TISND Chapter 11

Chapter 11

In truth, the dish the woman brought wasn’t all that special.
If anything, it was rather humble.
But Jeremy seemed incredibly excited.

“See the carrots and onions in the stew? I dug those up myself,” Jeremy said, pointing proudly. He was eager to show off something to his twin he hadn’t seen in a while.

But beside him, Helena remarked indifferently,
“You didn’t dig those up; they’re from the last batch.”

“It’s the same thing! I did dig up onions anyway!”

“Right, you’re the one who single-handedly wiped out the world’s supply of onions.”

“Ugh!”

Jeremy grumbled but then chuckled softly.

It felt strange. It had been so long since Joshua had seen his twin laugh like that.

“What do you think, Joshua?” Jeremy asked, inquiring about the taste.

Joshua, who had yet to even touch the stew, cautiously took a spoonful and tasted it.

“…It’s good.”

“Right?”

Even though he hadn’t made it himself, Jeremy beamed with pride.

It really was delicious.
It didn’t look like much, nor were there any special ingredients, and the taste wasn’t particularly extraordinary.
Compared to the salty, intense flavors of outside food, it was rather mild.

Yet, strangely, it tasted amazing.
The carrots had been boiled until they practically melted on the roof of the mouth, and the potatoes, seasoned with pepper, were full of savory flavor.

“This… that woman made this?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

After setting the table, Helena had gone to crouch down in the field outside.
She didn’t seem to have any intention of joining the twins’ conversation or trying to get closer to them.

Still, she seemed suspicious.

“The field in the backyard—is she the one tending to it?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“What’s her game?”

“She said she’s farming or something?”

Jeremy was so busy eating that his answers came out muffled. His cheeks bulged with food as he chewed away.

As his twin, Joshua understood his stubbornness and sulkiness better than anyone.
How he used to skip meals because he hated being alone in the mansion.
How he would ruin his clothes or the floor just to get their father’s or the other adults’ attention.

But in the few months they had been apart, Jeremy’s behavior had changed.
He even seemed to have put on some weight since the last time Joshua saw him.

“Are you close with that woman?”

“Mm, no.”

“Then why are you eating her food?”

“Mm.”

“Answer properly!”

Jeremy, ever the porcupine with his spikes up, was at heart a softie.

Joshua couldn’t stand watching his twin focus solely on eating, so he grabbed both of his cheeks in his hands.

Jeremy, cheeks stuffed with food, widened his eyes in surprise. Sensing that Joshua was being unusually serious, he hurriedly swallowed his mouthful.

“Did that woman approach you on purpose?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“She’s really weird, that woman…” Jeremy muttered.

“What’s weird about her?”

“She doesn’t try to force herself to get close to us, like you said.”

“Then what does she say to you? Does she ask you strange questions or anything?”

“She just asks if I’ve eaten.”

“…What?”

“That’s really it. She’s a really strange woman.”

Joshua couldn’t make sense of it.

“If you say you haven’t eaten, what does she do? Just feeds you and leaves?”

“Yeah, or…”

“Or what?”

“She goes to dig in the dirt.”

“…What?”

His answer was completely unexpected from start to finish.

“She’s Eskel’s daughter, right?”

“I know. But she doesn’t seem like Eskel at all.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s true.”

Joshua mentally raised the level of threat he associated with Helena by two notches. She definitely had some hidden agenda.

She didn’t seem to have a cold relationship with their father, and now she’d even managed to win over Jeremy, his own twin. This woman was clearly dangerous.

Pretending to be harmless while subtly gaining trust, only to exploit a moment of weakness—that could very well be her strategy.

“You don’t need to worry too much, Joshua.”

“You can’t be sure of that. I’m really worried about leaving you alone in the mansion, Jeremy.”

Joshua couldn’t shake the fear that his kind-hearted twin might be taken advantage of by a cunning woman.

—

As the twins finished their meal, Helena returned from the storage room carrying something. It was a dessert unfamiliar even to the twins, who had grown up in the lap of luxury in the duke’s household.

Was it a fruit? Or a vegetable? It was shriveled and peculiar-looking.

“What’s that?”

“Dried persimmons.”

“Persimmons? Like, the fruit?”

“Have you never seen one before?”

“No.”

