The Mad Tyrant Is Obsessed With Bread

Then, apparently deciding that wasn’t working, he suddenly grabbed the right sleeve of his black shirt with his teeth and shoved it roughly up his arm.

When the thick forearm that had been hidden under the tunic was exposed, Shiloh startled.

His forearm muscles were solidly developed, and through the loosely laced black shirt, the swell of his chest muscles was prominent.

The hand working the whisk was powerful yet smooth and precise.

Watching him, Shiloh felt color rise in her cheeks. She fanned her warm face and looked away.

‘He looks like he trains a lot. Is he a mercenary?’

Shiloh had seen quite a few mercenaries in Somnia, the capital of the Amondi Empire. She had read in the gossip column of a copy of the Imperial Gazette a customer had left behind that many of them had fleeting romances with the young women of the capital.

She was drifting into thought when,

“Your face……”

“Yes?”

“Chocolate.”

Kyle pointed to his own cheek and said it flatly.

Shiloh’s eyes went wide and she hurried out of the kitchen.

“I’ll just go upstairs and check the mirror!”

Shiloh rushed up to the attic.

When she saw herself in the mirror, her mouth fell open.

There was chocolate smeared under her nose like a mustache.

Shiloh pulled a handkerchief from the cabinet and scrubbed the chocolate off with a mortified expression.

“How ridiculous must I have looked.”

She bit her lip, smoothed her hair in front of the mirror, then left the attic and came carefully down the stairs.

She was stepping into the kitchen with a burning face when she saw it.

Kyle had opened the stopper on the glass vial containing the pabua powder and was smelling it.

Only then did she remember she had left the pabua out while baking.

‘What was I thinking.’

Kyle was tilting his head with a narrowed brow, sniffing at it, when—

“What are you doing right now?”

Crash.

Startled by Shiloh’s voice, Kyle dropped the glass vial.

Shards of glass and glittering powder scattered across the stone floor.

“……”

Shiloh glared at him.

“Why are you touching things without permission?”

“I apologize. It was glittering and I thought it might be some kind of spice…… I’ll pay ten times the value. How much is it?”

Kyle immediately pulled out a jingling coin pouch from his tunic.

“……”

Shiloh let out a hollow laugh.

A mercenary’s salary must be good…… does he think money solves everything……

“You don’t need to pay.”

Shiloh pushed down the rising anger and sighed.

It wasn’t something that could be bought with money anyway.

“I made the mistake, so I should compensate.”

“Fortunately there’s still plenty left. I use it in small portions.”

“……”

Kyle twisted his lips as Shiloh looked at him sharply and asked.

“You didn’t tell me about the chocolate on my face just to rummage through my kitchen, did you?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Shiloh felt her breath catch at the heat in Kyle’s gaze.

His expression was completely guileless.

‘Was I being too sensitive?’

She felt embarrassed, thinking she had overreacted. He had simply noticed the chocolate on her face and told her. This was probably the first time he had ever been inside a shop kitchen like this. He had tried to help because her work looked hard, and the accident had happened from that.

‘There were baking ingredients spread out everywhere, so the glittering powder must have caught his curiosity.’

His manner was a little cold and his way of speaking a little blunt, but he didn’t seem to have a bad heart.

What was certain was that leaving an important ingredient out unguarded was her own carelessness.

“I’m sorry. I’m a bit sensitive about other people coming into the kitchen. The cream turned out beautifully. Thank you.”

“The compensation?”

“You really don’t have to! Please sit out there and I’ll have it ready for you right away. Come on out.”

An awkward tension settled between them.

Pushed out of the kitchen, Kyle had no choice but to sit in the shop chair, rubbing his face and sighing.

Shiloh, left in the kitchen, added fresh cream to the boiling sugar syrup in several stages and stirred slowly with a spatula. The pale brown foam gradually subsided and transformed into a thin, caramel-colored sauce.

As the sweet smell of caramel spread through the air, she felt Kyle’s gaze on her through the slightly open kitchen door.

