Chapter 1027 – 1027. Yggdrasil (7)
The meat on the fork came into my mouth covered in sauce.
“Hmm…”
At that moment, an exclamation of exclamation flowed out without my knowledge.
And it was Stella who responded to my exclamation.
“How are you?”
“It’s delicious. No… It’s really delicious.”
It wasn’t just something that was said to be pleasant to listen to.
It was sincere.
All the food on the table had such great taste that I was forced to exclaim in exclamation.
Even a light salad!
It felt like it had been a long time since I had such a delicious salad.
After hearing my praise, Stella smiled happily as if she herself had been praised.
‘… If someone sees it, he or she will know how to make it.’
I wondered if I would ever meet the chef who made this, but when I did, I wanted to compliment him.
The food on the table was that good.
As I ate it with such admiration…
“What? “Why don’t you eat?”
I felt puzzled as I looked at Stella who had already put down all the dishes.
Stella only ate a few foods and hasn’t touched anything since.
After that, he just straightened his posture and stared at me.
“I finished eating.”
“… “Is that what you ate?”
The food placed in front of Stella was not much different from when it was first served.
Stella lifted the dishes about fifteen times.
They even cut the food into small pieces, put it in their mouths, and ate it as if it were melting.
Even the process of eating was so motionless that it felt like looking at a painting.
I tilted my head while looking at Stella.
‘Why is it like that?’
I had already seen Stella eat in person.
No, beyond what she saw, I fed it to her myself.
It felt like I was giving some news back then, but not to that extent.
‘… Is it because of the servants?’
I thought it was an action that was done out of a desire to preserve dignity rather than to worry about what the servants thought.
Stella pursed her lips as she looked at me stopping her hand.
“Is it really that bad?”
It’s not that I ate it all, it’s that it didn’t taste that good…
I shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
“No, it’s delicious. But I thought it would be okay to get up now that you’ve eaten everything.”
“Don’t worry about me. “I’ll wait until you finish eating.”
“No, I don’t know…”
“There is nothing to worry about. “It is a rule in the Royal Hall not to get up before everyone has finished eating.”
“What kind of rules…”
It was a moment of laughter because it was so absurd.
“I learned it from someone who used to sit with me. “After learning that way, I have never broken it even once.”
“Ah…”
It was said that the Royal Hall was a restaurant made only for the royal family, so I had a rough guess as to who would be sitting there.
She must have enjoyed her meal while exchanging dirty stories with someone.
I don’t know how long it has been since the person I was with disappeared, but it definitely won’t be a short period of time.
And for that long time, the seat next to her would have been empty.
The one who first filled that gap.
As that being, I decided to maintain the minimum courtesy.
“You have to follow the rules.”
“…”
Stella smiled happily as if she was satisfied and continued to watch my meal.
.
.
I sighed and touched my stomach.
“Wow… “I ate too much.”
Usually, even if I overeat, I tend to stop in moderation considering the above condition.
But today I couldn’t get the timing right to stop.
The reason is taste and atmosphere.
First, it was because the taste was great enough to wake me up from my sleep.
The other one…
‘What… That kind of atmosphere isn’t bad.’
It was because of what Stella said.
After listening to her, I noticed that I was paying attention to her and couldn’t feel her stomach well.
At first, I thought he was trying to make me uncomfortable…
‘It looks like he really hates lies.’
Later, as I was leaving the restaurant, I overheard the servants’ words, and I could tell that what Stella said was not a lie.
Stella seemed to have been eating alone for nearly 200 years after her parents died.
I thought I could eat with the servants if I was lonely…
[Wouldn’t that be the last meal because the servants got food stuck in their throats?]
After hearing Kang Hana’s words, she instinctively nodded.
I sympathized with Kang Han-na’s words and sighed once again.
“It’s delicious, but…” Every day…”
The reason I sighed was because of the rules Stella had set.
Stella spoke to me as if ordering me to eat with her, even if nothing else.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
All meals had to be eaten at the Royal Hall.
Originally I would have refused…
‘Why don’t we just eat it…’ .’
As I listened to Stella’s words earlier, the coolness in my heart melted away.
In the end, unable to regain my cool, I accepted Stella’s offer.
However, an exception was made.
We decided to skip lunch in case something urgent happened.
No matter how delicious the meal was and how sorry I felt for Stella, I didn’t want to eat like that for three meals a day.
Stella looked dissatisfied with my answer, but she sighed and agreed.
And the funny thing was that her sighing voice of approval made the attendants blush.
‘The reaction was hilarious.’
The elves watching Stella’s behavior toward me was so entertaining that I could have kept it as a snack for the rest of my life.
It seemed like there would never be a moment of boredom while I was here.
I walked around the castle smiling heartily, remembering the reactions of the servants.
“That human…”
“Oh my god…”
The attendants and guards look at me with surprised expressions every time they see me…
There was no problem as Stella had already been given permission to freely roam around the interior of her castle.
The only problem was that every time they saw me, they looked at me as if they were looking at bugs wandering around the castle…
For reference, only I received free permission.
I also asked the party members for permission to move around freely…
(That’s not possible.)
Stella flatly refused.
It seemed like he was just recklessly refusing, but there was a more important reason than I thought.
(No being without affiliation can freely roam around the castle. They must always bring servants with them.)
(Affiliation?)
(Yes, servants, guards, guards, etc… If you are not part of the royal castle, you can never walk around alone.)
No matter how much one treated oneself as a guest, one could never be allowed to move around freely.
