Chapter 03
“I thought we wouldn’t be able to catch her until that person joined the subjugation force…….”
“Basilisk poison! Spit it here! This big brother was the one!”
“Right, there was someone here…… Huh? This person……!”
The woman examined Cain’s body until she noticed the crest of the Vellaon family and flinched in surprise.
Then, as if he were someone she knew, she brushed Cain’s hair aside and examined his face. She even opened his eyelids with her fingers.
“Cain Vellaon…… Why is he already here?”
“Ack! This big brother is ugly.”
Even while drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness, the child’s cry stabbed straight into Cain’s heart.
He had been praised as one of the Empire’s most handsome boys ever since birth.
Although he was from a collateral branch, hadn’t society’s upper circles once held high expectations for him because of his sculpted nose and cool, sharp eyes?
It felt a little unfair to have his appearance judged at the most miserable moment of his entire life.
“You’re right, Lucy. He’s ugly. That’s because his face is swollen from monster poison. According to the setting, he’s actually handsome.”
“……Ugly. Only his eyeballs are jewels.”
“Is this my fault……? Maybe manpower was diverted to guard the Imperial Army after that incident, creating an urgent need to reinforce the subjugation forces.”
Cain couldn’t understand what the woman was saying.
Why was the lack of guards for the Imperial Army this woman’s fault?
“Mom…… My head hurts.”
“Oh, right, my daughter! Let’s go get you treated for your headache. You’ve completely exhausted your magic. The valley would be a shortcut, but I guess we’ll have to go around today.”
“Are we going to see Doctor?”
“Of course. The doctor will give you a magic recovery potion. Take that, and from now on, don’t recklessly cast buffs on your cooking.”
“Buff…… fun.”
“But what should we do about him? One point of stamina, one point of strength, and his magic is completely depleted. If we leave him here to die…….”
Cain’s ears, already unable to see and with his hearing severely damaged, could barely make out their conversation.
And even what he could hear made little sense to him.
But they did not leave.
It was almost as though they were trying to find a way to save a man who had been soaked in monster poison and was practically a corpse.
“Basilisk Wyrm poison. It drains a human’s life force and dries them out until they die……. So the problem isn’t the poison itself, but the life force that’s being drained.”
“If he doesn’t get handsome, will he stay ugly?”
“I suppose so?”
“Then save him. He’s too ugly. He can’t breathe. Lucy’s heart hurts.”
“……”
Perhaps the child’s words had touched the woman’s heart.
There was a rustling sound, and the woman held something right in front of Cain’s face before whispering.
“Eat this. If you can chew and swallow it, you might survive. If you do, cross the river and find Madame Bellamotte. She’s a swindler, but when it comes to treating monster poison, she’s better than most doctors.”
After finishing her words, the woman pushed a small, soft lump into Cain’s mouth.
At the same time, he felt the child’s soft, warm palm touch his cheek with a gentle pat.
“Ugly big brother better now?”
“If he’s lucky. If we happen to meet him again someday, we should make him pay handsomely for the bread…… No, never mind. He won’t remember it anyway, so let’s forget about it too. It’s not even in the original story, so it might only confuse us.”
The warmth against his cheek disappeared, and the woman left with the child.
Cain didn’t even have a chance to protest being called ugly.
The moment he began to perceive the taste touching the tip of his tongue, the remaining sensations in his body went numb all at once.
It was a softness and sweetness he had never experienced even once in his life.
The fishy taste of the egg disappeared without a trace, leaving only a warm, comforting flavor filling his mouth.
Cain’s family, a collateral branch of the Vellaon family, wasn’t particularly wealthy, and frugality was part of their family tradition.
For Cain, who had chewed nothing but hard rye bread since childhood, this texture was nothing short of shocking.
No, it wasn’t just the rye bread.
He could confidently say that even in the Imperial Palace, it would be difficult to find bread this light and fluffy, like a cloud.
Something strange happened next.
The moment he swallowed the bread, his blurry vision cleared, and strength returned to his muscles, which had felt disconnected at every joint.
His magic circuits were purified, and even his horribly swollen face returned about halfway to normal.
Miraculously, Cain managed to get back on his feet, cross the river, and find Madame Bellamotte.
She had certainly taken advantage of him by raising the treatment fee from the ten gold coins she had initially quoted to one hundred after learning Cain’s identity, but regardless, he eventually returned home with all four limbs intact.
The duke kept his promise.
