“Oh! With this… Is this it?”
Baroness Saratov, who had made a cake for the first time, looked slightly excited as if the whole process was unfamiliar.
“Yes! It’s over when it gets out of the oven.”
“So cakes are made like this?”
“Isn’t it fun?”
“I was completely out of my mind.”
“Well… that’s understandable.”
Pavel glanced at Baroness Saratov, who was still covered with white stains, and answered as if he were muttering, and was beaten in the back by Asha again.
While the finished cake was cooling down, the lemon was cut in half, juiced, and mixed with sugar to make white icing. Baroness Saratov inadvertently tasted the lemon juice splattered on her fingertips with her lips and distorted her face.
“O,Ohhh.”
“Isn’t it sour?”
“Extre… extremely.”
“But I won’t just be so jealous.”
Asha said so and poured lemon icing on the finished cake. White icing covered the cake like snow. After the icing hardened, it was cut with a bread knife, revealing the yellow and soft cross-section of the well-baked cake with a sweet and sour scent.
“I… I’m not good at making snacks, but I’m confident in making tea.”
As Baroness Saratov, who swallowed her saliva, said so, Asha smiled and nodded.
However, it hasn’t been long since Asha started using this kitchen, so it took a while to find a tea pots and glasses. And the moment Asha finally lifted the teapot from the cupboard, saying, ‘I found it!’ Baroness Saratov opened her mouth as if her jaw was about to drop.
“This… this is it!”
“What is it?”
Aesha tilted her head curiously.
Baroness Saratov gently caressed the teapot with trembling eyes.
“It’s… it’s the Marchioness Tataricha’s lost tea set worth 150 million karousas.”
“…You mean… this? Worth 150 million karousas?”
With a disapproving expression, Pavel looked at Baroness Saratov. He couldn’t believe that the tea set could be worth such a high price, despite its luxurious appearance. In response to Pavel’s doubtful expression, Baroness Saratov straightened her jaw with a stern face.
“Twenty years ago, this was the first and last set of ten teacups and teapot made by Mura di Ser Aylau. You must have heard of it. It’s the Silver Droplet Flower set.”
“Yes? Mura Aylau, isn’t she a painter?”
The reason why Pavel, who had no interest in anything but cooking and was blind to painting, knew the name of the artist, was because the artist was such a genius. Mura was an artist who almost painted a portrait of the emperor, but refused to do so and entrusted herself only to travel.
“Not just a painter! She’s a genius painter, architect, and musician all at once! She’s also a ceramic master. Look at this. She meticulously attached each part by hand and added shadows in different pastel tones to each flower petal, creating a dreamlike three-dimensional effect, didn’t she?”
“I, I see.”
“The dewdrops are all a mix of diamonds and aquamarine. These exquisite and graceful curves and immaculately colored pottery were not easily created at the time and even now.”
Pavel winced at the sight of Baroness Saratov, whose voice suddenly became higher and faster.
“Well, it’s understandable that it’s expensive to think so. I can’t believe that Mura made it… But even so, 150 million karousas…”
“Among the ten sets, one set is being kept in the museum of the Kingdom of Kirelete, and another set is being used directly by the royal family of Kirelete. Four sets are distributed to four marquisates within the Empire, and one set is held at the Imperial Museum. Lastly, one set is in the possession of the Aylau family.”
“Oh, my! One, two, three… eight? There are two left.”
“That’s right. One of them is… Unfortunately, it’s broken.”
“Wow, how did such a precious piece get broken?”
“The previous Marquis Tataricha broke it in anger while arguing with his wife.”
“Oh no! No matter how angry he was, that’s quite unfortunate.”
“That’s right. There’s a rumor that his wife beat the marquis to death for that.”
“…Ah…”
“There were nine sets in total from the Tataricha Marquisate, right? One out of ten sets was lost. There were also people who said that ten sets were just Mura’s claims or pranks. Before Mura left on her journey, she organized these pieces, and the record of the ‘Ten Flower Silver Droplet’ sets being exported was actually only found to be nine sets.”
Like a detective in a novel who brags about someone’s secret, Baroness Saratov had an enthusiastic voice.
“The Marchioness of Tataricha desperately hoped to find the one remaining set, not even knowing if it still existed. Especially when the other four marquises each have one set.”
“Wow. Olga, you know very well.”
“I personally like Mura’s works, so I know some of them… It’s 150 million. And despite searching everywhere, it’s here…”
“Indeed, it’s fascinating. Anyway, let’s brew some tea.”
“What?”
“I said, let’s brew some tea. Here.”
“Didn’t I just tell you that this is no longer available in the world…?”
