Chapter 3
The Male Lead Went Crazy for the Troublesome Villainess — Episode 3
Louisa was a haughty maid who served the youngest daughter of House Ardena.
Seriel particularly despised her older sister.
'That ugly little wretch. Nothing but skin and bones! It's because of her that Father drags me around even more, isn't it! I can't stand the sight of her.'
Today as well, after indulging Seriel's tantrums all day, Louisa had come out carrying orders.
'She hates chicken most of all. Well, for all that, I suppose her palate is refined. They say she once ate chicken and got properly sick from it. This time I'll really put her in her place.'
So she had boiled chicken that Rosana would never touch, without any seasoning, until it was thoroughly cooked. She had taken special care to bring out the gamey smell. At this level, Rosana would not so much as put it to her lips. Just as she always did.
Whenever Rosana was locked in the attic, Louisa had starved her this way.
Expecting praise from Seriel, Louisa opened the attic door.
"Please eat, my lady."
As she spoke, she looked around the room with a contemptuous gaze. But strangely, the woman was nowhere to be seen.
"My lady?"
"Ah, put it over there."
At the voice coming from below, Louisa lowered her gaze. Rosana was lying face-down on the floor, doing something.
"What are you doing right now?!"
To think of a duke's daughter sprawled on the floor with no regard whatsoever for her dignity.
Rosana glanced at Louisa, who was staring at her in horror, and sighed. She staggered to her feet, stretched lightly, and muttered.
"To think my legs are wobbling over just this much. Where have my lovely muscles gone."
"Lady Rosana!"
"I'm in the middle of doing what I need to do, so don't mind me and get out."
Rosana waved her hand as if annoyed.
Since Rosana had never treated her this way before, Louisa's lips jutted out in a pout. Then, when Rosana spotted the food on the table, Louisa lifted her chin as if she had been waiting for this.
"It was specially prepared for you, my lady, so eat all of it. Lady Seriel told me to see to it."
"Thank you so much! I was just wondering how to get some protein in!"
"......Pardon?"
Louisa stared blankly at Rosana. She had begun tearing into the chicken like a beast starved for days. The way she deftly stripped the meat from the bones with both hands was utterly uninhibited. Was this woman really Rosana?
"Wow. The chicken's boiled absolutely perfectly. The meat falls right off the bone. Keep boiling it like this from now on. And don't season it at all, just like now."
"......A-are you really eating that?"
"Why."
Rosana aimed a chicken leg bone at Louisa.
Rosana's sharp eyes flashed. For some reason, that chicken bone looked like a sword. Even though that could not possibly be the case.
That was when Louisa found herself taking a step back.
"You want some too? Then say so. Want me to leave you some?"
At the unexpectedly guileless question, Louisa's mouth fell open.
Louisa swallowed hard.
Watching Rosana devour the food with wild vigor, she decided to revise her plan. It seemed Rosana had changed her plan as well, after all.
* * *
"Hm."
I examined the bowl and tilted my head. I poked lightly through the heaping pile of chicken.
"It's all chicken breast?"
The maid who had brought the food lifted her chin arrogantly. Twisting one corner of her mouth upward, she spoke.
"You must think of your health. Gaining too much weight would be bad for you, my lady. This is all for the sake of your health, so please understand......."
"Perfect. Keep preparing it like this from now on. Don't season it, cook it just this much, and bring plenty of chicken breast."
At my words, the maid wore a sour expression.
"L-like this? Going forward?"
"Yes. Just do it like this from now on."
In truth, I could guess why the maid was reacting that way. The original Rosana had once eaten dry chicken breast, gotten properly sick from it, and been ill for two days. After that, she had loathed anything to do with chicken.
She had also sometimes complained of difficulty breathing when she was locked up and fed chicken. It seemed they were bringing only chicken now to torment me.
But for the current me, who needed to build up my leg muscles, it was the best possible food.
And chicken breast, at that?
Wasn't it basically a lump of pure protein? It was something I had lived on back when I was seriously building muscle. So I was used to it. And besides, this was...... a workout meal plan someone else was serving me. I didn't even have to pay for it. Was this place exercise heaven or what?
