Have This Instead

Episode 11

“Trapped!”

Premier Erikson could not suppress a lament, finally grasping the true nature of the ominous premonition.

So, this was it. From the very beginning, the Minister had been aiming for this.

The persistent rumors of his failing health, a calculated gambit to incite the anti-aristocratic faction into action.

Even the Information Bureau had been deliberately ordered to deny the rumors, lest suspicion be aroused, effectively blocking any scrutiny or doubt.

All of it, to completely shatter the might of their, the anti-aristocratic faction.

‘Just how meticulously thorough does he have to be…!’

The Minister, facing the Emperor, looked anything but ailing.

Deceived. The system, the Empire, the world, deceived.

The Minister was hale and hearty.

“So, Minister Barmut, what brings you to the Imperial Council? Did you perhaps have something you wished to say to me?”

Premier Erikson gritted his teeth. The Emperor knew everything, was deliberately feigning ignorance.

A surge of anger flared, but the Minister’s subsequent words were even more audacious.

“Ah, yes. Truth be told, my health has been failing, and I fear I must relinquish my post as Minister. *cough, cough*.”

Mockery.

This was mockery.

A blatant jeer, a derisive laugh directed at those who had been so thoroughly outwitted.

The Minister’s words and actions, seemingly delivered in jest, even elicited laughter from the aristocratic faction.

The Emperor, too, spoke with a face that seemed to struggle to suppress a smile.

“Denied.”

“Ah, so it is not permitted?”

“Indeed, it is not.”

“You are too cruel.”

“Not as much as you.”

Such familiar conversation, unimaginable between those bound by the ties of sovereign and subject.

It drew gazes of both envy and resentment, not only from the aristocratic faction but even from the anti-aristocrats.

“Understood. Then, I shall take my leave and return to my duties.”

“Fare well, and work hard.”

As if his business were concluded, the Minister abruptly turned and exited the audience chamber.

The nobles watched his departing figure, their eyes filled with a profound reverence.

The anti-aristocrats watched on, their faces etched with bottomless dread.

The Emperor, with unwavering trust, followed him until the very end.

Until his form dissolved from view.

—

It won’t do. I thought it might.

Though, if I could retire just by being a little sick, I wouldn’t be going through all this hell in the first place.

Back in the minister’s office, Celine, who was working, cocked her head and asked,

“Didn’t you say you were going to the restroom?”

“I did.”

“Did you go to the restroom?”

“No.”

“Then where did you go?”

“The audience chamber.”

“…To His Majesty? Why suddenly…? Besides, isn’t it in the middle of the imperial council meeting right now?”

Damn. I’m the minister and she’s the secretary, but she knows better than I do.

“I went to tell him I was quitting as minister.”

“Ah. What did His Majesty say?”

“He said no.”

“Of course he did.”

Celine, her face expressionless as if she hadn’t expected anything else, went back to her work.

I also sat down and haphazardly stamped the reports that had come in, and about an hour passed like that.

“Minister.”

Celine, having risen from her seat, approached me and poked my shoulder with her finger.

What’s this? An attack?

“It’s lunchtime.”

Already? Oh, it really is 12 o’clock.

“I’ll grab something.”

I don’t know how Celine usually deals with lunch, but in my case, I usually made do with bread and dried meat brought from home.

So, I was about to take out what I had packed when I came to work this morning, but Celine snatched my hand, which was reaching for my bag, and said,

“Don’t eat that.”

“So, they’re saying I should starve? Are they trying to say a useless fool doesn’t even have the right to eat? Denying me food is a violation of the Firmo Accords! I’ll protest!”

I couldn’t quite voice such a protest, just hesitated and mumbled, when Celine placed a small container on my desk.

“Please, have this.”

“What’s this?”

“A lunchbox.”

“Whose?”

“From the Minister.”

“Who made it?”

“I did.”

…Why?

“It would be troublesome if you were to collapse again.”

It wasn’t exactly that I collapsed from lack of food, but I was so clumsy that I must have appeared that way in Celine’s eyes.

I was a little flustered, but if she was offering, I should eat.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

Opening the lunchbox, I saw a colorful array of foods arranged appetizingly.

Even I, a complete ignoramus when it came to cooking, could tell that the meat and vegetable dishes were balanced perfectly.

It looks unbelievably delicious.

Is it really okay for me to eat this?

“…………”

Suddenly worried, I glanced sideways at Celine, only to find her staring intently at me.

She has eyes that look like she’ll kill me if I don’t eat.

Better eat then, since I’m scared.

“Hmm?”

Oh.

Wow.

This is an incredible flavor.

—

Celine braced her legs, exerting all her strength to keep from collapsing from the ecstasy.

‘The Minister said thank you to me! The Minister is eating the lunch I made! He’s chewing with such relish! The food I made is becoming the Minister’s blood and flesh!’

Even though she had recently come to realize her true feelings, the Minister being a god to Celine was no different than before.

Thus, from Celine’s perspective, it was as if a deity was savoring the offerings she, a believer, had presented right before her eyes.

Lost in the moment, Celine simply stood and watched.

When the last morsel of the side dish was scraped clean by the Minister, Celine’s happiness reached its zenith.

“Hmph. A good meal. But, are you not eating?”

