The Lady is a Stalker

Chapter 4

The Crown Prince is a 14 year-old, genius tactician. From what I observed he had to mature early because of his position, and was able to rebel against the adults. But if the Prince didn’t listen to the needs of his men, then he was still just a child.

“…do whatever you want,” The Prince muttered with disbelief and left the cafeteria.

“Sigh…” I relaxed and fell back on my chair. I was playing tough but I thought I was going to get crushed by him.

Then, someone who was watching us from afar asked, “Is this for real?”

Oh, it wasn’t just the Prince who hated Celebi. Sure it’s nothing in comparison to the Prince’s hatred for her, but the soldiers also suffered thanks to Celebi.

“Are you really worried about us? Pigs must be flying. You called us slaves only yesterday, and now you decide to change your attitude?”

“Yeah right, that horrible woman wouldn’t do something so nice as to cook food for us. Obviously, she did something to it.”

I feel like my obstacles have piled into mountains. I’m more focused on dealing with the Prince so I don’t have much motivation persuading all of them. If they refuse to eat with the Prince’s permission, then I’m out of options. I can’t force food into their mouths. Though, I feel like I’ll have to soon, I can’t help but feel like giving up.

“What is this? A show? I was watching from the sidelines, but no one is moving.”

“Deputy Commander?”

For the first time, someone has voiced in their support of me. I glanced up to see who it was. Oh, he’s the man who took me to the kitchen to get me out of the way.

Without hesitation, he sat down two seats away from me and drank some soup. He swallowed and said, “…It’s okay. You’ve been chasing His Majesty for so long, but who knew you could actually cook?”

“…”

He said it with a rusty voice, but did he just try to help me? Of course, being a noble who can cook is nothing but an insult, but it’s possible he didn’t mean it that way.

I smiled gently as I suddenly felt happy by it. “Thank you.”

“Huh? Uh… Yeah. Hey everyone, don’t stand just there looking stupid, come and sit down.”

“Bu- But…” The soldiers seemed hesitant. It couldn’t be helped, after all, they didn’t trust me.

But when the deputy commander scowled at them, they all sat down in less than a second.

Wow… It sure is getting cramped in here.

Still, I can finally eat now… Let’s not rock the boat anymore and enjoy it. I picked up my spoon again and started eating. But then, I started to feel like puking… It was the first time I felt so squished while eating at a dining table.

There was also this prickly feeling inside of me and now I understand why. No one dared to insult me because the Deputy Commander was present, but I still had to keep an eye out. The soldiers then would aggressively slice their steaks as they stared at me when they ate. It was obvious that they wanted to get rid of me because I was being a nuisance. Maybe they were warning me that they’d cut me off like with what they’re doing with their steak. One of them was even feeding his nose instead of his mouth.

I hurriedly made my way to the kitchen to clean up and fell down exhausted. The soldiers who passed by looked at me with scorn but I had no energy to glare back. Unfortunately, no one here knows proper etiquette and grace.