The Devil’s Cage

Having sorted his emotions together, Duke Eldar had been ready to tell Kieran everything, but he almost choked when Kieran gave him his direct reply.

Cough, Cough

The elderly duke coughed multiple times and tried extremely hard to get his emotions back in check before sizing up the young man before his eyes with a judgemental gaze.

There was a mature temperament that covered his youthful face. His words and actions were habitually stiff, and even his back was as straight as a pole when he sat down.

If Eldar hadn’t taken a precise look at Kieran’s face and had only looked at Kieran’s back, he might have taken him for a well-educated, law-abiding, middle-aged man.

However, the young man before him had restraints that a middle-aged man was lacking in.

Just look at the room.

Any young man with sufficient financial power would have preferred to live in something more extravagant than this plain, simple room, let alone those well-educated bastards.

Those nobles flaunted themselves as kind and humble during normal times, but the arrogance that was hidden in their eyes was natural-born. Besides that, their arrogance would seep into many aspects of their lives, creating a drastic contrast from a normal person; they would also unconsciously seize the chance to set off their own outstanding features.

Eldar had seen a lot of these hypocrites throughout his life.

Kieran?

He savoured bitterness like malt sugar without the slightest complaint.

Eldar looked at Kieran’s calm, dull features with his stern gaze and couldn’t hold back his sigh when he once again thought of Kieran’s powers.

He had heard of his powerful abilities and also witnessed them first hand before.

A man that rivaled an entire army!

Standing alone on the battlefield and frightening an entire army, it wasn’t a feat achievable by any John Doe.

“You are different from the common person. Whether it is your peers or your elders, you are really different from them all. The way you think, the way you do things. You have your own rules that you play by… You must have been through something in the past, otherwise, you wouldn’t have emerged as the person you are now. I am quite curious about the things you experienced, though I can bet that you won’t even spill a word to me.” Eldar sighed once more.

Kieran didn’t even care about what he said.

What Eldar thought of Kieran was exactly the same as what everyone else thought of Kieran and wondered about. It was complete nonsense.

Rather than continuing to think about such nonsense, Kieran might as well think about what kind of supper Mary was preparing for him. It was much more interesting anyway, so Kieran did just that.

Sitting there, his eyes started to drift away. The tip of his nose sniffed ceaselessly.

Kieran hoped to use his powerful Intuition to pick up the scent of food.

The elderly duke was stunned once again when he saw Kieran’s little movements.

He didn’t know what Kieran was doing, but it didn’t stop him from continuing his speech.

“At first, I still had scruples about telling you this secret, but judging from your multiple performances, I know that I am just overthinking. You…”

“Add more water when you are preparing stew meat. Increase the fire as well.”

Kieran’s sudden words stopped Eldar’s confession.

Even an idiot would know what his words were meant for, and it allowed the elderly duke to finally understand what Kieran was doing.

“Food is incomparable to the secret that I am about to tell you,” Eldar said with a serious look.

“What you are going to tell me is truly incomparable to food,” Kieran also replied seriously.

Kieran then turned around and looked at the elderly man.

He knew that if he didn’t say it straight, he would have to face endless nagging from the elderly man when he went to go have his supper later.

For the sake of having an undisturbed supper time, he said, “Thank you for your trust in me, but I really don’t want to know about the secret of King James VIII. He still has a daughter, who is also my friend. I am very open to helping my friend and I don’t think this secret of yours should skip past her,” Kieran said in a solemn tone, which shook Eldar once again.

“Is this the reason why you rejected me? Because I came to you instead of Mary?” Eldar asked with an inconceivable look.

“Yes. Mary is my friend, therefore, some respect should be shown to a reasonable extent. She has more right to know than me.” Kieran nodded.

“But you are more qualified to bear this than her.” Eldar frowned.

“Qualifications aren’t determined by one’s words. It exists as it is, and it will never surpass the name, bloodline and will to inherit,” said Kieran before standing up and opening the door.

“Mary will soon be bringing over my supper, so choose: leave now or find another appropriate time in telling her the secret. By appropriate, I don’t mean during my supper time,” Kieran emphasized.

“You are really an eccentric one.” The elderly duke shook his head with a bitter smile before walking out the door.

Two minutes after Eldar left, Mary appeared with a tray. The aromatic scent of food on her made Kieran approach her unconsciously. He breathed deeply.

“Beef, pork chops, asparagus lettuce and corn,” said Kieran with his eyes squinted, his face looking strangely pleased.

“Oxtail stew, roasted pork chop, corn and asparagus lettuce soup.”

Marry blushed when Kieran got close to her and quickly placed the food on the only table in the room as if she were offering her treasure.

Kieran wasn’t the least bit courteous, or rather, he never knew how to be courteous when in the face of food.

During battles, Kieran preferred offense over passive defense. Similarly, during a meal, he emanated that invading presence.

It was part of his own, part of Gluttony’s effect.

Five minutes!

The food that was enough to feed three people was devoured into nothingness within that time.

“Much better than I was expecting. I didn’t know you could cook so well,” Kieran said with slight surprise.

“As the heir of Swurster Castle, I had to learn not only martial arts but cooking as well.”

Mary tidied up the dinnerware and winked at Kieran before returning to the kitchen happily.

A princess entering the kitchen was surprising enough, let alone washing the dishes, but for Swurster Castle’s heir, it was nothing short of a common occurrence.

Kieran smiled as he saw Mary take her leave but he quickly turned away when he heard footsteps.

The elderly duke had appeared again after the meal.

He stood in front of the opened doors, knocked, and said with a smile, “Good evening again, Sir 2567.”

“I thought I made myself clear.” Kieran frowned.

He didn’t want to tangle with the duke anymore; he had no time for that.

“Assuring Mary Ascends To The Throne In 30 Days”, it wasn’t all just sitting back and watching, efforts had to be poured in, too.

“Yes, yes, you made it clear enough. As gratitude from before, I want to tell you another secret that is related to you. It’s about the Viper Sect,” said the elderly duke before entering.

The door closed behind him.