In Empty Palace, in Jann's room, Tales sat upright in the main hall, silent.
"Doyle Family's man, have you finished testing the food?"
Jann's voice rang out coldly, making no effort to hide his disgust and impatience:
"Who knows whether it's been poisoned? Or whether there's a note slipped inside to pass along a message?"
Behind Jann, D.D. sat in the opposite side hall, utensils in hand. He lifted his face from the table laden with dishes.
"Huh? Oh—it's almost done. Almost."
Doyle's mouth was greasy. At Jann's words, he glared fiercely at him, then scooped another large spoonful of mashed potatoes from the wreckage of the plates and stuffed it into his mouth, looking as though he intended to bite through the spoon as well:
"Sorry to trouble you, but please wait a little longer. After all, you're the Grand Duke, a very important man! With such a noble and important status, if anything happened to you, a poor wretch from a minor family in Mirror River like me couldn't bear the responsibility—why don't you play with my little stuffed bear first, so you won't get bored?"
Jann turned to look at the stuffed bear on the dining table and pressed his lips together in disgust.
He endured the burning sensation in his stomach and looked at the clock again.
It had already been an hour since mealtime.
On the other side, D.D. ate another bite of roast meat, not forgetting to make appreciative smacking sounds.
The Duke of South Bank finally lost his patience.
"Do you test your Prince's food like this, too?"
"Oh, you got that right!"
D.D. took bite after bite, not forgetting to pretend to feed the little bear on the table ("Why are you such a picky eater? No wonder you never grow! Tsk