“Please be at ease.”
The princess, who is often described as being like a doll, smiled gently at me and Alyssa.
It’s true that she has a beautiful and well-rounded appearance like a doll.
But looking at those eyes, no one can think of the princess as a doll anymore.
Even though she has the same blue eyes as the Duke, her eyes sparkle and shine.
Of course, her appearance was also a factor, but those eyes are what make the princess most impressive.
How adorable…
I was just admiring the princess who would be my new master.
And Alyssa too.
Although not related by blood, I thought the mistress…the duchess was also a beautiful person, but the princess had a different air around her.
Thanks to that, we didn’t have to worry too much about being in the presence of the Crown Prince.
The third son (***Rael, I’m assuming) who brought us together had already left the presence of the Crown Prince, so no one could cover up for me if I did something rough, but I still could not help but admire the princess.
“Princess, normally one wouldn’t be able to be at ease here.”
The one who interjected from the side was this palace’s householder apprentice who called himself Phil-Lynn. He was around the age of His Highness the Crown Prince, and seemingly too young to be a family householder. But from the tone of his voice, it seems that he didn’t become become one just yesterday.
I finally turn my consciousness to reality.
We moved from the audience room to the tea room, but of course, we can’t be in there.
The crown prince and the princess are sitting at the table waiting for their tea, while we are waiting on one knee.
“Oh, yes, that’s right. It wouldn’t be easy with His Highness in attendance, would it?”
Convinced, the princess nodded her head.
It was certainly true, but the princess in front of me was probably the only one who could say that.
Phil-Lynn’s complexion visibly paled.
When His Highness the Crown Prince glanced at him moodily, Phil-Lynn insisted without voicing it that it wasn’t his fault and shook his head frantically. Of course, His Royal Highness threw it away with a cold glance.
“Luthia.”
And His Highness uttered her name.
Even I know the princess’s name.
Arthirea Luciane…That name is taken from the opening verse of the scriptures.
The meaning is ‘light that shines within the light.’
It represents a goddess, and as a name, it has the highest rank.
It’s a name that only royalty and aristocracy could possibly use, because it’s the name of a Crown Princess who was born between the first Duke and a Princess, it was no problem at all. A commoner would never be given a name.
However, I think it’s a perfect name for the princess.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince uses a nickname as a term of endearment, and says it very gently.
“Yes?”
The princess smiled and looked up at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince returned the smile, and then make a slightly troubled look.
“…Luthia.”
It was a subtly different voice that sounded sincerely more troubled than it did earlier.
I’m not that familiar with the crown prince, but I know he doesn’t get along with the Duke, and I know he’s also a very strict man.
I never expected such a person to have such an expression on his face.
Looking at His Highness like that, the princess giggled and laughed in a funny way.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kick His Highness out!”
“……Ah.”
“I feel safer and more at ease with His Highness with me, but for some reason, no one agrees.”
The way she looked at us and sighed in our direction was also very endearing, and I wanted to agree with her, but unfortunately, I was not accustomed to being in the presence of the Crown Prince, nor was I thick-skinned enough to be at ease.
“…I know that the princess is serious, though, because no human can be comfortable with Nigel around. Poor thing…now just get your business done.”
“Leave the flirting alone,” says Phil-Lynn with a somewhat desperate look on his face.
“Phil-Lynn.”
A chilling tone of voice.
“Jeez, it’s true.”
I suspect that Phil-Lynn is one of the Crown Prince’s friends. This scene looked just like a young lord and his friends.
Otherwise, even though this was a private tea room, there was no way that someone named a householder, even as an apprentice, would be allowed to speak so intimately.
“Flirting is not my idea of a good time, Phil. I’m not a flirtatious. I’m a moderate person.”
“… I don’t know if the princess knows what she’s doing, whether she knows her current state or not…No, she doesn’t. She’s the one who doesn’t know what’s going on.”
Phil-Lynn’s gaze fell on His Royal Highness… His Royal Highness met his gaze squarely and said, without changing his expression at all.
“No problem.”
“There’s a lot of problems. At the least, you should not put the princess on your lap if you claim to have any sense of propriety!”
“I see.”
While changing places, His Royal Highness did not let the princess walk.
He picked her up gently as a matter of course, brought her to this room, and then sat her on his lap as if only natural.
…Although there two spacious single person sofas that have been properly prepared.
“…What’s wrong?”
The Crown Prince had a straight face.
It’s not that the princess has a bad leg or something wrong with her body.
It’s just that she’s too young and small.
“All of it!…You should stop it too, Princess! Why do you have to get out of the loop here, every time—every time!”
“It’s just skinship.”
“What do you mean by ‘just’? Yeah, it’s too funny if you want to call it skinship.”
“I still put up with wanting to hug her all the time…”
“Are you seriously saying that? Just stop, I’m begging you.”
“I wish I could keep you in my arms all the time. That way, no one would ever hurt you.”
“Hiiiiiii…Please, don’t say anything anymore. Just don’t say anything else!”
Phil-Lynn, who is probably an aristocrat to our surprise, is scratching his head with tears in his eyes.
The words uttered by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have enthralled the maidservants, who don’t seem to be much older than Alyssa. Of course, Alyssa was also enthralled by these words.
Before I was fascinated by those words, I was feeling itchy and tingly. I’m too embarrassed to listen to them.
It’s a good thing to have nice face, and I don’t think it’s weird or theatrical when the Crown Prince says it, but if anyone else said it, I’d immediately turn and run for the hills.
“Nigel-sama, I’ll feel bad if you bully Phil too much.”
“I mean it. I’m not saying this to bully Phil.”
“I know…but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to make fun of me, does it?”
