#45: Hidden Faces And Desserts (1) — The Archmage's Restaurant

“Master, how is it?”

The Greek boy accepted the Crown Prince’s proposal.

If the Crown Prince becomes Emperor, Greek City can become a direct territory of the Emperor. Of course, if the Crown Prince fails to become Emperor, it’s a gamble that could leave them as abandoned nobles.

The Greek boy seemed to like the Crown Prince’s ambition. If he had the central connection of an emperor, no one could meddle with the management of Greek City.

The Crown Prince and the Greek boy. Whether the two can achieve their dreams is a battle they must face. It has little to do with me.

However, there is one issue the Greek boy must deal with to advance to the capital. It’s his issue with his stepmother.

The Lord’s second wife deeply involved herself in the estate after her husband fell ill and before the Greek boy firmly decided to act as the Lord’s deputy.

She even resorted to schemes to turn the boy into a puppet.

She is definitely an enemy to both the Greek boy and Greek City.

The best way to deal with an enemy is to find their flaws and hit them where it hurts. Expecting their reaction.

The method I taught the Greek boy was simple. I suggested he review all the estate’s ledgers since the Count fell.

After reviewing the ledgers day and night, the Greek boy summoned me, trembling. The documents he handed over were evidence left by the enemy.

“It’s clear from the ledgers that taxes were embezzled. There are many places with suspicious amounts.”

“It seems your stepmother tried to turn you into a puppet because of these powerful vested interests.”

“I never thought it would be this bad. This is too much. Such an amount…!”

The Greek boy frowned, his hands trembling. His expression was a mix of anger and disappointment.

“I still remember her treating me quite well during my childhood… When did it all change…?”

People can change in an instant. The good memories could also be distorted memories from childhood.

“You’re not her biological son. This kind of result is common in noble families, but she’s been too bold with the taxes.”

The embezzled amount isn’t pocket change. During the war, she skimmed most of the taxes under the pretext of a famine, and after the war, she siphoned off a tenth of the revenue that should have gone to the Count’s treasury.

Of course, the tax revenue the Count received was 1.

When the Count lost his mind, the Greek boy was young. He’s still young now, but he was even younger then, so the stepmother’s audacity was sky-high.

This means the amount embezzled each time was greater than the taxes the Duke of Taemuran ordered to be paid.

“She hasn’t tried to meet me lately. She couldn’t meet me after doing such things…”

“Embezzling so blatantly seems like a challenge. I don’t know what her intention is. Hasn’t she been very quiet lately?”

“Yes. There’s been no movement. But her family is the neighboring estate, Count of Deddan. She seems to trust their power. Sigh… I don’t know what to do.”

The current Count of Greek is a kind of dementia patient. It’s impossible for the boy to get help from his father. He’s already roped in some of the family retainers over the years, and if he’s relying on the neighboring estate’s military power, it could get even more complicated.

Of course, since the Greek boy started stepping up as the Lord’s deputy, many retainers who had distanced themselves have returned.

It’s obvious that she’s plotting something since she’s become even quieter since then.

Since I’ve already become deeply involved in the Duke’s inspection, I can’t leave the eager boy who looks up to me. I have no choice but to help him this far.

“I’d like to meet the stepmother once. If I meet her in person, I might get a glimpse of her true intentions.”

“But…”

The Greek boy stood up with a troubled face. Then he scratched his cheek and sighed.

“She’s been making excuses not to meet me lately, so I don’t know if it’s possible to introduce you in such a situation…”

“It’s better to meet her through a route unrelated to you, My Lord. Do you know anything about her interests or hobbies?”

There’s no way she’ll have a proper conversation with someone introduced by the boy. So I need to approach and meet her from another angle.

Approaching through her interests and hobbies is the best way.

Of course, the easiest way is to overpower her. But if I kill everyone I dislike, I’d be no different from a monster.

And if I only threaten her with force and spare her, my secrets would leak somewhere, disrupting my peace.

So solving it properly is the best. There are many ways since the tax embezzlement is revealed.

“Well, I think it’s best to ask the butler about that.”

The boy immediately went out and called the butler. Soon, the Count’s white-haired butler entered the study and bowed.

“You called for me, Young Master?”

“Do you know anything about my stepmother’s hobbies or interests?”

“What? Hobbies, you say?”

The butler hesitated for a moment, then trailed off.

“The Lady doesn’t have anything she particularly likes…”

“Is there nothing she’s interested in?”

“Oh, there is! Since she first came to Greek City, she’s paid a lot of attention to tea and desserts. I heard she likes desserts more than meals. That’s about it.”

Tea and desserts. A typical upper-class hobby. If it’s culinary-related, it’s rather welcome.

I nodded to the Greek boy to indicate it was enough. Then the boy dismissed the butler and immediately expressed his curiosity.

“What are you planning, Master?”

