She Became The Devil’s Stepmother Who’s About To Be Killed - Chapter 31 – Seafood Is The Devil’s Taste!

Chapter 31 – Seafood Is The Devil’s Taste!

In the garden, Theodor sat between Sinclair and Gerard with his feet stretched out and ate strawberry yogurt sorbet. He ate all the dessert in an instant, and Sinclair gladly put even her own in Theodor’s mouth while smiling like a mother bird.

As Gerard ate the sweet, cool, melting strawberry yogurt sorbet, for a moment, the desire to have Sinclair by his side captured his mind.

‘Isn’t it pitiful that such a beautiful, intelligent, talented, –loving Theodor– woman is drunk by a man of little value?’

He gently pushed the melting yogurt sorbet in front of Sinclair.

* * * 

At that time, in the Demon Realm, inside Rurarisa’s Castle.

Gerard’s “man of little value”, Brooks Guild’s Curtis-Rurarisa, wandered around the library.

‘I can’t believe I’m a human minion!’ Pride did not allow it. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

Magic didn’t work, what kind of strange being had he seen who didn’t get affected by magic or magic circles?

The arrogance and short temper that sprang from those slender arms along with energy were second to none of the demons. It felt like his chest and neck, which she had been holding down, were tightening.

“Ah! So annoying!”

‘The 3rd Holy Evil Saint becomes a human minion!’ He had to somehow keep it a secret so that this fact would not spread to the Demon Realm. Actually, it was necessary not to go back to the human world. The exchange between the Demon Realm and the human realm had long since ceased. He hadn’t set a confluence with her, therefore, no one would know that he had become a human servant. When you were in confluence you become a minion and you have to rush like Aladdin’s lamp genie.

‘Huhuhu- It seems that she doesn’t know this yet, so it will be over if I confidently make my way out.’ But what was annoying was that after that day, every now and then, after being bound by her, the desire to feel the tightness and suffocation came up again.

‘Why, why, why the hell!’ Right, it was probably because of his envy of her fighting skills, the self-torment of being defeated by such a fragile body, and his obsession with wanting to take away her skills as one of the three holy saints of the ‘Evil’s return.’

In the end, after persuading himself like that, Rurarisa drew and erased the blueprint on the video stone, and fell into the field of research before knew it. After all, the desire to win and show off the world’s most perfect water purifier was triggered.

He didn’t realize that pitch-black darkness fell and twinkling stars appeared in the distant sky.

* * * 

It was snowing inside the bathroom of Saios annex in Shlezen Castle.

Pong, Pong, Pong~

This was because, thanks to distilled water, Theodor, in a white-filled bathtub, made foam round bubbles as if it were fun, and blew at them.

“My son, shall you grow a beard?” I scooped up the foam and taped it to Theodor’s chin.

“Theodod will try too.” Theodor made a beard with one tiny hand and attached it to my chin.

“I will challenge the Grand Prince to a duel.”

I made a sword-shaped bubble on the water. Then Theodor also made a sword that overlapped diagonally on my sword and,

“Chang!”

I shouted, pounding the water,

“Yah! Yah!”

And played in the water.

“…?”

Theodor’s eyes widened as if it was his first time playing in water, and he clapped with both hands and shouted.

“You two, shouldn’t you stop and wash?” It was Gerard. Like a royal servant, he sat on the bathtub edge with towels in each hand.

“Ngh.”

“Theo.”

Gerald said sternly, but Theodor remained motionless. He was definitely sulking. Because Gerard refused Theodor’s request not to return to the main palace after dinner. He, who was engrossed in the fact that, as the Grand Prince, he should not whine, agreed to this without saying a word. But Theodor was still just a five-year-old child. He didn’t whine but held a strong grudge. As Gerard tried to help him out, he avoided his hand. Then, he looked only at me and greeted me with his fern-like hand, raised his head firmly, and left the annex immediately.

Is that why when he came in, he came in separately. Moreover, when Gerard tried to wash Theodor, he turned his back on him, refusing to touch him. Instead, he was making eye contact only with me and talking only to me. Gerard finally sighed, turned his back, and, like Rodin’s Thinker, fell into deep anguish.

[tl/n: The Thinker(1094) is a great bronze sculpture by the great Auguste Rodin]

‘Oho– At this rate, the character education will be painstakingly meaningless. Troubled Mister Gerard, can I help you?’

I whispered into the smiling Theodor’s ear. He nodded and then moved forward slowly and quietly.

We synced our mouths and shouted, ‘1, 2, 3!’, without making a sound. Theodor pulled Gerard’s back, and he plunged into the tub helplessly. Gerard struggled and poked his face out over the foam.

“Kyaaahahaha.”

Theodor held onto his stomach as if he were delighted and laughed.

‘But ending it here doesn’t help education at all…’

“Oh, my. Theo! Father is all wet. Should Theo wash Father?”

“Yes!”

As soon as I had finished speaking, Theodor rushed to Gerard and tried to take off his upper body first. Gerard was terrified, covered his chest with both hands, and cried urgently.

“Theo! You can’t do this.”

“No! If you vont, you vvuil catch a cold.” Theodor’s mature voice and Gerard’s screams to protect himself were pleasantly mixed. Gerard struggled and Theodor smiled mischievously.

“Young mastoh!”

‘Theodor’s words are probably the scolding he gets the most, right?’

“You two, wash up and come out. I’ll prepare for bed.”

“Oh, Wife!”

Gerard shouted urgently, but I turned my back and left quickly. Because time between father and son is also important.

When I came out of the humid bathroom, a refreshing spring breeze greeted me.

Sparkling, the stars were shining in the sky.

Twinkling, fireflies shone in the garden.

It was a peaceful night for the first time since I came to the Viatria Empire.

