At the End of Ruin, There You Are (56 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 27

After starting the fireworks and waving to the people of Lusenford, Pheon came back in after instructing that generous portions of meat and bread be distributed.

“Your Highness! Welcome back!”

“Oh, didn’t Her Grace the new Grand Duchess say she couldn’t eat Pherenko? So we kindly persuaded her to have some! Hahahaha!”

The moment Pheon heard that accursed word “Pherenko,” he lifted his head and silently stared at Caella, who was quietly eating. They’d only just arrived, and already they were at it again.

She stared blankly ahead, mechanically chewing with her pale face. Seeing the young Grand Duchess forced to eat so much of that dry, tasteless dish—something even the locals here barely touched—made his blood boil.

“Yet your plates, my lords, are still not empty. Does it suit your palates so well? Shall I have it cleared away?”

The Grand Duke, who had been brushing it off with a chuckle moments before, now sneered coldly as he briskly strode past the enormous dining table to stand beside the Grand Duchess.

“Don’t force yourself to eat. Stop now.”

Pherenko. That damned Pherenko. Lusenford’s tough, flavorless giant venison dish. They claimed it was only eaten when times were hard—but surely things weren’t that dire anymore. Only then did Pheon suddenly recall why he’d always loathed Pherenko so deeply.

The Grand Duchess had always hated Pherenko. She’d never once taken a bite; never even touched it. Yet now she swallowed hard, chewed slowly and deliberately, and then looked up at him with a weary gaze before whispering faintly,

“It’s fine.”

Fine? Fine how? Was it truly fine for a noble-born lady to be bullied into eating something she despised for the first time in her life by this crude, senseless insistence?

“Don’t force yourself to eat. Stop now, please.”

He spoke clearly once more. Revulsion surged within him.

He detested those nobles who stubbornly forced this trivial dish they themselves disliked upon a young Grand Duchess while carelessly disregarding true matters of honor, loyalty, and faith—and he loathed the head maid, the steward, the head chef, and all these long-standing locals of the castle who had clearly failed in their duty to properly serve the Grand Duchess. Ultimately, that revulsion turned inward.

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