I tilted my head and asked.
(Me? I don’t belong either, right?)
Of course, like the party members, I had no affiliation.
However, I was given permission to move around freely as if I belonged here.
But Stella responded to my question…
(… No way anyway. That’s what you know.)
I went back to the bedroom without answering.
It occurred to me after time had passed, but it seemed like it was probably because there was no way to hold on to the power.
Still, regardless of that, Stella’s reaction aroused my interest.
‘Reactions come and go.’
Stella’s reaction was fascinating every time I saw it.
Sometimes they talk back, sometimes they rebel, sometimes they become quiet, and sometimes they become obedient.
It felt like reason and emotion were going back and forth.
I was worried that I might be suffering from bipolar disorder.
‘Well, it’s interesting to me, and it’s fun, but…’
I smiled at Stella’s appearance earlier and moved on.
As I moved through the hallway, I was able to reach my destination before I knew it.
‘Did you say here?’
As soon as I arrived at my destination room, I tried to knock on the door.
That moment…
Slam!
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
The room owner opened the door and popped out.
“Oh! “I was just trying to find it!”
It was the middle of winter.
Midwinter was smiling with a happy face.
I smiled at that midwinter scene and asked.
“Can I take a look at your room?”
“Ah! For a moment…”
Midwinter suddenly turned around and looked at his guest room…
“Come in!”
I opened the door wide with a relieved expression.
I entered her mid-winter room, looked around her room, and asked her straight out.
“Is it okay to stay here?”
“Ah! Very good!”
Midwinter made a fuss in front of me and spoke to herself rapidly.
She looks like…
‘It’s a reaction that happens when you lie or hide something.’
He usually talks a lot, but today he talked a lot more, and even spoke a lot of gibberish.
But I listened quietly.
‘Because Hayeon said there was something…’
Plus, it wasn’t boring or anything.
In a conversation, the relationship is more important than the content.
The nagging from a drunken stranger and the nagging from a crush become two different languages, even if the lines are the same.
Just like that, the sight of midwinter actually made me smile.
The middle of winter, which was pouring out such rapid-fire gibberish…
“Hmm… Excuse me… You know…”
Suddenly, he started to look at me and get nervous.
‘I guess I’m going to get to the point now.’
It’s probably because of this story that we’ve been pouring out rapid fire so far.
“What are you trying to say? “Tell me.”
“Hmm… Don’t think it’s strange, just listen…”
“I don’t think it’s strange, so don’t worry and tell me.”
“Hmm…”
Midwinter took a deep sigh, let it out, and spoke.
“Do you remember the bet you made with me before?”
“Ah… “Remember.”
Memories I had forgotten were revived by a question in the middle of winter.
‘I forgot.’
A bet where you fight once a week in a sparring style and if you win, your wish will be granted.
The last time we sparred was before we entered the Mountain of Darkness.
A lot of things happened after that.
The Mountain of Darkness, the battle with Loki, a week’s rest, a prediction of war, a reunion with Midsummer, etc…
Thanks to that, I had forgotten about the bet with Midwinter.
‘He was quiet too…’
So I thought Midwinter had lost interest just like me.
The memory of slowly sinking into the abyss…
“Bet… It’s still valid… ?”
It was pulled out again.
I nodded without any hesitation.
“Of course.”
There was no reason for it to not be valid.
It was a bet I was planning on making to develop a relationship with you in the first place…
But after hearing my answer, Midwinter didn’t like it…
“Oh that… Then… This…”
Instead, he looked at me and handed me a piece of paper.
Even at a cursory glance, I could immediately tell what kind of paper it was.
“Hasn’t the contract already been written?”
Mana Contract.
The bet with Midwinter had already been written into a contract, and each person had the contract in their inventory.
But the contract presented by Midwinter…
“The content is different. Once… Report… Please review.”
“?”
I naturally received the contract and checked its contents.
Midwinter has already written down all the details.
When I looked over the contract, Midwinter started talking gibberish and making excuses.
“Hey, don’t think this is strange! “I just wrote it down perfunctorily!”
“?”
I checked again while listening to the rapid fire in the middle of winter, and was able to see the changes from what I had written before.
‘… ‘Midsummer liberation?’
Midwinter wrote ‘Midsummer Liberation’ as a reward for victory.
I was so embarrassed that I felt dizzy.
I roughly knew that, unlike the other sisters, Midwinter was close to Midreum.
‘… ‘Do you want to save your brother like that?’
But I never thought I would openly take my brother’s side…
If you think about common sense, it would be natural for midwinter to want to help midsummer.
However, the sight of midwinter leaning more towards midsummer than me made me feel uncomfortable.
‘Midsummer, you bastard… ‘Aren’t you sure you tempted the child with strange words?’
It was a moment when anger slowly boiled inside.
[I think it would be a good idea to read the contract until the end.]
‘… ?’
I came to my senses from Armonia’s words and started reading again from where I left off.
The moment you read the contract to the end…
Haha…’
I laughed inside without knowing.
I felt like I finally understood.
The meaning of Min Ha-yeon’s words and the heart of midwinter looking at me…
I raised my head and saw what it was like in the middle of winter.
“Hey, don’t think this is weird! It’s only fair if the price is similar! So…”
Midwinter continues to spout gibberish while looking at me.
It was a moment when the feeling of betrayal she had felt earlier turned into affection for her.
I waved the contract towards midwinter and smiled.
“Like you said, it’s a very fair contract. Let’s do it.”
