[You, finding yourself as a woman in this simulation, begin to curse the system nonstop. But soon, your memories begin to fade, replaced by the memories of the body's owner over the past five years.]
[Your name is Ludy Manfred Gustav, the only daughter of the Gustav family, descended from an old noble line that migrated from Kazdel. It is said that your ancestors had the blood of the Sarkaz (Vampire), but that bloodline has faded over time. That is, until your special blood was stimulated by the poison in the food your father fed you. This has now turned you into something like an Ursus (Bear) with vampire blood mixed in, creating a new race that has never existed anywhere before.]
[Only a few people know about this. One of them is a green-haired Feline woman who saved your life. She said she would keep your secret in exchange for being able to examine your physical condition every month. You, being just a child at the time, had no right to agree to those words, because the one who signed the contract was your adoptive father, upon seeing that the Feline woman was willing to pay a large sum of money for it.]
[The adoptive father who took you in is Count Andrei Rostov. He is a noble of old lineage, with a family history as long as your own. He is famous for his long service to the Ursus Empire in the quarrying industry.]
[Andrei is a man who appears gentle on the outside, but inside, he is like any other noble in the Ursus Empire, always looking for his own benefit as much as possible. Nevertheless, he is a noble who leans more towards peace than creating war.]
[The reason Count Andrei adopted you was partly due to your inhumanly beautiful face since you were a child. He thought he could make use of that, so he adopted you, hoping to use you one day. But when he discovered you had special blood that would make scientists go crazy, it gave him endless new ideas. However, those thoughts had to be stopped upon receiving the contract from that Feline woman.]
[Currently, you are 6 years old. It has been a year since Andrei brought you to live at the Rostov Manor. Your life here has not been smooth. Many people in the manor quite dislike you. The reason is because of Lady Rostov, your stepmother, who has disliked you since the first time she saw you. Because she hates your face, which is beautiful beyond your years, she often spreads rumors to bully you, manipulating the servants in the manor by saying you are a murderer who killed your own family for their fortune. Your pale skin, she claims, is due to a curse from Ursus punishing wicked people who think ill of their families, when in fact it is just the skin color resulting from your Sarkaz blood.]
[Nevertheless, there is one good thing in this house. That is a little girl named Natalia who is kind to you. She is the only daughter of Lady Rostov and Lord Andrei. They both love Natalia very much and often keep her from getting involved with you. This has meant that the two of you have not gotten to know each other much, despite living in the same house for a whole year. At mealtimes, Ludy must eat alone in her room, unlike Natalia who gets to eat with her family.]
[This has made your life here for the past year no different from hell on earth. Even so, with your optimistic nature, you continue to live like any other little girl, attending a high-class school and studying various subjects you enjoy. Although you feel bad because you cannot taste food like a normal person due to your tongue, you received advice from that Feline woman, who is like your personal doctor. She said that if you can't find a taste that suits you, then why not try creating it yourself?]
[Those words sparked an idea in you. With your mechanical genius, which is far superior to others, you have tried to invent a device that would allow you to taste again, through various tools and experiments with your own blood, which you found to be the most delicious and could provide all the nutrients you needed. But before that, you thought you needed a test subject—actually, you just meant a comrade with the same ideals. You needed that first to be able to complete this work.]
[With that thought, for the entire month, you often went out to find friends with similar interests. But you found that none of your friends at the high-class school wanted to have anything to do with you. It might be because of the widespread rumors about you being a fallen noble taken in by the charity of the Rostov family. Plus, your strange personality and skin color made you even more disliked. There was, however, one girl at school who always talked to you as if you were family. And she was none other than Natalia Andrei Rostov. She attended the same institution as you. By word of mouth, she would be like your younger sister, as you were almost a year apart in age.]
[But because your life within the manor was restricted by the family, you almost never had a chance to talk to her. Unlike her family, you found Natalia to be a rare lady, truly befitting the word "noble." Although on the outside she wore a mask full of fake smiles, her true self was just a beautiful and innocent young girl, as pure as a flower.]
