Elena walked the floors of a long hall inside what had turned out to be the Royal Palace of the country of Luzterna. To her left, paintings of gorgeous women hung by the walls. To her right, large windows delivered a view into the Royal Family’s vast gardens, as well as the profile of the knight currently walking beside her.

A man of many achievements, as indicated by all the medals decorating his uniform, but of scarce words. Thales silently walked, his hand always hovering over his scabbard.

“So, where are we going, exactly? I can’t walk for very long in heels, you know?”

Her words were an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, but instead they only served to make the return to silence even more discomforting. Thales simply gave her a stern look, his eyes shifting to the left but the rest of his head still facing forward.

They traded looks for but a second, but it was enough to send Elena through a mixture of emotions. She put out a timid laugh and then immediately gulped. She’d spoken out of turn, and now had to breathe the awkward air. At the same time, there was something admittedly attractive about the man’s towering presence. His high stature and firm posture carried across his role as a knight, and the presence of faint battle scars showed his experience in battle. Then, his white hair combined with the occasional wrinkle to give the impression of…

He’s a daddy she thought, without even a sliver of shame.

Eventually, Thales opened a door for Elena. It gave way to a room with a large table in the center, chairs right by it. A tall, lit-up chimney was present, as well as another one of those really large chandeliers. A green carpet gave color to the ground, while yellow paint did the same to the walls.

Thales pulled the nearest chair. “His Highness will arrive soon. Sit and await him here.”

There was no please or other form of sweetener for his words. Thales phrased his words like an order. Even for such mundane matters as this, his behavior remained that of a Captain.

“T—Thank you.”

Elena lowered her rear to sit while inspecting the contents of the table. Before her butt could even touch the chair, she’d already begun salivating. A cavalcade of sweets, from chocolates to pastries, lay on the table, tempting her to eat them. Her eyes gravitated toward slices of cake with both Strawberries and slices of Pineapple on top, instantly bringing back memories of her aunt and the delicious cakes she used to bake.

As if possessed, Elena instinctively began reaching for a slice. However, her brain then immediately started pressing the brakes. She swiftly pulled back her arm, and simply sat there, her mind fully active and her body devoid of action.

On second thought, maybe it was better not to eat anything.

Besides, this entire meal felt too extravagant for her.

Is this just an average tea time for people here?

Tea was indeed served as well. In the center of the table, there was a tray with a circle of teacups, each made of fine porcelain. There was one missing, however. Namely, the one right across from the nearest to Elena.

It wasn’t actually missing, of course. It was in the air, held by slim fingers and on the receiving end of a form of kiss, bright red lips taking a long zip out of it.

Only just now had Elena’d noticed that the food wasn’t her only company. Sitting in parallel to her was a lady of crimson hair, its length enough to cover both her entire back and a bit of her eyes. What it couldn’t cover was the brief, intense stare she briefly gave Elena, before closing her eyes and taking another zip of tea.

“Umm, hello?” Elena waved her hand nervously.

The woman opened her eyes, the same intense glare striking at Elena, who was now visibly shaking in her chair. She now placed the teacup down, gently as if laying a baby to bed, and grabbed a bite of a nearby muffin.

Elena simply stared with awe. This lady’s movements seemed calculated, choreographed even. As she bit into the muffin, no crumbs fell onto the table nor to the floor, and what few remained on her face were cleanly and efficiently cleaned up with a napkin. The delicacy with which she performed every action was unlike that of a human, akin more to that of a Barbie doll. It was certainly unlike that of Elena, who was a complete monster when it came to munching down food.

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All this time, it appeared the woman was either unaware of or indifferent to Elena’s presence. It would eventually prove to be the latter.

“Are you going to eat something?” the woman said out of the blue.

Startled, Elena felt her throat clog up. “Umm, no, I think I’ll pass,” she answered, twiddling her forefingers. “Don’t worry about leaving anything for me.”

“Are you implying I’d be such a pig as to eat all of this by myself?”

“Nonononono,” Elena replied, shaking her head rapidly, her sweat flying through the air. She was attempting to be courteous, yet it seemed her statement had been interpreted in the worst way possible.

