Of all times, for this disaster to happen right in front of this precious Crown Prince!
Lionel’s long eyelashes trembled, and those golden eyes experienced a pupil earthquake.
It was a look of disbelief.
At that sight, I broke out in a cold sweat and shouted almost in desperation.
“I’ll make you a new one! I’m so sorry! The part-timer is still inexperienced at serving!”
Even while feeling the Crown Prince’s gaze, I snatched the tray Damian was holding, retrieved the ttukbaegi and rice bowl like lightning, and with my other hand, I firmly grabbed Damian’s sleeve.
“Come this way, quickly!”
Damian looked down at me questioningly, then obediently let himself be dragged along.
Thud—
As soon as the kitchen door closed, I set the tray down with a thunk and placed my hands on my hips. Then, furrowing my eyebrows even though it wouldn’t be visible, I spoke quite firmly.
“In a restaurant, taste is important and kindness is important, but the most important thing is hygiene! Hy! Giene!”
“……”
“First hygiene, second hygiene! Being tasteless and unfriendly just means the business fails, but being dirty is a crime!”
“……”
“My goodness, a fingernail topping—that’s a declaration that you’re closing up shop! It’s a matter of basic human conscience!”
Until then, Damian had been silently looking down at me, then slowly tilted his head. As his coolly glowing red eyes reflected my resolute face, a chilling sensation ran down my spine.
And then, a low remark dropped.
“Didn’t you say it was heavy?”
“…What?”
For a moment I wondered what he meant, but I immediately realized.
Right. Hadn’t I whined to Damian that the ttukbaegi was heavy?
……But thinking about it, didn’t I just lift that supposedly heavy tray with one arm and even drag Damian along with it?
As I became aware of that fact, cold sweat poured down incomparably more than before. My mouth twitched, but before I could make an excuse, Damian spoke while quietly letting his red eyes glow.
“So humans lie about even such trivial things.”
Damn it. This perceptive demon.
Damian didn’t stop there.
“The human species is the same no matter how much time passes. Intoxicated by the lies they create themselves, they always turn away from the truth.”
…Wait, why is the conclusion going that far?
Damian started going on about how humans were a species that comforted themselves with lies, how they created illusions because they couldn’t bear the truth—practically ready to submit a philosophy thesis.
Contemplation about humans? Philosopher cosplay?
Honestly, that wasn’t my concern. Go light a fire in the middle of the demon forest and sit around with your kind debating all night.
…And yet, my throat went dry as I gulped down saliva.
Why?
Because right now, Damian had started seeing me as just an ordinary human.
Why does that matter?
It’s very important.
Until now, he probably saw me as a peculiar human doing strange things in the name of seduction, an alien creature with observation value. That’s why he at least pretended to listen and occasionally went along with it.
But look at those eyes now.
Those are eyes where trust has disappeared.
When I went to a sweet potato digging part-time job before, I teased a puppy by pretending to give it a sweet potato as a joke, and the puppy’s expression was exactly the same. That cold look when it wouldn’t even glance at me when called and wouldn’t wag its tail.
Yes, that’s the problem.
I have so much work to make him do from now on, but if trust is broken, I won’t even get my money’s worth for the labor costs. Right now in this inn, Damian is the only manpower besides me.
But with those eyes? The moment I try to make him work, it’ll be an immediate strike.
Before I knew it, the back of my neck was drenched in cold sweat. I quickly wiped it with my sleeve and cautiously gauged his mood.
“That… that wasn’t exactly a lie… more like exaggeration. Freedom of expression, you could say….”
“Exaggeration is no different from a type of lie.”
Ehe, well shit, this is bad.
He’s much more firm than I thought.
I was at a loss for words for a moment, then finally forced a smile and waved my hands.
“No, really! A few are fine. But when customers are packed in, my arms really do tremble, you know?!”
This time it was somewhat sincere. I really had slept with bandages wrapped around my arms before.
Damian narrowed his eyes and slowly looked over my body. When that gaze reached my puny arms, I deliberately let my arms droop to look even more pitiful.
Then, as expected, a short snort mixed with ridicule leaked out.
“Hmph.”
Still, had he softened a bit? That previously cold expression had become somewhat softer, so my utterly pathetic arms seemed to have served as quite convincing evidence.
Anyway, that’s enough with Damian. Right now I need to focus on the VIP.
What’s the advantage of gukbap?
