David made his exit after dinner, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I was happy. It’d be good if I could get ahead on the preparation for tomorrow–surely, we’ll sell a lot the moment we open our doors in the morning.
Over the course of the Flori Festival, requests for deliveries piled up, along with the one headed for Rosie.
To fulfill all these promises in a timely manner, the dough needed to start rising soon.
Plus, David had just received our first kilogram of butter. It would be best to use it up before it went bad.
In a large bowl I poured in a tall pile of flour and added a few splashes of water before beginning to knead the contents. I covered the dough with a warm cloth so it could begin rising.
‘I should whip up some more cookie dough while I’m at it…’
Whether it was madeleines or financiers, the dough needed to be given ample time to rest, so it was best if I could make it in advance.
I knew that finally, the time was right to bake delicacies never heard of before in this world.
I created the madeleine dough by whipping some eggs together, and adding some melted butter. Some egg whites and singed butter came together to create the dough for the financiers.
The kitchen smelled sweet.
‘When will he come back…?’
Even though I’d been standing for hours, my legs weren’t getting sore. They weren’t even tired yet. I’d felt better than I ever had before getting hurt yesterday.
Then, David’s words came to mind.
A truly priceless herb. I thought that I should do something for him in return.
‘It must be so expensive, but…’
I sliced into an almost-stale loaf of bread that I had baked earlier that day, brushing the surface with an egg wash. I added some sugar and salt, too.
In the furnace, a frying pan had already been oiled and set inside.
One of my favorite things to eat. French toast. It was a simple dish, yes, but it’s also my go-to to quell my hunger. I used to cook it a lot before my shifts at home…
Squeaaaaaak.
The crown prince appeared to have arrived just in time. I heard the sound of him stepping onto the wooden ladder. He must have gone straight up to his room.
I transported the now warmly baked toast to a plate, heated up a glass of milk, and headed for the attic.
“May I come in?”
I knocked and opened the loft’s sliding door.
He sat up as I entered. The ceiling was even lower than I’d expected, and the bend in my spine was quite severe as a result.
“Here…eat this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s toast. Have some, and leave the plate outside. I’ll come grab it later.”
I handed him the tray. He came towards me, climbing off his mattress, receiving the tray with one hand.
The part of the attic he was staying in was darker than the rest of the house, so I couldn’t see his face well after adjusting to the difference in light.
“Or, you can eat downstairs, and I can go to my room if you’d like.”
“It’s fine. I’ll eat here.”
“Well… get some rest.”
“…hey.”
As I was about to go back downstairs, the crown prince called for me. He looked a bit uncomfortable.
“Could you change the cloth around my back for me?”
“Are you hurt?”
“Maybe a little.”
His pained expression gave him away.
I knelt on the floor beside him.
He removed his shirt suddenly. His face and muscular body were dimly illuminated by the candle lit to the side.
In that moment, I was glad that it was dark.
“Use this…”
He took a fresh cloth out of his bag. The cloth currently wrapped around his body was a little stiff.
I untied the knot keeping his bandages wrapped around his torso, revealing several shallow wounds scattered around his back. I’d only expected one.
One of the deeper cuts was still bleeding. Maybe he’d gotten them while he was out today?
“What the hell happened…”
“…It’d be better if you could do this a little faster.”
He spoke calmly, despite my surprise.
I nodded as I wrapped a new cloth around him. My hands circled and danced around him, turning from his back to his chest, and back to his back again.
His body was so large that it was difficult to bandage up his battered body, even with both hands. Regardless, I closely wrapped the cloth around his back.
I felt his warmth each time my hands and arms came into contact with his skin.
“You weren’t sleeping when I came back. What were you doing last night?”
“I was just preparing for today.”
“You’re a hard worker. But why?”
“Because I need to make money.”
“Is money all that great?”
“My heart is already pounding. Just thinking about money.”
He chuckled in response.
“But you’re even worse than me. It’s good to do your best with your work, but you have to take care of yourself so that you don’t get hurt. If you get hurt, you only have to spend more money with hospital bills.”
