“By the way, I heard that Mr. Pierre is preparing for a trip to Rutes lately?”
Anje subtly changed the subject to help Mary out of her awkward situation.
Mary, who was usually too busy dozing off during weekly sermons, quickly seized the new topic to escape the crisis of having to fabricate nonsense about the sermon.
“That’s right. My dad just clicks his tongue, saying Pierre’s got all kinds of fanciful notions after making a bit of money. After hearing the madam’s stories, he said he wanted to see the birthplace of fashion with his own eyes.”
“Oh dear, I hope I didn’t say anything unnecessary. It’s not like a neighboring country would be all that different.”
Anje’s face darkened, worrying that her talks about the fashion world might have caused a rift between Mr. Jean and Mr. Penny. But Mary jumped in and denied her words.
“No, it’s not your fault, madam. That basta—I mean, my brother—has always been infatuated with the neighboring country.”
Changing his name from Jean Penny to the Francian-style “Jean Pierre” wasn’t enough for him; he would also messily mix the few Francian words he had barely picked up into his speech.
Jean always lamented growing up, saying, “I was born in the wrong country and town. If I had been born in Francia, or at least in the capital, Londiane, I would have become an exceptional fashion designer.”
Explaining his upbringing, Mary shrugged her shoulders.
“If anything, going there himself might shatter his vague fantasies and improve things.”
“That’s true. Experiencing it firsthand might help him see the pros and cons clearly.”
Anje sincerely agreed with that. Having experienced the social circles and the capital to the point of exhaustion herself, she knew well the hidden sides behind the glamorous appearances.
Even regarding the farm, she initially saw only its downsides, but firsthand experience had made her aware of its Merits.
“You only realize if something truly suits you after thoroughly examining it.”
Just as she had chosen comfortable muslin dresses and aprons over cumbersome corsets and crinoline dresses.
“Exactly. Once he’s in Rutes, he might even miss Leslie, thinking, ‘There’s no meat like Dad’s roasted pork barbecue.’”
“And he could broaden his perspective by seeing a new world.”
Aiden carefully joined their conversation, worried that Anje might blame herself for Jean Pierre’s wanderlust.
“Since someone from Leslie who’s actually visited the capital says so, it does sound convincing.”
“But he has to complete all the requests he’s piled up from working himself to death before going,” Mary added with a wicked grin.
From what they had heard, It seemed she had ignored Jean’s pleas for help and came here to hang out instead.
“Ah, it’d be great if my brother found a good match while traveling abroad—like Sir Aiden and the madam.”
Aiden cleared his throat awkwardly, while Anje bit her lip to keep from laughing.
If Mary knew how they had met in the capital and what circumstances had brought them back together, she wouldn’t be making such carefree remarks.
“Does Mr. Pierre not have anyone he’s seeing yet?”
“My brother? Of course not. Who would like a fashion-crazed—no, a person so obsessed with clothes?”
Despite being born with a reasonably handsome face, his peculiar speech and actions rendered it meaningless. Besides, Jean had never shown interest in women—or even humans, for that matter.
Only “muses” like Anje and Aiden, who were somewhat connected to fashion, were exceptions.
“My brother is a clothing fanatic. At festivals, he grabs passing women to ask where they tailored their clothes or if they embroidered them themselves.”
Mary let out a sharp exhale. She recalled how she had been sweating nervously beside him, apologizing profusely to those women.
“Now that I think about it, I’m worried. He might do something bizarre in Rutes and end up arrested by the authorities.”
“Ha-ha, surely not. Miss Mary, you shouldn’t worry too much.”
“Exactly. Mr. Pierre must have some common sense—”
“My brother has no such thing as common sense, Sir Aiden! Everything in his world is divided into fashion and not fashion!”
Overcome with sudden anxiety, Mary, pale-faced, stared at the knife in her hand.
“I’ll have to give him a thorough lesson when I get home.”
The way she sliced the vegetables with swift, unhesitating motions perfectly conveyed her resolve.
“If he ever gets arrested, I’ll make sure to tell him not to use the name Penny and instead live and die as Pierre.”
In a small town where rumors spread quickly, if word got out that Penny’s eldest son had ended up in prison, it would completely ruin her marriage prospects.
Unable to confidently deny the possibility of his arrest, Anje awkwardly smiled and changed the subject back to what they had been working on.
“Since all the ingredients are prepared, shall we start cooking?”
“Oh my, you’re right. I’ll grill the eggplants on this burner.”
After all, when worries arise, the motto of Dilton Farm is to ease them with delicious food.
