“…What’s going on here? Roselia?”
Barely two seconds after Morris had picked up his plate to start eating, a rather sour-toned voice from Elvira echoed at the doorway.
But this voice didn’t make Morris feel uneasy.
On the contrary, he actually let out a sigh of relief.
Because if he’d really been exposed, Elvira’s voice wouldn’t just sound annoyed—she’d be outright furious.
So, her bad mood clearly came from something else, and as for what that might be, Morris neither knew nor cared.
“…Didn’t I tell you to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn’t eat before I got back? How is it he’s already stuffing his face?”
And Elvira’s next words confirmed Morris’s guess.
When Elvira pushed open the door, what she saw was none other than Morris sitting in front of the sofa, devouring his food with gusto.
Standing helplessly at the side was Roselia, her secretary, who’d been ordered to make sure Morris didn’t eat before Elvira returned.
“I did try to dissuade Lord Morris, but he just wouldn’t listen. He said even if you were going to punish him later, he was determined to eat today.”
Since Elvira hadn’t walked in on anything intimate between her and Morris, Roselia smoothly switched back to her gentle big-sister persona—the face she showed to everyone except Morris.
She looked at the moody Elvira with a trace of guilt, resignation, and obedient submission. Her voice, compared to when she spoke to Morris, was like a completely different person—so humble and soft.
With that troubled and powerless expression, she shoved all the blame onto Morris, neatly absolving herself of any fault.
This made Morris, who was trying to hide his embarrassment by focusing on eating, secretly curse at having been set up.
So, it turned out he really wasn’t supposed to eat right away, and yet this wicked woman had told him to eat—what’s more, to keep him from getting suspicious about the meal, she’d distracted him, then naturally told him to dig in.
She’d counted on Morris not being able to reveal the truth to Elvira, leaving him no choice but to swallow the loss in silence.
At this moment, Morris once again realized just how cunning and devious Roselia was.
If the standard for a bad woman was being willful and cruel, then Elvira was undoubtedly the pinnacle of bad women.
But if you judged by cunning and slyness, Roselia, his subordinate, clearly surpassed even her superior.
“Oh? So, even knowing you’ll be punished, you just had to eat first, huh, Morris? Were you that hungry?”
Thanks to the performances of both parties, Elvira didn’t notice anything amiss.
After hearing Roselia’s explanation, she set aside her annoyance and, with a rather suggestive tone, teased Morris.
“…If you want to know how I feel, why don’t you try going hungry for two days, Elvira?”
At this point, Morris realized that even though he’d been played by Roselia, all he could do was play along.
So, instead of replying in haste, he finished the last piece of meat on his plate, then set the plate down and looked squarely at the haughty queen who didn’t even know her subordinate had snuck food.
His face all but said: ‘Why ask such a stupid question? If you went hungry for two days, you wouldn’t care about anything else, either.’
“Mmm, well said. Actually, I wouldn’t mind trying it myself—except someone always nags me if I skip a meal. But if I ended up as a prisoner, I guess I’d have no choice but to experience it. Morris, why don’t you let me see what being a captive feels like? I’d like to go hungry just once.”
As the victor, Elvira wasn’t the least bit angered by Morris talking back.
She simply strode gracefully over, a smile full of provocation and mischief playing on her lips as she approached him.
That proud, confident, and ever-so-annoying smirk—by now, Morris was long used to it.
“Hmph, don’t be too sure of yourself. If you ever really end up a prisoner and starve, don’t go cursing up a storm. I hope you can keep up that elegant attitude then.”
Given his current position, it was highly unlikely Morris would ever capture Elvira.
But then he thought about Dorinnia, the spy from a third country who’d managed to become the captain of the royal guard—maybe Elvira ending up a captive wasn’t completely impossible after all.
So, he met Elvira’s mocking, beautiful gaze head-on and, as a paladin, offered a warning to the witch who called herself queen.
“Oh my, is that so? How frightening.”
Clearly, the Witch Queen didn’t take it to heart. To her, Morris’s warning was just stubborn bluster, nothing more.
She brushed him off with the indulgent tone of an adult humoring a child, her confident smile unchanged.
Honestly, she was the strongest witch, commanding thousands upon thousands of elite soldiers, with three absolutely loyal confidants by her side—how could she ever be taken prisoner?
That possibility was about as likely as suddenly having a twin sister with the complete opposite personality show up and try to steal her throne—utterly impossible.
Rather than waste time on such nonsense, what Elvira wanted most right now was to “eat.”
“Oh, right. Roselia, you may leave now. I need to properly ask this man how it feels to sneak food behind my back.”
Not caring at all about Morris’s warning, Elvira simply smiled and casually ordered the politely-smiling head maid to withdraw.
It would have been a perfectly normal command—if only Elvira hadn’t used the words “sneak food.”
At that, both Roselia and Morris tensed up.
Even though they both knew Elvira well enough to realize she’d probably just said it without thinking, given their situation, it was impossible not to feel a bit sensitive.
Especially Roselia, who was under Elvira’s gaze; at the word “sneak food,” her body noticeably stiffened.
If Elvira were in a bad mood or feeling like a loser, she definitely wouldn’t let such a detail slip by.
But since she was still in her triumphant, proud phase, she paid no attention to her subordinate’s odd reaction—her mind was already busy plotting all the creative ways to “dine.”
“Yes, Lady Elvira. Please enjoy your meal.”
But Roselia wasn’t an ordinary person, either. She quickly covered up the slip, offered the queen a polite curtsy with a smile, and left the room without even glancing at Morris.
In no time, only Morris and Elvira were left in the room.
“Wait a minute—Elvira, weren’t you going to ask me how the food tasted? What’s with ‘please enjoy your meal’?”
Even though he’d guessed what would come next, Morris still feigned ignorance, shooting Elvira a wary, hostile look.
“Hmm? Just what it sounds like. I wanted to eat with you, but you already finished off my share. So, I’ll just have to eat you, right? What’s the problem with that?”
At Morris’s words, Elvira, having just seen her subordinate out, turned to face him again.
Only now, compared to her previous confidence and pride, her gaze had grown more seductive and hungry, a flush of anticipation coloring her cheeks.
Morris, for his part, frowned like he was facing a dire threat—but inside, he wasn’t actually all that opposed.
After all, Roselia’s teasing earlier had left him uncomfortably wound up.
Since Her Majesty was so eager—he might as well let her “eat.”
After all, there was no way he’d come out the loser this time, either.