Fluffy Sweets For The Young Lady (5)

“Phew, I’m stuffed! Ahh, that was delicious!”

I, Shirley, said this contentedly while rubbing my belly, which had swollen from overeating.

Honestly, I had wondered how things would turn out when the young master dragged me around, but food after finishing a job truly tasted exceptional.

After that, I saw the young master off as he headed to his duties before lunch, and at last I was free to enjoy some time to myself.

Then I returned to the kitchen, had an emotional reunion with the cheese steamed cake that had been waiting for me, and lovingly sheltered every last piece of the happy little fellow inside my stomach.

Fluffy bread truly was wonderful… Fluffy bread was the crystallization of human wisdom.

As I savored my happiness in the kitchen, Anne spoke with a troubled expression.

“Hey, Shirley, sorry to bother you right after that exhausting assignment, but are you sure we don’t need to start preparing today’s snack right away? Have you decided what we’re serving?”

Oh dear. That’s right, that’s right.

The entire morning had been taken up, and I had not even had time to discuss things with Anne, so we had made absolutely no progress on the snack.

All around us, the other teams were busily working away on their own snacks. We were completely behind schedule.

That said, I had already decided what we would make.

The advance preparations were finished too, so if we started now, we would have plenty of time… or so I was thinking when it happened.

Suddenly, a young girl’s voice rang out from the kitchen entrance.

“So this is the maids’ kitchen. I suppose it is the Royal Palace kitchen after all. There are all sorts of things here I’ve never seen before. Far too good for lowly servants like you.”

At that arrogant voice, every maid in the room turned toward the entrance.

And standing there with her arms crossed was the young lady herself… Lady Ashley.

“L-Lady Ashley! To think you would honor a place like this with your presence…!”

Christina-oneesama, the head of Team One, spoke in alarm and glanced around at everyone. The other maids immediately hurried to line up against the wall, but Lady Ashley raised a hand to stop them.

“Don’t bother. It’s tedious. I have no business with any of you, so keep working.”

“Y-Yes, then, if you will excuse us…”

Christina-oneesama bowed deeply.

Christina-oneesama should have been of noble birth herself, but House Rothschild ranked far above her family, so I supposed this was how the hierarchy worked.

Lady Ashley then strode leisurely through the tense kitchen with Mia-san accompanying her.

No way, I thought—but my fears proved correct when she stopped directly in front of me.

“…………”

“M-My lady, is something the matter…?”

I asked in a trembling voice as she silently glared at me.

She snorted, and then, unbelievably, said,

“You certainly had the nerve to humiliate me earlier, you lowborn wretch.”

“…!”

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

She really held a grudge! I was completely in her sights!

“N-Not at all! I was merely obeying the young master—”

“Silence! Who gave you permission to speak!?”

Eeeeeek! She was absolutely furious!

C-Calm down, Shirley. I’m a maid serving the young master in the Royal Palace.

Even if she is a high-ranking noble, surely she cannot just casually chop my head off!

Yes. Exactly. Surely not. Please let that be true!

As I trembled and prayed inwardly, Lady Ashley suddenly said something unexpected.

“Hmph. I hear you make all sorts of unusual sweets. But I suppose you’re merely serving William-sama crude things he would never normally put in his mouth. Aren’t you ashamed to serve such shabby sweets simply because they are novel?”

“Huh…?”

What!? She had already investigated that much?

Come to think of it, I had told Mia-san about it earlier.

When I glanced at Mia-san standing behind Lady Ashley, she stared straight back at me with an unreadable expression.

And while I was doing that, Lady Ashley continued her one-sided declaration.

“I cannot allow something made by a lowborn girl like you to contaminate William-sama’s stomach! I have arranged to attend today’s snack time as well. So you will compete against our Mia there.”

“What!? B-But I’ve never even been in a fight before, and I’ve never so much as held a sword!”

“Who said anything about that kind of contest!? I have no interest in dining while lowborn servants beat each other senseless! I mean a sweets competition!”

Lady Ashley snapped back at me angrily.

Oh my. This young lady was surprisingly capable of delivering a proper retort.

“Mia is a butler in my household. Her skill with sweets is first-rate as well. Your lowborn confections won’t even be worth comparing! We’ll ask the young master which one tasted better, and if you lose, you are to leave the Royal Palace immediately! Understood!?”

“What!?”

That was completely one-sided!

I had finally started getting used to life at the Royal Palace and had reached the point where I could freely research cooking, and now she wanted to banish me!?

Besides, what sort of logic was “lose at sweets and be exiled”?

It made no sense whatsoever, and I highly doubted Lady Ashley even had the authority to do such a thing.

But it was easy to imagine that if I appealed to the young master over this, it would only make Lady Ashley even angrier.

And if that happened, next time it might not end with something as peaceful as a sweets competition.

Oh, what should I do? What was the correct answer in a situation like this?

As I stood there utterly at a loss, Christina-oneesama stepped in to help me.

“P-Please wait, Lady Ashley. All of us here serve the Royal Palace directly. Even you, Lady Ashley, cannot simply do something like—”

“Be quiet. You are here because your only value is your skill at making sweets, are you not? If you cannot even win at that, then you are worthless. You can all be dismissed.”

But Lady Ashley remained completely undaunted.

She fired back arrogantly, then continued with a wicked smile.

“In the first place, the real problem is that people like you are monopolizing William-sama’s precious snack time. If our Mia wins, I will have these Culinary Maids replaced with properly trained personnel from House Rothschild. That would be far better for William-sama.”