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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Episode 288: Please Comfort Me

That night, after arriving at the Demon Race Kingdom, Imperial.

I was awoken by Mei knocking on my door, telling me it was dinner time, and she guided me to the dining hall.

“Wow, that’s quite the amount!”

What lay before my eyes was a massive spread of meat and fish piled high on the table, with just a token amount of vegetables and soup placed around, and in the corner of the room, there were even barrels of what looked like alcohol.

“Is it not to your liking?”

“No, it’s more than enough.”

I knew there was no way I could finish all this by myself, but I thought that Shuvina and Fiera would have gladly devoured it all. I took my seat.

“Hmm…”

Just to be safe, I cast appraisal magic on all the dishes laid out to check for poison, but there were no particular issues; only the appetizing aroma wafted around.

“Is something wrong?”

“I just thought it looked delicious. I’ll dig in.”

I replied to Mei with a smile, reaching out to the prepared dishes and slowly savoring the flavors.

“Phew. Thank you for the meal.”

“Are you done already?”

After I’d eaten a fair amount, I placed my utensils down, and Rei spoke up, surprised.

“Well, I’m human after all. There’s no way I can finish this much.”

“Humans are quite the light eaters, aren’t they?”

“I think I’m pretty normal. If anything, if there’s someone who can finish all that, they’d be a huge eater. What do you think, Fon?”

“Well, don’t ask me. I mean, for us demons, this amount of food is pretty normal to finish, you know.”

“Oh, really? So, it seems you guys were right; humans are light eaters after all.”

Fon responded sarcastically to my words, but since Wilhelm wasn’t around, I chuckled and said it in a goofy way, causing him to sigh in exasperation.

“Well, it’d be a waste to leave all this behind, so you all can eat what’s left.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and feel free to relax about it. I’ve eaten everything I touched, and the leftovers are untouched, so don’t hesitate to dig in.”

For nobles, it’s considered virtuous not to stress about finishing every dish served but instead to leave a bit on the plate and share the leftovers with the maids and butlers afterward.

Because of this, it seems that in high-end restaurants in towns, it’s common for them to order more food than necessary and for the leftovers to be given to the poor, which, they say, has reduced the number of children starving to death.

I understand the notion of not wasting food, but when it comes to whether maids and butlers, who aren’t poor, can comfortably eat what someone else started, that’s another matter.

So, I’ve resolved to eat everything I touch and, conversely, never touch anything I think I might leave behind.

That way, the other party can eat without worrying too much, and I won’t have to feel the weirdness of someone else eating my half-finished food. It’s beneficial for both sides.

“Well then, I’m heading back to my room to rest, so I’ll rely on you again tomorrow.”

After saying that, I left the dining hall, retracing my steps alone, and that night, I rested peacefully in the room I’d been given.

Four days later, on that night.

Called to the dining hall as usual, I looked at the meal, which was considerably smaller than on the first night, and felt my heart flutter slightly as the day I had been waiting for had finally arrived.

“Well then, I guess I’ll dig in.”

“Yes!”

I took a spoon, scooped some soup, enjoyed the flavor, and then slowly swallowed it.

“Hmm…”

The moment I did, a violent wave of nausea hit me like my stomach flipped over, tingling in my tongue, and a feeling of breathlessness settled in, but I quickly placed the spoon down on the table to not arouse suspicion and reached for the meat next.

After taking a bite from every dish, I wiped my mouth with a napkin and drank some water.

“Who made this soup?”

“I did.”

“Oh, Rei. Then who cooked this meat?”

“I did.”

“This one must be Mei.”

After confirming who was responsible for each dish, it turned out that today’s cooking duty belonged to Rei and Mei.

“Got it. You two, come here. Rei on the right, Mei on the left.”

“Understood.”

Following my instructions, Rei and Mei positioned themselves at either side, and before they could move, I gently placed my hands on their heads.

And then…

Bang!!!

