Chapter 8
“Ricardo?”
“Yep.”
The man yawned widely and stretched.
He was a huge man, tall enough to fill the doorway, with an equally massive build.
Jet-black hair and red eyes.
He was handsome, but his rough features gave him a wild, untamed air.
“Who gave you that?”
Ricardo suddenly stuck his head forward.
Lydia pushed him away and spoke as though he were being ridiculous.
“Who do you think?”
“Did you finally get engaged? Who’s the lucky one?”
“Try saying something that actually makes sense.”
At Lydia’s scolding, Ricardo raised an eyebrow.
“Why doesn’t that make sense?”
Lydia didn’t think it was worth answering, so she ignored him.
Unable to stand it any longer, Pipi cut in.
“It’s a supernatural ability support device. Apparently, she went out again and got herself into an accident. Honestly, if she weren’t my employer…”
“I don’t get into accidents all the time.”
“It makes no difference to me.”
Pipi grumbled as she tidied the desk she had messed up while searching for the ring.
“Ahhh, supernatural abilities.”
Only then did Ricardo understand the situation and step backward.
The appropriate amount of distance between them made the room considerably more comfortable.
“Ricardo, you’re here at just the right time. If you’re done with your nap, go sit over there. There’s something I need to test.”
Pipi pointed toward a chair in the corner of the laboratory.
“Already? Didn’t you say the experiment wasn’t finished yet?”
“I believe I also told you that I’m a genius, so I’d finish it quickly. You may not realize this, but the two hours you spent napping were enough time to accomplish a great deal. Please make better use of your time in the future.”
With nothing left to say in response, Ricardo shrugged and walked over.
Lydia sat in a chair nearby and watched Ricardo and Pipi.
Ricardo Werner.
A handsome face, a carefree and sly personality.
And…
A Transcendent.
By now, you probably had already figured it out, but he was one of the male leads in the original novel.
‘He wasn’t particularly important, though.’
Ricardo liked women far too much, so even in the original story, he did make a move on the heroine, Sylvia, but he wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about it as the others.
‘He was actually a pretty decent guy in reality, too.’
After observing him carefully for several years, Lydia had concluded that he wasn’t particularly dangerous.
He was straightforward and cheerful, and most importantly, unlike in the original story, he hadn’t shown any particular interest in Sylvia even after meeting her.
That was why Lydia had continued to maintain a connection with him despite their occasional “coincidental” encounters.
Normally, given Lydia’s personality, she would still have tried to avoid getting involved with Ricardo as much as possible…
‘But he’s pretty useful.’
What else could she do?
There were things that needed to be done.
And she wasn’t saying that just to be nice. Ricardo had actually been surprisingly helpful.
“You’re the one doing the purification? Who are you purifying? Another Awakened? Damn it, then do it on me! I can’t stand seeing that! …Oh, you’re not doing it yourself?”
There had apparently been some misunderstanding at first, but anyway.
After volunteering himself as a test subject, Ricardo had continued coming and going from the laboratory even to this day.
“Are you sure you tested this properly? I don’t feel anything at all.”
“That can’t be! My calculations are perfect!”
Pipi slapped the arm where the machine was attached to Ricardo several times.
Ricardo complained dramatically about how much it hurt, but he didn’t actually get angry.
‘…Well, seeing this, I guess he’s actually a good kid.’
In this world, supernatural abilities were a tangible source of power, so one’s abilities, as well as one’s family background, had an enormous influence on social status.
Yet despite being a Transcendent from a powerful family, Ricardo wasn’t particularly arrogant.
The fact that he barely complained even when Pipi, who came from a commoner background, treated him so casually was proof enough.
Lydia clicked her tongue regretfully.
If he hadn’t been like this, she would have gotten rid of him long ago!
“What? Do you enjoy watching me get beaten?”
At Ricardo’s voice, Lydia snapped out of her thoughts.
“I never said I enjoyed it.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
Ricardo grumbled and sat down beside Lydia.
“Good work. The next experiment is in three days. Come back then.”
“Can’t I come before that?”
“No.”
“That’s cold.”
At Pipi’s firm answer, Ricardo pouted.
Still, Lydia was actually quite grateful to him.
Developing the purification agent was impossible without an Awakened person.
If Ricardo hadn’t willingly offered to help, she probably would have had a hard time finding test subjects.
‘And since he’s a Transcendent, he’s sturdy enough that I don’t have to worry about side effects, either.’
Whether or not Ricardo knew about Lydia’s extremely selfish thoughts, he casually started a conversation with her.
“But did something happen to you?”
“What?”
“You look pale.”
“Oh.”
Was it that obvious?
Lydia lightly rubbed her cheek before briefly explaining what had happened recently.
“What? That happened to you?”
Ricardo’s expression twisted in concern.
“You’re something else… Never mind. What did the doctor say?”
“He said I’m fine.”
“No way. Your face is practically white.”
Lydia shrugged.
“Isn’t that doctor a quack?”
Ricardo grumbled, but Lydia only answered him silently in her head.
‘I don’t think so.’
She had left out the fact that the doctor was the Grand Duke’s personal physician, one of the Empire’s most elite medical professionals, so there wasn’t much she could say.
She also didn’t bother mentioning that she had received help from Ludwig.
None of the four male leads in the original story got along well, but Ludwig and Ricardo were especially incompatible.
They had often been considered polar opposites even at the military academy. In fact, Lydia had never seen the two of them together at all.
‘I’m not going to be staying at the Grand Ducal House for long anyway, so there’s no need to mention it.’
She didn’t want to cause unnecessary misunderstandings, either.
“Anyway, you’re okay, right?”
“I told you I am.”
“Then that’s good.”
Ricardo spoke indifferently before lazily leaning back.
Silence soon fell between them.
“……”
“……”
Normally, one of them would have said something by this point, but Lydia was feeling suffocated in her own way, so she remained lost in thought.
‘But what is Ludwig really thinking?’
At first, she had thought his kindness was simply for Sylvia’s sake.
It made some sense that he had treated Sylvia’s older sister, Lydia, well in order to make a good impression on Sylvia.
‘But if that were all, he could have just given me emergency treatment. There’d be no reason to keep me here any longer.’
It wasn’t as though Ludwig was some pervert who took twisted pleasure in watching people he disliked suffer.
‘…Or is he? Is he actually a pervert?’
Thinking about it again, someone like that man might actually enjoy watching someone he disliked become confused and suffer.
Because he was a crazy bastard!
“Ah, right.”
At Ricardo’s voice, Lydia snapped out of her thoughts.
“You told me to let you know if there was going to be a banquet at the Imperial Palace, didn’t you?”
An Imperial Palace banquet.
Lydia immediately answered.
“Do you know something?”
Lydia had never been interested in banquets.
They weren’t her thing to begin with, and besides, she couldn’t afford the extravagant expense of attending lavish banquets when she was already short on money.
But there was a reason she had asked Ricardo to inform her about them despite that.
‘The first banquet held at the Imperial Palace after Sylvia becomes an adult is the day the original story begins.’
In other words, her debutante.
Of course, if it were simply a debutante, there wouldn’t be a problem. No matter how short on money she was because of developing purification agents, she could still afford to dress up her one younger sister.
The real reason was something else.
‘That day… a Creature will infiltrate the banquet.’
That’s right.
This wasn’t simply another cliché about social maneuvering and power struggles in a Korean-style romance-fantasy novel.
‘If things go wrong, people will die.’
Remembering the horrifying descriptions from the original novel, Lydia swallowed a quiet groan.
