What Fun Thing Are You Scheming This Time?
The main residence of the Restis Ducal Residence, Cael's new room.
The spacious, opulent chamber boasted luxurious furnishings and plush carpets, a far cry from the decrepit austerity of the northern annex.
"Young master! I've brought your meal!"
With a lively voice, Ella wheeled in a heavy cart topped with a silver tray, brimming with steaming, colorful dishes.
Cael rose from the sofa and approached the table. Roasted meats, fresh vegetable salads, warm soups, and neatly arranged side dishes—lightly counting, it was a lavish spread of over ten courses.
Curiously, every dish mirrored the compositions of Korean cuisine that Cael—no, Cheon Woo-jin—had savored back home.
A medieval Western-style fantasy world with a proper banchan culture like this? Utterly ridiculous, but damn fine romance-fantasy setup.
Cael smacked his lips, silently thanking the original novel's author for their convenient world-building once more. It suited his palate far better than anything from the Central Plains.
"Looks mighty appetizing. Good work."
Cael picked up his fork and knife, digging in with relish. He savored a tender morsel of meat, chewing it alongside vegetables coated in a distinctive sauce.
But then.
Hm?
A few bites in, Cael's brow furrowed ever so slightly. The flavor on his tongue was exquisite. Yet as the food slid down his throat into his stomach, his hypersensitive qi sense caught a faint, alien dissonance.
Cael carefully set down his knife and called to Ella standing behind him.
"Ella."
"Yes, young master! Does it suit your taste? Not too salty or bland?"
Ella's eyes sparkled with anticipation, but Cael replied flatly.
"Did you make all these dishes yourself?"
Her shoulders twitched at the question, her face flushing with obvious panic.
"I-I-I-I, I d-d-d-did, y-yes?"
Her voice trembled horribly, her eyes darting everywhere but at him. She was the pure, transparent type who couldn't lie to save her life.
Cael propped his chin on his hand, staring intently as he whispered low.
"...You expect me to believe that with all that stuttering?"
Under his scrutiny, Ella hung her head, mumbling her confession in a tiny voice.
"T-The truth is, the third-grade head maid helped a lot... With things like how to use the premium herbs and the spice ratios... B-But I handled all the prep, fire control, and roasting! She just gave the final seasoning a quick check, I swear!"
"The final seasoning...?"
When Woo-jin pressed, Ella admitted honestly.
"And the herb ratios too..."
She seemed to think Cael was upset that another maid had tampered with her cooking. But that wasn't why he'd probed so insistently.
"Hmm, I see. So the head maid personally checked the seasoning."
"W-Why? Is the taste off? Should I remake it?"
Ella's face fell, but Cael smiled softly.
"No. It's delicious. But I just prefer your cooking—it suits me even better."
Her expression bloomed like cherry blossoms.
"R-Really!? Hehe, I thought so too! I was hyped about the main residence head maid, but she definitely overdid the weird herbs. Even I could tell the aroma was too strong..."
Cael narrowed his eyes at her innocent reply.
"Right. But while cooking, did you taste-test these dishes yourself? Just a bit here and there to check the seasoning?"
"Of course! I know exactly the flavor you like best, young master! I sampled as I went to get it perfect."
As she beamed proudly, the smile faded from Cael's face.
He tapped the table with his finger and beckoned her.
"Come here and sit in front of me."
"Y-Yes!?"
"Why so startled? I said sit in front of me."
Blushing furiously, Ella shuffled closer, then—shockingly—tried to gingerly lower her hips onto his lap, her face a mask of utter embarrassment.
"...Ella?"
Cael called in disbelief. Half-seated on his knee, she clutched her cheeks and squirmed.
"I-It's so embarrassing, young master! It's still bright daylight...! Why the lap all of a sudden...!"
Amused by her misunderstanding, Cael let out a dry chuckle.
"No... I misspoke. I meant sit cross-legged on the floor in front of me."
Her face turned tomato-red, and she sprang up like a coiled spring.
"S-Sorry!! I must be crazy! Aaaah!!"
"No need for that. It happens. Catch your breath and sit on the floor already."
Still fanning her boiling-hot cheeks, Ella meekly folded into a cross-legged position before him.
Cael reached out, placing his palm lightly on the crown of her head at the baihui acupoint. He gently infused a thin strand of ashen qi into her body.
As his energy swept through her stomach and meridians, a sharp glint flashed in Cael's eyes.
Just as I sensed.
The source of that faint unease he'd felt while chewing. Individually, these lavish dishes were harmless, tasty fare. But once certain herbs and sauces mingled in the stomach...
They triggered a subtle, complex chemical reaction, transforming into a insidious poison that slowly withered the body's qi and blood.
Naturally, Cael knew nothing of this romance-fantasy world's intricate herbal recipes or alchemy secrets. But he was a man who'd spent fifty years at the pinnacle of the martial world, enduring every elixir and lethal toxin firsthand.
His instincts, honed battling poisons, detected the anomaly through the faintest ripple in his qi.
