Unsurprisingly, this was awkward.

Unbearably awkward.

As I led Kang Jiesu to the Emerald Suite, I was completely silent. As for Kang, he periodically tried to strike conversation, but a combination of the language barrier and my frigid personality posed an insurmountable challenge for the social butterfly. Moreover, I was extremely self-conscious about my own behavior, and I didn't want to let anything slip about my true identity.

Kang and I had known each other since kindergarten, and it went without saying that we knew far too much about each other.

Honestly, I knew most of my classmates since elementary school, but Kang was... a step above the others.

But it was precisely for that reason that I couldn't trust him. Sun Tzu once said that 'if you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear 100 battles'. Contrarily, Kang Jiesu knew almost every single little thing about me in excruciating detail, and that left me critically vulnerable from all directions. Furthermore, he was manipulative and sly, and I couldn't trust a single word that came out of his mouth.

Kang was a liar and traitor.

He was probably my only friend, but I hated him.

He is the worst kind of asshole.

Years ago, I swore that I would never forgive him.

+ + +

My eyes were blank like a dead fish as I gave my ex-childhood friend and classmate a silent tour of the Emerald Suite.

The Emerald Suite was one of the eight 'mid-tier' guest rooms in the royal palace. Although we referred to it as a "bedroom", it was actually as large as an entire penthouse, and it had its own office, living room, master bathroom, and secondary guest room. Obviously, it was extremely luxurious, and I knew for a fact that Kang Jiesu had never seen anything as lavish and extravagant as this, since both of our families grew up in cramped six-story concrete apartment buildings in the rundown suburbs of Chongqing.

There were also mana-powered lamps and a variety of other magical appliances that were commonplace in this world. I could easily guess that these curious trinkets of magical technology would almost certainly catch Kang's attention, although they weren't remarkable at all from Hanamarie's perspective.

Frankly, it was too easy to overlook all the things that Hana's brain considered insignificant.

Still, I was grateful for the fact that Kang would likely have plenty of things to distract himself with. I really didn't want to interact with him any more than the bare minimum. Consequently, I cut the bedroom tour short at the earliest opportunity.

The time was already past midnight, so it was extremely late by local standards.

However, my managers were unsure if the Otherworlders had eaten at all, so we had been instructed to cater a meal just in case they were hungry. I spent some time customizing a tray of hot food that had been delivered from the kitchen, and I took care to select a few entrées that would appear slightly more familiar to someone from Earth. For instance, Galuterica had it's own version of chicken (although it tasted more like lamb), and the bread here was unleavened and flat (sort of like a 饼). I decorated the plate with ominous-looking fungus and green cheese.

Galuterican milk, by the way, tastes absolutely foul (by Earth standards) since it's an acquired taste. I poured one glass for the sole reason that it looks identical to cow's milk. I knew that Kang would taste it, and I simply wanted to mess with him.

Finally, I chose the most revolting tea that I was fairly sure Kang would hate the most.

It was an extremely expensive tea, so I was sure there was no way I'd get in trouble for intentionally serving the "good stuff".

As you can probably imagine, there are plenty of opportunities for a maid to sabotage her liege.

I actually found these impish machinations to be very satisfying and cathartic, and I was already looking forward to serving Kang's breakfast in tomorrow morning. Dozens of ideas suddenly popped into my head now that it finally occurred to me how much power I wielded, and for the time being I could feign total ignorance due to the oh-so-unfortunate and tragic 'language barrier'.

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