By Zephyria 
When I went to see the Servant, the flow of the conversation was similar. At first, she denied it and accused me of killing innocent people, but when she realized there was no way out, she simply closed her eyes and shut her mouth.
Unable to resolve my questions and with little to gain, I left the prison and trudged down the hallway.
“……”
I wondered why I had been so tired these past few days, but my peaceful life was gradually falling apart. It all started when Khalifa told me to get married.
“Seriously, the root of all evil……”
As I muttered to myself, I went to the kitchen, where the Chef, upon discovering me, widened his eyes in surprise.
“Kyle? What brings you here?”
“What was that thing on top of the bread among the dishes you served earlier?”
“Which bread are you referring to……?”
I didn’t know either…… As I didn’t answer, the Chef said,
“Perhaps you’re referring to the bread topped with cream cheese and compote? I heard you were looking for dried fruit earlier, and if His Highness likes sweets, that must be what you meant.”
“Ah, I guess so. Then give me some more of that.”
“I’ll send it up as soon as it’s ready.”
At that, I pondered for a moment and shook my head.
“I’ll take it myself, so make it now.”
“You’re going to take it yourself? Then please wait a moment. I’ll prepare it quickly.”
“Take your time, take your time.”
I really meant for him to take his time, but whether he didn’t hear me or not, the kitchen became as busy as if an emergency had been declared. I stood in the corner to avoid getting in the way and watched the scene, and then I saw some sliced apples and asked,
“Why are these left like this?”
“Ah, I was going to make a pie…… Would you like some?”
“No, it’s okay.”
I replied briefly and carefully examined the apple slices that had been cut into uniform shapes. The Chef was preparing a berry compote. Wouldn’t it be delicious to make a compote with this as well?
Just then, I saw an empty pot, so I took some apples and turned on the heat, which startled the Chef, who approached me.
“If you tell me what you need, I’ll prepare it.”
“No, you go do what you have to do.”
The Chef kept sweating and fidgeting beside me, but I ignored him and simmered the fruit. It seemed like it would burn if I used too high heat, so I started to boil it on low heat, and very little water began to come out.
I thought I should add sugar, so I looked around and saw a white powder. I took a little bit on the tip of my finger and tasted it, and the familiar texture of the granules made me pour it into the pot.
As I stirred it with a wooden spatula, the sugar quickly dissolved and the fruit flesh became mushy. I roughly crushed the large pieces with the spatula and boiled it for a while, and then the Chef approached me, as if he had finished preparing everything.
I put down the spatula and said,
“Pack this too. Oh, and blood too.”
“Understoo…… What? Blood?”
“Pig’s blood or chicken blood, something like that. About a cup? Did you put in the bread too?”
“Yes, I’ve put in several kinds.”
I received the basket, opened the lid, and looked inside. As the Chef said, there were neatly arranged breads and several small containers. It felt like I could go on a picnic right away.
The weather was nice today, so I thought about going out to the garden, but I quickly gave up when I thought about Aska’s situation.
“Here it is. I’ll bring the blood up soon. Is either pig’s blood or chicken blood okay?”
“Yeah, you can give me both. Something fresh.”
The Chef put the apple jam I made in the basket. I waved goodbye to the Chef and the other Servants who were bowing deeply and returned to the room where Aska was waiting.
I deliberately didn’t make a sound and opened the door very carefully. Sure enough, Aska didn’t even know I was coming and was slumped on the floor, leaning over the table.
“What are you doing?”
I was sure he would be surprised, but Aska looked at me with a nonchalant expression, then saw the basket in my hand and quickly raised his upper body. I sighed and put the basket on the table.
“The cream cheese and compote you ate earlier. But what are you doing leaning over it……”
Aska opened the basket and quickly took out the food on the table. I pushed the plate of bread aside and looked at the letters that were scratched into the wooden table.
“Ice, flower, water, tree…… Aegis? What is this?”
“What’s this?”
Aska asked without answering my question. I turned my gaze and saw him holding the apple jam I had made a little while ago.
“Ah…… That’s apple jam.”
“Apple?”
“Yeah, try that too. It’s the same as the other one, just with different fruit and boiled in sugar.”
After a little hesitation, I didn’t say that I made it. You could say it was insurance in case it didn’t taste good? Anyway, I watched Aska smear cream cheese and compote all over the bread and then looked back at the letters engraved on the table.
I wondered what he had used to engrave it, and then I saw a pen next to it. The pen tip was completely ruined from how hard he had pressed and scratched the wooden table.
“Why are you doing this……”
“Ugh.”
At that moment, Aska made a strange noise with a deeply furrowed brow. When I looked up, I saw what was in his mouth falling down as it was.