So that's how they pushed me—or rather, this body's original owner—to the brink of death with some mysterious illness... A truly petty, insidious method.
Yet inwardly, Cael admired the designer's cunning. It was an effective, flawless assassination.
A conditional combo: skip even one dish, and the poison never forms. Tailored precisely to Cael's tastes and habits, banking on him devouring every scrap.
And right now, the same deadly brew was forming in Ella's stomach too—she'd sampled along the way. A trap targeting them both at once.
Cael's lips curled in a predatory smirk.
Such multi-conditional poisons were advanced techniques even the Poison Clan of Sichuan or the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect in the Central Plains struggled to perfect.
Interesting. Does this fantasy world outpace the Central Plains in alchemy, herbology, and medicine?
This wasn't an instant-kill toxin but one that accumulated gradually, sapping vitality over time. The trace amount in Ella would flush out with rest—no need for martial expulsion.
But Cael couldn't tolerate even a second of foreign filth in her body.
He drew a wisp of dantian qi, sweeping her vessels clean and incinerating the nascent toxin remnants without a trace.
"There. You can open your eyes now."
As he withdrew his hand, Ella blinked awake with a drowsy expression, tilting her head.
"W-What was that, young master? I suddenly feel so warm and light..."
"Just a quick check since you've been training hard lately. Making sure no qi stagnation."
Cael said nothing of the poison. Simple reason: Ella couldn't lie or mask her emotions to save her life. Alert her to the truth, and she'd blow up at the head maid, tipping off the enemy that he'd noticed.
No need to raise alarms prematurely.
"I'll finish eating alone now. Go rest, and come back later to clear the plates."
"Yes, young master! Eat every bite, okay?"
Ella beamed sunnily as she left. The door clicked shut, and Cael's gentle smile vanished, replaced by icy resolve.
He eyed the table's bounty with cold disdain.
"Let's see just how potent this poison is."
Without hesitation, he sliced into the key combo dishes and shoveled them in. Ignorance might've been bliss, but now? It was no poison to him.
This fantasy world's herbal toxins disintegrated into mere nutrients before reaching his stomach, courtesy of his chaos qi.
A few peaceful days slipped by.
Save for the head maid's meddling turning every meal into a subtle poison trap, Cael's life in the main residence seemed utterly serene.
Of course, he polished off every poisoned plate without complaint, leaving not a crumb. The kitchen—and Silina—must be inwardly cheering that the young duke was steadily swallowing his doom.
In those tranquil days, an absurd spectacle unfolded in a secluded corner of the grounds.
Oliver, the massive retriever he'd tumbled with in the annex, had brutally dominated every beast in the ducal estate, crowning himself undisputed king of the animals.
Not just the fiercest warhorses in the stables, but even the elite guard dogs and fighting hounds of the vicious sentries—all bowed their tails to his overwhelming might.
"Woof!! Woof woof!!"
On a lazy afternoon, as Cael strolled the garden and paused on a bench, Oliver barked thunderously. He marched in triumphantly, leading dozens of hulking hounds and mastiffs in perfect formation across the front yard.
Clamped in the lead dog's jaws: a massive bone prized by the guard captain's top hound.
Oliver dropped the trophy at Cael's feet, tail wagging furiously for praise.
Cael alternated glances between the prostrate pack and their commander, chuckling in disbelief.
"...For me?"
"Woof woof!! Pant pant!!"
"Y-Yeah, Oliver. You're the best of my subordinates. Good boy."
Cael ruffled his head. Utterly content, Oliver threw back his head and howled victoriously.
"Awooooo—!!"
His minions rose as one, scattering like a disciplined army back to their posts.
Cael watched, tongue clicking in awe.
"...I raised a tiger cub."
As he rose laughing at Oliver's antics—
"Y-Young master!!"
Ella dashed into the garden, skirts flying, face flushed beet-red.
"What's wrong, Ella? Don't be so sloppy."
Gasping, she flailed her hands wildly.
"N-No, it's not that! The n-nanny! Young master!! The nanny!!"
"Hm? What about the nanny?"
Cael asked indifferently, but Ella cried out in disbelief.
"The nanny you used to beg for every day... The one kicked out of the main residence! She's here—just showed up at the gates!!!"
Nanny. An unfamiliar term to the amnesiac Cael.
"Nanny? Who's that...?"
He asked genuinely curious, and Ella clutched her chest in frustration.
"Aish! Young master, why are you like this?! It's Marie, the nanny who raised you from infancy! The poor woman Silina had thrown out penniless the day you were exiled to the annex!!"
At Ella's frantic explanation, Cael's impassive eyes narrowed faintly.
His instincts, forged observing countless souls over decades, rang alarm bells.
A nanny who'd raised him from babyhood, banished years ago. Reappearing now—right when he'd miraculously recovered from near-death, returned to the main house, and locked horns with Silina?
Nowhere to be seen for years, suddenly strolling into the heart of the estate on her own two feet?
Cael's expression twisted into a subtle smile blending intrigue and wariness.
Ho, what's this? What fun scheme are you cooking up now?