We are under the scrutiny of everyone in the bakery, including Stan. However, I take my job seriously – most of the time. I have a neutral expression on my face while explaining the simplest things to Princess Laura. I know I’m repeating myself, but there’s some seraphic quiet between us, a cone of peace that has somehow sneaked up on us and is just otherworldly.

This special zone shields us from the obvious whispers about having a princess working with us. Stan watches us from afar, probably as confused as he can get. Well, Stanimal, I have no idea why the Princess is not acting crazy either, especially after she went full madwoman before.

“You have to keep whisking away for a couple of minutes,” I tell her. “We have a contraption that can do the same when making large batches, but we still lack a properly small device for a ‘ten people or less’ quantity. You’ll need to stretch your hands a bit later. Otherwise, you may develop cramps at night.”

Princess Laura isn’t fazed at all. She nods and keeps going.

“Joey, can we speak?” Stan calls me.

“Sure, give me one second. You keep whisking away; when it looks good, follow the steps I explained to you again. Quintus! Check on her while she cooks the créme. No skills!”

I clean my hands on a spare cloth and follow Stanimal out of the kitchen.

“Joey, what—”

“Out,” I nod toward the door. I have no intention of being heard by the Princess if Stan says something mean. Whatever equilibrium we’ve just reached could be very fragile, even if my heart tells me it might not be so.

Stan follows me, and I close the door. For safe measure, I slowly start walking away from the bakery in a random direction.

“Has the child tried anything?” he asks.

“She has been extremely quiet since you have been gone, Stanimal. I think that reality sunk in, and she’s regretting what she did.”

“It could be her last effort to save her mother’s position, Joey,” Stan sighs tiredly. “Palace politics are like that. People can change in a day to win your favor.”

“She hasn’t tried anything to win my favor, Stan. She has been silent, mulling over or staring at me. And there is no contempt,” I explain to the old man.

“You have already been tricked once.”

Blood rushes to my head after hearing those words. This is the first time since I have met the guy that we have anything remotely close to a disagreement.

“Yes, I have,” I nod.

I would like to scream my heart’s content out, but I know better than that.

“I’ll give the Princess some menial tasks. Washing the floors for a week straight will probably put a hole through her façade,” Stan shakes his head and turns around.

Something inside me goes off.

“STAN!”

My voice booms with raw Mana, and a cloud of dust arises around us. Some people on the street turn to watch what’s going on.

“You do not beat a man when he is down and trying to get back up! It makes no sense! If a person makes even the smallest effort to be better, you reinforce that. You don’t fucking squash their efforts, however small they are! Only cruel old idiots teach things like that!”

Stan twists on his feet to look at me with the same stone-cold gaze he had when he threatened to execute the Queen of Elves.

“What are you saying, Joey Luciani?”

A boundless aura sweeps toward me and tries to suppress mine.

Stupid [Druids]. Let me help with that, student.

My aura suddenly twists and tightens. Mana moves around on its own accord and creates paths of power in my aura. Suddenly, my aura is much smaller but also more resilient than a fortified city wall. Goddamn.

“I’m saying that this is my bakery, Stan. My bakery, my employee. I’ll take care of the Princess if you can’t be a fucking decent person. And if you don’t agree with that, I’ll fire your ass and even whoop it if needed. I’ll even fucking do my taxes on my own if it means we get to treat a person as such instead of treating her like a fucking animal.”

My voice is cold and filled with anger. Only a few times in my whole life have I been this angry. I am not sure I won’t regret this, but my whole being can’t take seeing more abuse. Not by the people that are close to me. If Stan wants to set Princess Laura up for failure, I’d rather terminate this partnership on the spot.

“You would relinquish my help because of a woman you almost blinded and who’s probably thinking about the best way to gut you like a pig? You want to save a woman who doesn’t even consider you worthy of breathing?”

“Yes.”

I stand my ground. Stan’s aura has been growing and growing, putting the first cracks in mine. I’m not sure how strong Stan is, but it looks like he could probably kill me by just using his incredible aura.

What happens next is…

Stan turns his aura off, spits on the ground, and walks off. He whistles loudly, and Grigio comes out of the bakery and gets by his side in mere seconds. The beast looks as big as always. Plus, I can feel bloodlust from it. It’s difficult to explain, but when I cross the animal’s gaze for a second, it feels like it might run at me and maul my body.

Fucking Stan.

He even made me swear like a damn sailor.

I stomp back to the bakery, fuming.

I find Tiberius waiting for me. He’s putting his weight on his stump leg: after getting enough money for a good prosthesis, the man doesn’t have to use a stick as a prop anymore. He’s finally enjoying walking now.

Sadly, I’m not in the mood to be happy for anyone.

“Tiberius, take out all the contracts we have, all the tax forms. Get Lucillus and Antoninus as fast as possible. Stan might not come back.”

Tiberius widens his eyes and clearly has a thousand questions for me. However, the middle-aged veteran knows better than to ask me why I – the arch-nemesis of paperwork – would ever ask for all our legal documents at once.

“I have some catching up to do. Goddamn responsibilities and mean idiots!”

I hammer my fist on the table, and I have to breathe deeply so as not to lose control.