Episode 110. Intermission – Queen of Bread

“Did you really catch the culprit?”

Priest Antonio looked at me with surprised eyes.

I nodded and handed him the black robe the culprit had been wearing (I had stripped it off before burning the body).

“Yes. The body was too damaged during the fight to identify the culprit, but there won’t be any more victims.”

“Huh… I can’t believe you caught the culprit so easily, even the ‘Powerman’ couldn’t catch them.”

Priest Antonio took the black robe and examined it closely.

Inside the robe’s pocket was a small box containing the hair the culprit had cut from the victims.

“……”

Priest Antonio frowned as he looked at the hair in the box.

If the culprit hadn’t been caught, the hair of children might have ended up in this box. The thought sent a chill down his spine.

“Phew. At least now we can rest easy.”

Priest Antonio brushed off his chest and bowed to me.

“Thank you, Dale.”

“It wasn’t just me who caught them, no need to thank me.”

The reason we caught the culprit so easily was thanks to the smoke that contained Juliet’s soul (?).

“Ah, of course, thank you too, Juliet. You even dressed as a woman to take on such a dangerous role… The seven gods must have been impressed by your courage.”

Priest Antonio smiled faintly as he looked at Juliet.

Juliet, unaccustomed to receiving such gratitude, smiled awkwardly and tightly gripped her skirt (she hadn’t changed yet).

“Ah, no. All I did was walk around…”

“Haha. But thanks to you, we caught the culprit easily, right?”

Priest Antonio made the sign of the cross as he looked at me and Juliet.

“May the seven gods bless your paths.”

“Yes, yes…”

Juliet clumsily made the sign of the cross, following Priest Antonio.

“You’ve worked hard, Dale.”

After finishing the conversation with Priest Antonio, Iris approached me.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

I shrugged and spread my arms.

“Hmm. Let me check just in case.”

Iris, like some security officer, felt around my body, checking for wounds.

“Gulp… Y-you really have strong muscles… Your abs too… Wow, I could just do laundry on them.”

“……”

Are you really checking for wounds?

“Ahem! Y-you definitely don’t have any wounds.”

“You were checking for wounds, right?”

“O-of course!”

Iris, startled, averted her gaze.

She was sweating nervously and quickly changed the subject.

“B-by the way, why was the culprit so obsessed with blond hair?”

“Well… Everyone has their own preferences.”

Actually, preferring blond hair is quite a mainstream preference.

‘Especially since many people in the Republic have a strange fascination with blond hair.’

Nowadays, hair colors have diversified, but in the past, most Republic citizens had black hair.

I remember reading that back then, blond hair was the most popular hair color among Republic citizens, regardless of gender.

“…Dale, do you feel the same way?”

“Huh? About what?”

“Do you like blond hair?”

Iris twirled her pink hair with her fingers and narrowed her eyes slightly.

“No, I don’t particularly like blond hair more than others.”

“Then what hair color do you prefer?”

“Hmm. Hair color…”

Honestly, I don’t really care about hair color.

“Pink is nice.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that because of me, are you?”

“I swear on my parents’ names.”

“…Dale, you’re from an orphanage.”

“That just means I’m being sincere.”

“……”

Iris looked at me with a suspicious expression.

Just as she was about to press further, she took a step toward me.

“Ugh… What are you all doing outside at this hour?”

“Yawn. It’s noisy…”

Perhaps the commotion outside was too loud.

The children who had gone to bed early came out of the orphanage.

The children who came out widened their eyes when they saw Juliet.

“Who’s that sister?”

“She looks a lot like Juliet.”

“…Huh? W-wait? Isn’t that Juliet?”

“Ah! It really is!”

Juliet, caught in her cross-dressed state by the children, turned pale and stepped back.

“N-no, kids. It’s just…”

As Juliet tried to explain in a panic, the children swarmed around her.

“Wow, this is amazing!”

“You really look like a girl, Juliet!”

“Brother? Sister? What should we call you?”

The children, fascinated by Juliet’s cross-dressing, bombarded her with questions, their eyes sparkling.

“…Huh?”

Juliet, taken aback by the unexpected reaction, looked flustered.

“D-do I look good?”

“Yeah! You look prettier than any of us girls!”

“Hey! What are you saying?”

“Ow! Don’t hit me!”

A boy who made a careless remark got surrounded and beaten by the girls.

Juliet, watching the children, seemed shocked and muttered softly.

