Fluffy Sweets For The Young Lady (3)

Huh.

Huh. Huh.

…Why? Why did it turn out like this?

Why on earth do I need to come along!?

Look, even Lady Ashley looks shocked!

Young master, are you perhaps the type who is terrible at picking up on a girl’s feelings!?

No. Impossible. That can’t be true.

I shot the head maid a look that screamed, Please, say something to him too, but she simply turned her eyes away and had the nerve to say,

“Yes, young master. Please make free use of her.”

…You… You abandoned me…!

“My! The garden is as wonderful as ever! How beautiful!”

Lady Ashley exclaimed with sparkling eyes as she walked beside the young master through the Royal Palace gardens.

The Royal Palace gardens were maintained to an almost frightening degree by a large number of gardeners, with beautifully trimmed trees and delicate flowers packed throughout the grounds.

Lady Ashley was in excellent spirits as she admired them, while the young master somehow looked rather bored.

And trailing behind them beside Lady Ashley’s attendant was me, looking painfully out of place.

(Why do I even need to be here…? Isn’t this the part where we say, “We’ll leave the two young people alone,” and politely withdraw…?)

What purpose did I serve by following them around when I had nothing in particular to do?

As I pondered that with a thoroughly unenthused expression, the attendant beside me suddenly spoke.

“You there, maid. My name is Mia, and I serve Lady Ashley. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh, how courteous of you. I am Shirley, a maid. The pleasure is mine.”

I hurriedly bowed in response to her polite greeting.

But now that I was seeing Mia-sama up close, she truly had remarkably refined features.

She reminded me of the Takarazuka Revue I had seen in my previous life.

The beauty mark beneath her eye was especially alluring.

Her figure was enviably elegant and slender, but even from the brief glimpse I had of her upper arms, I could tell they were quite well trained.

She was probably also serving as Lady Ashley’s bodyguard.

As expected of the daughter of a great noble house. Even her guard was exceptional, I thought, when Mia-sama lowered her voice and spoke.

“Shirley-dono, it seems His Highness William places a great deal of trust in you. I presume you have served at the Royal Palace for quite some time. Forgive my asking, but from which house do you hail?”

“Ah, I’m embarrassed to say I come from an ordinary family. My father is merely a humble merchant. As for when I came here… it was at the beginning of this spring.”

“Oh? How surprising.”

When I answered honestly, Mia-sama looked genuinely astonished.

She had probably assumed I was the daughter of a respectable family and that this was why I had been shown favor.

“Then in only a few months, you have accomplished enough for His Highness to address you so familiarly. I see. You must be an exceptionally capable individual.”

“N-No, not at all! Truly! All I do is serve unusual snacks here at the Royal Palace. I haven’t accomplished anything worthy of praise, absolutely nothing…”

I hurriedly denied it.

Nothing good ever came from people developing strange expectations of me.

Besides, if I left things as they were, the conversation seemed likely to become unnecessarily complicated. So when I desperately tried to explain, Mia-sama stared directly into my eyes and said,

“I see. The maids of the Royal Palace are responsible for serving snacks, aren’t they? Then you must be a master confectioner whose skills earned you a position here.”

“Er, well… I suppose… yes… something like that…?”

Being called a master left me with very mixed feelings.

Cooking had originally just been a hobby of mine. I did think my skills had improved greatly during my time at the Royal Palace, but calling me a master still felt wrong.

When I imagined a true master cook, I pictured either a middle-aged gentleman who had trained at some renowned restaurant or an elderly woman who had devoted most of her life to cooking.

It would be presumptuous for a young girl like me to stand beside people like that.

…Though, admittedly, if I combined my previous life with this one, I had spent quite a number of years devoted to cooking myself.

As we attendants chatted idly among ourselves, I suddenly heard the young master speaking cheerfully ahead of us.

“Yes, indeed. Shirley serves truly unusual and delicious snacks. Lately, I can hardly wait for snack time.”

…Apparently, they were talking about me over there too.

Oh no. I had a very bad feeling about this.

“I-Is that so? To entertain William-sama so well despite being merely a maid is rather impudent… I mean, very admirable service indeed. A-Anyway, William-sama, look at these flowers…”

“Indeed. She is remarkably inventive. She uses ingredients I have never seen before and serves snacks that whet my appetite tremendously. Just recently, she made something called pizza, with all sorts of colorful…”

Aahhh, young master! Please, young master!!

Why are you going into more detail about me!? You mustn’t talk about another woman in front of the lady who may become your bride!

Look at Lady Ashley beside you! Her smile is twitching, and her eyes have gone dead like a fish’s!

Read the room! Please read the room! Aahhh, young master, I’m begging you, stop making me the topic of conversation!

“Y-Young master, forgive my impertinence, but the flowers are truly beautiful! L-Look! They smell wonderful too!”

Unable to endure it any longer, I presumptuously stepped forward and tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.

At this rate, Lady Ashley’s anger was going to be aimed straight at me!

Ordinarily, it would be unthinkable for me to interrupt a member of the royal family, but every instinct in my body was screaming that unless I changed the subject right now, something terrible was going to happen.

The young master looked at my face, then turned toward the flowers and suddenly grinned as though an idea had struck him.

“Yes, the flowers are indeed beautiful, and their fragrance is pleasant. The best way to appreciate them would surely be to run through the gardens. Ashley, how about a race?”

“What!?”

Lady Ashley looked startled by the young master’s sudden proposal.

But without seeming to care in the slightest, the young master abruptly grabbed my hand and, unbelievably, took off running while pulling me along.

“Come, Shirley! You are not permitted to fall behind!”

“W-Wait, young master!?”

With his hand gripping mine firmly, I was practically dragged through the garden.

Sweating nervously at the sheer absurdity of the situation, I glanced back and saw Lady Ashley and the others standing there, staring after us in stunned silence.

Oh… young master. Why?