Janette pointed to the soup on the table with a friendly smile.
“You should eat well and get better soon.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Why is your recovery so slow? It’s been a week already, not just a day or two.”
“…A knife wound doesn’t heal in a day or two. Thanks for your concern.”
Riana answered indifferently to Janette’s sarcastic tone.
However, Janette didn’t leave and stood beside her.
She could have left after bringing the meal, but Janette’s eyes unconsciously kept looking at the soup repeatedly.
Riana also followed her gaze to look at the soup.
Steam was rising from the white cauliflower soup.
Her intention to stay and watch her eat was clearly…
“I’m sorry you prepared it so carefully, but I don’t have an appetite today.”
She must have tampered with the food.
Riana smiled gently at Janette, pretending not to know anything.
She knew well how the servants of the Lester family viewed her.
They still didn’t like the new maid.
They heard that Riana Serpens was injured while saving His Grace the Duke, but well, it’s hard to know if that’s true.
To be honest, that frail-looking girl saved His Grace the Duke, known as the undefeated hero?
‘She must have been standing blankly next to the master and got hurt.’
It was easier to believe that way.
Therefore, few servants were friendly towards Riana.
Janette was no exception.
Riana looked at Janette standing with her arms crossed haughtily.
‘Your expression management is so poor…’
Unfocused gaze, eyes clearly showing different thoughts, corners of the mouth slightly raised.
To try such a clumsy trick with that face, she must have underestimated Riana too much.
Or did she think it didn’t matter if Riana knew?
Riana, bedridden, could only eat the food Janette brought.
Riana was in a position where she would have to starve if she refused the food Janette brought.
“No appetite? You haven’t eaten a single meal since last night, you know?”
Janette dragged out her voice as if worried.
Yes, Janette didn’t bring dinner last night.
Riana didn’t bother to question that.
But Janette, who had committed a sin, seemed to have something on her mind.
“We were so short-handed and busy working that I forgot.”
Because you’re resting so comfortably, others are busy dying due to lack of manpower.
“But it hurts my feelings that you say you won’t eat what I brought with such care, dear.”
How dare you refuse when we, who are already so busy, even take the time to bring your meals?
“Why don’t you try a bite for our sake?”
So just obediently eat the food we brought without making a fuss about being full.
The thorns in Janette’s words were clear.
“Haah…”
Riana sighed and finally picked up the spoon on the tray.
“Right. You need to eat to get better quickly.”
A smile spread across Janette’s face.
Riana quietly stirred the soup in front of her.
Then a cockroach the size of a thumbnail got caught on the spoon.
Riana looked up at Janette with the black lump on the spoon.
“I’m sorry. Insect soup doesn’t suit my taste.”
Riana held out the spoon with the cockroach to Janette’s face.
“I’ll give it to you. Want a bite?”
Janette’s face turned bright red at Riana’s brazen retort.
“How can you say such things when a bug got in by mistake…!”
“Oh, it was a mistake.”
Riana nodded calmly as she put down the spoon.
A mistake? That’s impossible.
The chef who serves the Duke didn’t notice such a large cockroach in the soup?
The chances of such a large bug accidentally getting into the food in the kitchen of a noble family that serves both the Duke and guests are extremely slim.
Especially if it was brought with such a malicious expression, there’s no chance it was a mistake.
But.
“I’m glad it wasn’t a mistake in the soup going to His Grace the Duke.”
Riana smiled brightly.
Janette’s face stiffened, and she turned and left.
Bang, Riana closed her eyes briefly at the rough sound of the door closing.
Her head was ringing.
“Since you’re leaving, take the bowl with you too.”
The soup bowl was left sitting in front of her.
A faint aroma characteristic of cauliflower soup rose from the bowl.
It was a familiar scent that stimulated nostalgia, if only it hadn’t had a bug in it.
‘I used to eat it often when I was young.’
In her childhood, her father always made her eat cauliflower soup after she was sick.
Because it was easy to digest, soft, and also a food that Louise Ideana liked.
‘What a waste.’
If it weren’t for the bug, she would have at least tasted it.
Riana thought as she pushed the bowl aside.
‘Even if there was no bug, I wouldn’t have been able to eat it properly anyway.’
Even if Janette hadn’t mixed in a bug, she wouldn’t have eaten it.
It was because her internal injuries were severe as Dietrich’s spiritual power swept through every corner of her body.
Wounds caused by spiritual power were even harder to recover from than the abdominal wound.
Thanks to that, she hadn’t been able to put the food Janette brought into her mouth for days.
‘It doesn’t matter since I won’t die from starving anyway…’
The hunger that feels like it’s tearing her stomach apart is a bit painful, but this body maintains its immortality even without eating.