“Oof!”

“Ugh!”

Smashing their heads down onto the table, the dishes toppled over, and with two distinct cracks, the table shattered.

“What the…!!”

“Don’t move.”

Seeing my sudden action, Fon was ready to pounce, but I bound him with earth magic chains and forced him to kneel, releasing my grip on Rei and Mei’s heads, raking my fingers through my disheveled hair.

“Don’t move either, twins. If you so much as reach for that short dagger hidden in your skirts, I’ll chop off your arms.”

“Gasp!!”

Did you think I wouldn’t notice? I thrust the Igniod that I’d pulled from storage close to Mei’s face, and they flinched, freezing in place.

“Seriously, what a joke. Even if I was playing the fool, you guys let your guard down and came close without a care in the world.”

“Playing a fool? What do you mean?!”

“Sigh. Have you stopped using honorifics already?”

Fon seemed flustered at my sudden shift, yelling angrily while glaring without a hint of wanting to hide it anymore.

“You were clearly being careless. Why on earth?”

“Careless? Ahahaha! Wrong! It wasn’t me being careless; you guys decided on your own, judging me harmless and foolish, and let your guard down.”

“What do you mean by that?!”

“Sigh. I’ll explain since I have to. The way you’ve seen me these past four days was all an act to make you lower your guard.”

“An act? Why would you do that?”

“Curious about the reason, huh? Well, since I owe Mei a special favor, I’ll let you in on it. The reason is simple: it seemed easier and more fun.”

“Easier and more fun?”

“Exactly. First, by playing the foolish fool, what did it lead you to think and do?”

“Well, we didn’t really do much…”

“Exactly. You decided I was a simpleton and eased up your surveillance, giving me more time to freely act. Thanks to that, I was able to move around and observe the town without constraints.”

“No way…”

I hadn’t just twiddled my thumbs for those four days.

To make them think I was a powerless, foolish human, I purposely behaved dim-wittedly and suppressed my magic to look like an uninformed young man clueless about fighting.

As a result, they laxed their guard against me in just one day, reducing their surveillance time, giving me a greater window of freedom to move.

And I made good use of that time to go out alone, gathering information while staying hidden and observing the town’s happenings.

“You all seemed to feel some dissatisfaction in taking care of me. Once I made you think of me as harmless, it became easy.”

Despite being of different races, as long as they have intelligence and self-awareness, the differences between them are almost nonexistent.

Moreover, those who ridicule others they deem inferior species easily fall for the facade when I show them what they wish to see.

“Well, in the end, I was poisoned like this. I’m so sad, you know? To almost get killed for not doing anything! Plus, remembering the times someone poisoned my food feels really nostalgic…”

I mockingly pretended to cry, but the three of them didn’t offer comfort or apologies.

Sigh. I found myself thinking about when I was poisoned by Miria in my past life, yet everyone seems so cold-hearted.

“Why didn’t the poison work?”

“Rei. Unfortunately for you guys, I’m immune to most common poisons. Thanks to taking in the Hydra poison, which is known as the King of Poisons, I’ve built up resistance. Not to mention, I have a maid who specializes in poisons by my side. So, unless it’s some poison worse than that of a Hydra, it’s impossible to kill me with poison.”

“Seriously? Hydra’s poison?!”

About a year ago.

In the Elven Kingdom, after fighting the Hydra, I had absorbed a lot of its poison, granting me resistance.

On top of that, I’ve been training my resistance little by little using the poisons of my maid, who can create poisons as potent as the Hydra’s since the incident in Saramāju.

Thanks to that, I’m confident now that I can endure Hydra’s poison much longer than before.

“So, it seems your first plan ended in failure.”

“What are you saying…”

“Well then, shall I go receive the second, more interesting present you’ve prepared?”

I interrupted Fon’s words, intending to ensure that Wilhelm’s handiwork wouldn’t get broken, and together we moved using transfer magic to the destination.

 

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