After a long time, tasting it again, especially the thick, juicy meat dripping with oil, it was heavenly delicious. It almost brought tears of emotion to her eyes.
Anje barely held onto his fading consciousness. Then, to not seem too sluggish, he slowly and gracefully sliced another piece of ham.
‘Is it because I’m eating when I’m so hungry?’
Or is he just good at cooking? Anje felt a tinge of regret as he watched the ham slice diminish rapidly.
Expertly cooked, richly chewable juices, perfectly smoked without any hint of gaminess.
If Aiden was the chef at the Glaster Manor kitchen, his skill might have been good enough to call for special tips.
Aiden pretended to focus on his meal while observing her. The moment she put the ham in her mouth, her eyes widened, her face brightened, and her hands didn’t stop.
It was evident she was thoroughly enjoying it without needing to say a word.
‘Even if you’re a princess, you won’t taste anything as delicious as our home-cooked food, will you?’
His grandfather suddenly came to mind, proudly teaching him the smoked secret recipe passed down through generations.
Having survived the life and death situations on the battlefield, his heart always longed for this farm.
The silent acknowledgment from the princess, like his grandfather’s pride, was a satisfying moment for him.
However,
“Would you like some more?”
Although he didn’t intend to be kind, Anje, who had finished all her share of the ham, sent him a pleading look that was quite burdensome.
Her eyes sparkled excessively, her mouth hung open like a comrade who had been starving for days seeing combat rations.
The amount was originally too much for him to eat alone, so even if he shared it with her, it wouldn’t be insufficient.
Anje hesitated at his suggestion.
“I’ve already eaten a lot, so there’s no need. Well, if you insist…”
While pretending to decline, she pushed the empty plate towards Aiden. Aiden took two more pieces of ham and some roasted vegetables.
“You don’t have to give me onions…”
Anje’s voice trembled as if it would soon fall to the ground. Aiden raised one eyebrow.
“Are you a picky eater?”
“No! I’m not! There’s no way I could be.”
Her answer, which sounded like she was about to jump out of her seat, already proved that she was a picky eater.
In fact, Anje had hated vegetables and loved meat and flour food since she was a child.
If someone had taught her to stop being a picky eater, it would have been different, but there was no servant who would dare force the young lady, Anje, who had grown up like a lone wolf, to eat food she hated.
‘No! I won’t eat it. Bring me cake, cake!’
After hitting puberty, she reduced her intake of meat, which is generally considered “unfeminine,” but instead she filled her meals with bread, dessert, and a little fruit.
Aware that this eating habit was immature, she avoided Aiden’s gaze and poked at the pile of onions with her fork.
‘I’ll just pretend to eat a few bites and leave the rest.’
Maybe it would be passable if I ate it with ham.
She put a few pieces of onion and ham on her fork together and put it in her mouth before she lost her courage.
‘Ugh, it’s tasteless… isn’t it?’
Maybe it was the effect of the meat, but the brown caramelized onions had a strange chewy texture, but they were edible.
No, that was an understatement. The fragrant onions balanced out the slightly greasy taste of the ham.
It had to be delicious because it was made with fresh onions, picked from the field that morning.
Anje’s fork moved busily. Mushrooms, ham, onions, and mushrooms again. And then onions and ham again.
Aiden carefully observed the person sitting across from him, trying not to be too obvious. It wasn’t the first time he had seen someone eat, but his gaze was strangely drawn to her.
‘Is it because she’s eating so deliciously?’
Having grown up receiving brainwashing education that she would become a member of the royal family, her table manners were perfect even while she ate diligently. Perhaps that was the reason why he kept looking at her.
‘Her lips are small.’
He flinched and lowered his eyes at the sudden thought. What did he mean by small?
Her small lips and full cheeks moved busily, looking like a baby bird being fed for a moment, but that was all.
He pushed his chair back hard and stood up. His plate, as well as Anje’s, was empty. It was time to clean up and leave.
“If you’re finished, please put your dishes here.”
“You want me to bring it to you myself?”
Anje closed her mouth tightly as Aiden, standing in front of the sink, frowned deeply and turned to look at her.
“Unless your hands and feet are disabled, wouldn’t it be better if you did what you can yourself, princess?”
The words themselves were polite, but the tone was not at all. Anje’s face crumpled as much as Aiden’s.
‘I thought she’d give me a break since my cooking skills are decent.’
“I’m not disabled! The place where I fell earlier still hurts.”
Anje pointed to her knees with both hands and then folded her arms arrogantly in front of her chest.
Aiden started to say something back to her, but then he stopped himself.
‘Don’t stoop to her level, Aiden Fitzroy.’
He wanted to say that her head seemed to be hurting more than her legs, but he didn’t have time for such a stupid argument. It would be better to finish the dishes quickly and finish planting the seed potatoes.
After washing all the used oven pans, frying pans, utensils, and dishes for two people, he forced a damped towel into Anje’s hands.
“I have to go out, so just clean the table.”
“Wait, you’re going out? Again?”
It wasn’t sarcasm, but this time Anje was genuinely surprised.
He had just gone out as soon as the rooster crowed, and now he was going out again after eating?
“Yes, I have work to do.”
While nobles like her could laze around all day like seals without any problems, he was very busy during the farming season.
