The morning sun in Vayne usually brought a biting chill, but today, there was something different in the air.
It wasn’t the smell of beef stew from Azura’s soup kitchen, but a cloying, sugary aroma—like a blend of honey and spring blossoms in full bloom.
The scent was so potent it seeped through the window cracks of Castle Vayne, as if calling out to every hungry soul to come outside.
Azura stood on her balcony, already dressed in an elegant deep purple silk gown—back in Marchioness mode after her sewer escapades the night before.
Her sharp eyes observed the movement of the masses below.
[System: Morning, Boss!
Did you sleep well?
Because out there, your people are undergoing a mass possession.
Look at the Cathedral.
Malachi just received a ‘package’ from headquarters.
It seems he realized his ‘Embargo’ strategy failed miserably thanks to your stew, so now he’s playing an even more hardcore religious card.]
”Too fragrant for ordinary bread,” Azura murmured.
“Even the best bakeries in the capital don’t have a scent this provocative.”
In front of the Cathedral, a large wooden stage had been erected.
Upon it stood Inquisitor Malachi, draped in blinding white robes, his arms spread wide as if to embrace the entire city.
However, he was not the center of attention.
Beside him stood a young girl, perhaps a year younger than Azura.
She wore a plain white dress without ornamentation, her golden hair flowing beautifully, and her face radiating a tranquility that felt almost inhuman.
”People of Vayne!” Malachi’s voice boomed, amplified by magic.
“God has heard your cries!
Amidst the darkness brought by the cursed woman in that castle, God has sent His light!
Welcome Eliana, the Daughter of Light, who brings Holy Bread to heal your wounds!”
The girl named Eliana smiled—a smile so pure that several citizens in the front row immediately knelt and wept.
She began distributing small pieces of bread that glowed with a faint, dim light.
Azura watched through Liar’s Discernment, which had been automatically triggered by the System.
[System: Scanning Target: Eliana.
Analysis: Oscar-level acting.
Heart rate is stable, but there’s a fluctuation in the aura at her fingertips every time she touches the bread.
And look at the people who have eaten…
their emotional status shifted from ‘Hungry/Desperate’ to ‘Maximum Euphoria’ in seconds.
That’s not a miracle, Boss.
That’s an artificial dopamine explosion.]
”Addictive substances,” Azura hissed.
“The Church has turned into a large-scale drug dealer.”
”My Lady,” Arthur appeared behind Azura, his face tense.
“The people are abandoning our soup kitchens.
They say the bread at the Cathedral can heal diseases and satisfy their hunger forever.
Should we disperse them?”
Azura turned, her lips curling into a slanted smile that made Arthur shiver.
“Disperse them?
No, Arthur.
That would only make me look like a demon envious of an angel.
Prepare the carriage.
We are going to the Cathedral.”
”To the Cathedral?
For what?”
”To give a donation, of course.
As a good ruler, I must support the Church’s ‘good deeds,’ shouldn’t I?”
The atmosphere in front of the Cathedral was suffocating.
Azura stepped down from her carriage with the grace of a queen.
Her presence triggered whispers of hatred, but Azura ignored them.
She walked straight through the crowd, letting the Church knights glare at her with blatant hostility.
On the stage, Malachi stiffened as he saw Azura approaching.
Eliana, the fraudulent Saintess, stopped her movements.
Her clear eyes met Azura’s, offering a polite but challenging tilt of the head.
”Marchioness Vayne,” Malachi said in a cold tone wrapped in fake cordiality.
“Have you come to repent after seeing the light of God?”
Azura let out a soft chuckle, her laughter clear yet sharp.
“Repent?
Oh, Inquisitor, I’ve come to admire.
I had no idea the Church had such an abundant stock of bread that it could distribute it for free to thousands.
Quite an…
efficient miracle.”
Azura stepped forward, approaching Eliana.
They were barely a meter apart.
Azura could smell the sickeningly sweet scent of the bread.
”So, this is the ‘Angel’?” Azura looked Eliana up and down.
“You have a beautiful face, child.
It’s a pity such delicate hands have to work so hard distributing bread in the dusty streets.”
Eliana smiled softly.
“God gives strength to the weak, Marchioness.
The people do not need stew paid for with the sweat of forced labor.
They need sincere compassion.”
”Compassion, is it?” Azura snatched a piece of bread from Eliana’s basket before the Church knights could intervene.
She twirled the bread in her hand.
