"What did you say? You're not running?"
Loya's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the frail girl before him. He had prepared everything—dry rations for the journey, scraps of gold tucked away for her survival—only to be met with this answer.
Megrie stood at the intersection of shadow and the morning light, her spine as straight as a blade. In that moment, the aura of a lowly, submissive maid vanished completely. In its place was a quiet, suffocating majesty that commanded attention.
"This castle was left to me by my father. Every brick, every grain in the granary, flows with the blood of my family," she said, turning her head. Her voice was as calm as a fundamental truth. "I am the sole heir to this domain. The ones who should be fleeing are the parasites infesting it."
[Inside the Modern Kitchen]
Megrie stood before the stainless steel counter of her modern kitchen, the oven emitting a low, rhythmic hum. The air was thick with an aroma that did not exist in the other world—the rich, milky scent of premium butter baking at high temperatures, mingled with the deep, smoky sweetness of caramelized refined sugar.
With practiced precision, she slid the baking sheet out. On it lay golden, crispy handmade cookies and a selection of exquisite, artisanal candies.
In that other world—a castle where the diet consisted only of coarse black bread and dry, cold slabs of meat—these treats were nothing short of contraband from heaven.
"Kiki, since you love to snatch things from me, I'll let you snatch to your heart's content," Megrie murmured, a cold glint flashing in her eyes as she looked at the delicate sweets.
That afternoon, in a secluded stone pavilion in the castle's rear garden.
This was the path Kiki took every day when she went to "report" to Nata.
Megrie had changed into a tattered but clean apron. She clutched an exquisite velvet box to her chest—a high-end gift box she had scavenged from her modern kitchen. She looked around furtively, shrinking behind a stone pillar as if terrified of being discovered. Then, with desperate haste, she popped a cookie into her mouth.
The expression of pure ecstasy and longing on her face—the look of someone who found the food too precious to eat quickly—was caught perfectly by Kiki, who was hiding behind the shrubbery.
What is that? Kiki ducked lower, her nose twitching violently.
The scent was overbearing, sending her salivary glands into a frenzy. It was a fragrance a hundred times more refined than any candied fruit served at a noble's banquet.
Megrie began to mutter to herself, her voice just loud enough to drift into Kiki's ears.
"...The things Lord Aldo sent are truly unbelievable. They say in Orsenburg, only the City Lord's wife is allowed to eat these. No wonder Lady Nata is so eager to marry me off there. She said as long as I agree, I'll be able to eat food fit for the gods every day, and I'll own as many pearls as there are drops in the sea..."
As she spoke, Megrie purposely wobbled, acting as though she had lost her balance. The velvet box "accidentally" slipped from her hands and hit the ground, revealing several handmade candies that shimmered with an otherworldly luster. She scrambled to pick them up, tucking them back into her bodice as if they were her very lifeblood.
"Sigh..." Megrie let out a long, soulful sigh. It was quiet, yet perfectly audible to the girl nearby.
She looked down at the cookie crumbs on her fingertips, seemingly talking to herself, though her tone carried a hint of uncontainable ambition. "They say Lord Aldo is so old he can barely walk... to me, that is simply a blessing from the heavens."
In the shadows, Kiki held her breath, her ears perked like a predator's.
"Once I marry into that family, the moment that old man draws his last breath..." Megrie let out a soft chuckle—a sound that was both chilling and seductive. "By then, I won't just be the most noble mistress of Orsenburg; I will sit upon a fortune of sea produce and pearl trade that could rival a kingdom. With those countless gold coins, I can have as many young, handsome men by my side as I desire..."
She paused, her voice turning dreamy.
"Who would want to stay in this wretched Tei Castle as a despised daughter? I am going to the East. In that golden palace, I will be a widow with true power, surrounded by beauties. That... is true paradise on earth."
Hearing a phantom noise, Megrie feigned panic, shoved the box into her shirt, and hurried toward the attic. In her "clumsy" haste, she dropped a single, beautifully wrapped handmade cookie.
The moment Megrie was gone, Kiki lunged out like a madwoman and snatched the cookie from the dirt. She hesitated for a split second before shoving it into her mouth.
BOOM.
It was the sound of a dopamine explosion in Kiki's brain.
Refined sugar and pure butter dissolved on the tip of her tongue. The sophistication, the delicacy, the sweetness that made her very soul tremble—it utterly demolished her reason.
"Why her?!" Kiki's nails dug deep into the crevices of the stone pillar, her eyes burning with the toxic fire of jealousy. "That old man's inheritance, those handsome men, the most noble seat in the city... it should have all been mine! How dare Mother give such a golden opportunity to that wench?!"
In her eyes, Lord Aldo was no longer a decrepit old man. He was a "walking vault of inheritance." Her mind was already spinning with fantasies of herself draped in pearl-encrusted gowns, sitting on the high throne of Orsenburg, squandering gold coins while surrounded by a harem of beautiful men.
"This position is mine... no one will take it from me!" Kiki hissed to herself. She turned and sprinted toward her room. She needed to prepare the sleeping draught; on the wedding day, she would personally seize the "rightful" fortune and glory that belonged to her.
In the shadows of the attic, Megrie turned her head, watching Kiki's receding figure with a frigid gaze. She pulled the box of candies from her bodice and placed one in her mouth, her expression devoid of emotion.
"Go on, Kiki," Megrie whispered, her eyes as cold as a whetted blade. "Since you want the 'dead man's legacy' and that 'fake glory' so badly... I shall grant your wish."