* * * 

Viatria Empire, Port of Machio.

Creak-!

The sun in the port was hot. My bodyguard, Ariel, held my parasol and followed me slowly.

“May I ask why you asked me to come to the port in the first place?”

“Mmh, there are a few things to find, and coming this way saves time on the way to the guild.”

This was the port of Machio seen in the book. It was one of the largest trading ports for all goods of the Empire. As described in the book, various ships were anchored.

From a 50-ton gondola with a sail, a 70-ton ship with a larger triangular sail, and a ship with two or more masts, it was like being in a living ship museum, and then there was the medieval lighthouse standing in the distance. Like a movie set, I felt like I was touring a web novel set.

‘It’s nice.’

Still, I had business to conduct. The reason I came here with an escort after getting permission to go out was because I wanted to see various food ingredients with my own eyes. Above all, I wanted to brew a light broth with anchovies and kelp.

‘I want to eat my Hometown taste!’ I wanted to eat a bowl of banquet noodles in anchovy broth.

I wanted to eat anchovy broth with a bowl of banquet noodles. I wish it was mixed noodles, too… Sob~

Anyway, I had to find anchovies and seaweed to satisfy my petty desires among the fresh fish emitting a silvery fishy smell. Anchovies had a large amount of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and constituent amino acids. The stems of brown algae such as kelp even contain the polysaccharide alginic acid, which gives it a savory taste. Besides, it is possible to make soft jelly with the alginic acid component of brown algae.

At that moment, familiar silvery little fish piled up in a pile gleamed in the sunlight. I quickly ran towards it then squatted down and picked up the fish with my thumb and index finger. Oh, my. It was a real anchovy. A fanfare rang in my ears.

Ariel, my escort, followed me and said worriedly.

“Perhaps the Grand Duchess is interested in Skinia?”

“Right. This is called Skinia! Skinia, skinia~”

“May I ask what you are doing now?”

“Memorizing names?”

“Ah…” Ariel nodded as if she understood, but her expression darkened. “I’ll write it down for you later.”

I quickly grabbed Ariel’s hand.

“Thanks.”

“But don’t keep repeating that name.”

“Mh?” I was puzzled but didn’t have time to ask in detail. It was because kelp was visible behind Ariel.

So I got up again, grabbed my skirt, and ran back to it. Without knowing that Ariel was looking at me worriedly.

‘Oh, my, my, to throw away seaweed and kelp so carelessly!’ I also lifted some seaweed and kelp stem with my thumb and forefinger, ‘I’ll have to gather them up and spread them out to dry. Where should I hang it?’ I looked around and started looking for a place.

Ariel removed the seaweed and kelp from my hand, like a person who was troubled.

“Umh, Grand Duchess. Are you interested in Evryon and Saitan by any chance?”

“Yeah!” I answered with a bright smile. “If these are dried and boiled, what a sweet and savory broth.”

“Umh…”

Seeing my smile full of anticipation, Ariel dragged me into a corner with a very serious expression on her face.

‘Why are you doing this?’

Ariel turned her body big like a hippo and pushed me against the wall.

‘No, from the first meeting, I expected that you would be very loyal, but if you come close like this, even if you’re a woman it’s a little burdensome…’

“Ariel, I think we should meet the guild leader of this area?”

I turned my body slightly to get out and commanded with a questioning statement. Ariel bit her lip and lowered the corners of her eyes as if in trouble.

“May I ask why you want to meet the guild leader?”

“I came to see the market. I’ll use it as an ingredient for the Grand Duchy’s food.”

“Pardon?”

“It will be an essential ingredient. I’ll let Ariel taste it later.”

I looked around again. I had to hurry. After getting what was available quickly, some things had to be secured secretly while I was on the market.

When I said I might be late, Sophia, my trustworthy assistant, clenched her fists and exclaimed that I would have dinner alone tonight, and Gerard agreed. So I prepared the meal and ingredients, but I was still nervous.

Then I found a round, long, welcome creature.

‘Oh my, my, my gosh. What kind of rookie boats threw away all those delicious squids?’

I was about to run toward it. Ariel’s gaze turned to the squid I was looking at. Then she suddenly grabbed my hand, stopped me from running, and blocked my view. She spoke seriously in a very low voice.

“Your Highness, Grand Duchess.”

“Uh?”

She was a pretty meticulous kid. Gerard introduced her as a senior graduate of the Viatria Empire Academy, but I felt like she was the Supreme Ruler of the nagging world. I looked at Ariel.

“You must have done a lot of volunteer work.”

“Yes?”

“This is what you feed orphans.”

“…!”

Ariel looked at me nervously.

“No need to be surprised. The fact that someone as high as Her Highness the Grand Duchess knows this kind of food reveals the Grand Duchess’ character.” Then Ariel grabbed my hand. Her round eyes as cute as a hippopotamus fixed on me, she whispered.

“I can’t believe you love witch’s food. Not everyone eats Skinia, which dies as soon as it is pulled out of the water, or Evryon and Saitan, loose like a witch’s hair in the sea, which sometimes grabs anchors to put sailors in trouble. It’s something that demons eat.”

“Is seafood demon’s taste?”

My eyes widened.

“Ah, it’s sad… Why do you waste it because it’s from the Demon Realm even if it’s edible?”

If it’s delicious, it’s good food. That’s why the food here is so bad. If you get censored item by item like this, there will be nothing to eat. You’ll lose your appetite and die before being killed by demons.

“If you need this, there’s a way to resolve it without people’s notice, Your Highness.”

Ariel’s small voice made my eyes go round. She was like a lifeboat that came to me drifting in the open sea. I quickly held her firm, big hands tightly. An honest calloused palm touched mine.