David was sitting on the sofa, looking a bit bored.
There were only a few customers left, since the morning rush of customers had passed.
‘He wanted to live out the rest of his days in peace…’
He’d had a hard time as the Commander of the Order of a ruined country.
He came to the calm village of Seiren in hopes of living out a less treacherous life.
He’d lost his men and his country, both of which he’d devoted his life to protecting.
So naturally, he lost his way in life.
Even his men wanted him to forget everything and start anew.
Because of their will, David decided that he would do so, spending the rest of his days far from the blood-stained battlefield.
‘Ah, what should I do today…’
And as expected, the village of Seiren was very relaxed and leisurely.
He’d put up a flyer to search for an extra hand.
It would be more fun to lounge in peace together than to do so alone.
He yawned as he swept his brown hair away from his eyes.
And at that moment, the door opened and a young woman came in with a shy face.
David looked up at her.
“Um…”
“Oh, yes, ma’am. Are you here to buy bread?”
He arose from his place on the sofa and moved to stand behind the counter.
But she wasn’t even looking in the direction of the pastries neatly lined in the display case. Instead, she was looking at David.
“No…”
She handed him a small flyer. The ones that he had hung all around the village.
“…Are you looking for work?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh… Have you… done this sort of work before?”
“Have you ever done anything in your life?”
David gave an awkward smile to hide his bewilderment.
Most people who had come to the bakery in search of a job had been men.
He didn’t expect such a young woman to come looking for work.
She smiled brightly and opened her mouth.
“Yes! I worked at a bakery for five years. I know how to bake like the back of my hand.”
“…how old are you?”
“Me? Old enough, I suppose?”
The woman tilted her head, as if asking why the question had been posed at all.
“You’re an adult, right?”
“Me? Of course. Haha. You look young, too. Handsome, too.”
She spoke, scratching her head awkwardly.
David felt strange, seeing her speak so smoothly, unexpected of her gentle appearance.
“You provide room and board, too, right? I need a place to stay.”
“Yes… yes, but…”
All the accommodation David could provide would be at his own house.
David was at a loss, thinking of how to deal with this unexpected person who had come to him for work.
‘Should I just send her away…?’
The woman smiled without a clue as to what David was thinking. Him still unaware, the corners of her mouth turnt upwards.
She moved one step closer to him.
“I can guarantee you, I can make this place the most famous bakery in the entire world.”
She was confident.
“You must be good at baking.”
“Yes, I am. And I can make this bakery more successful than you can even imagine.”
David could help but smile a little bit. Her conviction was impressive…and convincing.
“But Mr. David… I have a question”
“What is it?”
“How much time is left until the Flori Festival?”
“You know about the Flori Festival?”
That was unexpected. He hadn’t ever seen her face in the village before.
The Flori Festival was a small festival that only locals participated in. It was their time to pray that the flowers harvested that month would sell well.
“Oh… yes. I’ve heard of it.”
“It begins in 10 days. Actually, I don’t know if we can participate. Haha…”
“Ten days… is there only ten days left before that whole fiasco?”
“What?”
“Oh, nothing! I’m so excited! I’ve never seen a festival before!”
“So… where are you from, then? I don’t think I’ve seen you here before…”
“Oh… it’s a long story…”
“Are you sure you’re over 20?”
“Well, I speak pretty well, don’t I? Only time can teach that kind of skill…haha.”
“Well…”
“Um, can I use your bathroom?”
“Oh, sure. Just go through that door over there.”
She immediately turned towards the door on the other side of the sofa.
Right before turning its handle, the woman turned back and looked at David.
“Mr. David, I promise that I can do this. And if you hire me, I’ll make sure that you can maintain a really quiet and peaceful lifestyle! I just want peace, too.”
The woman smiled, as if she knew that she had just read David’s mind.
“Are you sure… that you’ll do well?”
“Just look at me! I’m a hard worker. I know that you don’t know me well, yet, David, but… can’t you just tell that I’d get us through any hard times that come our way?”
After saying that, the woman went into the bathroom.
David was interested in her, and the strange argument she’d just made.
‘I certainly don’t think it’s going to be boring around here anymore…’
For some reason, he’d known from the second she walked in that something interesting would happen.
‘But I’ll need to prepare a little bit if I’m going to be working with such an…unexpected person.’
David mused in his head, thinking of his messy house and the cluttered bakery kitchen.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Right then, he heard the unusual woman screaming in the bathroom.
“What is that!”
David opened the bathroom door in a hurry.
There, the woman was sitting in front of the mirror, looking confused.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing, it’s just m-my face…my face!!”
“What’s wrong with your face?”
“I look like an angel!! Fallen from heaven!”
Hearing her utter this, David lost all his strength. Her face was infinitely serious.
“Why am I so beautiful? Mr. David, were you not surprised by my face?”
