Ingrained Opinions

The event was not enough for many people to remain for a long time, and the crowd eventually dispersed as the prince who had nothing else to say leave the stage. Following Barov, 'Roland' had returned to the castle in a carriage where Anna was already waiting.

'Roland' entrusted Barov to settle Anna's case, if there were any, and to make the experienced maids gave her proper bath, meal, and let her rest for the day. The beardy old man faced darkened from the absurd order concerning a witch, but with a wave of the hand and a promise to bring his salary a gold royal higher, Barov shut his mouth previously filled with upcoming complains.

Then again, as he was in charge of treasury and a greater part of the town order, technically speaking never mind a gold or two, he could casually embezzle dozens of them and basically, none would notice. Of course, Barov couldn't say it out loud, nor he was actually cash-starved. His salary was basically already the highest among the retainers.

Shaking his head, he felt a great change was about to come to Border Town. Thinking about any misconduct, it should come after securing his position first. Not to mention, regarding the strange actions of the prince who right now he felt walked quite differently from before, he needed time to ponder it first.

As he followed the map in his head, 'Roland' encountered a couple of maids and casually ordering them around to get his lunch made, a light meal serving to be ready and for them to bring it to his room later when it's done.

His room, the prince room can be said the grandest of the entire castle. It was quite spacious, with the large bed that was capable to host three adult bodies to not feel like it would take too much space. There were also a table and chairs, it helped if he decided to eat in the room.

Looking around, the architecture of the place was not exactly great, but it was still pleasing to his eyes. The place was rather spacious not only because of space, but there weren't many things inside. A small, curved legs table was placed in a corner of the room, sitting on top it was an antique earthen vase hosting real flowers, though it had now yellowish leaves and nearly depleted flower petals.

Though he had memories of 'Roland', he still curiously rummaging the entire space. But like as he viewed in the beginning, there wasn't much that he could see beside the essential things. There was a nice smelling wooden wardrobe that had some of the prince long robes and coats, a tough cabinet that hosted folded clothes of his, and small, elusive drawer that kept plenty of miscellaneous stuff.

There was also a balcony access, which had a direct, wide view of the castle backyard. Looking at the sun location above, he would be able to get plenty of sunlight here from morning to sunset.

As he was finishing his inspection, he got a knock from outside his door.

The maid that came was from before, faithfully followed the direction to come and bring his meal. After praising her work, he made her move the tray to the table.

As the maid fulfilled her job, she bid her farewell and started to walk away. 'Roland' watched as her glamorous figure went out of his vision, and when the maid closed the door he let out a sigh. "Nice ass."

Turning his head, he was presented by a simple hard and cold bread with a side of hot, white soup filled with some floating mess of brown meats, and a glass of ale. Though it was something he expected from the 'Roland's memories, he wished it was at least served with extra attention so it was also pleasant to the eyes.

To be honest, after seeing people hanged like that for real he had lost some of his appetites. But nevertheless, he found himself cruel enough to not really care for the criminals enough to go on fasting.

Still, besides feeling a little horrible, he didn't know how to describe the food taste.

He reckoned the bread had to be made in the morning, or else it would be really unforgivable that it could be hard enough that he probably can use it to break the window of his room. While he still ate it by gnashing his teeth, the inside filling, the dairy cream was not just quite sour, but very. Was the production nearly went bad? The soup flavor was acceptable actually beside the presentation, though he felt the boiled meats were boiled a little too long for his fine tooth and he couldn't figure out whether the meat was actually good. Not to mention, it lacked vegetables for a properly balanced nutrition. Last but not the least, the nearly tasteless ale can be treated as more or less like those unpopular but constantly popped up weirdly colored drinking water products.

"There's a need to add some revision of the products from the menu later..." 'Roland' murmured before taking his shoes off and launched himself into the large bed, finding his body sinking a little before bouncing lightly.

He emotionally sighed at the sensation. "At least I can get some real proper rest here."

Turning around, he looked at the familiar, yet an unfamiliar ceiling.

He had locked the door in this private room of his, he hoped to gather his thoughts without interruption.

It was time to decide his identity.

