Today, too, the peaceful lady's mansion.
"Then... what was it?"
I was in the kitchen, wearing an apron and cooking, because of the hungry girl's nagging.
“It’s been a while since I made it, so I’m a little confused.”
Tonight's dinner menu was a little special.
It's a food that doesn't exist in this world.
Foods you must eat in the New Year.
It's been a while since it's even New Year's, but I chose this menu with the intention of getting in some good spirits.
I was busily moving around the kitchen, oiling a frying pan and reading the recipe I had written in my notebook with my finger.
"Separate the egg whites and yolks, cut the rice cakes diagonally and boil them..."
Cooking alone was a struggle, especially when it came to cooking. Even though I'm a pro butler who cooks a lot, it was difficult to prepare unfamiliar dishes.
Tonight's dinner menu is tteokguk.
In her previous life, the rice cake soup she ate every New Year was one of her favorite foods.
Of course, there had to be more meat than rice cakes.
While I was making tteokguk, I turned off the stove and became lost in thought.
Because of the ominous hallucination I had a while ago.
Although I was able to calm down by looking at the cute girl, it was still a bit difficult to calm down easily.
The illusion of the young lady's fall.
The illusion that the status window, which had only shown stories in words, showed me for the first time made me feel fear.
I was dying in a fantasy titled 'The True Meaning of Vitality'.
As you use your vitality, your lifespan decreases and your face loses its vitality.
Still, I saw myself, like a fool, smiling and saying it was nice to see the young lady gradually getting better after using up her energy and torturing her body.
The feeling of seeing myself from a third-person perspective was surprisingly refreshing.
Maybe it was because I saw his handsome face. I felt a complex mixture of emotions, thinking he was handsome even as he sagged and became more self-indulgent. I wondered how someone could be so foolish. At the same time, I understood his feelings.
I also laughed as I watched the girl regain her energy.
-Eww...!
-You finally took a step, miss.
-Eeeeek! I can walk more!
-As expected from the greatest villainess on earth!
-Don't swear!
-That's a compliment... No, it's not. I'm sorry.
Watching the girl's leg slowly improve, I found myself smiling. It's funny, really. As the girl's leg improved, I was the one getting worse. But there was no trace of regret on the faces of my real self and my fantasy self, who both laughed and thought, "Thank goodness."
I felt good seeing the girl walking, one step at a time, with trembling legs. My troubled mind and my fear of vitality seemed to vanish as I looked at her cheerfully smiling face.
On one side of my heart, a bitter feeling of not being able to see the young lady for a long time surged like a wave, but when I saw her face, smiling faintly and wiggling her toes, that feeling vanished as if it had never existed.
Seriously. Even I think it's stupid.
In my fantasy, I seemed to have a vague idea of the existence of vitality. I could intuitively sense what vitality meant.
He looked out the window with blank eyes, and in the illusion of smiling blankly at the girl, he seemed happy. Really.
As time passed, the moment came when the young lady was able to walk on her own.
-Kudangtang...!
I got to see the scene I feared the most.
Because I saw the sad crying of the girl who was hugging me tightly while I was smiling and laughing as if she was satisfied.
-Ricardo...?
So far so good.
A strong young lady will rise quickly. That was the young lady I believed in, and the strength I had seen in her up until now. So, I smiled bitterly as I watched her cry.
'But you're still crying,' he said.
But the young lady stayed by my side for a long time without leaving.
Even after a day passes.
Even after two days.
He stopped there and called my name.
-...
Three days later, the moment the young lady acknowledged my death, she began to erase my delusion that I would quickly overcome it.
-Are you very tired?
-...
-Right? Ricardo.
The girl's stopped crying made me feel that something was seriously wrong.
The young lady's tears too.
The dark magic bursting out of her also surpassed my thoughts.
-Kugugugu...
It was a magical feeling I felt for the first time.
Perhaps even darker than Rowan, or even more so than the apostles who appear later in the novel, the dark and intense scent of black magic was emanating from the young lady.