“It smells delicious.
So delicious that my people look like madmen after eating it.
Would you mind if I took a few back to the castle to be tested?
I want to ensure my castle chef can learn from this ‘miracle’.”
”This is blessed bread, Marchioness,” Malachi interrupted quickly, his face starting to look uneasy.
“Only those with faith may taste it.
A sinful person like you will only defile its sanctity.”
”Oh, don’t be so stingy, Inquisitor.” Azura pulled out a heavy pouch of gold coins and dropped it onto the table in front of Eliana.
Clang!
The sound of the gold silenced the crowd for a moment.
“This is my personal donation to this holy mission.
In return, I only want ten of these loaves.
Consider it a transaction between the ruler of the land and her guests.”
In front of the public, Malachi could not refuse without appearing greedy or suspicious.
With a sour face, he nodded.
As Azura took the bread, she leaned in slightly toward Eliana’s ear.
“You play the part well, Miss Saintess.
But in my world, dealers who give out free samples usually end up with a wire around their necks.
Enjoy your stage while you can.”
Eliana remained silent, her eyes glinting momentarily to show her true, cold nature before returning to her innocent facade as Azura walked away.
Meanwhile, on the roof of a house overlooking the Cathedral square, a man sat casually, swinging his legs in the air.
He wore a drab brown cloak that camouflaged his true form.
In his hand was a bag of peanuts.
Alaric Varentis peeled a peanut and flicked the shell down, hitting the head of a Church knight standing at attention below.
The knight turned around in confusion but found no one.
”Tsk, tsk.
Magic bread, huh?” Alaric chewed his peanuts lazily.
His eyes never left the figure of Azura walking back to her carriage.
“The Marchioness really has guts.
Instead of getting angry, she throws gold around.
Clever way to gather evidence in front of everyone.”
Alaric looked at the people gorging on the bread ravenously.
He could see something others couldn’t—a faint black haze beginning to shroud the veins in the citizens’ necks.
”The Church has truly gone mad.
They’re feeding ‘Euphoria Dust’ to the commoners,” Alaric muttered.
His smile vanished, replaced by a cold, lethal gaze.
“If this continues, in three days, this city will become a nest of junkies.”
He glanced toward Castle Vayne, then back at the Cathedral.
“Well then, Azura Vayne…
let’s see how well your science and logic can defeat this synthetic ‘miracle’.
If you fail, I’ll be forced to step in using Southern methods…
which are a bit more crude.”
Alaric tossed his last peanut shell and vanished from the roof like a shadow swept away by the wind.
Back at the castle, Azura headed straight for the West Tower, where Aurelia usually locked herself away with stacks of books and alchemy vials.
Bam!
Azura slammed the ten pieces of holy bread onto Aurelia’s desk.
”Examine these,” Azura commanded bluntly.
“Find out what’s in them, how long the effect lasts, and what the withdrawal symptoms are.
I need scientific proof that even an idiot can understand.”
Aurelia, initially annoyed by the slammed door, froze the moment she caught the bread’s aroma.
She put on her magnifying glasses and began dissecting the bread with a small scalpel.
”The smell…
this isn’t normal wheat,” Aurelia muttered, her eyes glinting with intellectual interest.
“It’s a blend of dried Lethal Joy flower extract.
This substance has been banned throughout the kingdom for a century because of its brain-rotting addictive effects.”
”How long until the euphoria wears off?” Azura asked.
”Judging by the dosage…
maybe eight hours.
After that, they’ll start feeling nauseous, shaky, and intensely thirsty.
And if they don’t eat this bread again within twenty-four hours…” Aurelia looked at Azura seriously.
“They will become aggressive.
So aggressive that they might kill others just to get one more bite.”
Azura crossed her arms, staring out the window toward the Cathedral, still swarming with crowds.
”Good,” Azura said coldly.
“Let Malachi feed them until they’re full today.
We’ll wait until they start feeling ‘thirsty’.
That is when we will burn Eliana’s stage to the ground with the evidence you’ve found.”
[Sistem: Host, your cunning level increased by 20 points tonight.
I’m starting to feel sorry for that fake Saintess.
She thinks she’s in a religious drama, when really she’s stepped into a shark tank with a woman holding a microscope.]
Azura remained silent, her eyes staring intently into the falling darkness.
The first phase of the Hunger Games had truly begun, and she couldn’t wait to see how that “Angel” would scream when the truth began to unravel.