Chapter 09
So I decided to ignore them and walk past.
In any case, they were people who had never contacted me even once after I was cast out.
There was no way anyone among them had truly cared about Adelaide.
In fact, beyond that, it felt like there wasn’t a single person in this world who would truly care about her.
“Adelaide Sitten!”
As I passed them, a rougher voice called out to me.
I stopped and turned to look at the group of nobles.
Three men and one woman.
Among them, one tall and handsome man stood out in particular.
He had deep red hair and striking light green eyes, and he kept glaring at me sharply.
The others had plain, unremarkable faces—true background characters.
“What is it?”
I asked, trying not to sound sarcastic.
I had no intention of making Adelaide’s already ruined social life even worse.
We didn’t have to be friends, but at least we didn’t have to be enemies.
But my effort was wasted.
“Just as I thought.”
The handsome man sneered openly at me.
“Adelaide… Adelaide… I wondered what you were doing, but it turns out you’ve dirtied your hands by taking up a lowly profession.”
“Is that all you stopped me for?”
I remained calm.
Honestly, I was just annoyed, not angry.
All I wanted was to go back, eat abalone butter grill, and lie on the sofa.
I could have cursed him out, but that would only make the situation harder to escape.
‘Then I won’t be able to eat abalone butter grill for a long time.’
Just as the handsome man was about to respond, a slightly older man grabbed his arm.
“Eli, why don’t we just let her go? Judging by this scene, even speaking to her would only lower your status.”
“…Eli?”
My body froze.
Eli.
There was only one character in the story with such a rare name.
Eli Gannit, the young viscount.
Adelaide’s fiancé.
No—former fiancé.
I scoffed.
The reason I originally wanted to pass them quietly was because I didn’t want enemies.
Adelaide had already made plenty of enemies through her “villainess” behavior while serving her family.
But if we were already broken off, why should I treat them kindly?
Abalone butter grill could wait a little longer.
I smiled coldly and spoke.
“I’m curious how you can all associate with a woman like me who was once engaged to him. Wouldn’t my former fiancé also be contaminated by such ‘lowly influence’?”
“…Adelaide.”
Eli growled.
“Do you want to be sent to an asylum?”
“What right does my former fiancé have to send me to a mental institution…?”
I emphasized the words “former fiancé.”
“What right?”
Unexpectedly, Eli didn’t look flustered.
Instead, he seemed even more confident.
‘What?’
My face naturally frowned.
Of course, a former fiancé had no authority over me.
So why was he acting like that?
“You still don’t understand anything. You’re a commoner now, Adelaide.”
Eli stepped toward me. The others followed him as well.
“And I am a viscount. Do you understand the difference?”
I swear I could hear something inside me snapping.
Viscount or whatever—no one had the right to send a sane person to an asylum!
I slowly opened my mouth, preparing the harshest insult I could think of.
Just as I was about to unleash it, a cold voice struck my ears.
“Heidi.”
My eyes widened.
I quickly turned around.
Kailos Obern was looking at me with an unreadable expression.
“What exactly are you doing right now?”
“…Pardon?”
I asked blankly.
He was speaking formally.
Since revealing his identity, he had never once used honorific speech with me.
Not that he was openly rude, but Kailos Obern naturally wielded authority as if it were breathing.
“I’ll ask again. What are you doing here?”
“Uh…”
I blinked slowly.
Eli and his group quickly knelt in greeting, flustered by the sudden appearance of the prince, but Kailos didn’t even glance at them.
“I was collecting materials for cooking at the library and heading back to my room.”
Kailos’s voice softened slightly.
“So you were preparing the banquet ordered by His Majesty.”
At that moment, one of Eli’s companions sneezed loudly.
“Yes.”
Whether Eli’s friend suddenly caught a cold or not didn’t matter to me.
“I see.”
Eli suddenly raised his voice.
“Your Highness!”
Gathering courage, he spoke loudly.
“We had no idea about this. If Adelaide had told us earlier…”
“You would have known she is working as an imperial chef.”
Kailos cut him off coldly.
“Interrupting someone who is working hard… it may not be a crime, but it is certainly not a pleasant sight.”
“…!”
Eli bit his lip hard.
I looked at Kailos in slight surprise.
“Idler” was a word that hit Eli’s sore spot even in the novel.
Eli Gannit, the young viscount, was a man with nothing but his noble birth from a wealthy house.
In contrast, his younger brother was brilliant and capable. The marquis couple had already chosen him as heir.
If the younger brother hadn’t died in a sudden accident, Eli would never have been called a “young viscount.”
‘No matter how you look at it, it seems like Eli was involved…’
Even readers—and even the marquis couple—thought so.
But what could they do?
There was no evidence.
So Eli remained the young viscount and became extremely sensitive whenever his inferiority was touched.
Of course, he couldn’t act that way in front of a prince.
“…I’m sorry.”
Eli apologized obediently.
I suppressed the urge to laugh out loud.
What a pathetic man.
Seeing him in real life, he was far more ridiculous and irritating than in the novel.
“Now then, please clear the way. You are blocking the hallway.”
“Yes…!”
Eli and his group disappeared instantly.
I smiled brightly at Kailos.
“Thank you very much.”
“Heidi.”
Kailos called my name in a low voice.
“What exactly were you thinking just now?”
Surprisingly, he looked somewhat angry.
I blinked.
“I was thinking I wanted abalone butter grill.”
“…Ha.”
Kailos let out a dry laugh.
“Well… I did also think Eli was annoying.”
“That is a normal human thought.”
I looked up at him quietly.
Kailos shook his head as if holding back dozens of things he wanted to say.
I pointed at the empty hallway.
“Since they’re gone now, you don’t have to speak formally anymore.”
Of course, I wasn’t exactly enjoying being spoken down to.
But if someone suddenly changed their attitude like this, there had to be a reason.
A reason I didn’t know.
“….”
Silence fell.
Kailos covered his eyes with his large left hand.
“Why are you doing that?”
“…Heidi.”
He spoke in a tone full of disbelief.
“Did the Sitten family not give their only daughter even basic education?”
“What do you mean?”
I frowned.
Adelaide’s lack of refinement had been mentioned a few times in the story.
But she should still have received basic education…
Or did she not?
“The viscount’s group openly disrespected and harassed you.”