Jeremy, without a hint of hesitation, took one from her outstretched hand and popped it into his mouth.

“It’s good. Where do you buy this?”

“I made it myself.”

“You made it yourself?”

“Yeah. They’re persimmons harvested from the western region…”

Persimmons weren’t commonly consumed in the empire, but the farm where Helena had lived had plenty of wild persimmon trees. Every fall, she would gather and dry them to eat throughout the season.

“These are ones I harvested before leaving home. I started drying them as soon as I arrived in Frantor.”

“If they’re from your hometown, aren’t they precious to you? Is it really okay for us to eat them?” Jeremy asked.

“You enjoying the food is more important to me. I couldn’t finish it all by myself anyway.”

Helena spoke casually, but for some reason, her words tugged at Jeremy’s heart.

“That’s true… better than letting it go to waste,” he mumbled, feeling a bit awkward.

“Exactly, so eat as much as you like,” she replied with a gentle smile, briefly glancing at Joshua.

“Does the food taste good?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s very delicious, ma’am,” Joshua replied, firmly addressing her as ‘ma’am’ instead of ‘mother,’? drawing a clear line between them.

Even so, Helena didn’t seem upset or hurt by it. If anything, her calm demeanor was surprising.

“I see. That’s good to hear. Eat plenty before you return to the academy,” she said, pouring Jeremy a refill of cocoa once she noticed he had finished his cup.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

“You don’t get to eat much good food at the academy, do you?”

“No, we’re well taken care of by the staff, so the meals are decent,” Joshua responded politely.

Helena nodded, maintaining the conversation about the academy. It was a familiar topic for her since she had attended one herself in the past.

However, something strange struck her.
The academy… staffed by servants?

“You’re saying the staff prepare your meals? Which academy did you say you attend?”

“Elanbarto Academy in the north,” he answered.

Helena frowned internally. As far as she knew, servants weren’t allowed in academies.

It was a recent rule implemented for educational purposes to prevent nobles from relying on servants for their meals or accommodations. It had been enforced back when she attended.

“Oh, I see,” she said, masking her thoughts.

But she couldn’t help noticing how rough his hands were—unusually so for a student. They looked like the hands of someone who practiced swordsmanship.

Did Calligo know about this?
Jeremy certainly believed his twin was attending an academy.
Could it be something he arranged on his own? Or was it something planned with Calligo?

And if so, why was it kept a secret from Jeremy?

“Work hard,” she finally said.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Helena chose silence. She had no reason to openly express her doubts.

A one-year contract marriage. It was better to maintain proper manners and keep her distance from Joshua. There was no need to dig into secrets or stir up trouble.

After all, her current priority was farming.

“Well, I’m heading inside. Don’t stay out too long—you’ll catch a cold,” she said casually.

“What? You’ll get a cold from staying outside too long?” Jeremy asked, confused.

“That’s a lie.”

“Hey!”

Her dry gaze flicked to Jeremy, who was wolfing down dried persimmons.

While she was glad he liked them, she worried he might overeat and upset his stomach.

“And don’t eat too many persimmons. They’ll make it hard to go to the bathroom.”

“What?”

“Eating too many persimmons can cause constipation. I once ate so many I couldn’t go to the bathroom for a week.”

“What? Seriously?”

“That’s a lie too.”

“Hey!”

Finishing her words, Helena slipped back inside the mansion.

Jeremy, still clutching two handfuls of persimmons, grumbled for a while before carefully wrapping the leftovers in a handkerchief. He planned to save them to eat sparingly in his room.

“Seriously…” he muttered.

For something as simple as dried persimmons, they tasted better than any cake or macaron he’d ever had.

He’d never even seen persimmons before. How did Helena know about them?

“That woman is so weird, isn’t she?” Jeremy asked, turning to Joshua, who had been unusually quiet.

Although Joshua was naturally reserved, he seemed even more so today.

“Yeah, she’s weird,” he replied flatly.

“Right? I told you, she’s really strange.”

“And so are you.”

“Huh?”

His eyes widened in shock at Joshua’s blunt remark.

“You think I am weird? How?”

Jeremy mumbled, his mouth surrounded by sugar from the persimmons.

“…Never mind.”

Sighing deeply, Joshua worried about his naive twin and the mess he might end up in.