I Thought I Healed the Villain's Sickly Younger Brother - Chapter 22

“Then, once the dress is completed, we’ll send it to the Hartez mansion.”

Elpine bowed while maintaining her professional smile.

Judging by her barely concealed excited voice, she seemed to be in an excellent mood.

In contrast, Merrien’s expression had become visibly weary.

Though her hands were empty, her expression resembled someone who had spent hours shopping at a department store trying on dozens of outfits.

Just leaving the salon, she carefully drew close to Ariel, worried the salon staff lined up behind might overhear.

“…Haven’t we ordered too much?”

“That’s nothing new. We’ve ordered less than what’s already in your dressing room.”

“No, that’s different…”

Merrien absently scratched the back of her head.

She thought they were only buying formal dresses, but whenever she muttered ‘pretty’ or made an appreciative ‘oh’ sound, or even if she looked at a dress for slightly too long, Ariel would repeat “Let’s order this too.”

Like a broken machine or a parrot.

“…Are you crazy?!”

She had been holding back out of consideration for his public image. In the end, even slapping his back while Elpine was briefly away didn’t help stop him.

Her firm stance on buying just one formal dress now seemed meaningless.

And to make matters worse, even the butler processed the payments as if it were perfectly normal.

“You hardly go out anyway. You probably can’t because of your condition. Almost everything we bought today was for going out.”

“Oh, so you’re planning to go out with me? How touching.”

Was that the right expression for someone who’s supposed to be worried?

Instead, he smiled brightly at Merrien who was still closely attached to him, looking up. He was being absolutely insufferable.

“Ugh, forget it.”

Trying to persuade him would only be her loss.

The more she talks, the more she feels like she is losing her mind! Merrien gave up on the conversation and glanced at the empty space.

[Healing Amount 4400/10000]

It was something she had been deliberately avoiding looking at for a while.

Seeing the healing amount that had already filled almost half made her future return to reality feel suddenly more tangible.

She didn’t want to leave more of her belongings here for fear of developing attachments.

“….”

Yet she didn’t want to particularly discuss this with Ariel either. Though he probably knew roughly about it since she had already mentioned it when she didn’t know Whitey was Ariel.

‘My mouth runs ahead of me.’

The topic that had started with ‘Is the Duke of Hartez’s extravagance okay like this?’ somehow ended with Merrien’s reality check.

She trudged toward the carriage.

As she turned her head to the side while receiving Ariel’s escort just like when they arrived.

“…Huh?”

[Flan Pudding Shop]

Merrien stopped abruptly with one foot on the carriage step, spotting a sign nearby.

“Merri, what’s wrong?”

Ariel immediately sensed something was off when the hand resting on his paused.

He turned his head following Merrien’s gaze, which seemed almost entranced.

A pudding shop with a neat mint-colored background and white gazebo lettering.

The ‘OPEN’ sign below looked new, suggesting the shop had recently opened.

Merrien’s eyes lit up at the sight of various puddings displayed through the shop’s transparent window.

If you’re talking about romance fantasy novels, noble desserts must include pudding, right?

She gently lowered her foot from the step and naturally walked toward the pudding shop.

Her previously sluggish steps suddenly gained energy.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve never had pudding at the Hartez mansion.’

Though she had tasted many expensive desserts, pudding had never once appeared on the table. Yes, that’s strange.

Ariel stayed close to Merrien as she headed toward the shop, truly seeming enchanted and not even answering his question.

“Pudding?”

“Yes. Don’t you know what it is?”

Merrien whipped her head around at his tone, which suggested unfamiliarity.

Ariel slowly examined the display case reflected in the window before opening his mouth with an “Ah.”

“Recently, that damn Second Prince… His Highness brought in cultural items from the Kasis Kingdom, and I believe pudding was one of those desserts.”

‘I thought I heard the word ‘damn,’ but that must be my imagination.’

Merrien forcefully ignored the word that had caught her ear.

So that’s why she hadn’t had pudding until now – it didn’t exist in the Empire!

Merrien’s eyes sparkled as she grabbed Ariel’s collar.

Though she had been hesitating until then, she now headed toward the shop with newfound momentum.

“Let’s go!”

Ariel gave an odd look at his collar that Merrien had voluntarily grabbed, then let himself be led into the shop.

“Welcome to Flan Pudding Shop!”

Ding-.

The door opened with a cheerful bell sound. The owner greeted them brightly in sync.

Perhaps because it was a newly opened shop with an unfamiliar dessert, the interior was unusually quiet despite its size.

The only customers were Merrien and Ariel who had just entered.

Merrien naturally approached the display case and was immediately entranced.

“Wow…”

Banana pudding, chocolate pudding, caramel milk pudding…. That’s enough, no need to look further. Her steps toward the counter were light.

“Would you like to order?”

“I’d like one of each type of pudding, please.”

“Pardon?”

The surprised owner asked again but quickly realized from their unusual aura. Ah, these must be noble guests!

“Yes, yes! I’ll prepare them right away!”

The newly opened Flan Pudding Shop had been quiet with no customers.

If some noble were to buy every pudding in the display case at such a time?

Whoever that noble might be, it would certainly spread rumors.

While the owner prepared the puddings with a beaming expression, Ariel was having a staring contest with the puddings in the display case.

“Merri, look at this pudding.”

“Hm?”

Merrien, who had gotten excited along with him, approached at his call. Ariel pointed to one pudding with his chin propped up, wearing a serious expression.

What he pointed to was a pink rabbit-shaped pudding topped with plenty of strawberries.

“It looks exactly like you.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Stop saying weird things.

“Just wait and see.”

Merrien, who had furrowed one eyebrow in real-time, scanned the display case with burning eyes.

Though it was just silly teasing, when she suddenly became serious about it, even Ariel anxiously waited for her choice.

When her gaze passed over a black pudding, Ariel’s eyes turned cold as if he wanted to crush it. Fortunately, Merrien didn’t choose that one.

Finally, her index finger stretched out confidently to point at one pudding.

“Then you look exactly like this pudding!”

It was a blue pudding that looked like a lake, decorated with cotton candy to resemble clouds.

“…”

When a completely unexpected pudding was pointed out, Ariel froze for a moment.

He had thought she might choose something thinking of his black hair and was having belated regrets about changing his hair color.

That brief moment of Merrien choosing a pudding that resembled him felt like an eternity to Ariel.

And when she finally pointed to the blue pudding that matched his eyes, time seemed to stop.

‘…Did I take this too seriously?’

Merrien hadn’t expected this kind of reaction either.

“Ahem, ahem…!”

Merrien cleared her throat and completely avoided his gaze, making the atmosphere between them awkward.

“Here are the puddings you ordered!”

Fortunately, the oblivious owner’s voice broke through the heavy atmosphere in an instant.

The smiling owner presented a tray piled high with nearly fifteen puddings to the two of them.

Merrien reached out to take the tray, but Ariel snatched it first.

“You’re not well, remember!”

Ariel silently brushed past Merrien and headed toward the terrace overlooking outside.

“You never listen, seriously.”

Merrien grumbled but followed him, relieved that the awkward atmosphere had changed.

Ariel, who had gone to the terrace first, was able to hide his reddened ears thanks to the bright sunlight.