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Chapter 110: Interlude – Queen of Bread

"Did you really catch the culprit?"

Father Antonio, looked at me with astonished eyes.

I nodded and handed him the black robe the culprit was wearing (I had removed it before burning the body).

"Yes. The body was too damaged during the battle, so we couldn\'t identify the culprit exactly, but there won\'t be any more victims."

"Huh... To think you caught the culprit so easily when even \'Powerman\' couldn\'t."

Antonio examined the black robe thoroughly.

Inside the robe\'s pocket was a small box containing the locks of hair the culprit had cut from his victims.

"……."

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

The thought that the culprit could have added children\'s hair to this collection if we hadn’t caught him sent a chill down his spine.

"Hoo. At least now we can rest easy."

Antonio, clutching his chest in relief, bowed his head to me.

"Thank you, Dale."

"It wasn\'t just me."

Catching the culprit this easily was thanks to Juliet\'s spirited performance.

"Oh, of course. Thank you, Juliet, for taking on such a dangerous role—even cross-dressing. The Seven Gods must be in awe of your bravery."

Antonio smiled faintly at Juliet.

Juliet, looking uncomfortable with the gratitude, awkwardly gripped the hem of his skirt (he hadn\'t changed back yet).

"Ah, no. All I did was walk around a bit...."

"Haha, but thanks to you, we caught the culprit quickly, didn\'t we?"

Antonio crossed himself as he looked at both of us.

"May the Seven Gods bless your paths."

"Y-yes…."

Juliet clumsily mimicked Antonio, crossing herself.

"Great job, Dale,"

Iris said as she approached me after the conversation with Antonio ended.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"As you can see, I\'m fine."

I shrugged and spread my arms to show her.

"Hmm. Let me check just in case."

Like a security guard, Iris began to inspect my body, checking for any injuries.

"Gulp… W-wow, your muscles are as firm as always… and your abs… I could wash clothes on them."

"……."

Is she really checking for injuries…?

"Ahem! It seems you’re uninjured."

"Are you sure you were checking for injuries?"

"Of course!"

Startled, Iris averted her gaze.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she hurriedly changed the subject.

"S-so, why do you think the culprit was so obsessed with blonde hair?"

"Who knows… People have their preferences."

Liking blondes was quite a common preference.

‘Especially in the Republic, a lot of people seem to have a strange fascination with blonde hair.’

Nowadays, hair colors varied, but historically, most people from the Republic had black hair.

I remembered reading somewhere that, in the past, blonde hair was the most popular among both men and women in the Republic.

"...Do you like blonde hair too, Dale?"

"Hm? Why?"

"Do you prefer blondes?"

Iris twirled a strand of her light pink hair around her finger and squinted her eyes.

"No, I don’t have a special preference for blonde hair."

"Then what hair color do you like?"

"Hmm. Hair color, huh…."

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

"I like pink."

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

"I swear on my parents\' names."

"...You’re an orphan."

"That’s how serious I am."

"……."

Iris gave me a doubtful look.

As she stepped closer, about to ask more questions—

"Umm… What are you all doing outside at this hour?"

"Yawn. It’s noisy out here...."

Had we been too loud?

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

The kids widened their eyes when they saw Juliet.

"Who’s that lady?"

"She looks a lot like Juliet."

"...Huh? Wait, is that Juliet?"

"Oh! It really is!"

Seeing the children recognize him, Juliet paled and took a step back.

"A-actually, kids, this is…."

Juliet tried to explain in a panic, but the kids swarmed around him.

"Wow, so cool!"

"You really look like a girl!"

"Should we call you brother or sister?"

The children, their eyes sparkling, bombarded Juliet with questions, intrigued by his cross-dressing.

"...Huh?"

Their unexpected reactions took aback Juliet.

"You think… it suits me?"

"Yeah! You’re prettier than us girls!"

"Hey! What do you mean by that?"

"Ahh! Don’t hit me!"

A boy who had made a careless remark was soon surrounded by the girls, who started hitting him.

Watching this scene, Juliet stood frozen, shocked, and muttered quietly to himself.

"...You don’t despise me."

When he was younger, he once thought the skirts girls wore were so pretty that he secretly tried one on, only to be caught by his father.

\'He was furious.\'

The sight of his father looking at him with disdain was still vividly etched in his memory.

Like a scar that would never fade.

"……."

He never really had the thought of wanting to become a woman.

