“What’s wrong with breakfast?”

Edan asked, stirring his soup with a spoon.

“I don’t like it. I don’t even make breakfast for the master anymore.”

“Then shall I call you pepper?”

Hey. Why don’t we try living normally? There’s this thing in the world called a name that’s given to people at birth to call them by.

“You can just call me by my name.”

“Well, that’s a bit…”

Why on earth? This is ridiculous.

“Do you really need to give me a nickname?”

“Yes.”

The audacity is unmatched. If others heard, they’d think you’re giving me a cool new name rather than a nickname.

“I don’t want to eat the soup. I don’t eat things like soup for breakfast.”

As I spoke confrontationally and glared at him, Edan clicked his tongue with a short sigh mixed in and asked.

“Then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you want to be called?”

I stared at him with narrowed eyes, as if my soul had left my body.

I already told you. Call me by my normal name.

But if I said that, the same conversation would just repeat. It was time to use my wits.

What could there be that Edan wouldn’t want to call me?

I need to choose a word that’s terribly annoying so he’d rather call me by my name.

“Go ahead. Tell me what you want. I might call you that if I like it.”

What should I say? Gwangyeon-i? Should I say the cringeworthy Gwangyeon-i? He might get annoyed and tell me to get lost with that nonsense.

“Then… Gwangyeon-i.”

I watched Edan’s reaction, hoping he’d get irritated.

“Really? You want me to call you that?”

Don’t be considerate in a situation like this…

He doesn’t seem to find it unpleasant at all. Edan’s eyes were full of sincerity, as if he’d gladly call me that. Damn it.

“No! Cancel that. It was a joke.”

“Then what?”

Edan continued stirring his soup.

The steam from the once-hot soup was gradually thinning as it cooled.

What could there be? A word that would make that man lose interest in me and find annoying to say.

The clumsy character from before didn’t work, and seeing his normal reaction to Gwangyeon-i, the crazy girl concept probably won’t work either…

After much deliberation, I made a difficult decision. Right. In the end, there’s only one option left… Sigh.

“Master. Latieana wants you to call her princess instead of breakfast.”

Take that. The cringeworthy attack of a 20-year-old woman.

“…”

This is it. Finally, it’s having an effect! This must be hard to bear.

Edan’s hand, which had been steadily stirring the soup, stopped. Without moving his head, Edan looked at me with raised eyes.

“I’ll give you a chance to change it.”

I shook my head.

“Noooo. Latieana likes princess.”

“Don’t regret it.”

“Latieana doesn’t know what regret is.”

“Ha.”

The embarrassment is all mine, but something strange yet successful is happening.

A maid asking to be called princess is a crazy concept in itself. Come on, now say you’d rather call me by my name. Hurry! Spit it out!

“Alright. I understand. I’ll respect that.”

But my desperation flowed in a strange direction. Edan, who I thought would angrily declare he’d call me by my name, nodded slightly and scooped up some soup with his spoon.

Then he held it out to me and said.

“Eat, princess.”

… No. This isn’t right. Are you misunderstanding something?

The soup, now cooled to a suitable temperature, was right in front of me. When I didn’t move to eat it, this time Edan’s gaze pierced me, as if genuinely annoyed.

“I said eat.”

The soup touched the edge of my lips. It had cooled to just the right temperature to eat.

“Eat a lot. Princess.”

Edan’s lips curled up into a smirk.

With a look that said, You’ve been caught.

… How annoying.

Edan stood in front of the portal with Ruben.

“I’ll be back.”

As he neatly adjusted his uniform sleeves, Edan looked at me and smiled brightly.

“Princess.”

He deliberately paused before speaking, and then messed up my hair thoroughly with his large hand.

If you think everything will be forgiven just because you smile with that pretty face, you’re wrong. I won’t fall for it.

That was clearly mockery. To gain trust that I won’t run away, only to lose my name. It’s pathetic.

“Do well with what I told you to do. I’ll give you a wish ticket.”

“Yes.”

Edan disappeared into the portal one step ahead of Ruben.

And then Ruben.

“…”

Ruben didn’t say anything and looked at me expressionlessly, but I could read it.

His sympathetic gaze. And his complex emotions about now having to call me princess instead of breakfast.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll talk to him again.”

“Do you think it will work on the Grand Duke?”

“…”

“I believe he gave you a chance not to regret it.”

“…”

Ruben couldn’t bring himself to utter the final words of “why on earth.”

Yes, it’s my fault. I underestimated how crazy Edan actually is.

“I’ll still try talking to him.”

“I hope you resolve it well.”

I nodded and waved my hand with tired, sunken eyes. Ruben nodded lightly before disappearing into the portal after Edan.