As I blankly watched it, I was startled and leaned back.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“This tastes so weird?”
“Weird? What is?”
“No…… No, what kind of taste is this?”
At that, I took a little of the apple jam I had made a little while ago. I chewed on a slightly mushy, warm lump of fruit and asked with a dazed expression.
“It tastes weird?”
“Doesn’t it?”
“Um……”
“Then is this what it’s supposed to taste like?”
Aska tilted his head, then took another bite of the bread with a bewildered expression and spat the food out again.
“Hey! Seriously! Ugh, disgusting! Then don’t eat it!”
I was disgusted by his outrageous behavior and snatched the bread from Aska’s hand. Then I tightly closed the lid of the jar filled with the remaining apple jam and put it in the basket.
“No, it tastes weird!”
“So then don’t eat it, why are you spitting it out so disgustingly! No, at least spit it out where I can’t see it!”
“What am I supposed to do when it doesn’t taste good!”
“Disgusting!”
“You’re more disgusting! You disgusting bastard!”
I was about to say something to that, but then I heard a knock. I sighed and waved my hand at Aska, telling him to go away. But he silently repeated the same lip movements, like, what, what are you going to do?
I stared at his childish behavior, clicked my tongue, and opened the door just enough to go outside without revealing the inside, then closed it.
“What?”
“This is what the kitchen sent.”
It was the same shape as the basket I had brought. When I looked inside, I saw two black bottles. I couldn’t see inside, so I couldn’t tell if it was blood, but they probably sent it properly.
I took the basket and went inside, and I saw Aska eating bread like crazy. I approached him, but he had cleaned up what he had spat out earlier, so it wasn’t visible.
It was funny how hard he was eating, so I didn’t say anything and just watched him quietly. He ate crispy bread with various things on it, then tore soft bread, mixed it with cream cheese and compote, and even scooped it up with a spoon.
His table manners were terrible, but he seemed to be enjoying it in his own way, so I didn’t find it too unpleasant. And since there were only two of us here anyway, there was no need to follow such rules.
There wasn’t a huge amount, so it didn’t take long to eat it all.
“Isn’t that blood?”
Aska, who had slowly finished eating the bread, glanced at the basket I had brought earlier and asked. At that, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in surprise.
“How did you know?”
“I know because it smells like blood.”
Aska frowned and said as if he was asking something obvious. I tilted my head and took the black bottle out of the basket, brought it close to my nose, and inhaled.
But, of course, I didn’t smell anything.
“Does this smell?”
“Doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t know weird tastes, you don’t know weird smells, what do you even know?”
Aska sighed deeply and shook his head. I was briefly dumbfounded by the childish behavior, then handed the black bottle to Aska.
“Try eating this.”
“What?”
“Just try it.”
“No.”
I expected him to refuse, so I carefully explained the reasons I had thought of in advance.
“I have something to check. You said you remember when you were kidnapped, right? You were going crazy trying to drink my blood back then. I need to know what the connection is between you and blood. Just eat a little. If you don’t want to drink it, just touch your tongue to it.”
“So you’re telling me to eat this?”
“You ate bread and meat, what’s wrong with eating a little blood?”
At my words, Aska frowned and reluctantly received the black bottle, asking,
“This isn’t yours, is it? Whose blood is it?”
How did he know it wasn’t my blood? I thought he would naturally think it was mine…… I thought he wouldn’t eat it if I said it was pig’s or chicken’s blood, so I had no choice but to lie.
“It’s mine.”
“This is?”
“Yeah, it’s my blood, so just drink a little.”
“It’s not yours.”
He wasn’t just unsure, he was too sure, so I asked with a puzzled expression.
“How do you know that?”
“I just know.”
“How?”
“Ah, whose blood is it!”
I just asked, but he was getting angry again. But I couldn’t give up, so I lied one more time.
“Actually, this is someone else’s, and this is really mine.”
I said, taking out another bottle from the basket, and then I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw the kind label attached to it.
“……”
It seemed like they had put this on one bottle in case I got confused, since the bottles were the same color and shape. But when I thought about it, Aska couldn’t read anyway, so it didn’t matter.
“Hey.”
I held out the bottle of pig’s blood with a brazen expression, but Aska’s expression was fierce.
“That’s not yours either.”
“It is, I’m telling you?”
“What’s that thing attached to it?”
“My name. Because it’s my blood.”
I nodded, looking at Aska, who was frowning and asking.
“Don’t lie.”
“Can you read?”
“……”
“You can’t, right? And you probably don’t even remember my name, do you? You’ve never even called it.”
Aska closed his mouth, unable to refute my words.