Fluffy Sweets For The Young Lady (1)

“Hey, Shirley, Shirley! What are you doing!? This is no time to be leisurely eating snacks!”

“Huh?”

Having suddenly been called out to like that while stuffing my cheeks with a special cheese steamed cake, I let out a foolish little sound.

We were in the Royal Palace maid kitchen, sometime between morning and noon.

The morning’s work had ended, and now was my blissful time to enjoy snacks to my heart’s content… or rather, conduct research.

I would have liked to declare that I would forgive no one who dared disturb this sacred time, but the person calling to me was one of my senior maids.

I could hardly ignore her, so after forcing down the cheese steamed cake still in my mouth, I listened as she continued in a panic.

“We were told that an important guest is coming today and that everyone has to gather at the front entrance to welcome her! If you’re late, you could end up being severely punished!”

Eek. That’s right, that’s right! We were told to make absolutely sure we assembled at this time!

My bad habit was forgetting everything else whenever I was cooking.

Apologizing profusely, I hurried off down the corridor alongside my senior.

“Haah, haah… Thank goodness, we made it!”

When we reached the front entrance, all the maids and butlers had already lined up, but thankfully the guest did not seem to have arrived yet.

Still panting heavily, I casually slipped into line, only for Anne beside me to glare angrily.

“You idiot, I told you over and over! How did you still forget…!? Get it together already!”

“Sorry. I just couldn’t tear myself away from the steamed cake.”

Even as I apologized, part of me still thought, But how could I help it?

It was cheese steamed cake, you know? Was there anyone alive who could escape the allure of cheese steamed cake?

Even now, my mind was completely occupied by the cheese steamed cake I had left behind.

Oh, I just hoped no one secretly ate it while I was gone.

As I worried about that, a soldier’s voice suddenly rang out from beyond the wide-open doors.

“Lady Ashley of House Rothschild has arrived!”

At those words, everyone bowed their heads in unison, and I quickly followed suit.

Before long, the light tap of small footsteps echoed through the hall, and a petite young lady entered through the main gate.

(Oh my, she’s adorable.)

I lifted my head just slightly to sneak a peek and could not help thinking that.

She was a girl with golden hair curled into ringlets in a hairstyle that practically screamed nobility.

She was probably around ten years old, the same age as the young master. Her features were beautifully refined, her elegant dress suited her perfectly, and she was as adorable as a doll.

There was no doubt she would grow into a great beauty someday.

“Welcome, Lady Ashley!”

“Welcome!”

Still bowing our heads, we all raised our voices together.

Lady Ashley, however, showed no particular reaction, simply walking past us with her female attendant as though such treatment were only natural.

“She carries herself with such confidence. Is her family really that important?”

Watching her back as she walked away, I asked Anne beside me, only for her to give me a look that said I had just asked something incredibly stupid.

“Important doesn’t even begin to cover it. House Rothschild is the highest-ranking noble family in the entire kingdom. They govern the eastern region, where traveling merchants constantly come and go, so they’re unbelievably wealthy. And everyone says that young lady is the number-one candidate to become the young master’s bride.”

“Oh my, she’s still so young, and they’re already talking about marriage!?”

“That’s how royalty and nobility work. They arrange marriages between powerful families from an early age for the sake of the country’s future. You know, a political marriage.”

Well, well. Goodness gracious.

To think the young master already had a prospective bride.

Then there was a very good chance that young lady might someday become someone I would have to serve.

That was serious. I had better make sure she did not take a dislike to me.

“I don’t like you, so you’re fired. And by fired, I mean your head is coming off under the guillotine,” was the sort of thing that could conceivably happen.

I had to avoid making any mistakes… No, perhaps it would be wiser to avoid interacting with her as much as possible.

After all, people were constantly telling me that I had a bad habit of attracting the wrong kind of attention.

I had been thinking it was best not to stir up trouble where none existed…

“Shirley. Don’t return to the kitchen. Come with me. I want you to help serve tea to the young master and Lady Ashley.”

And with those words from the head maid, my wish immediately went up in smoke.

Oh, please let everything end peacefully.

…Well, yes. It did not end peacefully.

“Excuse me. I have brought the tea.”

Carrying a tray of black tea, I followed the head maid into the guest room.

The lavishly furnished room contained the young master, Lady Ashley, several guards, and the young lady’s attendants.

In the center of the room, I could hear the young master and Lady Ashley speaking together.

“William-sama, I truly have been looking forward to the day when I could see you again! So much happened, and we were unable to meet for an entire year!”

Lady Ashley looked so delighted that she seemed ready to spring right out of her chair.

The young master, by contrast, answered with a somewhat stiff expression.

“Ah, well, yes. I too was looking forward to it, Ashley.”

“My, we truly do think alike! To think we were thinking the exact same thing even while so far apart! We must be bound together by fate! You think so too, don’t you, William-sama!?”

“Y-Yes…”

Oh my, oh my.

Lady Ashley leaned forward and pressed ahead with all her might, while the young master seemed to recoil ever so slightly.

You mustn’t force your feelings on a gentleman like that.

Men were like hunters. If the prey came rubbing itself against them, they would lose their desire to hunt.

A woman had to draw a man in with her charm and make him chase her.

…Though this was not advice based on my own experience, but something I had picked up from shoujo manga in my previous life.

“Excuse me.”

I erased my presence and individuality as thoroughly as possible, moving like part of the air itself as I set the tea out on the table.

And although lunchtime was approaching, I also served each of them one piece of Christina-oneesama’s special Sacru as a little accompaniment to the tea.

At that moment, the young master noticed me and smiled.

“Well, if it isn’t Shirley. It’s unusual to see you outside snack time.”

“Yes, young master. Today, I am behaving like a proper maid and serving tea.”

I smiled back and gave a small bow.

There was a faint warmth in the young master’s words, like the affection one might show a playmate.

After all, we had once hidden away and eaten donuts together. You could almost say we were partners in mischief.

Unfortunately, that was precisely the problem.