CLWE 14

Chapter 14

I looked at Karmine with suspicious eyes.

Could it be… my stalker?! Watching my every move or something?

That suspicion vanished in a puff the moment I saw Karmine hesitating, unsure which piece of fruit in the hwachae to spear first.

You just stab it and eat it—what’s there to hesitate about?

There was no way such a gentle, dull child could be secretly following me around.

Using the skewers I’d prepared in advance, I poked pieces of fruit one by one. I gave the Lady Lord a star-shaped piece of watermelon, and to Karmine—putting just a bit of personal bias into it—a heart-shaped piece.

—Hey, Master, what are you doing? Put that hand down.

Maybe it really did have the eyes of a foolish black hawk—Louis caught it again this time too. But I brazenly pretended not to hear and held it out anyway.

Just as an indignant Louis was about to grumble at me—

“Ooooh!!”

The Lady Lord, who had popped the fruit into her mouth, let out a sound as if she were about to lose her breath. I looked at her with eager anticipation.

It’s starting now!

What’s starting, you ask?

Why, the Lady Lord’s tasting reaction, of course.

“Crisp yet bursting with sweetness in the flesh, and the juice—like watermelon juice, yet not quite watermelon juice—and the natural, pleasing color harmony that delights the eyes without being overwhelming, topped off with an exquisite balance of flavors! It’s absolutely perfect.”

“Grandma!”

As expected of the Lady Lord. Such detailed praise that makes the listener’s heart swell—what a parade of compliments!

“Grandma, please eat a lot. You have to eat well and stay healthy!”

“Alright, alright. With delicious fruits and vegetables coming up every year like this, I really should live a long, long life.”

“You must! Until I find stevia and make tomangos, you really must!”

“Tomango? What’s that?”

“Oh, well, you see…”

Taking advantage of the moment, I explained about stevia—a magical plant that could replace sugar and, when grafted onto other fruits or vegetables, produce sweet results.

The Lady Lord nodded, her eyes sparkling.

“Such an incredible plant exists in this world? I’ll have my subordinates look into it right away. If it means I can eat even tastier tomatoes, they should search to the ends of the earth!”

“Please do, Grandma! But for today, let’s eat them with sugar.”

“That sounds good too!”

I knew this would happen, which was why I’d picked tomatoes that morning. Seeing the red, plump tomatoes, Karmine’s eyes widened.

“Eating again?”

Eating again? The mukbang hasn’t even started yet!

“They say if you eat deliciously, it’s zero calories!! And tomatoes don’t make you gain weight no matter how much you eat. So hurry up and eat.”

Tomatoes might be low in calories, but the sugar I was generously sprinkling definitely wasn’t.

But you can’t give up flavor just to be healthy!

Having convinced myself of that, I poured on the sugar without restraint.

On the way home after our enthusiastic not-quite-mukbang.

We’d scraped the hwachae bowl clean and polished off the tomatoes too—I felt like my stomach was about to burst. In her good mood, the Lady Lord filled the basket I’d brought to the brim.

“Since I enjoyed something delicious thanks to you, I hope you enjoy something delicious too.”

What she put into the basket were ingredients I couldn’t easily afford myself: spices, a huge boneless ham, and foods like cured salmon!

“Ahh, that was a great meal. And coming back with my hands this full makes me feel even better.”

This is exactly why I like the Lady Lord so much. Tomorrow, I should make a sandwich with the salmon she gave me.

But is it okay to make a sandwich with cured salmon? Should I grill it instead?

I didn’t know much about sea creatures, so it was a bit troubling.

Ah, whatever. If worst comes to worst, I’ll fry it. Even shoes taste good when fried.

Humming to myself as I thought that, I heard Louis—floating about a meter away—sniffling tearfully.

—Sniff… Master’s mean. Master is bad.

“What did I do now?”

—You’re leaving me all alone.

Good grief, what a sword full of complaints. I faced Louis and pouted.

“Hey, that’s not my fault, neither humanly nor materially. If you had a mouth, I’d have fed you tomatoes too, one by one.”

—Unbelievable. The day has come when I feel sad just because I’m a sword.

Finding the genuinely despairing Louis adorable, I lightly tapped the tip of the blade—

—and that was when I noticed an unfamiliar shadow lingering in front of my house.

“Huh?”

“It’s been a long time, Miss.”

The stranger bowed deeply toward me. I broke into a wide smile and called out to her.

“Nanny!”

It was the nanny who had brought me to Fostin!

