope. These students had nothing but the coarse black bread that had become an even crueler instrument of torture.
Watching all of this, Princess Elenora silently chewed her bread. She had suggested that everyone should endure with just one sausage each today, but her proposal had been ignored. The authority of a princess had been overpowered by their craving for sausage. Even so, she continued striving to maintain her dignity.
"Your Highness… it's fortunate that we can still have sausages for dinner tonight…"
At Shrina's words, Elenora nodded.
"Yes, Shrina. It is fortunate. Though it's also quite regrettable."
After enduring that hellish breakfast, the students dragged their heavy feet toward the training grounds. Their first class of the day was Professor Lucia's practical magic session.
"W-what is that…?"
"Why is Professor Lucia dressed like that?"
The students who arrived at the clearing couldn't hide their shock. Unlike yesterday, Professor Lucia was standing there in a white crop top and a short blue skirt instead of her usual mage robe. Her ample breasts, slender waist, exposed navel, and the luscious thighs revealed beneath the short skirt captured every eye.
And right beside her, Kael had his hand resting possessively on her waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The way his fingers gently stroked the bare skin of her waist was blatantly intimate.
"Don't tell me… Professor Lucia offered her body to Kael…?"
"That's the same style of clothing Ring and Ming were wearing."
The students instantly put the pieces together after seeing Kael's touch and Lucia's outfit.
Irina's eyes trembled violently as she watched the scene. The sight of Professor Lucia's clothing, Kael's casual demeanor, and the way Lucia accepted his advances stirred a storm of complicated emotions inside her.
'Kael Aberwin… he's already expanded his influence this far?'
She instinctively realized that Kael's power was growing stronger by the day. The regret over breaking their engagement surged up again, and she bit down hard on her lovely lips.
Professor Lucia completely ignored the students' murmuring and spoke in a firm voice.
"Attention, everyone. We'll begin magic practice today as well! Enter the gate five at a time! I'll give you five minutes to prepare yourselves mentally."
At her command, the students sighed and headed toward the gate. As they prepared, Lucia continued.
"Today, Kael-nim, Ring, and Ming do not need to enter the gate."
She openly referred to him with the honorific Kael-nim. The students, stunned by her words, looked at Kael and were shocked once again.
Kael was already sitting comfortably in a chair that Lucia had prepared in advance. A table stood before him, now holding a box of butter cookies and four cups of warm tea. Kael leisurely reached out, picked up a butter cookie, and took a bite. The crisp cookie crumbled in his mouth, releasing a perfect harmony of rich butter aroma and sweet sugar. He then lifted his teacup, took a sip of the warm tea, and smiled contentedly.
Ring and Ming had already taken their seats beside him as though it were completely natural.
"Ugh… what the hell is that…?"
One female student muttered in a daze. Tears of resentment had already begun to pool in her eyes.