Chapter 161 – The Young lady (13)
[Chapter 8 – Section 5] Want to Play a Round?
Vienna Susan had loved eating ever since she was a child.
If you asked her how much, enough that she had to get her clothes altered because nothing fit anymore.
The stress of being teased by other kids for being too fat was relieved by overeating, and then she gained more weight and got teased even more…
It was an endless vicious cycle.
‘It’s fine.’
Even so, Vienna Susan had no intention of stopping. She genuinely loved eating. Diets didn’t show results quickly anyway, and exercising was hard, right? Lying in bed and fiddling with her smartphone was so much more comfortable.
Whether I gain weight or not, what business is it of other people? I wish all those nosy busybodies would just drop dead.
And so it continued through elementary school, middle school, high school…
“……”
「Aptitude Test Result: Culinary Researcher」
There was a reason she loved eating so much.
The one thing the P aptitude test machine—never wrong even once—had overlooked was her obesity.
Everything was such a hassle!
As her body grew heavier, even standing still in front of the kitchen felt exhausting. Culinary research became impossible.
Moreover,
“Hoho!”
“Haha!”
Her peers, who had finished puberty and their second growth spurt, began enjoying romance.
The kids who used to relentlessly tease her suddenly stopped paying her any attention, as if by magic, and turned their eyes toward decent members of the opposite sex.
“…Good for them.”
Was it really good?
She had wanted indifference so badly, yet Vienna Susan felt no happiness at all.
Swish~
Day after day, she blankly watched slender girls in pretty clothes receiving all the boys’ attention.
And more stress!
And more binge eating!
She came to hate this reality so much that she stopped wanting to leave the house, and without moving her body, her weight climbed even more steeply.
“High blood pressure…”
“Hepatitis…”
“Diabetes is suspected…”
Even the forced health checkup her parents dragged her to was the worst!
Even when the doctor said she could die like this, she remained indifferent. Living in this body… it would be better to die early.
***
“Young lady.”
“Young lady.”
“…Huh?”
Vienna Susan, who spent more than half of every day lying in bed staring at her smartphone, was lying there again today.
But she was shocked at how light her body felt—as if she had been reborn—and even more shocked when beautiful maids called out to her while she lay in bed.
Young lady.
‘Me… an young lady?’
It didn’t take her long to realize she had become the protagonist of the romance fantasy <The Generous Young Lady Who Receives Everything>.
She was so overjoyed that she didn’t even entertain the possibility that this might be a “dream.”
“Young lady! Please accept this…!”
“Young lady! Please receive this gift!”
“For you, Young lady…”
The ultra-handsome men she could never have met in real life were now seducing her with sweet words and lavish gifts.
“Waaah!”
And the food prepared by the greatest chefs was outstanding enough to satisfy her picky palate, which had shifted from “culinary researcher” to full-blown “gourmet.”
‘Ah, no…!’
Vienna Susan held herself back.
This was a second chance.
She absolutely could not ruin the most beautiful female body on the continent by letting herself get fat again.
However,
“It’s such a waste…”
If she didn’t eat it, the food would be thrown away or end up in the servants’ stomachs!
For the sake of the merchants who had gone through great trouble to procure premium ingredients for her, and the chefs who had worked so hard, it was only polite to eat it.
Peek!
And her body was honest.
Before long, fat began to accumulate around the Young lady’s slim waist, turning it into an ordinary one.
“Ugh…”
The original protagonist of <The Generous Young Lady Who Receives Everything> had the setting: “She never skips a single day and takes a two-hour walk every morning.”
Even if it was just a one-time device to have her encounter handsome men during the walk, it still became a factor determining the Young lady’s constitution.
—The perfect figure of the world’s most beautiful Young lady can only be maintained by never skipping a single day and taking a two-hour walk every morning.
…Meaning that such a protagonist setting was naturally added!
“Young lady. It’s time for your walk.”
“…Yeah. Okay.”
Knowing she couldn’t skip it, Vienna Susan forced herself to move.
She had never realized two hours could feel so long.
“Young lady. It’s time for your walk.”
“…I know.”
She lasted a week.
“Young lady. It’s time for your walk.”
“…I’ll do it.”
She lasted half a month.
“Young lady. It’s time for your walk.”