-I'll save you.
From the trembling voice of the girl, filled with the deep emotion of 'Han', I could realize that the ending I had in mind was not the best.
'This is not a happy ending.'
I was so stupid that I had no idea what would happen next or what the young lady would do.
There was no such content in the novel, and there was no information about a girl who used black magic. That's why I was even more scared, and I think I felt a deep sense of dread.
At the same time, I was able to find new goals.
I reflected on the things I'd given up on. I pushed myself to lower my limits and avoid reaching higher heights, and I began to think about my goal of reaching even higher.
Sword Master. Let's start with that as our goal.
I thought I should look higher and reach farther. That would be the best I could do.
Why didn't I know? There was a better way.
If there is no way, the one who creates the way is the one who makes it possible.
The word "giving up" didn't suit me, so I felt grateful to my future self who had shown me the worst possible future, and corrected my foolish past thoughts.
Because I am a greedy person.
Enjoy more.
I could say that it was my natural right to have the happiness I had not been able to enjoy.
Let's run towards a happy ending.
The moment I came to my senses with that determination, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Riccardo! Meat! Meat! Meat!"
I smiled at the girl sitting in the restaurant and thought to myself.
“Happiness is right here, where can you run away?”
I answered the complaining girl in a light voice.
"Don't you feel sorry for the cows that have become dinner?"
"Ricardo. The world is inherently cruel."
"I see. Then, to remind you of the importance of health, I will only put in half the amount of meat I usually put in."
"Eeeeek! Devil!"
"A devil? Where in the world can you find a butler as good as me?"
"doesn't exist!"
The girl grumbled and picked up the fork.
I smiled at the sight of the girl's violent expression, as if she was going to throw the fork in her hand if she resisted any longer.
"Meat is the main culprit of obesity."
"I didn't gain weight!"
"lie."
"Eeeeek!!!"
The girl's fork flew in with a 'whoosh'. Certainly, her skill had improved, and her speed and accuracy had improved compared to before, but she was still far from being able to hit me at that pitiful speed.
I quickly turned my head and dodged the girl's fork.
-Dismissal.
With a small smile, he created a small charge on his finger and blew it towards the girl's forehead.
"Ugh!"
A girl whose hair stands on end because of the thrilling static electricity.
The embarrassed girl looked at me and said.
"Eek...!"
"Why are you doing that?"
"Something was missing."
"That's a sign that you've met your soulmate."
"really?"
"Do you believe that?"
"Hey! Don't tease me!"
After all, teasing a young lady is the most fun in the world.
*
The girl was glaring at me with a sullen expression.
"What was that earlier?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That. That annoying thing. Didn't Ricardo do it?"
The expression on the girl's face as she spoke, holding out a clean bowl of rice cake soup, was completely inconsistent.
It was funny to see her handing out an empty bowl and asking about magic, so I thought it would be appropriate to ask such questions in a serious setting, but the young lady, who couldn't stand being curious, was asking me about the static electricity she had felt earlier.
I whistled and pretended not to know.
"no."
"lie."
"How can you be sure?"
The girl answered nervously, pressing her hair that was sticking up in a mess.
"Ricardo laughed."
"I didn't laugh."
"Don't lie. I saw it all."
I guess those who have tried magic know it better.
The villainess who used magic to commit violence was quicker on the uptake than I thought.
Perhaps it was because she was a writer with the highest level of talent, but the young lady, who was both irritated and passionate about learning, was speaking to me while focusing her gaze on the moving ladle.
I looked at the girl, shaking the ladle up and down.
"eww..."
When I put a little meat in, the girl's eyes would tremble and she would frown, and when I put a lot of meat in, her eyes would sparkle and she would exclaim, "Oh...!" It seemed like she was focused on the meat that would fill her empty bowl rather than on the magic.
I said to the girl with a small smile.
"It's a secret."
"Eeeeek!"
I held out a bowl with a lot of meat in it.
"good!"
I really like this kind of daily life.
therefore.
I need to get stronger.