It comes out quickly.
I swiftly completed a bowl by adding ingredients one by one and headed toward Lionel.
“I’m so sorry! I’ll give you a large portion!”
I carefully set the ttukbaegi down on the table while equipping a sincere smile. Lionel looked at me with a strange expression, then picked up his spoon and swallowed a mouthful of broth.
…Phew, thank goodness.
This Crown Prince in front of me seems to be a human with the magnanimity to overlook a part-timer’s fingernail topping incident as inexperience. Truly the qualities of a sage ruler, without a doubt.
Just as I was backing away quietly while patting my chest in relief—
“Wait.”
“……!”
My heart sank at that single word.
Of course it did—more than a first-time customer demanding freebies or a refund, a regular suddenly calling you is the scariest thing.
Originally in business, a regular turning away is the scariest thing. A regular is someone whose existence alone maintains the day’s sales.
It’s the same now, right? Everyone left for the subjugation, but the sales are maintained thanks to Lionel.
So when a regular calls seriously, from a business standpoint, that can only be a death sentence.
Pressing down on my pounding chest, I turned my stiff neck while wearing a frozen smile. It was such a rigid movement that it might have made a creaking sound.
“Yes? Do you need anything else?”
Lionel looked at me silently for a moment, then pulled his hood down deeper and quietly mumbled.
“…That too……”
“Yes?”
“That. Th……at too, add it.”
“……?”
What’s that?
When I tilted my head slightly, unable to understand at all, Lionel’s face suddenly turned bright red and he shouted almost as if shrieking.
“That! That thing you do with those weird hand gestures!”
As soon as that near-scream of a shout burst out, the tips of his ears visible under the hood began to turn red first. At first they were just slightly flushed, but in an instant they blazed up like spreading flames.
Soon his cheeks… really, even a perfectly ripe peach wouldn’t be this red. His tightly pressed lips trembled, and his gaze wandered frantically between the gukbap and my face. His fidgety hands even touched the spoon for no reason, then just grasped at empty air.
I stood there dumbfounded at Lionel’s real-time embarrassment, then laughter gradually leaked out.
…Look at this guy?
He ran away like that back then, but in the end he liked that service?
Without hiding the laughter seeping out, I grinned and said.
“Hehe, that? I’ll do it as a service today.”
Then I raised both hands and drew a heart.
“Happiness in a bowl of slurp-slurp gukbap! Ttukbaegi, cheer up!”
Lionel’s expression gradually distorted.
The more I spoke, the redder his face became. The flush that started at the tips of his ears now colored even around his eyes with heat, and his gaze looking at me also wavered aimlessly.
Was it from happiness, embarrassment, or shock? Probably all mixed together?
Of course, I didn’t stop there.
Since it came to this, I decided to give him service too.
Normally I would have done a heart toward the gukbap and ended it, but this time I made a circle in front of me, added a gesture of taking a bite, then sent out a heart.
“With the power of love, kyung!”
The so-called bite heart!
Lionel looked at me as if about to lose his breath at my novel heart gesture, then hurriedly turned his head. And he buried his face in the ttukbaegi and started shoveling down the gukbap.
I smiled contentedly, shot three more hand hearts, then headed to the kitchen so as not to disturb his meal.
But then, Lionel, whom I thought would turn his head away in disgust, raised his head again.
“Are you not participating in the subjugation?”
“What?”
Is he asking the inn owner if he’s not going to the subjugation?
I looked at him dumbfounded but soon nodded.
Come to think of it, it’s not surprising. Gilbert volunteered right away. Moreover, if even the Crown Prince is saying this much, people must really be flocking from all over the country, right?
Of course, I have absolutely no intention of going.
I shrugged my shoulders and spoke with unnecessary bravado.
“How could an ordinary inn owner like me go? I’d be lucky not to be a burden.”
And when I showed my puny arms, Damian, who was next to me, nodded.
……No, I appreciate the sympathy, but still.
Originally, self-deprecating jokes are only funny when you make them yourself. Don’t you know that the moment someone next to you seriously agrees, the atmosphere gets awkward?
I rolled my eyes and glanced at Damian sideways, and Lionel, who had been watching us, looked over my arms, then looked down at his gukbap and muttered.
“That’s a shame. Since there are many who miss this inn’s food, morale would rise if you came.”
No, so I’m telling you I don’t want to be in the cook with squinty eyes position!
