The war with the Re-Estize Kingdom had ended with a total of 0 dead on the Sorcerer Kingdom's side.
The undead and a few powerful minions had utterly defeated the country, and to her knowledge, civilian life within the Sorcerer Kingdom has not changed at all throughout any of this. Some particularly reclusive and uninformed individuals probably would be able to avoid the news of war altogether.
Neia felt excited about the whole thing. Her and the other followers' righteous wrath turned into celebrations.
The last few days were quite happy indeed.
Though it probably wouldn't be like that for long. At least to those in the Holy Kingdom, this was an enemy who did not actually directly pose a danger to them. She had also always assured them victory would be instant, and so no one was surprised, which was apparently a large part of what made celebrations.
Either way, this was her first date with the Sorcerer King since the victory. She planned to ask many questions which she would use as material for her and the other speakers' speeches.
She definitely wanted to get things right. Lying was not something she could really do. There were some other preachers which had already been telling unverified stories, which she didn't intend to ever do.
She was told about the last battle in front of the capital, and how the nobles started a revolt during which they killed Prince Zanac, bringing his head before His Majesty. And how such a cowardly act would not save them. She was told of what happened to the capital afterward, and how it was now a field of rubble.
A field of rubble which they planned to keep in its current state, so it can serve as a reminder for generations to come.
And she was told much more.
Neia was kneeling with her head low as she waited for His Majesty to arrive.
Today, she would admit something.
Something that might seriously damage her chances.
She wasn't even sure what her exact goal was with this.
Still, she felt like she had to do it.
Just then, the Sorcerer King had teleported into the room.
"Hello. Neia, rise please.."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
She felt like her distress was showing.
"Hm? Is there something wrong, Neia?"
Of course, His Majesty had already sensed it from just that. She probably knew her well enough for that.
"W-well, uhm. Yes, Your Majesty. There is something wrong, and I wish to discuss it today."
She could see the Sorcerer King wince.
"Ah. Uhm. Let's talk about it, then."
They sat on the sofa, and he placed today's platter of food in front of her.
Silence filled the room.
Just silence.
Neia wanted to start speaking, but the shame she felt was great.
The source of her problems was right in front of her. That damn food… "No! The problem is my weakness! My sin!" She got angry at herself, and refused to make any excuses.
This was her own failure. And now she had to fix it.
She felt a burst of determination surging like a mighty wave and spoke.
"Your Majesty, I-" Her burst was no mighty wave after all. It was not enough to finish a single sentence.
That's how deep her shame was at this moment.
"Y-Your Majes-"
She felt ashamed at what she was about to say. Her current weakness, it went against everything a follower of His Majesty had to be. Strong, responsible, always striving to improve... Those were some of the many virtues His Majesty represented, and what she preached, and she failed to live up to them.
He'd called her a capable, valued servant.
She took pride in working so much to spread his faith.
But she still failed at such a simple thing. She was foolish and weak enough to get addicted to food, of all things.
She was not worthy of being called a good servant.
She was not worthy of being trusted.
She was certainly not worthy of being his wife.
She started to feel tears building up in her eyes.
"I- I've failed! I-"
She tried to get it over with, but she couldn't.
She was now crying. But it was disrespectful to not finish her sentence, and so she continued. She couldn't bring more shame to herself.
"I- I've become... I've become addicted to... the food... you..." she managed to squeeze these words through her tears, but couldn't go on any longer.
Suddenly, the Sorcerer King hugged her tightly.
She was so surprised she stopped completely, and simply sat there in silence.
A hug.
It was how she awakened from almost dying, only to be saved by him. It was when she realised her love for him, and when she confessed.
And later, it was when he called her beautiful.
All those memories surged through her at once.
She hugged him back, and let the tears flow freely.
In retrospect, perhaps he should have expected something like this. He had already received a hint some time ago, when he interacted with a trio of elf slaves which they had rescued and brought to live with them in Nazarick. Those slaves said something similar, about never being able to eat normal food again, which was one of the reasons they were immediately opposed to the idea of being released.
When he thought about it, the issue seemed to make even more sense.
The ingredients with which Nazarick food was created were of such a high quality that no equivalents were to be found in this world.
Yggdrasil foodstuffs with ridiculous backstories meant to accentuate their quality became real, and so did those vivid descriptions of their unimaginable taste.
Indeed, it was obvious now that this was his fault.
Someone being exposed to such things over a long period of time, but in limited supply would obviously start to hunger for more.
Looking at it like that, it became obvious to him that to a lowly human from this world, Nazarick's food was like a hard drug.
And now, he had created an addict.
It was a bit silly. So silly in fact that he failed to consider it.
No, even in his own world, Suzuki Satoru had heard about people addicted to food, and that world did not even have burgers made of unicorn meat.
Also, perhaps it was more than that? It was also possible Neia was simply someone who was already prone to addiction. Her emotional state probably contributed to that. To have the threat of her country being destroyed looming over her, to developing this relationship with her people's saviour, to being drowned with responsibility she never asked for.
Perhaps she's also felt stress due to having to court him? Was the way he was treating her another source of stress?
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like Neia's situation opened her up to forming bad habits.
And it seemed like much of it was his doing.
Considering all of that, he felt completely responsible.
He failed again.
This seemed to happen almost every single time he'd acted without someone else's input.
But now was not the time for scolding himself.
He had to work hard to fix his mistakes.
He had to console the girl crying in his arms.
Her eyes had dried up.
She could no longer cry.
And so she held His Majesty in silence.
She wanted this silence to last forever.
She wanted to simply lay in his embrace like this.
She did not want to hear what he would say to her.
He must've been so disappointed.
Any affection he had for her was probably gone.