“Well, it’s a teapot, so let’s brew tea and enjoy it.”
“The marchioness would probably jump for it at an even higher price!”
“Still, it’s a gift from my grandfather, so selling it doesn’t feel right.”
“Grandfa…”
Perhaps Baroness Saratov wanted to say, ‘No matter how much gift it is from your grandfather!’ but soon after she realized who her grandfather was, she hurriedly shut up.
When she put a fork into it, the white lemon icing on the top cracked as if it were breaking thin ice. Part of the particles of the yellow cake were crushed, leaving traces on the plate, and the piece settling safely on the fork quickly entered the mouth.
The moist cake was soft, as if the sediment created by trapping air would disappear in your mouth. The moment one felt the subtle lemon scent of the sweet cake, the icing melted on the tip of the tongue, giving a sour taste close to pleasure.
“What kind of cake is this?”
“Picnic cake. Does this cake make you feel that way? Fun and exciting.”
Asha smiled as she said so. It was after the particles of bright yellow light rising from Baroness Saratov and Pavel filled the kitchen and scattered as if they burst.
Only after half of the cake disappeared cleanly and one tea pot was emptied, did the two look as if they had returned to reality.
And Asha, as Baroness Saratov’s mood lightened a little after eating the cake, brought up the problem they had avoided for a moment again.
“Patisserie, you said you couldn’t find people.”
“Ah… Yes.”
Baroness Saratov lowered her eyes with a rather calm expression, not with a frustrated face like the first time.
“It’s not that we can’t get it if we pay them a lot, but…”
Asha shook her head.
“In fact, that cake doesn’t require extremely advanced skills, you know?”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Baroness Saratov, who did not know much about actual baking, asked, and Asha nodded quickly.
“That cake is not about complicated techniques; it’s all about the ingredients! I can make it myself.”
“Your Highness…”
Pavel was about to say something, but stopped when he received a warning look from Asha.
“Anyone can learn quickly unless their dexterity is really incredibly hopeless. And with that chocolate cake, we can turn the patisserie into a special place, right?”
“That’s… that’s true.”
“So what’s really important is how reliable you are and how confident you are. The point is faith and trust.”
“The two words are the same…”
“Oh, my.”
Asha glared at Pavel again, and stepped up and wiped the milk from Baroness Saratov’s mouth. Then she divided the remaining cakes into four, wrapped one of them, and presented it to Baroness Saratov.
“It’s more delicious if you eat it after a day. Eat it at home tomorrow. I’ll find someone with faith and trust. You’ll see.”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Baroness Saratov, who left the palace, hugged a small box in her arms like a jewel box, and looked at the palace with a strange expression.
“Oh…”
“She doesn’t seem ten years old, does she?”
“That scared me.”
Baroness Saratov shrank in astonishment. It was Pavel who spoke next to her.
“Chef.”
“I’m surprised sometimes, too.”
“I’ll tell you something. I’m still suspicious. I’m still suspicious that her spirit might be the Spirit of Contracts.”
Otherwise, how can a ten-year-old speak so confidently?
“By the way, my Spirit is the Spirit of the Sword.”
“I am the Spirit of Roads.”
“Then, I suppose you must be a human.”
Baroness Saratov looked a little bitter at the words.
“Even though speaking like this won’t earn me any credit with the chef, I’m not someone who complains just anywhere… Although I do have a tendency to act impulsively from time to time.”
In the last sentence Baroness Saratov laughed a little as if it were a joke. Pavel nodded, pointing to the flour still remaining on Baroness Saratov’s face and clothes, saying it certainly seemed so.
“There’s flour?”
“A little bit. Under your chin…”
“Here? Is it gone now?”
“No, to the left…”
“Here?”
“Perhaps getting on the carriage quickly would be a better idea.”
“…”
Pavel turned his words around, coughing in vain.
“Well, regardless of earning credit or not, what else could I say there? In fact, it’s harder to stay sane after eating such a cake.”
“That’s right! It’s almost like truth serum.”
Baroness Saratov suddenly stiffened her face as she remembered the day of the first victory ball where they met.
“I had a feeling that this time the patisserie’s hiring process was obstructed in some organized way. I wasn’t sure about it, so I couldn’t mention it in front of Her Highness, but…”
“Organized? Who do you mean? Perhaps one of the rivals from the upper circles…”
“It didn’t seem like someone from the upper circles.”
If it wasn’t from the upper circles, then who could it be? Pavel stopped himself from saying more.
“People will do their best on my side as well.”
Baroness Saratov bid him farewell, urging caution, and left the palace.