Of course, it was a little disappointing that there was no exercise equipment, but I was in a place where I could spend all day locked up doing nothing but work out. I made up the cardio with things like running in place.
Seriously the best!
My lips twitched.
After the maid, who had been glaring at me with her fists trembling in resentment, fled the room, I stretched with satisfaction.
"Now, what kind of workout should I do? Leg presses? Or stretching? Cardio?"
I had only exercised for one day yesterday, but every muscle in my body was screaming. Still, that pain was a hopeful sign. It meant the muscles that had been dead were stretching awake again. Muscle soreness was something you had to work out through exercise anyway.
My willpower blazed.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the grand conference hall of the Gradana Empire's imperial palace.
Kael stared coldly at the Duke of Ardena. The duke, his pointed chin raised, had eyes full of cunning.
Kael disliked Rosana, but he loathed her father, the Duke of Ardena, even more.
"Say it again, Duke of Ardena. Who did you say you were sending on this expedition?"
"I told you, Rosana volunteered, Your Highness."
"Ha."
Kael recalled his sensitive, high-strung former fiancée. She was a person who loathed even a little filth touching her body. Moreover, she hated rubbing shoulders with other people. She was a woman who cared only for herself. And such a woman had volunteered for an expedition to save the world?
Even looking back on the two months they had spent as fiancés due to the coercive decision of the duke and the emperor, she had not been the sort of person who would do such a thing.
'So they mean to saddle me with dead weight.'
Kael swept his cold gaze around the conference hall. Every last one of them avoided his eyes and coughed awkwardly. They were all surely thinking the same thing.
Even in times like these, they kept their precious heirs safely hidden and sent children from cadet branches, second daughters, second sons, or people their families treated as surplus.
'Noblesse oblige? The noble spirit hasn't just rotted—it's dead and buried.'
Their scheme was transparent: shove salvation and hardship onto others while they themselves reaped only the rewards from behind.
House Ardena stood at the front of that line.
Could that stick-thin woman even hold a sword? More people would likely be sacrificed to protect the precious Lady Ardena's life.
The only person from Ardena fit for an expedition like this was the eldest son, Kirdel. But they surely had no intention of offering him up.
Kael swept his hair back roughly.
Does this expedition even have a chance?
He turned his gaze to the emperor, and found even less of an answer there. Those murky eyes were filled with greed. The emperor must have taken as much money from the nobles as he could. After the empire had fallen into this state, the emperor had been the first to lose his grip on sanity. He had once been useful, but now he was no different from trash.
The emperor was doing everything he could to avoid dealing with the situation.
He had given himself over to pleasure.
There was no hope to be found in the emperor. The world was gradually turning into a garbage heap. Even in this situation, the empress was pressuring Kael, determined to put her eight-year-old son on the throne.
Kael let out a hollow laugh.
Even if he sacrificed himself, noble blood and all, to save the empire, those people would be the ones to reap the benefits. He was sick of it.
Was it truly worth saving?
This power given to him might not have been granted to save the world after all.
Kael let out a scornful laugh. What was even more damnable was that he himself could not bring himself to turn away from the empire's citizens, who were struggling desperately to survive even amid all this.
'You stupid bastard.'
Kael swallowed the curse through his teeth.
"If you intend to act like thugs, then you ought to pay the price for it properly. I will expect firm support in the way of supplies."
"Your Highness, ahem. Calling it thuggery is a bit much!"
"My blade doesn't discriminate."
Kael delivered the warning in a low voice. He was only holding back to avoid adding chaos to chaos.
"Either hand over money, or hand over someone useful. Choose one or the other."
Kael issued a sharp warning. Once again, disillusionment surged. The thought of facing Ardena's noble daughter made bile rise in his throat.
'I do not eat dishes made with low-grade chicken.'
He remembered the pale-faced woman dabbing at the corners of her mouth.
'I dislike dirty, enclosed places like this. Let us go elsewhere.'
He remembered the woman who could not endure even the slightest discomfort. Kael swallowed his rage and shut his eyes.