He simply granted Cain the baronial title that his children had been so eager to obtain.
For the next ten years, Cain never forgot that taste.
Nor did he forget the strange experience of his strength returning after eating the bread, or the warmth of the people who had refused to ignore him when he was on the verge of death.
Recently, his vassal, Lord Nor, had visited the Imperial Capital and proudly offered Cain a taste of a new dessert his head chef had supposedly developed: “Castella.”
The moment Cain took his first bite, he froze.
It was the exact same food he had eaten in the forest ten years ago.
The technique was more refined, and the texture was much softer, but the sense of how the ingredients had been handled was unmistakably the work of the same person.
Even though he didn’t experience the same recovery effect he had felt back then, he was certain.
I finally found them.
He absolutely had to meet this cook.
Because he needed to feed this miracle to “that child” who was slowly wasting away in a corner of the Vellaon Ducal Residence.
Two long shadows fell over Luciela’s head.
When she slowly raised her head, she saw two imposing men standing before her.
“Are you a maid of the lord’s castle?”
The brown-haired man, who appeared to be a guard, asked.
“We’re looking for the castle’s head chef. I’ve heard he’s exceptionally skilled.”
“……Nigel?”
“Nigel?”
The man tilted his head, as though that wasn’t the name he had expected.
“That is the name the lord gave us. It’s a masculine name, but it is indeed him.”
The man who appeared to be a nobleman and stood behind him nodded.
Lucy narrowed her eyes.
Whether it was because the sunlight was too bright or because the strength was gradually draining from her body, she couldn’t make out their faces clearly.
But she had the strange feeling that she had seen those vivid blue eyes somewhere before.
“Can you guide us to Chef Nigel?”
Cain asked Luciela.
“He is my benefactor. I’ve been searching for him for a long time to express my gratitude.”
Luciela’s eyes widened.
“……You mean that man whose brain is made of lard?”
Perhaps because she had completely run out of strength, the thought that had been in her head simply slipped out of her mouth.
As she spoke, she swayed slightly.
Her arms and legs no longer obeyed her.
I should have eaten the potatoes before leaving.
If I had, the buff’s effects would have let me hold out for another hour.
“Good heavens, how dare you speak such nonsense about the baron’s benefactor?”
“……”
Lucan was about to scold her, but Cain raised a hand to stop him.
“Child.”
Cain called out to her in a quiet voice.
From a distance, he had thought she merely looked dirty.
But up close, her condition was even more serious.
Her complexion was pale, and her thin arms and legs trembled violently, making her look as though she were on the verge of death.
“Even if his brain is made of lard, it doesn’t matter. I need to find him.”
With an unusually gentle tone, he continued speaking.
“Guide us. Afterward, Lucan will take you to a doctor…….”
Thud.
But before he could finish his sentence, Luciela collapsed to the side.
“Hey! Child!”
Cain hurriedly caught her.
Lucan, who had rushed over, checked her neck before tilting his head.
“Her pulse is steady.”
“It doesn’t seem like she has any major injuries…… Could she have been abused over a long period?”
Cain frowned as he examined Luciela’s collapsed body.
“What on earth happened inside the lord’s castle……?”
Just as he was standing there in silence, overwhelmed by the miserable situation—
Crunch.
A frivolous crunching sound broke the silence.
Cain turned his head.
Lucan was holding the potato skewer Luciela had dropped and chewing on it.
“……Lucan, are you eating the potato right now……? At a time like this……?”
A look of contempt appeared on Cain’s neat face.
“Gah, that’s……!”
Startled by Cain’s sharp rebuke, Lucan hurriedly lowered the skewer.
“I-I apologize, Baron! My hand moved before I knew what I was doing…….”
He looked genuinely confused himself.
He did like food, but he wasn’t so shameless that he would steal food from a child who had collapsed on the roadside.
“I-I just couldn’t resist the shape and smell.”
“Crazy bastard, what kind of nonsense are you talking about…….”
“I’m serious. And the taste…… The taste is incredible! The texture is amazing…… What herbs did she mix into this?”
“You bastard, if you’ve eaten it, then put it down…….”
“Ah, just try a bite yourself before you say anything.”
Before Cain could finish speaking, Lucan shoved a remaining piece of potato toward Cain’s mouth.
“I said I don’t want…….”
Cain flatly refused, but the rich aroma of butter tickling his nose and the savory flavor of salt made him unconsciously open his mouth slightly.
Nom.