“Maybe filthy commoners like yourself could fill your bellies with so much sugar, but a lovely maiden like myself must make sure to maintain their lovely figure,” she said, then bit into another muffin.

Elena twisted her mouth at what she heard. She didn’t know the exact details of this world’s society, but odds were that a commoner couldn’t afford such an extravagant banquet very often, if at all.

Then again, she did bring up a good point. It was probably a good idea to not eat much. This body was borrowed, and it’d be unfair to its original owner to tarnish it with fat. Besides, it was fun to have a thin body for once, and she was somehow not particularly hungry, despite having gone days without eating.

After she herself was done with eating, the woman raised her chin, and with a smirk said, “Hmph, do my words possess such bite as to leave you both without hunger and without speech?”

“Huh?” Elena blurted out.

“Eat already. It is disrespectful of you to stand in the presence of none other than Annalise Dermak and make me look like a cow with an unstoppable hunger.” As she finished saying that, she swiped a slice of cake. Despite her previous remarks, she carried on eating without anything resembling self-control.

From her prim dress, to her golden earrings and necklaces, Annalise reeked of wealth and privilege. It was to be expected for her to display behaviors that were alien to a commoner, yet common sense in the alien world of the rich. Hence, why she’d be offended by Elena’s inaction. To one shaped by a world where your appearance defines you, it was a sin to give the impression of being a gluttonous hawk.

Elena remained silent and motionless, and for that was met with a glare so bitter as to zap the energy out of her.

“Oh, my bad,” she muttered.

Maybe it was for the better to play along with the whims of the wealthy. She bit her lower lip, before reaching for a slice of the same cake. Unlike Annalise, her arm’s movement was slow, drenched in hesitation.

In truth, all along, there was a wall, a great force that’d prevented her from eating anything, so subtle it lacked a physical form, yet so firmly present that she had no option but to acknowledge its presence.

The pastry slowly approached Elena’s mouth, vibrating along the way, the strawberry nearly slipping off. Her eyes identified its taste as likely to be a delight, yet her stomach groaned all the same.

This contradiction was one born of her mind. During her last few years on Earth, she’d been unable to enjoy sweet things. Not for dislike of their taste, nor out of any specific medical concern. No, her palate had simply unlearned how to perceive their taste. The sugar seemingly vanished the moment it hit her mouth, instead her body experiencing an overwhelmingly sour sense of emptiness.

A gluttonous slayer of candy as a child, adolescence had ripped from Elena a pleasure she’d once enjoyed. Simply glancing at the table full of pastries was enough to perturb her.

“So, what are you waiting for?” Annalise remarked smugly, her index finger on her chin. “Are you so inept as to not know how to eat?”

Ever since she arrived in this world, she’d failed every trial she had to overcome. The ruffians shot her, the deathly Kabeasts pushed her into the cold waters. To add something as mundane as eating a slice of cake to such a list would be embarrassing.

So, she took a deep breath, and let her mouth open, the cream topping dancing with her tongue.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up, at the same time the slice slid down her neck

Annalise tilted her head, as Elena looked as if she’d found a diamond.

“It’s so good.” She exclaimed. She took another bite, this time with no hesitation, then repeated, “It’s so, so good.” She then continued munching down on the piece of cake at the pace of a hungry pig. Before long, she’d swallowed it whole.

Annalise looked in disgust. The girl that before had shown restraint even to breathe had now morphed into a vicarious beast, devouring biscuit after biscuit with reckless abandon, stuffing one after another in her mouth like they were nothing.

Tiny tears began forming in Elena’s eyes. “It’s been… so long.”

Though her thoughts may be her own, her brain was nonetheless not hers. It had not yet been tainted with worries and anxieties, and thus, its reaction to glucose remained a normal one.

Elena caressed her own shoulders with a warm smile, undisturbed by Annalise’s increasingly condescending glare.

Thank you, new body.

What this world had in store for her future, she didn’t know. Maybe she’d die again. Maybe she’d face many great injustices. Maybe she’d have her heart shattered into a million pieces.

But at least this moment, she wanted to savor.

—At least for this moment, she was living a fantasy.