“No, I was really surprised at first… Oh, no, no, that’s not what I meant… Shit! Who would get so surprised to see someone else’s face? That would be so embarrassing…!”
“More embarrassed than me?”
“Have you never looked in the mirror before? I mean, I would be too if I looked like you…”
The woman continued grabbing at her face while looking in the mirror, as if totally unfamiliar.
And David just watched. Her face certainly was astonishing.
Honey-like hair flowing down her back, with crystal-blue eyes that resembled the blue sky.
Red cheeks and a gentle, pale, flawless skin. And cherry-red lips.
No doubt, she was beautiful, no matter who you asked.
‘But can anyone be so shocked to just see their own face?’
David, too bewildered to know what else to do, laughed.
‘I guess there really won’t be anything boring about working together…’
“You’re not a runaway aristocrat or a royal child, are you?”
“…I mean… I wish I were, but no.”
“Is it true that you’ve worked at a bakery before?”
“Yes! And I did a wonderful job each and every day!”
“What’s your name?”
“My name?”
“Yes, I’ll need to know your name if I’m going to work with you.”
“My name is…”
The woman slowly opened her mouth with an unsure face.
* * *
I was shocked when I went into the bathroom.
‘Who…!’
The girl looking back at me… wasn’t who I was.
Silky hair and clear features… At first, I thought it was a portrait I was staring into rather than a mirror.
‘Who is this?’
When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a flower garden in the village of Seiren.
David had seemed a little more doubtful than expected when I tried to convince him to let me work. In a way, I guess I knew that it didn’t feel like I had been the one talking.
And the lady from that field of flowers, too…she asked me if I’d been kicked out.
‘No… that lady wasn’t blind… I really do look like an angel fallen from heaven!’
I stared blankly at the mirror for a long time.
But even searching as far back in my memory, I couldn’t find a match for this face.
I looked at David, standing at my side, embarrassed.
Soft, shoulder-length brown hair atop a tall, strong, and broad build. Deep-set eyes and a collection of scars, both deep and shallow, running along his skin.
David was surely in his late twenties–exactly like how he was described in the book.
He looked kind and reliable. The one who would one day be the crown prince’s right-hand man.
I suppose that’s why I felt relieved the moment I came into David’s bakery.
For the first time in this world, it even felt as though I’d met someone I’d known all along.
But, the face that I wore was not my own.
Nothing in the book I’d read yesterday matched even a vague description of my face.
‘So who the hell am I!?’
David approached me, confused, and asked carefully:
“What’s your name?”
This was an interview, so of course he was going to ask.
But it’s a question that I can’t answer. I do not know who I am now.
‘But I must not be a particularly important character in the book…’
I continued thinking as calmly as possible.
If I’m someone so insignificant that I didn’t even warrant a physical description… then maybe I’m just an extra, or something!
‘You don’t need that noticeable of an appearance to be an extra…’
But neither the lady I met in the flower garden nor David had ever seen this face before.
Regardless, I had nowhere to sleep right away. There was nowhere to go except for David’s bakery. I’d just have to trust him.
I looked back up at David and answered calmly.
“Oh…it’s Irene.”
Irene was my nickname when I was working part-time at that bakery.
“Irene, let me reintroduce myself. I’m David, the owner of this bakery. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Luckily, David just took my word for it.
He held out his hand to me with a soft smile.
For some reason, I felt a little emotional, seeing his outstretched hand.
Somehow, I had managed to land a job with nothing but a flyer and a desire to adapt in this new land.
Nevertheless, I was quite nervous.
But I was so grateful to David for taking me in… I took his hand.
“Mr. David, let’s build a life together where we don’t worry about money!”
It was the best thing I could’ve said to him. David was tired of war and wanted to live a leisurely life.
Though, “leisurely” is a word that only applies to the rich.
David grinned.
“You want to make… a lot of money?”
“You have to have so much money if you ever want to live a comfortable life!”
He smiled again, hearing those words. After I’d calmed down from my own passionate remarks, we went back out to the front.
The front of the bakery was illuminated by the flooding of daylight, while the now stale buns lined the shelves.
The quaint bakery was outlined with wooden walls. Flower bushes decorated the landscape visible from the windows. Villagers roamed around leisurely, wearing content smiles.
‘The stress of being homeless… the despair of unending monthly rent payments… it’s like there’s none of that here…’
To someone like me, who had lived breathing only dusty air and witnessing the life drain from everyone’s eyes as they climbed further and further up the corporate ladder, the view was as grand as one overlooking the ocean from a five-star hotel.
‘I think I know why David chose this town…’
I decided to think of this all as an opportunity.
An opportunity to make a new life for myself.
In the fanfic, David was one of the men that the crown prince would later take with him to war, anyway.
And that meant that the bakery would be left without an owner.
‘I’ll be the next owner of this bakery.’
A deep grin spread across my face as I formulated my grand plan.
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･:.｡..｡.:･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
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