Seated at the table inside my house, the nanny looked around, then widened her eyes in amazement.

“Miss, I was so surprised. I thought you’d still be living in the house I brought you to.”

At that, I shrugged. If I’d stayed there, I’d probably have dried up into a skeleton by now.

Bugs crawling everywhere, and even back then it wasn’t sturdy enough for someone to live in.

After so much time with rain leaking in unchecked, even the rafters had rotted—it wasn’t an easy fix. Since I couldn’t explain all that to her, I simply nodded.

“Oh, that house that was falling apart? Fixing it or moving ended up taking about the same effort.”

“Is… is that so?”

Her voice sounded uneasy, but I was busy putting the kettle on the fire, so I didn’t see her expression. I didn’t particularly want to, either.

It’s already been several years since the nanny left me in that house.

And during all those years, she hadn’t once come to check if I was doing well. Yet now she suddenly appeared.

She must be here for a bad reason.

Still, it was true that she’d brought me to Fostin, giving me this second life—so I decided I’d at least give her a cup of tea before sending her off. What fault was hers, really? It was probably Duke Pond’s doing.

“What would you like to drink? I mostly drink chamomile these days.”

“I can choose?”

“Of course. I like tea. You know that.”

Growing and drying enough tea for myself wasn’t that difficult.

Since she didn’t say much, I brewed chamomile and handed it to her. Instead of drinking it, she stared at the teacup, then spoke in a strangely subdued tone.

“…It was the Lady Lord who helped you, wasn’t it?”

“Huh? Grandma?”

Why was the Lady Lord suddenly coming up? As I blinked, the nanny smiled brightly.

“Yes, yes. That was actually why I brought you here in the first place. The Lady Lord of Fostin is such a kind person—I thought she might take pity on you. I’m glad it turned out just as I expected.”

“You left me here because you trusted the Lady Lord’s character?”

“Yes. The Lady Lord is divorced and became the ruler of this territory, right? I thought she might see a broken-off engagement miss as being in the same situation.”

At that, I frowned deeply. I enjoy farming, and the Lady Lord recognizes the value of my produce. Our relationship was built on mutual respect.

And what? ‘The same situation’?

That was a great insult—to me and to the Lady Lord alike. I replied coldly.

“If you thought that, you were completely mistaken. Grandma has no particular interest in me. I survived on my own.”

“What? Miss, you survived on your own?”

The nanny looked startled, then waved her hands lightly and let out a hollow laugh.

“Oh, come on. Don’t lie. How could you earn money all by yourself?”

My gaze dropped below freezing. I could see plainly what kind of person she was.

She’s looking down on me.

When I was still the Duke of Pond’s daughter, she’d always treated me cautiously. Now she was openly dismissive—it didn’t feel good.

Well, she can look down on me. I’m no longer the duke’s daughter.

But what was with coming all this way just to sneer at me?

If she’d come only to mock me, there was no reason to sit here facing each other. I stood up from my seat across from her.

“Believe it or not, do as you like. So is that all you came to say?”

“W-what? No, that’s not—”

“If you’re done talking, leave some money and go. Chamomile tea is one copper.”

“…What?”

At the mention of payment, the nanny’s face soured. She stared at the teacup, then forced a smile.

“Miss, why are you speaking so coldly? You almost hurt my feelings.”

“You’re the one who offended me first. Why won’t you acknowledge my efforts?”

She’d accused me of lying, yet reacted like this over a single copper. A guest is only a guest under certain conditions—and she was no longer my guest. Pulling my straw hat down, I said,

“If you don’t have anything else to say, leave. I’m busy too.”

At my clear dismissal, her eyes darted back and forth. Realizing I truly might throw her out, she cried out urgently.

“The Duke told me to come see you!”

“My father?”

The father who hadn’t even looked back once when I left—what change of heart made him send someone to check on me?

Whatever it is, it can’t be for a good reason.

Perhaps because my expression remained cold, the nanny put on fake tears and pleaded pitifully.

“The Duke was so heartbroken after letting you go. He wondered if anything was wrong, if you were healthy—he told me to check on you, that’s why I came.”

More likely, he was wondering if I was half-dead. Whether I was presentable enough to show outside, or in a state where I could obediently bow if ordered to.

Unfortunately for him, I now stood firmly on my own two feet. I gave a short laugh and sneered.

“What, then? Did another marriage prospect come up, besides Crown Prince David?”

“…!!”

At that direct hit, the nanny’s face stiffened completely.