🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 9
“Miss, did you do something different in the middle?”
“…No. I should be the one asking that. Why is only mine like this?”
Even though I clearly used the same mold as Leon, only mine came out wrong.
I carefully pressed out cute animal shapes, so why are there only monsters?
“…The taste should be the same.”
“R-right?”
Dilia gave an awkward smile, unable to pick up the cookie right away.
Leon quietly looked at my cookies, picked one up, and bit into it with a crunch.
“It’s good.”
“…Really?”
You won’t die from eating it, right?
I made them, but I still didn’t feel like eating them.
What on earth did I do for them to turn out like this?
“Miss, I think you should reconsider opening a bakery.”
“Yeah, I’ve realized that for sure.”
Whether it’s a tea shop or a bakery, it’s not for me.
“Please rest here for now. I’ll go throw this away.”
Dilia sighed while looking at the messy kitchen.
Even though she had cleaned as she went, there was still a mountain of things to tidy up.
After Dilia left the kitchen, I carefully asked Leon,
“Leon, is it really tasty?”
“Yeah. Even if the shapes are like this, it tastes good. It’s better than mine.”
“Liar.”
I felt a bit better, but I knew Leon was lying for my sake.
I picked up one of Leon’s cookies and put it in my mouth.
It melted softly, and it felt nice.
“Wow, Leon, you really can do everything.”
“Yours tastes better, Elle.”
Leon casually put into his mouth a cookie with a chocolate-dripping, screaming animal face.
I stared at him blankly, then, almost possessed, walked closer.
“You’ve got something here.”
When I pointed at the chocolate on his mouth, Leon blinked.
His red tongue lightly licked his lips, then he licked the chocolate off his finger.
“It’s there… and here too.”
His gaze didn’t leave me.
“…Then wash—huh?”
Before I could finish, he brought his hand to his mouth.
Seeing him lick his own fingers, I swallowed hard.
“…This is not good.”
Smack!
“What are you doing?! There are so many germs on your hands!”
I slapped his hand away and frowned.
No hygiene sense at all.
I might have to educate him properly again.
Leon looked at me blankly.
With his hand still stinging, he stared at me with a dazed expression as I dragged him to wash his hands.
I carefully opened the door.
I had been avoiding him because he was looking for me, but I came here thinking maybe I could make peace with cookies, even if I didn’t know what was going on.
“Please have this.”
“…I told you to speak if you have complaints. You ignored me when I called you, and now you finally show your face.”
Edgar looked at the cookies I offered and spoke.
He really has a nasty way of talking.
I pulled the box back into my arms.
“If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. And why are you acting differently lately? Why are you looking for me so much? Did you get attached or something?”
He didn’t even seem to hear the rest of what I said.
His eyes stayed fixed on the cookies, softening slightly.
“…Homemade?”
No, actually it felt more like he became even more suspicious.
I wasn’t exactly a sweet and loving daughter, but I didn’t bring these to poison him or anything.
I just picked decent ingredients to try getting a little closer.
Suddenly, Edgar took the box from my arms.
He looked at it, then bit into a cookie.
Strangely, I felt nervous.
Leon said it was good, though…
“…You really have no talent.”
“Give it back!”
Of course.
Edgar frowned as he looked at the cookie.
He pulled out a tissue and spat it out.
“Where did you learn to take back what you give?”
“No, you literally spat it out in front of me.”
“You give inedible food and call it reconciliation?”
“Just give it back!”
“Once you give it to me, what I do with it is my choice.”
Ugh! The more I talked to him, the more unlikeable he became.
Why did I even bring this?
“Leon ate it just fine and said it was good!”
“That guy probably doesn’t have a single proper trait.”
How can he speak so unpleasantly?
I frowned hard at him.
Look at him—he’s already suspicious over a single cookie.
No wonder he has so many enemies.
“Even if I see you as an enemy, I wouldn’t try to poison my own father.”
“Well, thank you.”
Show a little sincerity, please.
I was speechless and closed my mouth.
Trying to get along was pointless. I would never be close to this man.
“Forget it! If it’s so bad, just throw it away!”
“You can read my mind, it seems.”
A faint smile appeared on Edgar’s lips.
He was definitely mocking me.
The moment I turned away, the cookies would go straight into the trash.
“Instead of doing pointless things like this, why don’t you learn something at the information guild?”
“…Why should I?”
“How did you get that information you gave me last time? I thought you were a clueless child trapped in here.”
“I do get around, you know. Why are you interested in me anyway?”
Calling him “father” before, and now “duke,” must feel strange to him.
‘What, did he hate being called that? No? Guess not.’
I widened my eyes and looked straight at him.
From what he said, my information must have been useful. But to try pushing his daughter into the underworld guild…
He’s definitely insane.
“I’ll pay ten times the reward.”
“No thanks. Stop your drug business instead. A casino would be better.”
I tossed the words and stormed out.
Eat that cookie and choke on it.
Leon must have lied to me.
He said it was good, so I confidently brought it, and I got tricked.
Now Edgar probably thinks even worse of me.
“I should stay away for a while.”
I glanced at the tightly closed door, then quickly headed to my room.
Edgar stared at the cookie box.
The little miss, who had stormed out angrily, seemed quite hurt by today’s events.
“Why didn’t you just say it tasted good?”
“Try it.”
He handed a cookie to Herrington.
It was slightly burnt, but it smelled quite good.
Without hesitation, Herrington bit into it—and his face stiffened.
“…I need some tissue too.”
“Eat it. Did I tell you to take it?”
Helpless, Herrington swallowed what was in his mouth.
It tasted only salty, as if someone had poured salt instead of sugar.
“What should we do with this?”
“Throw it away. Do you think I would eat it?”
“…No, but lately you’ve seemed a bit softer.”
Impossible.
He had never loved Elle Natashia, who resembled his mother so much.
Just looking at her reminded him of the woman he once loved.
Others may say what they want, but they had loved each other.
Even if their marriage was due to the mark on their bodies, they never regretted it.
“There’s no way.”
“Sir…”
Edgar pushed the cookie box into the trash.
He didn’t know why she had tried to approach him, but it was better not to grow attached.
She would eventually leave once she had a partner anyway.
“Giving up the medicine business… what do you think?”
“I think we don’t need to listen to the young lady.”
“And what about last time’s incident?”
“Probably just coincidence. There’s no way the young lady understands how the world works.”
Edgar glanced toward the door where Elle had stormed out.
The cookies, now broken in the trash, caught his eye.