He probably regretted telling all those people she was his valued servant.
Every second he did not say anything was temporary bliss.
Because she could pretend things were different than they really were.
It was delaying those words she was so afraid of.
But there was still silence. At least for now. His Majesty did not speak. Not a word. Nothing. And so she held him even tighter.
Unfortunately, the silence was then broken in only a few short seconds.
"Neia."
She did not want to hear it.
"Neia, you've done nothing wrong."
Her eyes widened to their fullest.
"Neia, I understand. It's all right. There is no need for any of this."
She could not believe it.
His Majesty released his grip.
She wanted to hold on longer, but she did not dare, and so she backed away too, looking into his eyes.
"Neia, what are you talking about? You did nothing wrong. There's nothing to worry about."
If she could still cry any more, her tears would be of joy.
Such kindness. Perhaps she should expect such a thing from the one who embodies it, but this was too much.
"Neia, if you became addicted to food, Why can't I just keep feeding it to you? There's no problem with that."
The girl looked to have some sort of combination of surprise and happiness as he said this.
Seeing her like this, he even started to feel like her eyes weren't as scary to him anymore.
Not as much, at least.
Suzuki Satoru was uneasy about this. After all, if Neia was like an addict who craved hard drugs, was this not exactly the wrong thing to do?
Didn't he just become her dealer?
He was not very smart, but he thought about it a lot. It seemed like the reasons hard drugs were destructive would usually be because of:
1. the things one did while taking them, 2. the things they did to one's body, 3. the suffering one went through when they lost access to them,
4. the things one did to obtain them.
He knew next to nothing about such matters, but this was what he managed to piece together. With his approach, he seemed to be able to eliminate most of these problems.
His plan was to simply keep feeding her the food.
In regards to the problems and how he believed they would be addressed: 1. one did not become dangerous or irrational because of food,
2. one did not suffer because of food, as long as they had a decent diet, 3. she would not suffer from withdrawal because he wouldn't stop giving her the food, 4. she would not have to engage in crime or become indebted to have money for the food, because he simply provided it for free.
All he really did was create a simple system where she would receive three meals a day at given times by a teleporting servant, and the diet being healthy to humans was handled by the cooks.
He did his best to not involve anyone unnecessary, and if anyone asked, he would explain the situation as being another thing to force even more loyalty.
That much was true, in a way.
Still, he felt like this only brought more eyes on her, and with each set of eyes the chances of their little secret being found out increased. He really hoped that wouldn't be the case, as he absolutely did not want to deal with both an angry Albedo and an angry Shalltear.
Either way, the first meal of the day was being finalised to be sent to her.
He was present now because he also wanted the servant to deliver another thing along with the food. A magic item.
It was mostly an experiment.
If he gave her an item which eliminated hunger, how much would that help?
He didn't really expect great results, but it was the first time he could try this, so why not.
Neia was speaking to what could be called her head advisor assistant, Bertrand.
"Here. New instructions."
She handed him a piece of paper with a list of times of day.
As Bertrand looked it over, he seemed confused.
"And this is...?"
"During these periods of time, none shall enter my bedroom. If there is anyone inside shortly before the period of time occurs, they should leave and wait until it has passed."
He looked confused again.
"Uhm, Lady Baraja, may I ask what the reason for this is?"
"Yes, but it is somewhat of a secret. From now on, due to my position within the country, there are many official documents which find themselves on my desk. You already know this, of course. Recently, however, I have also established an official relationship with the Sorcerer Kingdom. But the Sorcerer Kingdom is not a place which lets important documents travel slowly by use of horses and the like. And so, magic is used. I trust you understand?"
It seemed like a very good lie, because it was basically the truth.
She had to keep her image clean in order to remain effective as a leader to these people, and so this is what they decided.
"Of course, Lady Baraja! In fact, isn't this great news? Being in close contact with the Sorcerer Kingdom... it seemed that not only have you risen in status, but since you represent the people, they too, have a way to reach His Majesty."
She gave a weak but genuine smile in response to his enthusiasm.
"Yeah. It really is great."
There was another thing which needed to be done, however.
"Also, in regards to my current eating habits... I was given a gift by His Majesty. From now on, I will not need to eat, thanks to magic. My spending in regards to food was not acceptable..."
Guilt stabbed at her heart as she said that.
"... Therefore, relieve the cooks which currently handle my meals."
Bertrand's eyes were widened.
"This is... well... I see. Another great gift by His Majesty."
She knew what he meant. They both understood that her spending on food was unsustainable, and was slowly but surely making the organisation bankrupt.
In her bedroom, on top of a set of drawers, was now a locked chest.
She had one of two existing keys to this chest.
Every morning, afternoon and evening, a messenger will come to deliver her food. The messenger will unlock the chest and place the food inside. It could be troublesome if the food was left lying around while Neia was gone somewhere, as it could go bad or perhaps something else could happen, like it being discovered causing the servants to ask questions.
Either way, this was also a way to send other non-emergency things and messages through if it was ever needed, so they decided this was a good system.
The messenger should have arrived moments before, with her first ever meal delivered like this.
She unlocked the chest for the first time, and saw her breakfast waiting for her inside.
Whatever all that candy was, it seemed irresistible.
As she was taking the platter out of the chest, she noticed there was something else. A ring with a small note attached.
This was not expected, and so she looked over it immediately.
"Hello, Neia. This might help with your problem. It prevents hunger. It might help a bit when you're not able to eat your meals on time due to your duties. Enjoy your food."
The message was likely written by His Majesty.
She smiled bitterly.
"Another thoughtful gift I don't deserve..."
She simply looked at it for several moments.
"His Majesty really is spoiling me."