While 'Roland' was thinking about stuff in his room, Anna was similarly resting in her own designated room.

Her place was smaller than Roland for obvious reason, but for the commoner her, it was simply a magnificent room that could host four, even six of her previous room. She simply didn't follow the thought process of why she was saved, and as she was about to think about it, a bunch of maids barged in and bringing her to a bathroom, undressing her, and gave her a through bathing she would never forget in her following life.

While she was thrown to a daze, the maids also gave her a fine nightgown. The piece of clothing was unlike the stuff she had ever seen, while slightly translucent and making her a bit embarrassed, it was so comfortable to where she was in conflict whether to keep wearing it or not.

Next was her real meal after a while. In fact, it was the best meal she had. To her, bland bread was the staple food for her daily life, with bits of shredded meats occasionally came to her bowl. But now, she not only seen a big piece of meat but also presented for her to eat.

The food was called steak and she only had heard when the maids started introducing it to her. The steak was indeed just a grilled piece of meat, but with plenty of spices, it tasted heavenly. The friendly maids chuckled as they told her it was an envious thing to eat, that not even once a year opportunity might come to them unless they were willing to open their wallet and bribed the cook.

As she took the first bite, she understood why they thought so highly of it. Not just the fragrance that rose one's appetite, the meat covered in brown sauce sprinkled with bits of sesame seeds that not only served as contrast white color, it also added weight to the meal. When she ate a slice of it, it simply made a flavor explosion inside her mouth the moment she took a whiff and her tongue contacted it. Though a bit chewy, it was something she preferred than watery soup or bloated bread dipped in the leftover soup of the day for a little bit of extra taste. The more she chewed, the more the flavors inside burst out.

She felt a bit of sweetness, and also heat that came from a hint of spiciness. To her, this steak was simply a divine blessing that swept away all of her worries and caused her to only put attention towards the plate.

Besides that, with a gentle reminder, she also found bread and thick, creamy yellow paste apparently made from a mixture of cheese and milk to accompany. The bread was not simply better than what she used to, and the versatile cheese that can be readily used for either bread and steak really broadened her horizon in appreciating food.

Without her realizing it, drops of tears ran across her cheeks. The maids who saw this merely smiled as they lowered their voice.

Anna's default expression didn't look very friendly, but it was crumbled with trails of tears she made. The maids didn't mind whatever as long she was not directly chasing them away. They stayed, watching her eating and chatting some random things from the side.

The content of the gossip was simple and straightforward. A girl of unknown origin, despite looking impoverished, could enter the castle and got a luxurious treatment befitting of a noble. It was either the prince or someone of Barov standing that carried her, but the latter was unlikely unless he wanted to take a beating from his spouse back at the royal capital. Even the capable assistant minister wouldn't be able to hush away all the servants of the castle, so if he really wanted an affair, outside the castle was the only way to go.

This left only the prince, and while it was still somewhat strange, the prince himself was a strange person himself so the maids quickly reached the conclusion.

Anna could only stare blankly at them constructing theories out of little information they had. Their imagination was quite wild, but indeed reasonable.

Pleasing the prince? But the maids tending her was all very pretty and endowed with beautiful figures. The only reason she had over them was probably her witch status, but would the prince really? Her blood was tainted by the devil, even if the prince didn't scare of it, would his curiosity drove him enough to actually do it?

Speaking of which, the prince really made her witch identity died in front of public's eyes. He made the tall knight bring three criminals from the prison where she recently slept at and said one of them would be her.

Just like her, most prisoners waiting for death was thin like twigs. Be it male or female, it was because they only got the minimum care for a human. She had heard some of them died before their due date, and she could easily believe so.

Though she was waiting in the carriage, bound, she had heard loud cheers and applause. With long dark robes, apparently, it was quite easy to fool the public, especially when no one knew which one of the three supposed to be her that they probably didn't bother to look properly.

Anna shook her head. It would be clear tonight at the earliest, so she should stop thinking about it. As she was left alone in the room, she looked around and opted to simply lay down on the bed.

The bed was the most delightful, it created no loud creaking sound and she felt her body was melting. The sensation brings made tears that already dried off from eating a delicious meal, to run again.