No Regression for the Victor - Chapter 24

However, Hyun’s lack of insistence on having the best extended to his eating habits as well, so he didn’t know how to properly savor food, and many precious dishes that made it to the table simply ended up going back down uneaten, which felt a bit wasteful.

Even though the ingredients weren’t dazzlingly extravagant, these were high-quality meals that the caretaker had worked hard to prepare to suit the Duke’s infamously picky palate. But since Hyun didn’t particularly like sweets, even this jam was practically useless to him.

‘Hm…’

That guy’s still not of age, so maybe he’ll like something sweet. Hyun closed the lid of the jam jar and pushed it to one side of the nightstand. After finishing a light meal of soup and half a piece of bread, Hyun went straight to the window and tapped the glass a couple of times.

Startled, Misha, who had been diligently preparing the furrows since morning, looked up at the second-floor window where Hyun stood, looking so lost and flustered it was as if he’d been caught doing something wrong.

Instead of calling out to him, Hyun simply gestured for Misha to come up quietly. A short while later, Misha came running breathlessly into Hyun’s room, not even bothering to brush off the bits of straw stuck to his hair, and started making excuses.

“I haven’t been out there working since this morning, really! I just woke up at my usual time and wanted to get some fresh air, so I went out to stretch a bit, and…”

Watching him, Hyun stifled a laugh. Truly, what a transparent and peculiar kid. If Hyun had met someone like him back when he’d been obsessed with revenge, he would have stripped that gentle disposition to the bone and used it to stain someone else’s hands with blood instead of his own.

But fortunately, the current Hyun was a toothless tiger, a beast with torn tendons, and no longer had anyone he so desperately needed to pay back. Whatever the real Isaac’s circumstances, it was not something Hyun needed to consider.

No doubt, there must have been more than a few people trying to take advantage of Misha’s soft heart, even back in his hometown. If you help someone, you should at least make it obvious and get something in return—who on earth gives help and then insists it wasn’t a big deal? Hyun pointed to the neatly set aside bread and jam.

“You’re at the age where you’re growing, right? The food allotted to servants probably isn’t enough, so you must get hungry quickly. I put these aside separately, so if you need them, go ahead and take them.”

When Hyun offered him white bread and well-cooked jam—things that commoners could barely dream of getting—Misha’s cheeks flushed bright red.

“Huh? But, I didn’t even do anything…”

Hyun was smiling, but didn’t give an inch.

“That’s exactly why you need to eat well, so you can do work that helps me.”

In the end, when Mikhail sat in the chair by the nightstand and devoured the bread as if it might vanish, Hyun thought to himself, This kid really did grow up far from any noble etiquette. He couldn’t even begin to suspect the kid’s true identity.

***

That night, as he was about halfway through his investigation of the basement, Marcel couldn’t help but look at the increasingly bizarre prince with suspicion.

“Your Highness, what are you thinking about so deeply?”

Startled by Marcel’s sudden appearance, Mikhail replied,

“Whoa, you scared me. At least make some noise when you come in, Marcel!”

Even more? Marcel couldn’t bring himself to complain out loud, but he was dumbfounded. It’s not like he’d caught some kid secretly pleasuring himself—just before he entered, he’d even coughed and knocked twice, but apparently that didn’t count as making his presence known.

Looking at the prince with suspicious eyes, Marcel came to a conclusion. The prince was clearly under some kind of spell. Most likely, the Duke had brainwashed the innocent young prince with some sinister magical device. Marcel steeled himself and said,

“Your Highness, if I may be so bold, I must say you are not in your right mind right now.”

Naturally, Mikhail protested immediately.

“What are you talking about? I’m perfectly fine! I haven’t overdone anything lately, I’ve been sleeping well, and I’m in great health!”

Despite Mikhail’s emphatic denial, Marcel decided the prince was definitely out of his mind.

“If you were truly well, would you be playing house with the empire’s most notorious criminal right now? Are you really that suited to being a servant for your enemy?”