“…I’ll rest today.”
Skipping it felt way too good!
“Young lady. It’s time for your walk.”
“…I’m not doing it anymore.”
Since she was skipping the annoying and boring walk time, she decided to cut back on her meals as well.
However,
“Young lady! These are tropical fruits we went to great trouble to obtain from the southern countries!”
“Young lady! I managed to buy those super popular snacks that are always sold out!”
“Young lady! This is soup made from seafood we barely managed to catch from the deep sea!”
“Young lady…!”
The temptations pouring in from handsome men on all sides did absolutely nothing to help Vienna Susan’s diet.
The protagonist of the romance fantasy <The Generous Young Lady Who Receives Everything> had a blessed constitution where she lost weight with just a little exercise—but if she didn’t do even that little bit, she would inevitably gain.
Peek! Peek!
The fat that crept on little by little buried the Young lady’s beauty.
Moreover,
“Haha! I win!”
“……”
“Thanks to the Young lady, who boasts the greatest card-game skills on the continent, going easy on me, I managed to win.”
“You’re right, Your Highness.”
Vienna Susan also possessed the memories of the original protagonist of <The Generous Young Lady Who Receives Everything>.
The rules of the card game.
Techniques for the card game.
The card game…
Among them were many things related to the card game itself, but there were limits.
No matter how skilled a technician is, they cannot display perfect ability with tools they aren’t accustomed to.
She could get used to new tools again, but Vienna Susan’s patience wouldn’t wait that long. After all, the root cause of her repeated diet failures had always been a lack of patience.
It was the same this time.
“I’m not doing it!”
Frustrated by consecutive losses, she completely gave up on the card game.
In the end,
‘Failed again…’
Thanks to the bare minimum of exercise from walking to the bathroom and dining hall, it wasn’t as severe as her real body had been—but by the standards of this fantasy world, where the proportion of beauties was unrealistically high, she was undeniably obese.
Still, if there was any consolation?
“Young lady!”
“Young lady!”
Handsome men swarmed around her, still loving her even after her appearance had changed.
Blind, unconditional love!
It was completely different from the reality where people had teased or ignored Vienna Susan.
“Hoho!”
Yeah, so what if I gained a little weight? As long as I’m happy, that’s all that matters!
…There was a time when even the “Young lady” thought that way.
***
Explaining exactly where and how everything went wrong would fill ten volumes of an autobiography, so I’ll boldly skip it.
In the romance fantasy world of <The Generous Young Lady Who Receives Everything>, which lacks any other fantasy elements, the only true fantasy might be the “Young lady’s eternal youth.”
A miracle: looking thirty even at sixty!
But all the men who once loved her had aged, and the young men no longer offered blind devotion.
Wealth, status, orders.
Only those drawn by material desires or ulterior motives remained.
And the end result?
“Young lady! It’s terrible!”
Young lady.
She was still the Young lady. In contrast to women of similar age being called “Lady So-and-so” or “Madam,” she remained unmarried.
Why?
She had avoided the duty of marriage—which was practically mandatory for noble young ladies born in the medieval era—and had also dumped the headache-inducing politics and management onto others, dodging the position of “Grand Duke”…
Yet all the power in the grand duchy was still concentrated in her hands.
“What’s the big deal? Has the war made it difficult to supply ingredients?”
The Young lady, who had thrown away all duties while clinging to every right, asked nonchalantly.
“We lost!”
“…What?”
“We lost the war! The allied forces will soon reach here…”
“You told me we would absolutely never lose! What is this supposed to mean?!”
The grand duchy’s knight order, carefully selected from the most handsome men, was supposed to be the best in the world!
That’s what she had believed.
“Stop them somehow! Win!”
Vienna Susan, who had been indifferent to the war—no, precisely because she was indifferent and treated it lightly—had carelessly declared war on the world. Now she screamed.
“We’ll do our best.”
“Win! That’s an order!”
“Yes.”
And the new generation—the young officers who no longer blindly loved the Young lady—abandoned her and fled.
The only ones left by her side were the personal guard and the pretty boys who didn’t have the ability to escape!
The sturdy outer walls couldn’t even be properly manned with the minimum troops and were easily breached, and the inner castle was now on the verge of falling.
