What’s the big deal about breakfast?
Edan asked, stirring his soup with a spoon.
“I don’t like it. I’m not even making breakfast for you anymore, Master.”
“Then how about calling me ‘Pepper’?”
Excuse me. Can’t we just live normally? You know, in this world, there are words given at birth specifically for calling others.
“You can just call me by my name.”
“Hmm. That’s kind of…”
Why on earth? This is ridiculous.
“Do you really have to give me a nickname?”
“Yep.”
Shameless to the core. If someone else heard this, they’d think you were gifting me a fancy new name, not a nickname.
“I won’t eat the soup. I don’t eat things like soup for breakfast.”
I glared at him with narrowed, challenging eyes, and Edan clicked his tongue with a short sigh before asking,
“Then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you want to be called?”
I stared at him with half-closed eyes, as if my soul had left my body.
I already told you. Just call me by my normal name.
But if I say that, we’ll just repeat the same conversation again. Time to think strategically.
What’s something Edan would hate to call me?
I need to pick a word so annoying he’d rather just call me by my name. That’s when he’d say, “Fine, I’ll just use your name.”
“Go ahead. Say what you want. If I like it, I might call you that.”
What should I say? “Lightyear”? Should I go full cringe and say “Lightyear”? He might just snap, “That’s so gross, get lost.”
“Then… Lightyear.”
I watched Edan carefully, hoping he’d get annoyed.
“Really? I’ll call you that?”
Don’t show consideration here…!
He didn’t seem grossed out at all. Edan’s eyes were filled with genuine willingness to call me that. Damn it.
“No! Cancel that. I was joking.”
“Then what?”
Edan kept swirling his spoon lazily through the soup.
The once-hot soup had cooled, its steam gradually fading.
What else could work? Something that would disgust him and make him reluctant to say it.
Last time, the “clumsy character” bit didn’t work. He reacted normally to “Lightyear,” so even the “crazy girl” concept probably won’t land…
After deep contemplation, I made a painful decision. Fine. I guess only one option remains… sigh.
“Master. Latieana. Not breakfast—call me ‘Princess,’ please.”
Take this. The cringey assault of a twenty-year-old woman.
“…….”
Yes! Finally, it’s working! This is hard to endure, isn’t it?
Edan’s spoon, which had been swirling steadily, suddenly stopped. Without moving his head, he lifted only his eyes to stare at me.
“I’ll give you a chance to change it.”
I shook my head vigorously.
“Uuuung. Please. Latieana wants to be called Princess.”
“Don’t regret it.”
“Latieana no know what regret mean?”
“Ha.”
The embarrassment is all mine, but somehow, it’s working successfully.
A maid asking to be called “Princess”? That’s insane. Come on, now say you’d rather just call me by my name! Say it already!
“Alright. Fine. I’ll respect that.”
But my desperation had veered in a strange direction. Instead of angrily declaring he’d use my name, Edan simply nodded slightly, scooped up some soup with his spoon,
and held it out to me, saying,
“Eat, Princess.”
…No. That’s not right. Did you misunderstand something?
The perfectly cooled soup sat right in front of me. When I didn’t move to eat it, Edan fixed me with a genuinely annoyed gaze.
“Eat.”
The soup touched my lips. It was cooled to the perfect temperature.
“Eat plenty, Princess.”
Edan’s lips curled into a faint smirk.
His eyes said, “You’re caught.”
…Annoying.
Edan stood before the portal with Ruben.
“I’ll be back.”
Straightening his uniform sleeves neatly, Edan smiled gently at me.
“Princess.”
He deliberately paused before speaking, then ruffled my hair wildly with his large hand.
He probably thinks that flashing his pretty smile makes everything okay, but I’m not falling for it.
That’s clearly mockery. To lose my name after earning his trust that I won’t run away? Pathetic.
“You’re doing well on your assigned tasks. I’ll give you a wish token.”
“Yes.”
Edan vanished into the portal a step ahead of Ruben.
And then, Ruben.
“…….”
Ruben said nothing, staring at me expressionlessly, but I could read it.
His pitying gaze. And his complicated, conflicted feelings about now having to call me “Princess” instead of “Breakfast.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll try talking to him again.”
“Do you think His Grace will listen?”
“…….”
“He seemed to offer you a chance not to regret it.”
“…….”
Ruben couldn’t quite bring himself to say, “Why on earth?”
Right. It’s my fault. I underestimated just how crazy Edan really is.
“But I’m still going to try.”
“I sincerely hope you resolve this well.”
I nodded, waving weakly with my exhausted, hollow-eyed stare. Ruben gave a light nod and followed Edan into the portal.