“I-I will!”

Celine, startled by the Minister’s question as he contentedly sipped his tea after finishing his meal, rushed to her seat and took out her own lunchbox.

The contents were identical to the Minister’s.

The fact that she was eating the very same thing the Minister had eaten, even though she’d made it herself, served as the ultimate seasoning for Celine.

‘I’m eating the same food, in the same space, as the Minister. Could… could this mean we’re practically married…?’

No. Absolutely not.

Anyone would have said the same, but even so, it wouldn’t have diminished the feeling of fulfillment swelling within Celine’s heart.

The meal, spent filling her heart with a variety of satisfactions rather than savoring the taste, came to an end, and a teacup was placed before her.

“Minister…?”

“It’s hardly a substitute for your lunchbox, but I can at least offer you tea.”

“…Thank you.”

This was bad.

Celine truly believed this was terribly bad.

The pleasure chemicals flooding her brain were easily surpassing dangerous levels.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if she stripped naked and launched a full-frontal assault on the Minister.

The problem was, if that was the type of person it would work on, she would have already done it long ago.

Desperate to calm down, Celine ransacked her mind for something that could restore her composure.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, a subject to cool her head was quickly found.

“Minister, would it be alright if I asked you something?”

“What is it?”

What Celine had recalled was the portrait of a certain woman that Christina had found while cleaning the day the Minister collapsed.

She hadn’t asked about it at the time because the Minister’s condition wasn’t stable, but she could ask now.

…Or so she thought.

“I’d like to make the Minister’s lunchbox again tomorrow.”

In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to ask.

It was frightening.

To ask who she was.

The portrait was kept in a frame as if it were precious.

What if that woman was ‘special’ to the Minister?

If it were truly so.

‘Could I really endure it?’

Unable to give herself a definite answer to her own question, Celine fled from the inquiry, citing it wasn’t the right time.

“Tomorrow too?”

“Yes. Tomorrow, and the day after. Continuously, from now on.”

It was almost a plea. Even so, Celine didn’t care.

If it could alleviate her anxiety even a little, if she could maintain even a slender connection to the Minister, she would do more than plead, she would do anything.

Celine was even contemplating sitting down and weeping, clinging to his trouser leg if he said no, but the Minister, after a moment’s hesitation, nodded.

“I shall gratefully accept it.”

But feeling guilty about only receiving, the Minister offered to at least pay for the materials, and Celine’s mind raced.

Her eyes gleaming, she countered with a proposal of her own.

“The cost of materials isn’t necessary, but if you insist, please accompany me to the market.”

—

“These cursed b*stards just won’t quit…”

John sheathed his sword after cleaving through the last monster, surveying the surroundings.

This was a dungeon located near the village where Fairytale was manufactured, within the Empire.

Those who collaborated in the drug production had all been arrested by the Knights, and the assailants who fought the Intelligence agents had vanished since then.

However, recently, reports were coming in of unidentified monsters appearing in several dungeons close to the village.

Feeling uneasy, Owl came to investigate, and as expected, they were attacked by bizarre monsters he’d never seen before.

“This side’s clear, John.”

“Done here too.”

“But aside from being humanoid, there’s nothing particularly unique about them, right?”

“Yeah. Even their sizes seemed completely random.”

They were strange monsters in many ways, but monster research wasn’t their job anyway.

Owl’s mission was to determine if there was any connection between the new monsters and the third party the Intelligence Bureau was tracking.

Confirming his comrades were safe, John nodded, ordering the advance further into the dungeon.

If it were merely coincidence that we appeared at the same time, all the better. But if we were tied together by some other, unknown circumstance, then we absolutely had to ascertain it.

“Feels like we’re getting close to the innermost part…”

“Doesn’t seem like anything’s here, though?”

Just like Valdemar and Alexander said, it didn’t feel like anything was there.

Since confirmation was the goal, it would be alright to turn back now if there truly was nothing.

However, even after arriving at the innermost part, John, as if something was still nagging at him, continued to feel along the empty wall.

“John, doesn’t seem like there’s any hidden door or anything.”

The Owl members, having followed their leader and touched the wall for quite a while, concluded that there was definitely nothing there. But John was different.

“I almost hate to think it…”

With a face that showed both doubt and conviction, John told his companions to step back. Then, he swung his fist towards the spot where he’d sensed a strange unease ever since arriving at the innermost part.

That spot was none other than the very ground they were standing on.

With a single punch, the ground crumbled, and a cloud of dust billowed up.

And then they saw.

“…Holy shit.”

“…What is that?”

They were imprisoned in steel cages, buried alive, and none of the entities seemed to be living.

At first glance, they appeared to be the same monsters they’d been dealing with along the way.

But upon closer inspection, you could tell that they were different in some way.

Mixed together.

The appearance of a monster, with the features of a human.

“Not human-shaped monsters… but… were they human once?”

As the Owl members, in shock, tried to observe the corpses more closely, they simultaneously covered their noses and mouths with their hands.

Because a certain smell was emanating from the corpses.

“This smell… Fairy Tale…?”

What flashed through everyone’s minds at that moment was an impossible, an unforgivable possibility.

Having thought of the same thing, John told his companions to step back and let out a sigh.

“…Looks like I have another thing to report to the Director.”