The blue light vanished, and a quiet time arrived. It had been a while since it was this quiet in broad daylight.

A peaceful and leisurely time. However, I was on the verge of disappearing with my hands and feet curled up.

I’m really, really annoyed, but when Edan comes back… I’ll beg.

To cancel that nickname. To never call me that again. It might seem cowardly, but if I beg while shedding tears and snot, he might cancel it once. Or I should ask him to call me breakfast instead.

To do that, I first had to do what Edan told me to.

A few hours ago, when I was almost finished eating the soup Ruben had brought, Edan made an unexpected suggestion to me.

‘Read a book while I’m away at the ball.’

‘Why suddenly a book?’

‘Read anything and tell me the plot.’

‘… Why?’

‘It’s an order. If you do well, I’ll give you a wish ticket.’

‘A wish ticket… You mean like a coupon to grant a wish?’

‘Well, something like that. I’ll grant whatever you say unconditionally.’

‘Am I a child?’

‘You’re not going to do it?’

‘Of course! I’ll do it!’

Ordering me around only when it’s convenient for you! That’s what I thought then. But thinking about it carefully, it was a roundabout way of telling me not to think of doing anything and to stay put quietly until he returns.

Whatever the reason, I couldn’t miss the opportunity since he said he’d give me a wish ticket that would grant anything.

Of course, I wasn’t planning to use it to cancel the nickname.

What I was planning to request was permission to visit the capital.

“I guess I should look over the employment contract again. I need to check if there’s a clause about vacations.”

Though I don’t think there is.

Because I thought this place was a vacation spot, so I carelessly signed it without thinking back then. Indeed, life is best learned through real experience.

Anyway, I was planning to use the wish ticket to go to the capital to celebrate Jenald’s birthday next week.

In the last letter I received, Jenald had written a promise to meet when his birthday came.

“Shall I read seriously after a long time?”

Edan might not know, but actually, I used to bring books here to read quite often during the day.

I couldn’t do it after learning Edan’s identity though.

There was an enormous amount of books in the castle library.

I wasn’t sure if they were originally there or if someone had deliberately brought them.

Edan didn’t seem very interested in books, but the library was filled with books from the floor almost to the ceiling.

And surprisingly, there were over a hundred romance books in here.

“, I read up to volume 3 last time. I should read volume 4 today. Where could it be?”

Mrs. Molton’s outing, who falls in love with a man other than her husband after an arranged marriage.

It was an adultery story that seemed to have captured love and war in a book.

Ironically, despite the title, the protagonist was Mrs. Molton’s husband, and in volume 3, Mrs. Molton’s husband witnesses his wife’s affair.

I really wanted to read volume 4 right away, but then the incident with Edan happened. I was so curious about what would happen next, and now I can finally see the end.

“It’s not here?”

But the book was cut off at volume 3. And then straight to volume 5.

“I want to read the continuation…”

I opened volume 5 casually, feeling disappointed. And then I immediately closed the first page as if I had seen something I shouldn’t have.

Mrs. Molton, who had been treating her husband coldly, lost in her love for her affair partner, was now clutching her husband’s legs and crying.

What’s this! What on earth happened in volume 4! I must find out.

I started carefully searching the bookshelves for volume 4 of .

And as I raised my gaze up the bookshelves, I saw something strange.

“What’s that?”

I pulled over the long ladder for the bookshelves from the corner and slowly climbed up.

At the very end of the topmost shelf that reached the ceiling, there was a pitch-black book.

It was a hardcover book made of velvet. The book was very thick and had no title written on it, but as if entranced by something, I brought it down and sat at the desk.

And then…

“This is…!”

Slam! I closed the book I had just opened. This was a book of black magic spells.

The black magic Edan had used in the original story…

Did he learn from this book? After glaring at it for a moment, I gathered my courage and opened the book again.

Thinking that it might not be what I thought.

However, the book definitely contained information about black magic.

Spells that were said to have been used by witches banished from the empire long ago.

Black magic gains powerful strength by making a contract with the seeds of darkness, but in exchange, one loses their human form.

Depending on the contract terms and the spells used, one becomes almost 100% monstrous when using very powerful spells. Various other things about weaker spells were written as well.

Hmm. But…

“Using black magic makes the skin rot and turn black. How horrifying.”

Before I knew it, I was absorbed in reading. It was an old book, so some of the text was erased in places and I couldn’t read much, but when I had read about a third of it, I suddenly felt the castle walls shake.

Startled, I hurriedly hid the book in the bottom drawer of the desk.

Just as I closed the drawer, I heard the library door open with a click.

I turned around in shock.

There shouldn’t be anyone coming…

“Found you.”

There stood Hillstain, wearing a red cloak and smiling at me.