[Not wanting to cause her trouble, you chose not to invite her and decided to go outside the school instead.]
"Sigh... is there no one around here who's interested?" Ludy grumbled, kicking a stone back and forth in boredom. It was then that she noticed the place she was walking in was gradually entering the outer city, where commoners and workers lived. It was not a place where a noble like her should be.
But Ludy didn't care much. She was lost in thought until she noticed a boy curled up against a wall, shivering from the cold.
Ludy looked at his emaciated body, with black crystal minerals protruding from it, with mixed feelings. One of those feelings was not sympathy or pity, but excitement, as if she had just had an idea.
'That's it... why don't I just make poor people like this my test subjects!'
I get both knowledge and data on failures, and these people get full stomachs... isn't it a win-win for both sides?
'Why are you so smart, Ludy?'
After praising herself, Ludy wasted no time and headed straight for the young boy, greeting him.
"Hello, big brother! Interested in becoming a test subject for me?"
But for some reason, her first invitation was rejected...
[Two years have passed. Currently, Ludy is 10 years old. Her experiments have continued. The people who have tried her various candies—candies that make you full, candies that cure depression, candies that make you happy—have had mixed results. There were some mistakes during the experimental process, such as one candy that made a test subject too hyper, staying awake for nearly two days, and then, when their energy ran out, they slept like the dead for almost a week. Or... the candy that made a person so happy they laughed all day, getting yelled at by their neighbor. Or the worst one, the candy that made the test subject lose their appetite for food, wanting to eat only this candy all the time, which gave Ludy quite a headache. But even so, she was very happy to learn that people said the candies she made were wonderful and delicious. Now, she's starting to think about other projects besides candy, because her real goal is to make food that tastes more wonderful than anyone could imagine.]
[So you decided to consult your personal doctor about this. The other party seemed speechless upon learning that you were experimenting on other people. But when she found out the negative effects weren't too severe? She just gave you a small warning to be careful about your reputation and gave you some advice about the benefits of food.]
[When you heard her mention your reputation, you had no idea that your actions over the past year had made you quite famous in Ursus as the kind "Candy Angel" who gives food to help the Infected and the needy. You didn't think the nickname was a big deal... until that day your adoptive father called you to join them for a meal, the first time in five years since he brought you to this manor that you were invited to the dining table.]
[At that time, you admit you were a little confused, until you heard Count Andrei say that he wanted to send you to the imperial capital along with his daughter to attend Prince Fyodor's birthday party. Of course, you asked why it had to be you. Andrei simply said it was because His Highness had sent an invitation directly to you. He said only that before saying nothing more and turning to happily congratulate his own daughter, as if you were just thin air.]
[After returning to your room, you thought hard about what to do. You decided to call and consult your personal doctor about it. Your doctor advised you not to refuse the invitation, because refusing the prince was tantamount to refusing Ursus. Your life would surely be filled with chaos if you did that.]
[On the contrary, she told you to be vigilant about everything after you arrived there—your words, your actions. You were very happy to receive the advice. You decided you would call her your teacher, to which the woman on the other end of the line was silent for a moment before telling you to call her whatever you wanted, then hung up.]
[Time passed, and finally, the day of the prince's birthday celebration arrived. Ludy traveled to the party in a rented private car. As for Natalia, her adoptive sister, she had already arrived earlier in a fine luxury car belonging to the family. Her adoptive father, Andrei, said that the two of them didn't need to arrive at the party together, because that would diminish the focus on their family. Ludy understood. As an adopted child, she was happy to be a backup for this debut. Plus, it would help reduce the attention on her, so she was always happy to attend this event later as an unimportant person. Unlike Natalia, who looked hesitant as if she wanted to say something, but being a child, she didn't dare say anything to her father and just sat quietly as always.]
[After arriving at the party, it was as expected. Ludy was not very welcome among the nobles. They saw her more like an evil ghost with her pale skin and even secretly insulted her taste in brown clothes that didn't suit her at all, even though she wasn't the one who chose them.]
