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Translator: Nonon
Proofreader: Silavin
POV: Violet
“～～♪”
On one afternoon of a slightly chilly day, I was in the mansion’s kitchen preparing dinner.
In our household, we all take turns preparing meals each day and today I’m the one on duty.
I was reluctant and confused about cooking, because I had no prior experience before coming to Shiki, as my maid, Amber, and my exclusive chefs used to cook for me. But now, I’ve become able to cook decently with the help of my husband and my son. Besides, now I don’t mind cooking… or actually, I’ve started to think that it’s fun.
“Today’s leftover ingredients are…”
I checked the food storage (a refrigerator according to Lord Clo), which used ice magic stones and thought of the menu for today’s dinner. If I buy things we don’t have in town, what can I make today?
Lord Clo has gone outside to do some physical work and Gray will help me prepare dinner as soon as he’s finished with his work around the mansion. Both of them will probably be tired, so I’d better prepare something easy to eat and nutritious.
“In addition, I also have to consider their preferences…”
Lord Clo likes egg dishes in general and doesn’t like dried fruits.
Gray likes all meat dishes and doesn’t like cheese. But, he’s fine with little amounts.
However, they both share love for sweets. They often eat something sweet for dessert after a meal.
I want them to be careful to not eat too much; Excessive overeating of sweets can lead to obesity. Both of them exercise a lot, so I don’t think they’re packing extra weight, but sweets are easy to get addicted to so they should make sure to eat in moderation.
“… I guess I’ll make some roasted apples with honey after dinner.”
On a different note, apples are in season and we received tons of it. I can’t let them rot so I might as well use them.
The reason why I want to serve apples with honey instead of by themselves has nothing to do with the fact that Gray is particularly fond of honey. I’m not spoiling him just because I’m happy that he enjoys my cooking so it’s fine. I can’t let a gift go bad, after all.
“Oh, but we’re out of honey.”
Darn it. I used up all the honey to dip lemons the other day. And honey is not coming into Shiki currently.
This will halve Gray’s happiness. No, that boy will be pretty happy even with just sliced apples… but I’d still like to make him happy with something I’ve cooked.
But what are other dishes that use apples? With my lack of knowledge, I can’t think of something at the top of my head. Should I have shown a little more interest in cooking?
“Then how about a strudel?”
As I was drowning in my regrets, somebody called out to me from behind.
? I haven’t heard of that dish. What kind of dish is it?
“What kind of dish is that?”
“It’s a dish from the empire, made by lining thinly rolled dough with apples, almonds, cinnamon, erc, and baking it. It’s sweet and delicious even without honey.”
“Huh, it sounds delicious. Will you teach me how to make… it?”
Wait, who am I talking to right now?
Lord Clo hasn’t come back and Gray is also still working. And it’s a woman’s voice.
It’s a female voice that could be described as dignified, unlike the voices of Ms. Cyan and Apricot. There’s no way I would forget this woman’s voice.
As I slowly cast my gaze in the direction of the voice, there she was–
“Pervert (Schwarz)?!”
The woman with long black hair and red eyes who tried to kill me before.
I took an alert offensive stance indoors, keeping my vigilance up against Schwarz. Why is this woman here? And does the fact that she appeared before me mean that she got another commission involving me?
Or perhaps she’s here to take revenge on Lord Clo for threatening her?
“Fu, that’s right. Anybody who seeks beauty will become a pervert in the end. Our great predecessors have also said, ‘if you seek beauty, you must become a pervert’.”
Kuh, this woman’s mentality is needlessly strong. Even though I took an alert stance, she struck a weird pose to flaunt her beauty.
Ah, this woman is really beautiful on the outside. She has the kind of a beauty that I still end up admiring even in this situation… no, don’t think about unnecessary things.
“Don’t worry. I made a promise to not harm the people of Shiki. I would refuse any commissions concerning you guys.”
“… I can’t trust you.”
“I’m not surprised. I will probably never be able to earn your trust. But I will just say that I would not do anything stupid that could endanger my precious younger brother.”
After saying so, Schwarz raised her hands to show that she was unarmed. She might be unarmed but as long as there could be monsters around, I can’t let my guard down. But the situation won’t move forward if we’re frozen in a stalemate like this.
… It can’t be helped. I’ll ask her what she came here for without letting my guard down.
“So why are you here? Did you come here to harass me instead of harming me?”
“Perish the thought. This time I only came here to sell things to Clo.”
Come to think of it, this woman does almost everything as long as you pay her.
Lord Clo said that in addition to purchasing information about the kingdom so no harm will come to me, sometimes he also buys products brought by Schwarz. Lord Clo usually buys fabrics for himself. I’ve seen him exclaim ‘new fabrics!’ happily many times… yeah, even when I think back on it, Lord Clo at that time was very cute— wait no, that’s not the point.
“In that case, there would be no reason for you to appear before me. It’s not like you came here on your own to be arrested for illegal trespassing.”
“You’re right… I was actually planning to leave Shiki quietly without meeting you, but something kept bothering me.”
“Something kept bothering you?”
What would make this woman, who only cares about her own beauty and her family in her hometown, come directly to me to ask something with a mysterious expression on her face…?
I doubt something happened to the Kingdom or His Highness, and there aren’t many things that only I can answer–
“Are you guys not doing well as a couple?”
“Are you picking a fight with me?”
If she’s here to pick a fight, I won’t let her walk away unscathed.
I was just thinking of improving my magic skills in order to protect Lord Clo and Gray. I’ll use her as a practice dummy.
“No, I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention, but I was really just curious.”
However, Schwarz didn’t seem like she was trying to pick a fight with me, she looked genuinely curious… or more like, worried. It’s complicated, but when she shows that kind of expression, I can’t help feeling perplexed.
“We have a good relationship. What made you think so?”
I also stopped preparing my mana, turned towards Schwarz again and asked her why she came to such a reasoning.
“You know that Clo asked me to purchase products from outside the kingdom, in addition to information, right?”
“Yeah.”
“This time I showed him the products I had purchased when I returned from the empire, but… when I showed him a certain product, he was more interested in it than the fabrics he usually happily chooses.”
A product that Lord Clo was very interested in? How is that related to the question she asked me?
… Did he buy the kind of a book that Khaki would love? If that’s what it is, I’d be sad, but since he’s a man, it’s natural for him to be interested in things like that. In that case, I’ll ask him to be careful to not let Gray see it.
However, Schwarz paused, as if she was slightly hesitant to speak, and said something unexpected.
“Clo happily bought… aphrodisiac.”
…What did she just say?
“… Aphrodisiac?”
“Yup, aphrodisiac.”
“…”
I paused long to think well about those words, reflected on Schwarz’s words,
“…What!?”
And immodestly shouted loudly.
