154 – Who are you comparing me to? Right?
The tranquil lady’s mansion.
After enjoying tea time following lunch, I nodded my head as I sipped the rustic nurungji from the teacup.
“Hmm… Nurungji is the best for overeating, indeed.”
Nurungji with Korean sentiment.
I thought there was nothing better to soothe a heavy stomach than this, even though it was just scorched rice on the bottom of a pot. There’s no kas water here in this world.
Having overeaten after a long time at my forest friend’s place, my stomach wasn’t settling, but after eating nurungji, I felt comfortable.
Nurungji over Americano, for sure.
As the white steam rose from the nurungji placed on the table, feeling the cool breeze.
“Ricardo.”
Sniffing the savory scent, the lady looked at the teacup containing nurungji and asked, “What are you eating?”
“It’s nurungji.”
“Nurungji…?”
“Ah. Would ‘ssungneuk’ be the right term?”
“Ssungneuk?”
“If you think of it as a drink that older gentlemen consume.”
“Mr. Ricardo?”
“No?”
The lady repeatedly sniffed at the nurungji placed on the table in front of her.
She seemed curious about the brown liquid in front of her.
With cat-like eyes, she brought her cheek close to the table, rolled her eyes, and asked, “Is it tasty?”
“No. Just nutty.”
“Hmm…”
After cautiously glancing at me once, the lady slowly reached out her hand towards the nurungji on the table.
Observing her cute gesture, I pretended not to notice, looked out the window, and hid my smile while muttering to myself, “The weather is nice.”
“Oh…”
As the crackling sound accompanied the lady’s gentle breath to cool the tea cup, at the moment the wind blew.
With a ‘plink’ sound, the lady’s small and cute exclamation was heard.
“Oh…!”
The lady, tasting nurungji for the first time, had her eyes wide open.
It seemed like the commoner’s food suited her taste.
Smiling at the lady’s unexpectedly non-aristocratic taste, I gazed at her.
“Is it delicious?”
“Oops…?!”
Caught red-handed sneaking a taste, the lady quickly pulled away from the tea cup, pretending not to know.
“I didn’t eat it!”
Turning her head towards the window, the lady, with a puzzled expression on her face from my intense gaze, pouted and held the teacup.
“I only had a little bit.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Were you going to say something?”
“When did I scold you for eating?”
“You did.”
“…That’s true.”
Smiling at the lady’s crestfallen response, I met her gaze.
“So, did you like it?”
“Yeah. It’s a strange taste. Incredibly nutty and feels healthy. Can’t describe the taste, but it’s oddly enticing.”
“Oh… Looks like you’re aging too.”
“No! I’m young.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Pfft…”
The lady, who protruded her lips in response to teasing and leaned her teacup towards me, revealing the bottom, said, “Want to switch with mine? It’s cocoa.”
“Even if you lack conscience, it seems you lack it too much.”
“I left a sip.”
“With a sip, who would it stick to? Also, this doesn’t even seem like a sip, let alone half.”
“If you close your eyes and sip, it’ll feel like a sip.”
“…”
“Not allowed?”
I surrendered to the sulky lady’s expression, nodding at her. Since it was easy to make if one set their mind to it.
It wasn’t a difficult dish, nor were the ingredients expensive, so I nodded at the lady staring intently at the brown rice cake.
“Alright then.”
“Really?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Yes.”
“hehehe… Thank you.”
A noblewoman who likes rice cakes. I felt pleased by the whimsical lady’s taste.
“No matter how I think about it, you don’t seem like a noblewoman.”
“I am, though. I’m a noblewoman.”
“No. It’s not that, it’s just your taste doesn’t seem noble. You eat everything given to you.”
“No. Carrots, bell peppers, eggplants…”
As the lady listed the things she disliked, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Ordinary nobles usually liked elegant and extravagant foods, but the lady was quite the opposite. Of course, it was limited to food.
And the shy response of the villainess who knew how to say “thank you” touched me.
Before, she was someone who never said “thank you.”
-Thank… you!
-Thank… you… I want to eat meat.
-Of course, it’s something the servant should do.
I suddenly felt that time makes people more gentle.
The lady before collapsing was like a dog with rabies. The metaphor was a bit too much, but the lady used to complain a lot.
-Not eating!
-Eat.
