7. New Life

“Yesterday?”

Dion stopped stirring with the wooden spatula and tilted his head.

“When yesterday? We were busy yesterday. We attended the charity banquet in the morning, went to Madam Falcon to improve our mood, and then ate Aiba’s food at Dimint’s house until our stomachs nearly burst before coming home late.”

Clementina took the wooden spatula from Dion’s hand and stirred the pot. He quickly regained his senses and took the spatula back.

“I learned it this morning. Before we went out. Your Highness, if you’re busy, you don’t need to stay here.”

“Huh? I’m not busy.”

“You have a lot to think about. Just from what I know, there’s Lili, Gerard, Sir Dimint, the minstrel tied up in Tabopis, his pervert lover, and also……”

“Hahaha. Where did you learn to talk like that?”

“Quickly, you need to stir quickly. Please focus.”

Clementina grabbed Dion’s hand and began turning the wooden spatula together.

“If you knew how much people talk behind your back, and what they say, you’d be surprised. So catch that little bird that comes and goes from Aeskis Castle quickly.”

“I’ve already set a trap for that. It’s nothing but a flea.”

“Still, it’s a flea that carries your daily life around. Don’t take it lightly.”

“You seem to be concerned about quite a lot.”

“I’m not concerned. I just listed what you should be concerned about. What I’m interested in is Leon’s egg. My dowry.”

“What about me?”

“Pardon?”

“Huh?”

The wooden spatula that had been moving suddenly stopped in the pot. Turbulent blue sea eyes met intense golden eyes.

“……Do you need my attention?”

“Huh?”

“……”

“Ah, no. That’s not it.”

A burning smell wafted from somewhere.

“Ah!”

The edges of the sugar lump in the pot were bubbling and turning black. Clementina’s short scream echoed through the kitchen.

At that moment, the sound of several people chopping stopped abruptly, and only the bubbling sounds of pots lined up by the fire could be heard.

The head chef of the kitchen walked over quietly and peered into the pot over Clementina’s shoulder. Clementina turned her head and looked at the chef with desperate eyes, but he only shook his head with a sorrowful expression.

Soon after, before there was time to be disheartened, a cheerful young servant brought Clementina a new pot.

Clementina closed her eyes and shook her head.

With a slap! she hit both her cheeks once and started again from the beginning. Of course, Dion stepped in to stir the pot. He kept his mouth shut and focused entirely on the lump of sugar.

“That’s enough now.”

Clementina craned her neck to look inside the pot. The sugar had cooked properly, becoming a transparent, sticky lump.

Clementina grabbed thick cloths in both hands and lifted the pot. Behind her on the table was a wooden tray. Clementina carefully poured the sugar lump onto it.

“Did it work this time?”

Dion wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes sparkling.

“I think so.”

“Have you been making this since yesterday?”

“No, I’ve been doing this for a few days. At first, I tried making various things with sugar, but nothing was useful. But yesterday, the excellent chef here thought of candy. It seemed easy to carry around and convenient to give to the dragon.”

“Are you getting enough sleep?”

“That’s the strange part. I’ve never slept so well. I slept like I was passing out from exhaustion, but after exactly twenty days, I’m not as tired as before. I’m sleeping soundly and refreshed. Cherbest would do well training the knights.”

“Cherbest is good at everything.”

Wind came through the open windows. The melted sugar lump started to harden quickly. Clementina rolled the sugar that had begun to solidify in a sticky state on the wooden tray. The sugar lump soon transformed into a staff shape.

“Why are you making this?”

Dion was completely absorbed in watching. Clementina cut off the end of the sugar staff about the size of a finger joint with a knife and put it in Dion’s mouth.

“Ugh! Too sweet.”

He grimaced like a child.

“Haha.”

Clementina laughed softly. He had seen her laugh out loud several times recently.

Dion carefully observed Clementina’s laughing face and felt strange. Her change was welcome but somewhat bittersweet.

“Even if I tell you that you don’t need to do this as the duchess, you’ll still do it, right?”

Clementina pretended not to hear. She picked up the knife again and cut the candy into palm-sized pieces. About ten pieces of candy were created.

“I’m doing this as the Duchess. I’m going to give it to Gerard.”

“Gerard? Is it some kind of medicine?”

“I thought of it more as a gift. He wouldn’t drink the sugar water. The candy I made yesterday failed, so I couldn’t give it to him this morning. This one looks quite decent. Don’t you think?”

Clementina held a piece of candy in her hand and held it up to the sunlight coming through the window. The candy sparkled with rainbow colors in the sunlight.

Behind them, the kitchen servants clapped and laughed.

Clementina turned around and smiled brightly. She placed her hand holding the candy on her chest and elegantly raised one arm.

“Hahaha.”

Dion’s laughter filled the kitchen at the sight.

⁕⁕⁕

Clementina headed to the Gold Dragon Knight Order training grounds with a basket full of candy packages. She had to hurry before Cherbest came looking for her.

Cherbest’s training had been increasing in intensity. It wasn’t as tedious as it was at first, but there were still things that seemed unnecessary to her.

For someone who must be as busy as the estate manager of this enormous Aeskis Castle, she couldn’t understand why he kept following only her around.

Since she couldn’t avoid Cherbest all day, Clementina had to wake up as early as possible to do the things she wanted to do.

She was in a hurry because she had spent her morning making candy with Dion. She kept feeling like Cherbest would call her name from behind.

If not him, then she might be caught by Jan, the Duchess’s only maid.

Clementina didn’t think she had been particularly nice to Jan, but for some reason, Jan really liked her.

She followed her around all day chattering, which wasn’t unpleasant, but somehow a bit annoying.

Today she had been lucky not to meet Cherbest and Jan so far, but another obstacle had appeared.

Dion had been following her since she left the dragon’s nest and showed no signs of leaving.

“Why do you want to meet Jeremiah anyway?”

“I have something to ask him.”

“You can ask me.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Do you know what kind of person Jeremiah is, that you want to meet him alone?”

“I don’t really know. But he seems like a good person.”

“Based on what? You haven’t even spoken to him once. How do you know? He could be a bad guy.”

“Is he a bad guy?”

“No, he’s not.”

“He’s tall, handsome, and seems to have camaraderie. And……”

“And?”

Clementina had a small basket given to her by the chef. Inside the basket were special nutritious snacks for the knights and the freshly made candy.

The nutritious snack was made by mixing banana, avocado, chocolate, and peanut butter with chicken br*ast, and finally adding honey to make it chewy. Clementina had divided it into small pieces and wrapped them in paper herself.

“And he’s healthy. If the body is healthy, the mind would be too, right?”

Dion started scratching his head vigorously. His brownish-blonde hair became disheveled instantly.

“Do you really have to meet him?”

Clementina opened the door to the training grounds without responding to Dion’s question. The training grounds, built with solid bricks, had high ceilings and a spacious interior. On one side were various exercise equipment for physical training, and on the other side hung weapons such as wooden swords and real swords for training.

Many knights were training there, filling the interior with the smell of sweat.

But the person Clementina was looking for wasn’t there.

“Is he really here?”

Clementina calmly questioned Dion. Somehow, Dion seemed to disapprove of her meeting Jeremiah.

Perhaps it was presumptuous for her to meet a Gold Dragon Knight separately. But since permission had been granted, she wanted to get it over with before minds changed.

Dion also scanned the training grounds and frowned.

Berche approached the ducal couple and bowed.

“Where’s Jeremiah?”

“He’s in the dragon’s nest with Gerard.”

“Gerard is still in the nest at this hour?”

“Well, Gerard hasn’t come out of the nest since his return.”

⁕⁕⁕