“I have a good method. When people discover a new world beyond their expectations, they tend to get excited. I think she’ll meet me.”

The dessert to make is a blackberry tart. Personally, I prefer strawberry tarts, but strawberries in autumn are impossible.

The storage to be made using Rurin’s time-stop magic is still far from being built.

If that magical storage is built, we’ll be able to eat fresh food anytime, anywhere, regardless of the season. Not frozen, but freshly harvested or caught.

Of course, that’s not what’s important right now.

A dessert that would appeal to the Lord’s wife. The chosen bait is this blackberry tart.

Blackberries are different from blueberries. Blueberries are so picky about the soil that the cultivation method was only discovered in the 1900s even in modern times. So, it’s a rare fruit in this world.

In contrast, blackberries belong to the rose family, so they’ve been commonly eaten in Europe since ancient times and are often used in modern tarts.

After getting blackberries from the market and making the key ingredient of the tart, the choux cream, a dragon peeked into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

“What brings our dragon to be interested in kitchen work? Did you develop a taste for cooking after trying it once? So, tonight’s dinner too?”

“No! That’s not it. Isn’t it too long to stay in the kitchen with no guests?”

“What? Unlike someone who’s always lounging around, I’m very busy.”

“Hmph. Is that dish for me? If you’re making it so diligently without guests, I’ll forgive you if it’s delicious! Hehe.”

Rurin hovered behind me, showing interest in my cooking. So, I dipped my finger in the choux cream.

“Our dragon should be the first to taste it. Here, ah-ah.”

“That white stuff is edible? Ah-ah!”

Without any doubt, she bit my finger and sucked the choux cream.

Her eyes sparkled like stars.

“Delicious! Sweet, no, sweet and sweet! But your finger is salty.”

Adding unnecessary comments, Rurin attempted a charge at the choux cream.

“Just taste it! That’s not how you eat it! Stop, Dragon!”

I tried to stop her, but she already had a handful of choux cream. She even turned her body towards me, pressing her palm to my face.

“Hehehe! Attack!”

“Hey, you!”

Then she quickly dodged and ran out of the kitchen, eating the choux cream left in her hand. To be completely beaten by a gluttonous dragon.

Of course, I must take revenge.

I wiped the choux cream off my face with my hand and walked behind Rurin.

With a happy face, she was licking the choux cream off her fingers. I began my counterattack on her face and rubbed it vigorously. Hoohoo.

She made a strange noise and glared at me. My face and Rurin’s face were both covered in choux cream.

“Where do you dare?”

“You. You’re like a child!”

“What did you say?”

The dragon laughed at me instead. Yeah, this dragon is crazy. She’s crazy. Calling me a child. The moment I felt like I lost something, a chill ran down my spine.

Even Rurin charged at me.

Thud!

She grabbed my waist and charged, causing me to fall backward. It felt like her strength increased after absorbing the mana from the dragon orb recently.

“This is delicious. So, what’s on your face is mine too!”

Rurin started licking the choux cream off my face. She sat on top of me as I lay down and even licked the choux cream off my nose with her lips. Her soft tongue, much softer than a finger, touched the tip of my nose. It tickled.

“Sweet!”

To be attacked with choux cream, laughed at, and even teased by her tongue while being pinned down.

This is ridiculous.

I can’t just take this lying down.

I used my abdominal strength to raise my upper body. Our faces were so close that Rurin’s forehead inevitably bumped into mine.

Thud!

“Aaah! It hurts!”

Rurin screamed, and I was in pain too. Enduring the pain, I snorted.

“You’re a hundred years too early to toy with me, Dragon.”

“A hundred years? A hundred years is nothing?”

The dragon questioned me while rubbing her forehead. Right, a hundred years to a dragon is like half a year to a human. I misspoke.

“You, hold still.”

“Huh?”

I gently licked the choux cream off Rurin’s ear. I got her ear since she got my nose.

An eye for an eye.

A nose for an ear.

“You?”

Rurin showed a reaction I hadn’t seen before, flinching.

“You… That’s strange… Huh? Huh! Huh!”

After licking the choux cream that had gotten inside her ear during our struggle and looking at her face, Rurin lowered her head with a surprised expression.

Her ears turned red again. The same reaction as when I licked her blood in the northern forest.

“I, I, something’s strange. You!”

Then she suddenly stood up, touched her ear, and tilted her head.

“What’s strange? Strange.”

I said that, but it really was strange, so I stepped back. Then I got a towel and wiped Rurin’s face and mine.

Rurin stepped back, puffing her face into the towel.

“Go wash your face. I’ll make something even more delicious.”

“You were really strange. If you do it again, I might understand better!”

She came up to me again and looked up at me. So I spoke firmly. From a dragon’s perspective, it’s not a hundred years, but a thousand years too soon.

That’s right.

“Come back when you’re bigger.”

“What do you mean by that! I’m all grown up. You’re just a human!”