-I said I’m not eating. Bell peppers and eggplants are an incompatible combination!
After collapsing, the lady naturally complained a lot and got annoyed that she had to eat only the food I made.
Perhaps thanks to this time, our relationship could become closer.
Good things are good.
During her academy days, the lady was someone with strong convictions. Even now, of course, but in the past, it was a bit more intense.
Insulting commoners.
If she thought someone was beneath her, she would ignore and treat them with disdain, knowing better than anyone that she was superior.
After losing her leg due to a dark magic incident, much of her former aloofness disappeared, but who knows what would happen if it were to return.
The lady I see and the Olivia seen by others would be different.
In the novel, the lady was a madwoman in every sense.
True to her name, she was the ultimate villainess with a wicked personality who didn’t mince her words.
Resembling Darbav, she was portrayed in the novel as gentle to her own, but icy cold to others.
However, the one distinct difference was that in the novel, no one sided with the villainess.
Regardless, I still preferred the old lady’s demeanor, so it didn’t really matter.
“Delicious…!”
I smiled as I clenched my fist, watching the lady with sparkling eyes.
I guess I’ll have to make more.
I went down to the kitchen to make porridge, while the lady, with a smile, emptied her teacup.
*
The corridor in front of the student council room at the Academy.
Executives who came to discuss the incident that occurred before the start of the new semester were entering the student council room one by one.
Second-year chief. Third-year chief. Accountant. Treasurer. Leaders with executive qualifications were entering the student council room.
And in front of the door, a man with green hair was anxiously waiting for someone.
“Why isn’t she coming…”
*Ruin, biting his nails, muttered to himself in a restless voice. He had arrived earlier than anyone else, but the person he was waiting for was nowhere to be seen.
Since that day, Ruin had been mentally troubled because he couldn’t use his unique magic.
The magic that allowed him to be superior to others, his own talent.
Now that his unique ability to efficiently create fire magic had disappeared, Ruin’s body was like a blank canvas.
He could still use magic, but learning was more difficult. Having spent his life learning only fire magic and delving into it, Ruin’s unique ability, the “Flame Script,” was a problem directly linked to his downfall.
Ruin’s self-esteem plummeted.
And there was only one person who could solve this problem.
Though unable to solve the fundamental problem, there was only one person who could ease his worries. It was Yuria.
Ruin was waiting for Yuria.
To confess his mistakes and explain his situation.
Ruin, wanting comfort and someone to confide in, stood in front of the student council room door for a long time.
About ten minutes passed like that.
In the distance, Ruin saw Inyeong approaching.
“Yuria!”
Ruin smiled.
Yuria, walking down the stairs, was as beautiful as always. He thought she would smile kindly at him as usual and worry about him as if it were her own experience.
Ruin straightened up from leaning against the wall and walked towards Yuria.
Quickly, with impatient steps.
Awkwardly smiling, he approached Yuria, and as she stood before him, he spoke with a trembling voice.
“Yuria. I’ve mi…”
Without even looking at Ruin, Yuria spoke.
“Please don’t talk to me.”
“What…?”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
*Thud* Yuria, brushing off her shoulder, walked past without looking back.
Ruin, with trembling eyes, turned back with steps that seemed to weaken, trying to follow Yuria.
Because she wanted to talk. To admit her mistake. Ruin thought Yuria would forgive her if she apologized. Ruin desperately tried to catch up with Yuria.
But.
“Senpai.”
Her junior did not allow it.
“You’ve done something interesting.”
“What?”
“Yuria senpai told me. What you did.”
With a grin, Hastania Hanna was looking at Ruin.
Hanna’s dry smile and stiff expression, along with her voice, were not like the voice of any junior Ruin had known before. Hanna’s eyes, looking with genuine interest rather than the defeated and submissive look from the past, were so chillingly filled with anger that Ruin felt a sense of dread.
Hanna chuckled at Ruin and said, “You really can’t compare with anyone, can you?”
Hanna’s words were more cutting than anything to Ruin.
Well I don’t pity him he abused his magic and picked fights with everyone around him he abused his magic and this is just karma.
Not only that, but he was a complete a-hole at the ball. The scene where he abused Yuria thinking she was just some random girl who coincidentally dressed in the same dress as he gave Yuria shows how distorted his character is.
yeah tbh its pretty rude to say that to someone even if they are ugly…