Sizzle―
The lightly salted eggplants were cooked to perfection on the oiled frying pan. They looked delicious as they were, but it wasn’t time to eat them just yet. After all, today’s dish was eggplant gratin.
While Mary grilled the eggplants, Anje added diced bacon, mushrooms, and onions to the pre-prepared tomato sauce and sautéed them. The tanginess of the tomato sauce would perfectly balance the richness of the cheese.
Once the cheese and grilled eggplants were layered with the sauce in a dish and placed in the oven compartment of the stove, the gratin was ready in no time.
With Aiden’s smoked sausages grilled in the yard, the baguette Mary brought from home, and the wine gifted by Mrs. Meg, the meal was a feast fit for royalty.
The three of them gathered around the table, forks in hand, wearing bright expressions.
“Thank you for helping with the cooking, Miss Mary.”
“No, thank you for inviting me, both of you.”
Mary took a bite of the eggplant gratin first. The gooey melted cheese and eggplants blended beautifully with the tomato sauce.
“Ah, the sermon about paradise being near was true. Yes, this is the taste.”
“Quoting scripture so naturally in everyday life—Miss Mary, you’re surprisingly devout.”
“Haha, ha… not at all. Speaking of which, Sir Aiden, how about a drink?”
Mary enthusiastically offered Aiden wine, subtly winking at Anje.
“There seems to be quite a lot of wine…”
“Oh, this much is nothing. As a knight, you should down it in one go!”
Anje, clueless about the intention behind the wink, was bewildered until she belatedly realized with a startled “Ah.”
‘She figured out that story earlier was about me…’
Even though she hadn’t taken a single sip of wine, her cheeks felt hot already.
Starting a relationship query with “A friend of mine…” is often a dead giveaway that it’s about the speaker, but Anje, who had no romantic experience or counseling expertise, didn’t know this.
‘What did Meri suggest earlier? Right, she said to let my hair down.’
In haste, Anje untied the hair she had loosely tied back for cooking. A few strands got painfully yanked in the process, but she held back the tears that welled up.
TL/N: ME TRYING TO CATCH MY CRUSH’S ATTENTION.
‘What was next…? Ah, an expression.’
After a few sips of wine, which somehow ended up in her glass, courage bubbled up within her.
‘Tonight, for sure!’
Beneath the table, she gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.
It had been weeks since Aiden and Anje confessed to each other. They had shared countless kisses, so frequent they could hardly avoid each other’s gaze, and often spent the nights in the same bed, holding each other.
Anje liked it when he softly caressed her or gently kissed her, as it made her feel cherished and loved.
However, he had never crossed the final line in their relationship, nor even attempted to.
At first, she was pleased, thinking he was being considerate of her. But after a while, her patience began to run thin.
‘Why is it that he’s seen all of me, yet refuses to show even a glimpse of himself?’
He’d made her lower all her defenses, yet stubbornly buttoned his shirt up to his neck—it felt unfair and frustrating.
Still, she didn’t know what sort of bold move to make herself, and the idea of directly asking him was daunting.
With Mary’s detailed advice, she felt today might be the day to properly seduce Aiden.
‘A deadly expression, a deadly expression.’
Not knowing what that entailed, she guessed it might resemble the look of a fierce wild animal, like a cheetah or a leopard.
‘Rawr, rawr.’
I am a predator fresh from the jungle. With fiery eyes, she glared at Aiden, who was seated beside her.
TL/N: LMAO. I LITERALLY FELL OFF MY CHAIR. IDK WHAT TO SAY RN.
“Pfft.”
Hearing a strange noise, she turned her head.
Mary was covering her mouth with both hands, her shoulders shaking as she stifled laughter.
“Puh, umm. Ahem, sorry. Something got caught in my throat.”
Although Mary’s advice was to make a provocative expression, Anje utterly failed to embody it.
Even as Aiden received her “intense gaze,” he simply smiled warmly and gently pinched her cheek.
“Why the sudden expression of an angry chihuahua? Do you need a snack?”
“Pfft, that’s right! I was wondering what it reminded me of—it’s exactly like Cha-Cha, the puppy from next door… ahem.”
As Anje shot her a ‘Really?’ with a growling glare, Mary mouthed a barely-helpful apology,
‘Sorry, but you’re adorable.’
It seemed today wasn’t the day. She’d have to get more detailed advice from Meri later when they were alone.
Anje, holding out her now-empty wine glass, ordered with a sense of resignation.
“Pour me some more wine, too.”
Perhaps it was her pent-up frustration, but the wine went down unusually well tonight.
TL/N: LOL. POOR ANJE.
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