The blue light faded, and a quiet stillness settled in. It had been a long time since midday felt this peaceful.
A calm, leisurely moment. Yet right now, I felt my limbs curling inward, ready to vanish from sheer secondhand embarrassment.
It’s seriously, incredibly annoying—but when Edan returns… I’ll beg.
To cancel that nickname. To never call me that again. I might look pathetic, but if I cry and snot all over him, he’ll probably cancel it once. Or maybe I’ll just beg him to call me “Breakfast” again.
But first, I had to complete the task Edan assigned me.
A few hours ago, just as I was finishing the soup Ruben brought, Edan made a random proposal.
‘While I’m away at the ball, read a book.’
‘Why a book all of a sudden?’
‘Read anything and tell me the plot.’
‘…Why?’
‘It’s an order. Do it well, and I’ll give you a wish token.’
‘A wish token…? You mean, like a coupon to grant wishes?’
‘Yeah, something like that. Whatever you ask, I’ll grant it.’
‘Do I look like a child to you?’
‘Not going to do it?’
‘Of course! I’ll do it!’
Back then, I thought, “He only pulls rank when it’s convenient for him!” But upon reflection, it was his roundabout way of telling me to do nothing and stay quietly until he returned.
Whatever his reason, he promised a wish token that grants anything—I couldn’t miss this chance.
Of course, I wasn’t planning to use it to cancel the nickname.
What I intended to request was permission to visit the capital.
“I’d better re-read the labor contract. Need to check if there’s any clause about vacations.”
Though I doubt there is.
Because back then, I thought this place was a vacation spot, so I signed without a second thought. Truly, life teaches you best through real experience.
Anyway, I planned to use the wish token to visit the capital next week to celebrate Jenald’s birthday.
His last letter specifically mentioned meeting up when his birthday arrived.
“Maybe I should sit up straight and read properly for once?”
Edan probably doesn’t know, but in truth, I used to read quite a bit here during the day.
At least, until I learned his true identity.
The castle’s library held an enormous collection of books.
I wasn’t sure whether they’d always been here or were deliberately placed.
Edan seemed uninterested in books, yet the library shelves stretched from floor to nearly ceiling, packed full.
And astonishingly, over a hundred romance novels were inside.
“, I read up to Volume 3 last time. Today I’ll start Volume 4. Where is it?”
Lady Moulton, forced into a political marriage, falls in love with another man after wedlock.
A scandalous tale of love and war, essentially an affair novel.
Ironically, despite the title, the protagonist is Lady Moulton’s husband—and in Volume 3, he witnesses his wife’s infidelity.
I’d been dying to read Volume 4 immediately, but then things with Edan blew up. I’d been so curious about what happened next, and now I finally get to see the conclusion.
“It’s not here?”
But the books stopped at Volume 3. Then jumped straight to Volume 5.
“I wanted to continue….”
Regretfully, I opened Volume 5 at random—and immediately slammed it shut, as if I’d seen something I shouldn’t.
Lady Moulton, who’d been coldly dismissive of her husband while lost in love with her lover, was now clinging to her husband’s legs, sobbing.
What?! What on earth happened in Volume 4?! I have to see it.
I began meticulously scanning the bookshelves for Volume 4.
As I followed the shelves upward toward the library’s ceiling, something odd caught my eye.
“What’s that?”
I dragged over a long library ladder from the corner and slowly climbed up.
At the very top shelf, pressed against the ceiling, sat a single pitch-black book.
It was a velvet-bound hardcover, extremely thick, with no title printed on it. Yet, as if hypnotized, I took it down and sat at the desk.
And then…
“This is…!”
Thud! I snapped the book shut. It was a grimoire detailing dark magic.
The same dark magic Edan used in the original story…
Could he have learned from this? I stared at it for a moment, then mustered courage and reopened it.
Maybe it’s not, I thought.
But the book definitely detailed dark magic.
Ancient spells once used by witches exiled from the Empire long ago.
Dark magic grants immense power through a pact with the Seeds of Darkness—but at the cost of gradually losing one’s human form.
Depending on the pact’s terms and spells used, casting extremely powerful magic almost guarantees transformation into a monster. Weaker spells and miscellaneous details were also recorded.
Hmm. But…
“Using dark magic makes your skin rot black? Disgusting.”
I’d unknowingly gotten absorbed in reading. The old book’s faded ink made parts illegible, but by the time I’d read about a third, I suddenly felt the castle walls tremble.
Startled, I hastily shoved the book into the bottom drawer of the desk.
The moment I closed the drawer, I heard the library door click open.
I jerked around in alarm.
No one should be here…
“Found you.”
Standing there, cloaked in red and smiling at me, was Hillstain.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
