Fluffy Sweets For The Young Lady (4)

“Haah… haah…!”

After being dragged all over the vast garden by the young master, I finally stopped beneath the shade of a tree and panted heavily.

The young master, meanwhile, did not seem even slightly out of breath.

“Honestly, Shirley. How pathetic, getting winded after such a short run.”

“M-My apologies…”

Even if he said that, I couldn’t keep up with a child’s stamina. Or so I thought, until I remembered that my own fifteen-year-old body was still technically that of a child too.

The young master was royalty, so he trained in martial arts and the like every day.

The difference between us was probably simply whether or not we exercised regularly.

“Ah, but we left Lady Ashley and the others behind! This is terrible, young master. We must go back and find them at once.”

I looked around, but Lady Ashley and the others were nowhere to be seen.

I panicked at the thought of abandoning our guest like this, but the young master calmly replied with a mischievous look on his face.

“It is fine. I deliberately slipped away from her. Leave her be for a while.”

“What…!?”

So he hadn’t suddenly started running out of childish impulsiveness—he had planned the whole thing!?

Well, the young master was a prodigy who practically ran the kingdom as he pleased at his age, so naturally he was cleverer than most adults. It made sense that he wouldn’t simply start running around on a whim like an ordinary child, but still.

“B-But isn’t Lady Ashley the daughter of the kingdom’s most powerful noble family…? And I heard she is expected to become your future queen…”

“Indeed. Her father is a capable man. He possesses both wealth and influence, so making an enemy of him could split the kingdom. Especially now that Father has fallen ill, there are many who resent the fact that someone as young as I am has stepped forward to govern. Therefore, we must strengthen our unity… but…”

“…But what, young master?”

“…I… I find her conversation unbearably dull…! ‘The flowers are beautiful,’ ‘Father gave me this jewel,’ ‘We are bound together by destiny’… It is all so painfully, endlessly dull that there is only so much pretending I can endure! Being with her is nothing but torment for me!”

Ah…

I see. So that was what bothered you, young master. That was why you did all this.

Well, perhaps that was only natural. At the young master’s age, a girl’s dreamy chatter must have been terribly boring.

At ten years old, he would have been around the upper grades of elementary school in my previous world.

Children around that age often had little interest in playing with the opposite sex.

After all, their conversations just didn’t mesh.

To the young master, spending time with Ashley-sama was probably like being forced to join in some girl’s make-believe game.

So he had dragged someone like me along to use as an excuse to change the subject.

…Wait a minute. That head maid knew this too, didn’t she? That’s why she dragged me into it…

Curse her.

“But young master, it isn’t as though you actually dislike Lady Ashley, is it?”

“Well… I would not say I dislike her. Given her family, it is only natural that she should be considered a candidate for queen.”

The young master said it with complete disinterest.

It did not sound like embarrassment or an attempt to hide his feelings. He genuinely seemed to neither like nor dislike her.

Oh, Lady Ashley. It appeared romance was still far too early for the young master.

“So, yes, I must entertain Ashley. But unless I take the occasional chance to relax like this, I simply cannot endure it.”

As he spoke, the young master stretched with a long groan and sat down on a nearby bench.

Then he pointed beside himself and addressed me.

“More importantly, Shirley, I wish to speak with you. Sit down as well.”

“U-Um… Are you truly certain…?”

Sitting beside a member of the royal family was terrifyingly presumptuous, but if I was ordered to sit, I had little choice.

When I nervously lowered myself onto the bench, the young master smiled brightly at me.

“Shirley, this may be the first time we have spoken leisurely like this. Last time, we were too busy eating donuts. And truly, the snacks you prepare are always such fun. They are delicious, yes, but more than that, they are enjoyable.”

“I am honored by your praise.”

“Indeed. So, what is today’s snack? Truthfully, I have been unable to stop wondering about it.”

The young master leaned eagerly toward me as he asked.

Ah, I see. So this was another reason he had brought me along.

As expected, the young master preferred food over flowers. Rather than his beautiful prospective fiancée, he was more interested in today’s snack.

But a magician who revealed the trick simply because someone asked was worse than third-rate.

I smiled back at him and replied,

“You will have to wait until snack time to find out.”

“Hmph. You won’t tell me? Shirley, you are stingy.”

The young master puffed out his cheeks. Adorable.

But even making that face would not work. What I intended to serve would remain absolutely secret until the proper time.

Because that was more fun.

A gentleman should be made to chase his quarry. Apparently, that truth applied to more than romance.

It seemed equally true when the goal was to capture someone’s stomach.

“Then let us discuss something else. Shirley, how do you make that thing called chocolate? It is such a strange and mysterious food, yet it tastes exquisite.”

“Yes, young master. The key to making chocolate is thoroughly grinding an ingredient called cacao…”

And so, the young master and I spent a while enthusiastically discussing snacks.

Completely unaware that, elsewhere… something troublesome was already happening.

“What is wrong with that maid!? I simply cannot believe her!”

Shortly after Shirley and Prince William ran off,

Ashley’s shrill voice echoed throughout the courtyard.

Having been thoroughly abandoned by the prince, she directed all of her anger toward Shirley.

“Today was supposed to be about me! I finally, finally got to see him again, and I thought I would spend a dreamlike time with wonderful William-sama! I won’t forgive her! I absolutely won’t forgive that maid! And Mia, you’re utterly useless too!”

“My apologies, my lady.”

Her anger even turned upon her attendant Mia, who bowed deeply and accepted the scolding.

Ashley was extremely proud and could not stand being anything less than the center of attention, so the situation was nothing short of humiliating to her.

“If that maid belonged to my household, I would fire her and throw her out immediately…! How did she manage to worm her way into William-sama’s favor? Honestly!”

“There is something regarding that, my lady.”

As Ashley stamped her feet in frustration, Mia raised her head and spoke.

“It appears that maid, Shirley-dono, became a palace maid because of her skill at making sweets.”

“Oh… Yes, of course. The castle maids are Culinary Maids. They serve snacks to the young master. So that is why William-sama has taken a liking to her. What a sly little vixen!”

Ashley spat the words resentfully, but then her expression changed as something occurred to her.

“Wait… Of course. The young master is a gourmet. And he has always had a particularly strong weakness for sweets. Which means…”

“Indeed, my lady. Therefore, if we were to serve him delicious sweets of our own—”

“Then we just have to defeat her with sweets and drive her away!”

“…………”

The conversation had veered in an entirely unexpected direction, leaving Mia frozen.

She had intended to suggest that rather than competing, they could serve their own snacks and enjoy them together with the prince, thereby deepening Ashley’s relationship with him.

Ashley-sama’s tendency to lose her temper so quickly really was her greatest flaw…

Mia thought so inwardly, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“Mia, if I remember correctly, your confectionery skills are first-rate too, aren’t they?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Mia came from a family of butlers who had served House Rothschild for generations.

In order to satisfy every conceivable demand of their masters, members of her family were trained in academics and martial arts, while naturally also being thoroughly educated in every aspect of household work.

“Good. Then crush that insolent maid completely in a cooking contest and put her in her place. Someone like her is probably serving nothing but novelty sweets that aren’t actually anything special. Beat her so badly that the prince finally comes to his senses. Understood!?”

“…”

Mia hesitated briefly at the command.

Shirley seemed eccentric, but also like a genuinely good person.

Nor had she appeared to harbor any petty intention of currying favor with the prince… if anything, she had seemed rather inconvenienced at being dragged around by him.

But Mia could not defy her mistress’s orders.

She immediately composed herself.

“Yes, my lady. Everything shall be done exactly as you desire.”

And thus, she set about carrying out her mistress’s command.