The Donut Knight (6)

“Y-young master…!”

I never expected the young master himself to appear.

I hurriedly tried to move to the side of the corridor, but the young master raised one hand to stop me.

His expression… somehow seemed a little angry….

“Y-young master, what brings you here all by yourself?”

Yes, the young master was alone. He had neither attendants nor guards with him.

But instead of answering my question, the young master spoke in a displeased tone.

“I heard you served snacks to the soldiers.”

…!

Oh no. The young master looked very unhappy.

It seemed I might have made a serious mistake.

When I thought about it carefully, we maids were supposed to make snacks for the young master.

And yet we had served those snacks to someone other than him.

That was no different from serving food meant for royalty to those beneath them.

Could that have been terribly disrespectful…?

I had completely overlooked it because I had received the head maid’s permission, but perhaps I should have asked the young master first.

(W-what do I do…? Could I get fired…? No, maybe it won’t be anything that mild!)

At worst, I might lose my head in the literal sense… and end up on the chopping block.

Perhaps displeasing a ruler meant exactly that.

No, I could not imagine the young master doing anything so barbaric. I did not want to imagine it.

Even so, what was done was done.

I froze in place, cold sweat pouring down my back. Ahh, so this was where my second life ended.

There were still so many things I wanted to eat!

At the very least, my next incarnation, please regain these memories again.

No, the one after that too, and the one after that…!

As I steeled myself for the worst, the young master slowly crept closer, tightly gripped the skirt of my maid uniform, looked up at me, and said,

“…Where’s mine?”

…Huh?

I stared down at the young master in surprise.

Clutching my clothes and looking up at me in dissatisfaction, his face was… simply that of a child.

(Ah, so that was it…)

Only then did I finally understand.

The young master was not speaking as a prince right now.

He was upset about being left out, just like any ten-year-old boy.

“The soldiers were happily talking about the snack. They said it had a hole in it, was fluffy, extremely sweet, and unlike anything they had ever seen. It’s not fair.”

“N-no, well… those were only simple snacks, and, um, I wasn’t sure whether they were really suitable to serve to you, young master…”

“It’s not fair.”

The young master puffed out his cheeks as he said it.

But the young master had already eaten something else during snack time.

Even so. Even so, he apparently disliked the fact that I had served something he did not know about.

“Make some for me.”

“B-but, young master. It is almost time for dinner…”

“Make some!”

The young master said it in a forceful voice.

At last, I surrendered.

“I-I have some that I prepared for my own tasting. If those would be acceptable…”

And so I offered my precious, precious share to my lord.

“Young master. How is it?”

I asked as I served him tea.

The young master chewed his donut, then smiled happily and said,

“It’s delicious! So this is a donut.”

Then he stared intently at the hole in the middle.

We were in my incredibly cramped maid’s room.

The young master had said that he wanted to eat the donuts right away but did not want anyone making a fuss if they saw him, and so, in an unbelievable turn of events, he had barged in… or rather, graced my room with his presence.

“Why do donuts have holes in them?”

“Most likely to make sure they fry evenly. Without the hole, the center and the outer part would cook at different rates.”

“Oh, so this is a fried sweet. No wonder I thought the texture was unusual.”

The young master spoke as if he had just uncovered one of the mysteries of the world.

Then he continued,

“But why do you say ‘most likely’ as though it has nothing to do with you? Did you not invent donuts yourself, Shirley?”

“Urk.”

Oh no. I had done it again.

I simply could not bring myself to speak as though these things were truly my own creations, so I always ended up phrasing things like that.

Which meant I would have to lie again.

Though it pained me, I said,

“M-my father is a merchant. Because of that, I often have chances to speak with traveling merchants, and I sometimes hear stories about sweets from distant lands. I actually make these based on those stories.”

“I see. So that is how it was.”

That was how the young master responded.

Had he truly accepted my explanation? He was very intelligent, so perhaps he could see through a lie as clumsy as mine.

Even so, he did not press the matter further, and while nibbling on his donut, he said,

“In any case, the things you make are unusual and delicious, Shirley. That is enough.”

“Your words are far too kind…!”

I hurriedly tried to bow, but the young master stopped me with one hand.

He probably meant that I did not need to make such a grand display every single time.

Then the young master picked up one of the donuts, held it out to me, and said,

“Let’s eat together.”

“Eh? B-but…”

“It’s fine. Here.”

Was a maid really allowed to eat snacks together with a prince?

That was what I thought, but these were donuts I had originally been looking forward to immensely.

Unable to resist the temptation, I took it and bit into it.

“So gooood…!”

The words escaped me before I knew it.

I loved freshly fried donuts, but I also loved donuts after they had been left to sit for a while.

The sugar on the surface blended with the dough, and the result was simply excellent.

Whoever invented these was undoubtedly a genius… oh, right. In this world, that was supposedly me.

As I delighted in my donut, the young master said,

“This stays between us, Shirley. If those fussy people find out I ate snacks with a maid in her room before dinner, it’ll turn into a huge problem.”

“Of course. I would be punished too, after all.”

“Then it is a secret just between the two of us.”

The smile the young master gave me as he said that belonged entirely to a mischievous little boy.

I had never had a younger brother in either my previous life or this one, but perhaps this was what it would have felt like.

That thought made me smile as well.

And so, laughing together, we enjoyed the donuts to our hearts’ content.

That day, I discovered yet another side of the young master, and I ended up liking him even more.

The Donut Knight was surely hiding his carefully cradled basket of donuts in his room as well, smiling from ear to ear.

The soldiers were finally enjoying some well-earned rest, while the maids cheerfully chatted about everything that had happened that day.

The Royal Palace slowly sank into night as calm returned, and peaceful time passed by.

But… for me, this was merely the beginning of the next incident.

There was no way I could have known then that the “thing” I ought to serve the young master would end up causing such a commotion….