CSTB Chapter 8

There were two maids who looked after Rosé while managing the Emperor’s chambers.

They were around seventeen or eighteen years old, with ordinary brown hair and brown eyes, both rather plain in appearance.

“Amelia! Again? Lady Green told you to watch your words!”

The more diligent one with noticeable freckles was Evelyn.

“I’m starving to death, what else am I supposed to say?”

Amelia, the sneakier one, kept an eye out for ways to cut corners even while arranging the vase in the bedroom.

But her complaints weren’t exaggerated—it looked like she really was starving.

“…I’m kinda hungry too.”

Evelyn’s stomach kept rumbling as she prepared Rosé’s meal.

Rosé wondered if maybe they were bullied due to their young age. But since they were assigned to care for the Emperor’s chambers, that seemed unlikely.

Rosé’s thought: “No way… Is Noah not feeding the palace staff properly?”

If they were this hungry, the food provided by the imperial palace must’ve been terrible.

Rosé’s thought: “That can’t be… Isn’t it too soon for him to be doing cruel things?”

Rosé started to panic. Maybe her belief that Noah was still a good person was just her belief. What if Noah had already started showing signs of tyranny?

Rosé’s thought: “No, this is bad! If Noah goes down, I go down with him!”

Sitting politely with her tail curled and her butt on the floor, Rosé nudged her food bowl—filled with beef—toward Evelyn.

Rosé’s thought: “Melissa, are you watching? I’m giving up my beef to earn points with Noah!”

She wasn’t full yet, but she figured she’d start earning some goodwill now.

“Rosé, is something wrong with your food?”

Evelyn looked concerned as Rosé pushed her food away.

Rosé had noticed it before—unlike the townspeople, Evelyn wasn’t afraid of her.

“Why isn’t she eating?”

“Look, she pushed the bowl toward me!”

Amelia wasn’t afraid either.

Rosé’s thought: “When did these girls start taking care of me?”

They must’ve been tending to her for quite a while.

Back when she read the novel, Rosé hadn’t noticed details like this—too focused on the main characters. But now she could see the small things.

Evelyn’s small hands, while cute, were wrinkled from hard work.

Rosé’s thought: “Poor kid…”

Rosé remembered scrubbing grills in a barbecue restaurant at a similar age in her past life. Her hands must’ve looked like that too.

Rosé’s thought: “That boss really was the worst.”

Even if Noah wasn’t the tyrant people claimed, working under someone with such a reputation must’ve been rough. In this world, their age was considered adult, but they were still so young…

Rosé’s thought: “Well… might as well share this too.”

Rosé pushed her untouched fish plate forward as well. Originally just trying to score points, she now felt genuinely sorry for the girls.

“Meow! (You guys eat it.)”

“She’s not even touching the fish… Does she not like the taste?”

“Meow meow! (No, it’s for you!)”

They couldn’t understand her, of course, so she cried louder, trying to say it was for them.

She even pushed the plate toward them again with her paw. Finally, Evelyn’s eyes widened in realization.

“Wait… Is she giving it to us?”

“Rosé? No way…”

“Look—she keeps pushing the plate toward me.”

“She really is…”

Worried that she was being too obvious, Rosé quickly jumped onto the bed and pretended to be a regular cat, licking her paw.

“Is she really giving it to us?”

“Maybe someone fed her outside before she came here. She’s not eating it anyway—might as well eat it before it goes to waste.”

Amelia, unable to resist the temptation, popped a piece of beef into her mouth.

“Oh my god… It melts in your mouth.”

Rosé didn’t know whether the beef was melting—but Amelia’s joy certainly melted her heart.

They were so hungry that even a bite of beef tasted like heaven.

“Do you think Lady Green really said anything?”

Evelyn sighed as she followed Amelia’s lead and nibbled a piece of fish.

As Rosé suspected, the palace meals were terrible.

It wasn’t just the content—dry bread, watery soup, wilted vegetables—but the portion sizes were even worse.

“She did… but nothing’s changed.”

Two years ago, when Noah took the throne, the staff meals had started shrinking, and now the portions were smaller than a child’s meal.

They had apparently tried raising the issue with someone above, hoping it would reach Noah—but nothing improved.

Rosé’s thought: “Wait a minute… The original novel never said anything about Noah starving people.”

Among all of Noah’s detailed misdeeds in the novel, food issues were never mentioned.

Of course, there were plenty of other things to describe, and it’s not like tyrants are known for feeding their staff well, but still…

Rosé’s thought: “He gives beef to a cat but nearly starves his staff?”

Cutting costs on something like staff meals?

It wasn’t about siding with him—but this didn’t match the original Noah’s character.

In the novel, Noah’s problem wasn’t stinginess but excessive spending.

Rosé’s thought: “And it’s not like Noah would micromanage food budgets himself.”

When Noah became a true tyrant in the novel, he acted like someone who had no tomorrow and neglected his duties.

It didn’t seem likely that he’d be the one to reduce staff meals so precisely.

Rosé’s thought: “Then who did this?”

Something definitely smelled fishy.

Meanwhile…

Everyone was in a frenzy over a single lightning strike on a tree.

“Fortunately, it seems the roots weren’t damaged.”

“Then if we trim the burnt parts, the tree might survive?”

“We’ve gathered all the best gardeners in the Empire—they’ll manage somehow.”

That morning, a meeting had been ongoing for over an hour, with people still talking about the lightning strike.

Bad omens, calls for priests, holy prayers—it was all being thrown around.

“It’s a bad sign! An omen!”

“Do you think prayers will help?”

“We have to try something!”

At the head of the long table, Noah tugged at his jacket collar. He could barely breathe.

Making a huge deal out of nothing—that was the Karalain nobles’ specialty. He knew they’d start eyeing his red eyes again while chanting about bad omens.

He knew it was coming, and yet, every time, it made him seethe.

Noah reached under the table, fumbling on his lap—nothing.

“Shall I bring Rosé, Your Majesty?”

Jonathan, knowing Noah was subconsciously reaching for his cat, whispered quietly.

Noah shook his head.

“No, it’s fine.”

He wanted to call for Rosé—but held himself back. It was his job to endure these ridiculous meetings, not Rosé’s.

He didn’t want his cat to hear a single bad word or be subjected to their stares.

Even just thinking of Rosé calmed his nerves.

—How long do you plan to cling to that cursed cat, Your Majesty?

Melissa—his own mother—never cared about Noah’s feelings or thoughts.

She had no idea that the only reason he could listen to all of this was because of Rosé.

Noah felt the urge to kill every single person in the room. His patience was nearing its limit.

The only reason he hadn’t exploded yet… was Rosé.

If she hadn’t returned, if she were still gone… he didn’t know what he would’ve done.

That month without her had been hell. Every moment, he feared she’d been harmed—or worse, dead.

The thought alone nearly drove him insane.

He had been so lucky to find her again.

He’d never let Rosé leave his side again.

If necessary, Noah would keep her locked in his bedroom forever. Or at least until every threat to her safety was gone.

But Noah didn’t know—

[Whoa, this place is huge!]

That Rosé was already sneaking around just outside the window of the meeting room, exploring eagerly.