She decided to forcibly think of it as a ‘blessing’ thanks to the curse.
[This is the timeline separator]“So, did you bring it to her well?”
When Janette returned to the kitchen, other maids flocked around her.
“Did she eat? Did you see her eat?”
“I don’t know!”
Janette returned to the kitchen and made a sullen face, ignoring the maids crowding around her.
“Why? Did you come back without watching? Will empty plates come out later?”
“Isn’t it too funny? The princess sitting politely in bed eating cockroach soup.”
The maids laughed quietly, giggling.
Then the maid Mary, passing by behind, clicked her tongue.
“Do it in moderation. What if the master hears you?”
“Can’t we even do this much? She’s so annoying. Look at how the master personally takes care of her meal menu!”
Janette narrowed her eyes in displeasure.
Right after Riana woke up, Sched personally ordered the kitchen maids to take care of Riana’s diet.
Thanks to His Grace the Duke’s personal order, they had to make cauliflower soup that wasn’t even on the schedule.
‘We could have just made some oatmeal porridge… Why cauliflower soup of all things.’
After Riana woke up, Sched didn’t particularly visit her or stay by her side, but he gave detailed instructions and checked on matters concerning her from behind the scenes.
“Did you see how Young Lord Eclas and Minister Dietrich showed interest in her?”
“Honestly, is she that pretty?”
The male servants shrugged at the maids’ words.
“It’s a matter of taste. If you like soft and pure women… there’s no one like Riana.”
As one servant scratched his head and laughed tactlessly, Janette glared at him.
“O-of course, I like healthy, sexy, and glamorous women. Like you, Janette.”
“Ha, who wants that kind of praise from the likes of you?”
Janette cut off the servant’s stupid laughter sharply.
Mary looked at them with contempt and said.
“I’m telling you to be careful because the master is personally taking care of her. Don’t you remember what happened to Head Maid Caroline?”
“Mary, you’re so careful and cautious. Can you even sleep well at night? And how much have we really bullied her?”
Janette smiled with a relaxed face.
She knew Mary was a coward.
Mary is afraid of His Grace the Duke. Afraid of ending up like Head Maid Caroline.
“What if she really becomes his mistress while you’re doing this?”
“Oh my! Our master who can’t even hold his fiancée’s hand properly having a mistress? Wouldn’t that be a blessing for this family?”
Janette laughed.
It was hard to even imagine that wooden block of a duke having a mistress.
With rumors circulating that his lower parts don’t function properly, a mistress?
“It’s not impossible. You can’t trust men.”
As Mary narrowed her eyes in warning, Janette laughed.
“Then, want to make a bet?”
“A bet?”
“Whether she leaves here first, or gets on the master’s bed first.”
If Riana leaves the Lester family first, whether kicked out or leaving on her own, Janette wins.
If Riana shares a bed with Sched first, Mary wins.
At Janette’s bet proposal, even the servants who were eavesdropping from afar gathered around with shining eyes.
Everyone was excited about the fact that an interesting game had emerged in their gloomy Paradel life.
“Isn’t the outcome obvious? How can they share a bed when the master is like that?”
A servant who believed the rumors that the Duke couldn’t perform as a man chimed in.
“Even setting that aside, with Lady Giselle as his fiancée, with that girl? It’s not possible.”
One servant mentioned the Duke’s fiancée Giselle Marlhein and said it wasn’t possible.
It would be a sin deserving punishment before God to look at another woman with such a perfect fiancée.
“But he hasn’t actually married the Minister yet, so he might be able to enjoy himself freely until then…”
“You mean it’s possible with Riana Serpens, right?”
“Things haven’t been looking normal lately.”
Watching the maids and servants whispering and discussing, Janette turned her eyes to Mary.
“So, are you going to bet or not?”
At Janette’s provocation, Mary crossed her arms with a rather reluctant expression and pouted her lips.
But.
“Fine. The winner gets three months’ salary from the loser.”
Mary readily accepted Janette’s bet.
[This is the timeline separator]Knock, knock, Eclas, who was sitting at his desk, raised his head at the sound of knocking.
“Come in.”
At the brief permission, Barnen, the attendant of the Bitel family, entered with refined steps.
“Young master. Here are the additional materials you requested.”
Barnen put down the thick file he was holding in front of Eclas.
The following words were written on the front of the file.
―Riana Serpens
“As a result of our investigation, no one knows about Riana Serpens’ childhood.”
Barnen reported in a concise tone.
Eclas, who was skimming through the secret information brought by the birds, raised the corners of his mouth with a smirk.
His prediction was correct.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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