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nAfter they both had their fill, Amelia left her young master alone in the room to do the dishes in the kitchen.

nLeft behind was Roy, whose expression turned serious.

nWho was he? He was the count’s son.

nHe should have a dozen or so servants.

nYet surprisingly, there was only one person taking care of him in his most recent memories, and that was Amelia.

nExcept for her, he couldn’t recall any servant coming to serve him, even though that was their job.

nRoy grabbed his head. ‘So far, she is the only one serving me. This is strange. I am the count’s youngest son. On top of that, I need special care because I am supposedly less intelligent than a child. I should have a couple of servants at my beck and call, not just one Amelia. So why is she the only burdened with taking care of me and cleaning my clothes and dishes?’

nRoy closed his eyes.

n‘I guess I will find out after going through the memories of Roy Badulf Baldwin.’

nHe closed his eyes and recalled the foreign memories belonging to the soul that had merged with him a while ago.

nHe went through them quickly and better understood his position in this house.

nGrowing up, Roy Badulf Baldwin showed a great lack of intelligence and thus earned the count’s disdain.

nWhen he was only four, The count had made it clear that a stupid and powerless fool like him wasn’t worthy of being his son.

nTwo years later, the count also expressed to him clearly that the reason he was taking care of him was not to let down his wife in heaven. He had little value for the count and didn’t have a bright future. Or any future at all.

nKnowing this, his step-siblings and evil stepmothers treated him worse than the count.

nHe didn’t have a sound mind and the capability to stand up for himself, and there was no one with status to speak up for him.

nThe servants took advantage of this fact and bullied him behind the back of the count.

nWhen it came to him, they also slacked off.

n‘They aren’t doing their job properly. That’s why Amelia had to overwork so much the previous night that she fainted by my bedside. Those bastards are asking for a beating.’

nRoy cursed the servants of the count’s manor beneath his breath.

n‘Eh? What the heck? Amelia went to do the dishes not because she wanted to but because she had to in order to secure food for me.’

nThe further Roy went through his memories, the more his expression fell.

nBecause the count’s family and the count alienated her young master, as well as because the servants bullied him because there was no one to punish them, Amelia had to clean the dishes so as not to get scolded by the kitchen master or have their next meals halted by him.

n‘The Kitchen Master is even **tier than the servants. Considering his actions so far against my maid and me, he doesn’t deserve a beating. He deserves death!’

nThe dishes of the entire house were to be done by his maid as per the kitchen master’s command.

nOne time, Amelia didn’t do the dishes because she was feverish.

nThat day, the kitchen master refused not only to give dinner to her but also her fool of a young master.

nThe old Roy didn’t stand up for her or himself. He was so lacking in intelligence that he failed to realize that the kitchen master was bullying them.

nAmelia was fine with staying hungry for a night, but the mere thought of seeing her young master starve haunted her immensely, and hence she dropped to her knees and begged the kitchen master to give her food for one person.

nThe Kitchen Master treated her like a dog and three two chicken drumsticks her way. She couldn’t catch them, and they fell on the dirty floor. She had seen them coming out of piping hot oil, but she picked them up, scalding her fingers in the process. She wiped the dust off them with her clean hands before bringing them to Roy to eat so he wouldn’t sleep with an empty stomach.

nEver since that day, she had taken it upon herself to do the dishes so that a similar situation in which her young master might have to go hungry for a night wouldn’t occur again.

n‘Even the feudal knights of the Great Sun aren’t hardcore enough to throw away their pride to fill the stomach of a useless waste like me.’

nSuch a fiercely loyal person would shake even the heart of a stone-cold and ruthless man.

nRoy was just a normal person.

nHe couldn’t help but wish for a better life for her.

n‘Her loyalty to me is commendable.’

nRoy’s eyes warmed, and his heart moved for her.

nAfter finding out how much Amelia had sacrificed for him, he promised to treat her like a princess in the future. Roy was no stranger to this continent, for he had read a novel that explained it vividly. There would be no future for them and everyone in the county if he didn’t gain enough strength to match up to a sword master in three years.

nThe Far West was one of The Five Great Areas of this World, and Baldwin county was just a small part of it.

nMonsters and natural disasters were commonplace in this part of the Great Sun.

nThey weren’t enough to cause its downfall.

nBut what if a danger greater than what the count can content against attack the county? What would happen then?

nAccording to Roy Badulf Baldwin’s memories, he was in the 23rd year of the Great Sun. If the novel was on point, the creature of chaos would invade the Far West three years later and cause the destruction of Baldwin County and the count’s death.

n‘I do not care about the count, for he had been indifferent to me my whole life. But I must at least keep Amelia and myself safe. I need power, a lot of it for that.’

nThe servants of the count’s family dared to bully him because he was too weak.

nHe needed to change himself.

nHe was suspicious his fat was a byproduct of someone’s ill intention, but he had no evidence to back up his claim.

nHe believed, however, that he could become strong by training hard enough.

nRoy Badulf Baldwin might not be as talented as the rumors claimed him to be, after all.

nHe was the son of a count that disliked weaklings, and he knew he needed to become a sword master if he wanted to survive the disaster three years later.

nSo he needed to get rid of his powerless status urgently and gain strength.

nBut unlike the protagonist of Stallion novels, he didn’t have a golden finger that would help him increase his strength faster than the most talented residents of this world.

nHe called out the names of every golden finger he could recall in his mind and out loud, but nothing happened.

nNo window popped up before him, nor did an ancient soul call out to him or bring him to their sea of consciousness.

nHe went as far as to bit his finger and drip his blood on the black pendant around his neck, but again, he didn’t gain some sort of law-defying treasure or technique or enter a space solely exclusive to him.

nWhen Amelia returned and saw the bite wound on his thumb, she immediately went out.

nAfter she came back, Roy noticed that her iron earrings were missing and there were meatballs in her hands.

nHe was no fool.

nHe understood that she had traded her personal accessories for food from the Kitchen Master, which she offered him.

n“Young master, If you’re hungry, don’t keep it in and wait for me to go away to bite on your thumb. You should never do that again, ok? Just tell me, and I will bring big meatballs for you every time.” Amelia treated him like a little kid and handed the two meatballs over to him. She thought that her young master was getting better, but seeing how he had cracked open his skin to feast on his blood made her think that it was all her imagination. “Now, eat them before they go cold.”

nFeeling utter defeated, Roy gawked at her.

n‘She has misunderstood me! I didn’t bite my thumb because I was hungry, but she thought otherwise. How can I make it clear to her now that she had already gone so far, however? I might as well eat them and thank her as if I truly mean it.’

nHe ate the two meatballs in mere minutes even though he was feeling full.

n“Thank you.”

nHe patted her fluffy head.

n“Anything for you.”

nShe beamed at him.

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