He just liked wearing pretty clothes and dressing up.

Because for that moment when he dressed up, it felt like he was becoming a new version of himself.

\'But.\'

Even he knew that it was a hobby that wasn\'t easy to be accepted by others.

So, he hid it from people, as if he were committing some crime.

\'But...\'

Juliet clenched his fists tightly and looked around at the children surrounding him.

"Turns out you\'re not the King of Bread but the Queen of Bread!"

"Juliet bro! No, sis! You really look great!"

"Huff, huff. Whether it\'s a man or a woman... as long as it tastes good, who cares?"

[PR/N: bro ]

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

Suddenly.

His memory flashed back to the first time he met the kids at the orphanage, when he had looked at them with eyes full of disgust.

"...Ah."

His face flushed with heat, and guilt weighed heavily on him.

"Well, we\'re late, so we\'ll head back to school now."

"Yes, thank you again."

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

"Hm? Why are you just standing there?"

"Oh, sorry."

"If we’re any later, the school gate will close, so hurry up and change your clothes."

"Uh, yeah. Got it."

Juliet nodded, still looking dazed.

* * *

A few days after returning from the orphanage.

As I walked through the increasingly busy school grounds, where everyone was preparing for the end-of-term evaluations, I headed toward the school store.

\'I\'ll just have something light like bread for lunch today.\'

With that thought in mind, I headed to the bread section.

"...Juliet?"

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

\'That\'s strange. I haven’t asked him to buy bread recently.\'

I tilted my head in confusion and approached Juliet.

"What are you doing here?"

"Uh, Dale?"

"Why are you buying so much bread? Who’s it for?"

"Ah..."

Juliet scratched his head awkwardly before answering.

"I found out that there are people who deliver items from the school store to Valhalla City. So, I thought I’d buy some bread for the kids at the orphanage."

"...For the kids at the orphanage?"

"Yeah. They like the bread from our school store."

Juliet smiled softly as he filled the box with bread.

"...Wow."

I let out a faint laugh as I watched him.

\'Juliet buying bread for the orphanage kids?\'

It was something I could never have imagined in his past life.

"What brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Well..."

Juliet trailed off, smiling bitterly.

"I was raised to believe that I should never associate with the poor and those without parents."

Juliet suddenly started talking about his past.

"I used to think those people didn’t know how to care for others, had no manners, and were beneath me."

"Well... you are from a wealthy family."

Not all of the republic’s wealthy families were like that, but most of them were taught to look down on those who had less.

Not because they were inherently evil, but simply because their world was so different.

"But... when I saw it for myself, it was completely different."

Juliet spoke as he held the box of bread in his hands.

"They weren’t the ones who didn’t know how to care for others or lacked manners. It was me."

"......"

"Thinking about that... I just wanted to help them in some way."

"So, you\'re buying them bread?"

"Yeah. They called me the \'Queen of Bread,\' didn\'t they?"

Juliet smiled and offered me a piece of bread.

"Want one, Dale?"

"...Sure."

As I took the bread from him, I thought about the Juliet from his past life.

Arrogant, prideful, and always looking down on others.

\'The future is changing, huh.\'

Yes.

The future was constantly changing.

In ways I could never predict.

\'But.\'

That didn’t necessarily mean it was a bad thing.

Just like with Iris, Yurina, and Berald, some changes were for the better.

And at the center of it all—

\'It\'s me.\'

It\'s the future I\'ve changed.

The future I\'ve created.

A future shaped by someone who once could do nothing but follow behind others—the lowest-ranked hero.

"......"

I unwrapped the bread and took a bite.

"Good, right? It\'s a new item they just released."

"Yeah, it’s good."

"Oh... and about the change..."

"No, it’s fine."

I stopped Juliet, who was fumbling for change, by gently grabbing his arm and shaking my head.

"From now on, you don’t have to give me change. You don’t need to run errands for me anymore either."

"...Huh? Why, why?"

Juliet looked at me with an anxious expression.

"Did I do something wrong? Is it because I bought a bunch of bread for the kids?"

"No, that’s not it..."

"If that’s not it, then I want to keep running errands for you! And... if you need money, I can lend you some!"

Juliet clasped my hand tightly, his eyes burning with determination.

\'That makes me feel like a huge jerk for some reason.\'

I let out a small laugh and nodded.

"Do whatever you want."

"Okay!"

Juliet nodded with a bright smile.