“Ugh…”
Vienna Susan barricaded herself in her room, filled with the collection of pretty boys she had gathered.
Knock knock!
“Young lady.”
The elderly butler, who had carelessly brought up the sensitive topic of marriage to a woman, knocked.
Even if he were to drop dead and be buried right this moment, it wouldn’t be strange for such an old man. Yet he spoke cautiously.
“Are you busy, my lady?”
“……”
She gave no reply.
“The inner castle, built with nothing but extravagance in mind, will be breached in no time. Surrender is the only path left to survive.”
“…Why didn’t you run away? You must hate me.”
“Hoho! I don’t know myself. Whenever I ponder it, the days when I taught the young Young lady how to play cards come to mind.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“Hoho! No matter how much you deny this harsh reality, you are still the Young lady.”
“……”
She hadn’t meant it in that sense, but explaining felt too bothersome.
“There is no time. Once the enemy breaks through to the inner castle, they won’t even accept surrender.”
“…If I surrender, will they forgive me?”
She knew it was a terribly childish question. But since these were men who had blindly loved her, there was at least a sliver of possibility. They had granted her every unreasonable demand until now!
“They probably will.”
The butler answered honestly.
After all, she was the woman he had loved for so long. Even if it was in front of lowly slaves, he believed they wouldn’t subject her to a humiliating public execution.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Time was too precious even for hesitation, but the butler didn’t press her and withdrew. He knew the Young lady’s temperament well: if persuaded, she would take it as nagging and stubbornly rebel.
At that moment,
“Do you believe those words?”
One of the drug-addled pretty boys spoke with a dazed expression.
“She’ll be dismantled like an old sow.”
Another pretty boy added.
“Wh-what…?”
The pretty boys, who had always been docile and doll-like, now shed their fake masks and spoke one by one.
Cruelly.
Carrying the weight of reality.
Their words grew increasingly vicious.
“Shut up~!”
But the pretty boys continued, as if venting all the resentment they had bottled up until now.
“Do you think they’ll kill the Young lady easily?”
“If it were me, I’d torture her.”
“They might crucify her and leave her hanging…”
With no place left to run, Vienna Susan made the most extreme choice.
***
To confirm several important details, I headed to Elmolance University Hospital, where the Ranuvel patient—Vienna Susan—was admitted.
‘Will she remember me?’
If she reacted in any way the moment she saw me, it would mean the Sword Demon’s memories existed.
Considering how Nam Hae-soo, after becoming a Sword Demon, had ignored me standing right beside her and attacked only her betraying wife and subordinates, the possibility was extremely high.
Ring~♪
It was Vice Director Seo Hye-joo calling.
“Hello.”
(Moon-soo-ya?)
The question felt a little odd. If the patient had woken up, she would naturally assume it was “me.”
“Yes, it’s me.”
(What happened to the patient?)
“…What do you mean?”
(From the moment she opened her eyes just a little while ago, she’s been thrashing around wildly, as if suffering from nightmare aftereffects. Right now the nurses have restrained her and tied her to the bed so she can’t move, but there’s no sign of her calming down.)
“I see.”
Was it the influence of having become a Sword Demon? For now, nothing could be confirmed.
(Are you on your way? Something must have happened in the dream, right?)
“She drank poison and committed suicide.”
(So she died in the dream, like Nam Hae-soo.)
“Yes. But even though she died…”
(Hello?)
“Vice Director, I’ll call you back later.”
Click.
I ended the call, pocketed my smartphone, and stopped walking.
“Oh my? You noticed right away. I thought you’d just pass by. Hello?”
“Ranuvel…la.”
The witch Ranuvela was sitting at an outdoor café table, legs crossed.
“Kang Moon-soo. Would you like to play a round of cards with me too?”
“How much do you know?”
“If you beat me, I’ll answer your questions.”
“…Fine.”
I sat down across from her.
“The bet should be fair, right? If I win, you’ll accompany me all the way to the other side of the world. The seventh-generation Ranuvela, once called the Witch of the West, wants to meet you.”
“……”
What is she scheming?
“You can refuse. I have nothing to lose. My grandmother, though—she’d be very disappointed.”
“I’ll shuffle.”
Tap!
As a sign of agreement, I began shuffling the deck of cards placed on the table.