That day, three people were drunk—not from alcohol, but intoxicated by the impact of the delicious food.
Then, the next day, the two received a message, and both Asuna and Kaede were stunned.
Why? Because Heathcliff had actually assigned a guard for the two of them!
"What does the Commander mean?" Asuna complained a bit. With her and Kaede's strength, was there anyone who could actually harm them?
"Mm." Kaede nodded, her mind racing.
In fact, after finishing the food, Kaede had been wondering what Heathcliff was up to and why he told her the location of an SS-rank ingredient. Furthermore, she was definitely a beginner at fishing; she only knew the steps because she had used her cheating observation skills to watch the older man fish.
Yet Kaede had caught it in one go. She hadn't thought much of it at the time because of the excitement, but now she knew Heathcliff was definitely behind it.
Is he rewarding his subordinates? Kaede couldn't help but curl her lip. With that old fossil's personality, how could that be possible?
Now, seeing this message, Kaede involuntarily linked these two events together.
What exactly does Heathcliff want to do? Kaede's interest was piqued, and she decided to observe closely.
Therefore, the new guard was destined for tragedy. One must remember that Kaede was an existence whose observation skills Heathcliff described as cheating.
Walking out of the house, Kaede and Asuna saw a middle-aged man with a somewhat sickly face, wearing the formal uniform of the Knights of the Blood Oath.
"You are..." Asuna couldn't help but ask.
"Miss Asuna, Miss Kaede, I am the guard assigned to you, Kuradeel." As he spoke, Kuradeel performed a knight's salute, but neither Asuna nor Kaede showed any intention of looking at him, causing a flash of gloom to cross Kuradeel's eyes.
Kaede watched Kuradeel from the side, her eyes shimmering. Even that fleeting gloom in Kuradeel's eyes was seen clearly by her.
But even more so, she saw a trace of greed hidden deep within.
This gave Kaede a bad first impression of Kuradeel, a very bad one.
At this point, Kuradeel stood up and said, "From now on, I will be responsible for protecting you from behind."
"Mm." Asuna sighed. Although she didn't want him, since he was assigned by the Commander, she couldn't easily refuse.
"What are you going to use to protect us?" Kaede stepped forward at this moment, looking at Kuradeel. The greed in the depths of his eyes made her very annoyed.
"Uh, my strength..." As Kuradeel spoke, he suddenly remembered that the two in front of him were the flowers of strategy. One could say that in this game, no one was truly qualified to be their guard.
But how could he give up? He had finally managed to get close to Lady Asuna!
"Strength?" Kaede looked at Kuradeel with a mocking curl of her lip. She was about to say something when Asuna pulled her back.
"Don't be like that." Asuna shook her head at Kaede. "This isn't good."
"...Fine." Kaede nodded and turned away.
The moment she turned her head, she saw the undisguised ferocity in Kuradeel's eyes out of the corner of her eye.
Asuna looked at Kaede with some concern, feeling that her little Kaede's personality was quite different before and after.
"Mama!" At this moment, Yui's voice came from inside the house.
"Ah! Coming!" Hearing Yui's call, a smile immediately appeared on Kaede's face, and she trotted inside.
Kuradeel, standing at the door, was stunned. Mama? Did he really hear that correctly?
"Um, sorry, my child is waking up. Please wait here for a moment." After saying that, Asuna also ran inside.
"My child..." In that instant, Kuradeel's face began to contort, becoming almost inhuman.
...
Kuradeel watched the three people walking ahead, laughing and talking, the gloom on his face never disappearing.
Even though he already knew that the little girl's 'father' was Asuna—meaning she was just an adopted daughter—it was unforgivable. To toy with him like this!
Kaede, walking in front, was playing with Yui the whole time, but in reality, she never relaxed her observation of Kuradeel.
Observation had become a habit for Kaede; she could do it without even thinking.
Now, in Kaede's heart, she had already sentenced Kuradeel to death—not literally, but it was impossible to keep him as their guard.
Although she didn't know what trick Heathcliff was playing, she was sorry, but Kaede didn't plan to let this continue.
"Mama, Yui wants to eat." Yui saw a snack shop by the roadside and couldn't help but pull Kaede's hand, staring longingly at her.
"Okay, sure." Kaede also saw the snacks over there, her eyes sparkling.
"No!" Asuna said at this moment, hands on her hips.
"Uh, what about Yui?" Kaede looked at Yui.
"Papa~" Yui immediately ran over and grabbed Asuna's hand, shaking it back and forth.
"Hey, hey, you guys just finished breakfast." Asuna couldn't help but complain.
"Snacks go into a different stomach!" Kaede and Yui said in unison, uttering that classic phrase.
"You two..." Asuna found it a bit funny and finally shook her head. "Only this once!"
"Yay!!" Immediately, Kaede and Yui jumped up at the same time and rushed towards the snacks.
"Sigh!" Asuna looked at the two of them with exasperation.
"Lady Asuna, how can you allow them to eat in a place like this!" At this moment, Kuradeel walked up.
"Eh? Is there something wrong here?" Asuna looked around. This was a game; there was no such thing as dirt or mess.
"Of course. This is clearly a roadside stall; it might be full of crawling insects and isn't clean at all. It's not a place noble people like you should go. I've wanted to say this for a while, Lady Asuna—nothing in your itinerary today is where you should be!" Kuradeel became more excited as he spoke.
"Then where should I go?" Asuna was actually amused by this point.
"Naturally, it should be high-end cafes or restaurants with elegant environments. Lady Asuna, letting Kaede eat these snacks alone is enough. Someone who can't distinguish high quality isn't worth me being a guard. Let me take you where you should go. I'll apply to be your personal guard alone when I get back!" As if giving a speech, Kuradeel's expression became more and more exaggerated.
However, Kuradeel didn't see Asuna's increasingly dark expression.
"Enough! Mr. Kuradeel!" Asuna said, staring at him.
"Uh!" Kuradeel was stunned, frightened by Asuna's cold gaze.
While it was always said that Asuna was Kaede's forbidden zone, wasn't Kaede also Asuna's forbidden zone? The answer was a definite yes.
And Kuradeel had stepped directly into that forbidden zone.
"You... are just a guard." After saying that, Asuna didn't want to look at Kuradeel's clearly distorted face for another second and walked toward Kaede and Yui.
"Tch!" Kuradeel took two deep breaths, his pale face full of hideous wrinkles, his entire face contorted beyond recognition.
"Lady Asuna! It seems you've also been led astray by that Kaede. Very soon, I, as your guard, will help set you free!"
"When that time comes, when that time comes, ha... Hahaha!!!"
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