“…I’m pretty tough.”
“If you don’t have enough money saved up, you’ll regret it later.”
“I have a lot to regret regardless.”
He didn’t pause for even a moment. I shut my mouth.
“…Is money your favorite thing?”
He was the first to break the silence.
“I just told you. Just thinking of it elicits a physical reaction.”
“Hmm. Did you know that I actually have a lot of money?”
“Haha.”
Without even realizing it, I had broken out in laughter.
But he looked at me with a straight face. I could only stare back at his frightening expression.
“I-I mean…well, that’s not really how a business works…and I-”
“Of course, I’m not saying that I have any money for you. But what was the owner of this bakery doing all night while you were working alone?”
“Mr. David wakes up early in the morning to get milk and butter, and he transports all of the flour I need. He helps me out in less direct ways. And I’d be very appreciative if you would help him out from now on, too.”
“Help should be rewarded, shouldn’t it?”
“Rewarded? But you just said that you have a lot of money. Joseph, you’re the employee here…”
“It’s not money that I want. I don’t need money.”
“What would you prefer, then, Joseph?”
“Ha… “Joseph,” again…”
He grumbled each time I’d said his “name.”
“Joseph…. If you hate that name so much, then what about Peter? Or Josh? Or Nate?”
“…But that’s the name you thought of when you first saw my face.”
He sighed loudly again. His fists seemed to have clenched up at some point, inspiring me to keep my mouth shut.
“Today… there was a man I met.”
‘Was…?’
Past tense…
I nodded, swallowing only air in my dry throat.
“He told me that I’ve never seen hardship in my life.”
There seemed to be a hint of sadness in his tone.
“He accused me of having lived only a peaceful life. He was so sure that it’s only now that I’ve lived like everyone else, shedding my own blood for what is most important to me.”
He looked like he was about to break out into an endless, slandering rant.
“Looking at you reminds me of him.”
“…me?”
“Don’t you work hard, and go through so much hardship… even though it’s just for money?”
He looked sad now.
“Though, maybe… those who have lived harder lives than me and who have worked so much harder than me just to live… will end up at least a little bit better for it.”
He recited this self-help-adjacent mantra.
“…maybe… those who have lived harder lives than me… shouldn’t they be allowed to take my place…if I had the privilege of living so peacefully through no work of my own?”
The cloth that covered his wound was now carefully secured. His shoulders seemed to have drooped over the course of the treatment.
I gently pressed his shoulder.
I didn’t believe that the crown prince had never worked hard or gone through hardship. After all, he was once an honor student at the royal school.
He was just playing with the cards he’d been dealt.
“Joseph, sometimes people say things to us that shake us to our core… so much so that we forget everything that happened before we’d heard that.”
“What…”
“Just like he said, you may have lived relatively peacefully up until this point. But that doesn’t mean that anyone deserves to take your place.”
I stood up, brushing off my skirt. He sat down and put his shirt back on.
“If you don’t work hard enough, I’ll tell you to work harder. Nobody will take your place.”
“…I see.”
“So, try your best not to get hurt anymore, and then let’s do our best to make all our deliveries tomorrow!”
I initiated the awkward farewell and turned towards the door.
But before I could go, the crown prince grabbed my wrist and pulled me backwards. The ceiling was so low that when I turned around, his face was suddenly right next to my own.
His faint silhouette was outlined against the darkness by candlelight. In this dimness, his red lips were crimson, and his green eyes appeared an even darker, deeper emerald.
“…don’t go.”
“You… don’t want me to go?”
“O… I can’t eat all this. Not this late at night.”
He pointed to the plate I’d brought him. I couldn’t help but smile a little. Somehow, the more I analyzed this scene, the more affection I felt.
He was just confused and disoriented by the betrayal that had rerouted his life. He was a good ruler with a good heart, one that the people will surely be able to count on someday.
“Alright, let’s dig in together.”
I followed him back to sit on the floor, where we shared our midnight snack.
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･:.｡..｡.:･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this translation & would like to consider supporting the translator, please visit https://ko-fi.com/ab