“…You guys don’t despise me.”

When she was young.

She once secretly tried on a skirt because it looked so pretty, but her father caught her.

‘He scolded me so badly.’

The image of her father looking at her with contempt that day was still vividly etched in her mind.

Like an indelible stigma.

“……”

She never really wanted to become a woman.

She just liked wearing pretty clothes and dressing up.

In those moments of cross-dressing, she felt like she had become a new person.

‘But.’

She knew it was a hobby that others wouldn’t easily accept.

So she hid her hobby, as if she had committed a crime.

‘But now…’

Juliet clenched her fist and looked around at the children surrounding her.

“Not the King of Bread, but the Queen of Bread!”

“Juliet! No, sister! You really look good!”

“Haa, haa. Whether it’s a man or a woman… As long as it tastes good, that’s all that matters, right?”

Seeing the children look at her without any prejudice, Juliet felt a lump in her throat.

Suddenly.

The image of herself looking at the orphanage children with disgust when she first met them flashed through her mind.

“…Ah.”

Her face burned with shame, and guilt weighed heavily on her.

“Well, we’re late, so we should head back to school now.”

“Yes. Thank you again.”

After saying goodbye to the children, I turned to leave the orphanage.

“Huh? What are you standing there for?”

“Ah, sorry.”

“If we’re late, the school gates will close, so let’s change and go back quickly.”

“Y-yeah. Got it.”

Juliet nodded with a somewhat dazed expression.

* * *

A few days after returning from the orphanage.

As the school streets began to get chaotic with final evaluation preparations, I headed to the school store.

‘Let’s have a light lunch with bread today.’

Thinking that, I headed to the bread corner.

“…Juliet?”

I saw Juliet buying a box full of bread at the bread corner.

‘That’s strange. I haven’t asked her to buy bread recently.’

Curious, I approached her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah, Dale?”

“Who are you buying so much bread for?”

“Ah…”

Juliet scratched her head sheepishly and continued.

“I found out that there are people who deliver items bought from the school store to Valhalla City. So I thought I’d send some bread to the orphanage kids.”

“…To the orphanage kids?”

“Yeah. The kids like the bread from our school store.”

Juliet smiled faintly as she filled the box with bread.

“…Huh.”

I looked at Juliet and stifled a laugh.

‘Juliet is buying bread for the orphanage kids?’

In her past life, such an action would have been unimaginable for Juliet.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Well…”

Juliet smiled bitterly and trailed off.

“I was taught from a young age that I should never associate with poor people without parents.”

Juliet suddenly brought up her past.

“I thought such people were inconsiderate, rude, and lowly.”

“Well… That’s typical of someone from a chaebol family.”

Not all Republic chaebols are like that, but most of the wealthy are taught to despise the less fortunate.

Not because they’re inherently evil, but because they live in a completely different world.

“But… When I saw them for myself, it was completely different.”

Juliet held the bread in the box and continued.

“It wasn’t them who were inconsiderate and rude, it was me.”

“……”

“Thinking like that, I wanted to help them in some way…”

“So you’re buying bread for them?”

“Yeah. They called me the ‘Queen of Bread,’ right?”

Juliet chuckled and handed me a piece of bread.

“Dale, do you want one?”

“…Sure.”

Taking the bread from her, I thought of Juliet from her past life.

Arrogant, haughty, and only knowing how to look down on others.

‘The future is changing.’

Yes.

The future is constantly changing.

In ways I could never have predicted.

‘But.’

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.

Like with Iris, like with Yurina, like with Berald.

There are futures that have changed for the better.

And at the center of it all.

‘There’s me.’

It’s the future I changed.

The future I created.

A change brought about by a hero who once could do nothing but follow others.

“……”

I unwrapped the bread and took a bite.

“Is it good? It’s a new product.”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“Ah… And the change…”

“No, it’s fine.”

I stopped Juliet as she fumbled to take out the money and shook my head.

“You don’t have to give me change anymore. And you don’t have to run errands for me either.”

“…Huh? Why, why?”

Juliet looked at me with an anxious expression.

“Did I do something wrong? D-did I buy too much bread for the kids?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“If it’s not that, then I want to keep running errands for you! I… I can even lend you money if you need it!”

Juliet grabbed my hand tightly and looked at me with passionate eyes.

‘Now I feel like a total jerk.’

I stifled a laugh and nodded.

“Do as you please.”

“Okay!”

Juliet nodded with a bright smile.