~Chapter 98~
Clatter, clatter.
I was riding in a carriage, heading somewhere in the capital.
“Young Lady, may I ask why you want to go to the food market?”
Sitting next to me, Sophie tilted her head curiously.
I smiled brightly.
“Oh, there’s something I want to find. I think it’ll be better if I look for it myself.”
I couldn’t explain it properly to Sophie, but what I was searching for today was—
Red pepper powder!
In my previous life, it was such a common ingredient.
I planned to make a dish for Fabian using it.
‘Of course… when it comes to being Korean, it has to be tteokbokki. Hehe.’
The first food that came to mind when I thought about giving him a new sensory experience—
Tteokbokki!
It was also my favorite food in my past life.
A cheap and easy way to relieve stress.
Sure, some people relieved stress by drinking alcohol, like Fabian did—but that wasn’t really healthy for daily life.
Whenever life felt like garbage, I would just eat some spicy tteokbokki.
If I gave Fabian something really spicy to taste?
People here weren’t used to spicy flavors, so giving him tteokbokki might let him experience something completely new.
With that thought, I was heading to a specialty food shop in the capital.
Flour was easy to find, so making the rice cakes wouldn’t be a problem. But red pepper powder—now that might be rare here.
‘But still, this world was originally a novel I wrote in my past life…’
Albert even managed to get herbal medicine from the East, so surely I could find red pepper powder too.
If I went to a shop that sold unusual spices, it should be possible.
“We’ve arrived, Milady.”
The carriage stopped in the capital’s food market. I got down with Sophie and Deon, my escort knight.
As a noble lady, it was unusual to visit a place like this.
Walking here with the two of them felt oddly refreshing.
‘Feels a little like traveling…’
I began weaving through the busy market stalls, seriously searching for red pepper powder.
“Do you have anything that makes food spicy? Something red and powdered would be best.”
“Hmm, red powder… I don’t have that. But there are things like pepper, ginger, mustard.”
Finding it was harder than I thought.
Most stalls only had the usual spices from the West.
After nearly an hour of wandering the noisy streets, I was starting to feel exhausted. Maybe it really didn’t exist here…
“There’s something red over there, Milady.”
“Hm?”
At Deon’s voice, I turned my head—and spotted it.
A sack full of red seeds and powder.
‘Hmm? That looks like peperoncino.’
Not red pepper powder, but still, something spicy.
I felt a hunch. If peperoncino was here, then…
“Oh?”
And then I saw it. I couldn’t help but grin.
Found it.
Not far from the peperoncino, there was a pile of fine, deep red powder with a distinctly Eastern look.
This was definitely red pepper powder!
Even if I rolled forward and backward, it was unmistakably chili powder.
“This—is this the spicy powder?”
“Yes, correct. It’s made from something called red pepper, ground from the East. It’s rare, so not many people buy it. You’re the first customer I’ve seen asking for it.”
I nodded firmly.
“I’ll take it all.”
“…All of it?”
“Yes.”
Since it was rare, I figured I should buy enough to make more than just tteokbokki later.
The merchant looked startled, but quickly agreed and sold it to me.
The heavy sack of chili powder ended up in Deon’s arms.
We were heading back to the carriage when—
“Hm?”
Something across the street caught my eye.
A pitch-black carriage stood in front of a row of ordinary houses.
It had no crest or markings at all. Almost as if it was saying, Don’t notice me.
But what made my eyes widen was who stepped out of it.
The Second Prince, Freddy.
‘Huh? What’s he doing here?’
He pulled a black cloak over himself immediately, so I couldn’t see his face clearly—but that curly black hair was unmistakably Freddy.
And the knight beside him was the same one I’d seen at the art museum.
Sophie blinked in surprise too.
“Wait… isn’t that His Highness, the Second Prince? Am I seeing wrong?”
“No. You saw right.”
I nodded, climbing into our carriage.
“We’ll just go…”
That was what I was about to say, but suddenly Albert’s words came back to me.
[“Anyway, thank you for telling me. Knowing his movements will definitely help.”]
“…”
Honestly, I was curious. Why had Freddy suddenly come here?
If I tracked his actions, it might be useful to Albert.
‘Alright. I’ll just take a quick look. Just a little.’
“Let’s wait here for a bit before leaving.”
“Yes, Milady.”
I cracked open the carriage window and began watching.
After all, this could be a path to stopping the novel’s final villain.
Freddy headed to a perfectly ordinary house.
He knocked, and a woman opened the door right away, bowing deeply in greeting.
She looked like an ordinary commoner.
Freddy and his knight followed her inside, and the door shut quietly.
After that, I couldn’t see anything.
“What is this…?”
I stared at the house for a long time.
The curtains were drawn tight. The whole thing was secretive.
Could I have just discovered something really suspicious?
Was this where Freddy was plotting harm against Albert?
‘But then again…’
Any schemes against Albert would already be happening among the princes at the palace.
Why would Freddy come all the way out here for that?
Still… it was strange.
This house didn’t look like the kind of place Freddy would visit.
And as far as I remembered, there was nothing like this in the novel either.
That made it even harder to leave.
‘I’m supposed to know this world… but why don’t I remember this at all?’
The longer I thought, the more curious I became.
“Oh—they’re coming out.”
After some time, Sophie whispered.
I turned my gaze just as the door opened again.
Freddy came out with his knight, followed by the same woman from earlier.
She bowed deeply once again.
Her expression toward him—
As if he had just saved her life.
‘What… what’s their relationship?’
I was burning with curiosity when—
Freddy turned his head.
His eyes landed right on our carriage.
“…Oh no.”
Panic hit me.
Surely he didn’t see me, right?
I quickly reached to pull the window shut.
But Freddy was already crossing the street toward me.
Knock, knock.
“Lady Hartmann.”
Standing in front of my carriage, he tapped the half-closed window.
Awkwardly, I froze, meeting his eyes.
“Haha… I greet Your Highness, the Second Prince…”
“Shall we talk for a bit?”
…I’m doomed.
