The Supermarket System

"Sit down and relax, Duchess... here, have some of this to eat and drink; this is all we have in the pavilion, since you’ve ruined everything I own. Just relax for a while while you wait for the Duke and Keith."

Kai invited the woman to sit on his new sofa, offering her pastries he’d bought from a supermarket on Earth. Things like cheesecake, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cream puffs, and milk pie. All of them were the budget-friendly versions typically found in supermarkets. Though inexpensive, they still tasted good—not much different from what’s sold at bakeries. In fact, sometimes they tasted even better.

For drinks, Kai only gave the Duchess canned apple juice that he’d poured into a glass.

The spread, which Kai considered simple, actually looked luxurious to the Duchess as well as to Justine and Luca. Everything looked delicious and inviting, begging to be eaten right away.

However, of course, the woman was too proud to even take a bite. So, she said, "No need, I don’t know what you’ve put in that food. I can’t trust you."

Kai just gave a faint smile while sitting calmly. This made the Duchess furious, because she had never seen such a reaction before. Usually, Kaileon would get angry, cry, or tremble in fear.

Instead of being calm and smiling faintly like that. This made the woman suspicious of Kaileon.

Could it be that the boy had started to come to his senses and wanted to take Justine’s place as his father’s heir?

That must not happen.

Besides, why hasn’t Kaileon died yet? He’s still alive even though the Duchess has been poisoning his drinks all this time so he’d die slowly.

But now, out of nowhere, he’s healthy—in fact, much healthier than he should be. He even dared to take Keith as his servant, even though the Duchess had been eyeing Keith to be Justine’s companion.

"This is delicious! I love this!" Justine’s happy shout snapped the Duchess out of her reverie. The woman glared as she watched Justine, Luca, and Kaileon eat the treats Kaileon had prepared earlier.

"Why are you eating that? What if it’s poisoned?" the Duchess shouted. She was about to stop Justine from eating the cream puff, but she stopped when she heard the Duke and Keith approaching.

Since her mother’s attention was divided, Justine quickly broke free and sat down next to Kaileon.

"Mom, you said that you doesn’t want to eat it, then I’ll just eat it!" the child said.

Justine, who always acted like any other child, always made the Duchess furious. Especially seeing Kaileon’s new behavior, who was able to control his emotions well.

"I won’t eat it if there’s poison in my food," Kai said.

The Duchess, unable to speak harshly with the Duke present, could only remain silent and offer a fake smile.

"What are you talking about? I didn’t say there’s poison; I’m just on a diet," the Duchess said.

"You’re already beautiful—you don’t need to diet! Try eating this, Duchess!" Luca offered the woman brownies and cookies.

Reluctantly, the Duchess accepted the cookie, just so the Duke would think she cared for and valued Kaileon.

"So you’re here, Duchess," said Keith, greeting the woman politely.

Meanwhile, the Duke didn’t seem to care about the Duchess’s presence, as his attention immediately turned to Kaileon.

"We found a crack in the barrier behind the pavilion, but I’ve already fixed it—and even reinforced the barrier further. If you encounter any more monsters later, just let Keith or me know right away, because if you’re alone... um—but how did you manage to fight that stone bird earlier? It has hard feathers, which it usually uses as a shield," said the Duke.

Hearing that, the Duchess quietly bit her lower lip, looking anxious. Kaileon noticed it too, but he pretended not to know.

"It seems the head area, especially the back of the head, is somewhat soft. As it happened, my thrown stone hit the back of its head, and it fainted immediately. I used that opportunity to slaughter it. After I slaughtered it, I drained the blood, and only then did I pluck the feathers and cut the meat. I did it neatly, I think... and the meat is actually edible, right?"

They were all astonished by what Kaileon had just said. That boy, who was almost 14 years old, knew how to slaughter an animal properly; he also quickly identified the stone bird’s weak point. He even cut the bird up neatly, with no part damaged.

In fact, to slaughter and cut like that, it takes months of training.

But he was even doubting whether the bird was edible or not.

"Did you find a stone in its chest, Kaileon?" asked Duke.

Kaileon nodded,

"Oh, right! Let me go get it."

Kai went to the kitchen, took the large black stone that was in the stone bird’s chest—as if it were replacing its heart—and wrapped it in his filthy clothes.

He handed it to Duke.

"Here’s the stone."

Duke unwrapped it and saw the large black stone inside. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Then he looked back at Kaileon.

"Do you know what this is?"

Kaileon shook his head, then replied, "No, Duke. But I think the stone replaced its heart, because the bird only truly died after I removed the stone."

Duke nodded, "That’s right... Keith, teach Kaileon everything he doesn’t know, especially about monsters; teach him how to use weapons as well—"

"Duke! He shouldn’t be learning all that, because he isn’t your heir!" The Duchess, who had already been very anxious after hearing Kaileon’s answers—which sounded remarkably intelligent for a child who had never studied anything—became deeply concerned by the Duke’s words.

"What do you mean by that, Nathalia? Heir or not, all my sons are entitled to— wait a minute, isn’t it your job to provide the best teachers for Kaileon? You’ve even written a budget for that, Nathalia!"

The Duchess was utterly shocked that Duke dared to snap at her. The man was truly terrifying.

The Duchess glanced at Kaileon, hoping the boy would be scared and defend her.

But no, it turned out the boy was actually smiling—no, he was grinning!

As if to say.

"Take that!"