[But... if you were to ask if Ludy cared, the answer is no. Because she only came to this party as invited. Another thing was, she came to study how different the food in the imperial capital would be from Chernobog. But she was met with disappointment when she found that even the food here was terrible compared to everything she had ever eaten. No matter how bad her sense of taste was, she knew what good food was, and the food at this party wasn't even half as good as what she had eaten before.]
[After the opening ceremony, which was announced by someone other than the prince—they said His Highness would not be attending today because he was busy—the party, which had been organized, visibly deflated. It was no wonder the food there was not delicious at all, even though the nobles were praising it loudly.]
[When Ludy could no longer stand the boredom, she left the party and went for a walk in the garden behind the castle. At least there were many nice places there, and the flower garden was very beautiful, as if it were meticulously cared for every day. She also noticed a young man with deer antlers standing alone, watering the flowers. She didn't hesitate to walk up and greet him immediately. The man seemed a little startled to see her and quickly made a respectful gesture, awkward and unfamiliar with doing so.]
"Be at ease, big brother. I know how it feels to force a smile in front of those nobles. I'm more interested in what you're doing. What's the name of this flower you're watering?"
"I-it's called a Mingfei flower, miss. It's a flower from the Yan Empire," the young man replied fluently. Although he seemed more at ease, he still hadn't completely dropped the tone of speaking to a superior.
"Hmm, and what about that beautiful white flower?"
"That's called a Whitefell. It's a flower that only grows on the mountaintops of Kjerag. The prince is very fond of it and often has the palace mages cast spells to prolong its life."
Hearing that, Ludy couldn't help but look at the flower with a strained smile.
"How pitiful. To be such a beautiful flower, yet to be in a place it shouldn't be. It's just like us right now, don't you think?"
"...I don't understand what you're talking about, miss," the young man replied with an awkward expression, which made Ludy laugh and playfully nudge his waist with her elbow.
"You know what I mean, big brother! This place is absolute crap! It's full of people who just sit around dissing each other to make themselves look cool. And that good-for-nothing prince didn't even bother to show up, even though he was the one who invited everyone. It's his own birthday, but he acts like we're all idiots, not even bothering to show his face. How can I not call that crappy?"
"...I have to agree with you, my lady. This party is indeed boring."
Suddenly, a mysterious voice came from behind the two of them. The deer-horned man jumped in fright, his face pale, but the young girl, who still hadn't noticed, turned to look at the other person.
The man was a tall, youthful young man with a handsome face that looked intelligent and kind. The monocle he wore made him look quite wise.
"Oh! You think so too, big brother! I think besides this beautiful back garden, this party has given me nothing but a sucky, boring experience."
"Haha... I'm glad you like it. I invested in creating these flowers myself because my mother wanted to see them before she passed away."
Ludy felt sad hearing that.
"That's such a sad story. My condolences for your mother. But this flower garden is truly a beautiful thing. I won't hold it against you that you've caused some beauty not to be displayed in the place it should be."
"Heh heh... that's a great honor. By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. Grovasel, is this woman a friend of yours?"
"Sigh... how could she be? She's just some kid I don't know who suddenly started talking to me," the deer-horned man named Grovasel said, as if he were being dragged into something he shouldn't be involved in.
"My name is Ludy Manfred Gustav! And let me correct you a little, I'm not just some kid I don't know, but a super-intelligent young girl who is researching wonderful tastes!"
"Oh... so you are the famous Candy Angel. It's a pleasure to meet you in person. I was the one who sent the invitation to you. I must sincerely apologize for making you attend such a boring party."
"It's fine, it's fine... I already told you, it's because this flower garden—wait a minute." Ludy, so shocked she forgot to use polite endings, quickly looked up at him. It was then that she noticed the clothes he was wearing were not for a party, but a uniform adorned with the Ursus imperial crest.
The young man, knowing that she had started to notice, gave a small smile before reaching out to touch the young girl and introducing himself.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ludy. I am Fyodor Vladimirovich, the host of the 'sucky party' you were just talking about."
"..."
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