Shiloh filled the finished tart shells with sliced banana, drizzled the freshly made caramel sauce into every gap, and piled on the fresh cream with casual generosity.

His gaze, pretending not to look while watching her from the corner of his eye, kept pulling at her attention.

‘He only smelled it a little. Was I too harsh earlier?’

She added the final touch of flat chocolate shavings and placed the banana caramel cake in a box.

“It’s ready. One silver and fifty bronze. Have a lovely day.”

Shiloh took the payment, handed over the cake with a professional smile, and was about to turn away when—

“Wait.”

Kyle grabbed Shiloh’s slender wrist roughly.

Shiloh stumbled and her eyes went wide.

“What are you doing?”

Kyle, who stood a full head above her, narrowed his eyes down at her.

“Your baker’s license. Have you obtained it?”

“……”

The pulse in the wrist he held beat against his fingers.

“It would be better for you to be honest.”

His sharp gaze pressed on her chest.

She recalled how he had kept asking about the license, and the way he had touched the baking ingredients.

‘Could this be…… blackmail for the reward money?’

As the pieces fell into place, her whole body began to tremble.

“I told you I have a license.”

Shiloh glared at him, but cold sweat ran down her back.

‘I only needed to hold on for half a year to pay off the loan.’

The glare lasted only a moment before Shiloh’s eyes shifted and she looked away.

“Why do you look anxious?”

Kyle studied her with narrowed eyes.

“W, what’s there to be anxious about?”

Shiloh snapped and pulled her hand free, stepping back.

But Kyle closed the distance again immediately.

“I’m saying I’ll help.”

Shiloh’s blue eyes wavered at his blunt words.

“I’ll arrange for an official baker’s license to be issued to you.”

Shiloh lifted her downcast eyes to look at him.

“What do you do?”

Shiloh asked in a voice pulled taut.

Kyle answered in a low, even tone.

“Imperial physician.”

A physician?

Shiloh’s eyebrows rose.

With that imposing, solid build, he was clearly a wandering mercenary.

‘There’s no rule that says a physician can’t have muscles…… but he’s also quite young……’

No matter how she looked at him, he didn’t give off any sense of the imperial palace.

“Here’s proof.”

“……”

Shiloh stared hard at what Kyle pulled from his pocket, and her lips parted.

It was an imperial palace identification card, stamped clearly with the eagle emblem of the imperial seal.

It looked worn, as though it had passed through many hands.

‘He did have an air of refinement……’

Shiloh was drifting in thought when her eyes suddenly flew open.

An imperial physician would have wide connections among the palace officials.

‘Is he saying he’ll pay someone in charge of baker licensing at the palace to issue her a license?’

Shiloh pressed her trembling hand over her open mouth.

If he made contact with the official in charge of bakers, confirming that she had no official license would be trivial.

In the end, Shiloh lowered her head.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to lie…… I was just so flustered.”

Kyle looked down at her as she confessed in a small, shrinking voice.

“……”

When Shiloh’s reddened face crumpled into a near-tearful expression, Kyle let out a short, hollow laugh.

“It wasn’t on purpose. I’m new to this side of things and I didn’t know the law.”

“……”

“You’re not going to report me…… are you?”

She looked up at him with eyes like a puppy’s.

“Please. I’m begging you.”

He finally spoke.

“I won’t report you.”

“Thank you.”

“……”

“How much should I give you? The shop hasn’t been open long, and I think I can pay off the loan in about half a year, but I don’t have much to spare right now……”

“That’s not necessary.”

Kyle replied in a dry tone to her desperate voice.

“Pardon?”

Shiloh looked up at him with wide eyes.

There was no trace of any ulterior motive on Kyle’s expressionless face.

“You must want something.”

“……”

Her words came faster as she grew more anxious.

“Just name your price. I still have the loan to pay off, so if you give me a little time……”

Watching her clasped hands tremble as if in prayer, Kyle’s lips moved without sound.

Kyle drew in a slow, steady breath.

“How much is the interest on the loan?”