He had to level the ground, sow the seeds, pull the weeds, and take care of the livestock. He needed two bodies to do all of that.
It was hard work, but on the other hand, that’s why it was good. If he just moved his body all day without thinking about anything, he would be able to sleep better at night.
“What time is afternoon tea?”
“Afternoon tea?”
Aiden smiled wryly. Only among the nobles would they leisurely enjoy tea and dessert in the afternoon.
“There is no afternoon tea time in this house. There is high tea, though.”
“High tea?”
High tea. It was a custom of the commoners to drink strong tea with dinner around 6pm, but Anje didn’t even know what that word meant and tilted her head.
“Then what am I supposed to do by myself until then? There’s nothing to do here.”
In the capital, she enjoyed shopping or social events, but this place was nowhere to be seen with such entertainment.
Aiden took a deep breath. Did she think of him as a nanny or a jester? What kind of question is that?
“That’s something you should figure out on your own, Princess. You’re much smarter and more capable than I am, so you should be able to find something to entertain yourself with.”
“You’re… the owner of this house and I’m the guest, so aren’t you supposed to take care of me?”
Strictly speaking, they should be called “husband” and “wife”, but Anje was reluctant to use such terms for herself and him.
Aiden slowly raised one corner of his mouth.
“You’re very mistaken, Princess.”
The way he forced a smile made him look even colder than when he was expressionless.
“You’re not my guest. You know very well that I didn’t choose to be with you.”
Anje bit her lip tightly. She knew that, of course.
But it was humiliating to hear it from someone’s mouth, especially from a man of lower status than her.
“If you’re really bored, why don’t you wipe the floor and the shelves while you’re at it? The day will go by quickly.”
After finishing his words, he slipped out through the back door of the kitchen as if he were running away from Anje. The words he threw at her directly were refreshing, but at the same time, they made her feel uncomfortable.
The clumsy princess irritated him, but she was a woman who expressed her emotions exactly as she felt, even because of her clumsiness.
Seeing the sadness, misery, and anger on her blank face, he felt uncomfortable, as if he had committed a sin.
Anje glared at the towel in her hand for a long time, then threw it in the direction he had gone. However, her arm strength was not enough, and it fell to the floor far before it reached the door.
“What is wrong with that person? What does he want me to do?”
The princess, who had suffered a great blow to her pride, grumbled for a long time and decided not to do the cleaning he had asked her to do.
She didn’t come here to be a maid or a worker, and she had to make that clear. She would never do anything, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Suddenly feeling suffocated, she grabbed her waist and took deep breaths in and out. She had eaten more than usual with her corset on, and it made it hard to breathe.
‘I ate too much.’
With some effort, she managed to loosen her corset to a tolerable extent, ensuring it wasn’t too tight.
‘I have to be careful not to let my figure go to waste while I’m here.’
She returned to her room and wrote a letter to her father, asking him to come and pick her up quickly. She wrote in a pitiful and sad tone, emphasizing how miserable her situation was.
***
That very night, Anje handed Aiden a thick letter she had written to her father with all her heart and soul.
“Please send this to the capital as soon as possible. It contains important information.”
“A letter?”
“I need to let my father know that I arrived here safely.”
Anje deliberately did not mention that she had written to ask him to come and find her. In her eyes, Aiden, the emperor’s half-brother, was probably on the emperor’s side rather than hers.
If he knew that she was planning to escape Leslie, he might tell the emperor.
Aiden, who had been about to refuse her request, changed his mind in the middle of speaking.
“I have to go to ‘Town’ to send the letter……. Okay. I’ll go out on the weekend and send it.”
‘Town’ was the term used by Leslie residents to refer to the relatively bustling area within the region. It was a very small place compared to the capital, but it was densely packed with the necessary amenities for life, so many people lived around there.
Originally, he hated crowded places and didn’t go to Town often. Whenever a stranger looked at him, he felt uncomfortable and distressed, thinking that they were criticizing him.
‘That murderer!’
The reason he was buried in the remote Dalton Farm and didn’t have a maid or servant to help him with the chores was the same.
It was even the busy farming season now.
However, there were many things he had to buy anyway, since there were more people. Of course, he needed food such as flour and salt, but he also needed consumer goods such as soap and toothpaste.
‘If I grant her request, she’ll be quiet for a while.’
Aiden took the envelope from her, glancing back at the flurry of events she had caused that day.
Seeing him tuck the letter in his jacket pocket, Anje remembered something.
“Oh, wait a minute. There are other letters you need to send as well.”
If her father, Duke Glaster, was still angry, she needed help from others besides her father.
Unfortunately, Anje’s mother was from the neighboring country of Francia and had no connections here. She had died very young, and Anje had not been in contact with her maternal relatives for a long time.
Although Anje’s paternal relatives often met at social events, they would not help her unless her father, the head of the house, ordered them to.
Anje decided to use all of her social connections.
“I’ll give you a few more tomorrow, so send them right away.”
“Do you think I’m your personal messenger?”
Whether Aiden grumbled or not, Angie said what she had to say and disappeared into her room. She would stay up all night and write as many letters as possible.
Of course, she had already finished the dinner he had prepared. The tea he had called “high tea,” drunk with plenty of sugar and cream, surprisingly suited her taste.