The fluffy smiling princess smoothly shed the sweet words of His Highness the Crown Prince and gave Phil-Lynn a helping hand.
By looking at the situation, I can understand that the princess must have understood all the various circumstances.
It seems that she is much more mature than her age.
“Well…doesn’t it make Luthia swoon?”
“I know it can, but I’m used to it…No, Nigel-sama, you can’t. I’ll get used to it if I’m told all the time.”
She laughs saying that it has no effect.
The look on her face is both innocent and all-knowing.
“…That’s a shame. But it can’t be helped. It just comes out of my mouth. It’s a private occasion, so you’ll have to forgive me for a few things.”
The Crown Princess’ Palace is, so to speak, the rear palace of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and naturally it is a private space.
The only people present here are private individuals, myself included.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m happy.”
“If it makes Luthia a little happier, then that’s fine.”
It was the very picture of a married couple who was very close to each other.
Although there is certainly a difference in appearance, it made me happy to see them cuddling up together as if it was only natural.
I want to make some sweets…
A fluffy, sweet treat that represents the mood I’m in right now.
And I hope she will enjoy them.
For you both…
The princess who was kidnapped and went to be a bride is holding on to her happiness here…Yes. She is holding on to her happiness firmly with her own hands.
I could understand that clearly.
This princess, who is my new master, will never bemoan her own helplessness or blurt out the selfishness of man.
“Hey, Elda?”
The princess, who was smiling at the crown prince, suddenly looked at me.
“Yes.”
I’m simply happy that she called me by name.
It depends on the person, but since the Duchess had been someone who didn’t call her servants by name, maybe it was even more so.
“You see, I want to make a fluffy cake.”
“A fluffy cake?”
“Yes.”
At that time, I still didn’t know what the princess was talking about.
“It’s a fluffy sponge and fluffy cream, and since it’s the first time, I think strawberry shortcake is the best way to go. After all, that’s basis of cake.”
I couldn’t understand what was being said in a string of words that didn’t make sense.
“Is is food?”
“Yes. It’s a sweet, melt-in-your-mouth treat.”
“Hmm.”
“Elda is here, so I’m sure she can make it…Please look forward to it.
“Ah.”
His Royal Highness looked at the princess in his arms with a cute expression in his eyes.
“When you put it in your mouth, it melts softly, and it’s so sweet and delicious that you’ll be fascinated by it.”
“Everything tastes better to me when I eat with you.”
“Me too.”
Shyly, but clearly, the princess nods.
“…But this cake is special.”
And the way she added it with a bashful look on her face made the maidservants, the guards, and even Phil-Lynn and our superior, Lana Hartley, hold their mouths and shake.
Needless to say, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince smiled as if unsure of what to do, and then gently hugged the princess.
“You are my treasure.”
The princess also gently wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’m glad.”
…Shouldn’t His Highness get into the fact that he’s being ranked next to cake?
As she was leaning her head into the hug, the princess in his arms smiled and held up one finger in front of her lips as if it was a secret.
So I smiled and nodded my head.
When the princess became the Queen and was no longer the Crown Princess, I heard about it long afterwards.
“How much does Her Highness love His Majesty if you compare him to sweets?”
I’m teasing, of course.
I won’t deny that in the corner of my mind, I remember what she said about how special the cake was at that time.
I was treated well enough to ask such a question, and Her Royal Highness allowed me to make the same kind of sweets as she did.
“Yes…as much as chocolate.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It’s a phantom candy…I love it.”
I sigh in relief.
“I may never eat it again.”
“Her Highness is unable to make it?”
As far as I’m concerned, Her Highness was the best confectioner in the world.
I was her faithful apprentice and personal craftsman…Her Royal Highness said that I was her own hand.
I was proud of that.
“The reason is that the materials are unavailable. In the first place, perhaps they haven’t even been discovered yet…”
“You can get anything you want if you asked His Majesty for it.”
“I don’t think I should abuse my power just for my little bit of fun.”
Her Highness laughs, saying that her heart is very much in turmoil.
Even though she already had a child, she still had an air of a little girl in her heart.
“Her Highness knows a lot of strange sweets, don’t you?”
“…I saw it in a dream.”
With a somewhat distant look in her eyes, Her Highness said.
“In a dream…”
“Yes.”
The distant look in her eyes makes me feel a little uneasy.
But soon, her eyes are fixed on the present and she looks at me.
“The sweets I make are full of secrets.”
Her Royal Highness smiled softly.
“Secrets make sweets sweeter, you know.”
I’ll never forget the wry smile on her face when she told me that my hands were the makers of secrets.
***
The innovation of confectionery technology is said to have begun in Dardinia, just before it became a world empire.
A number of confectioneries are still available today…The sweet and sour apple pie “De Larie,” the “Gateau Freza” (the name of the first cake), the “Kouk Louvaise” (the queen’s cookie) and many other confectioneries were created in those days.
These confections were invented by Queen Arthirea, King Nigel I’s wife, who was herself an exceptional confectioner. The confections became widely known when the Queen’s exclusive confectioner, Elda Mau, adopted them and opened the confectionery shop “La Louvaise d’Agne,” where many artisans introduced them to the world.
Some of the recipes said to have been written by the Princess are still in existence today, notably in the Dardinian Museum of History.
One of them is the chocolate cake of the same name from the long-established Dardinian bakery “La Louvaise d’Agne” which means “The Queen’s Secret” and has recently been identified by experts as being in the queen’s handwriting.
A bittersweet chocolate sponge cake is filled with sweet and sour berry jam and sweet chocolate cream, coated with chocolate. It was first made in the kitchen of La Louvaise d’Agne a little more than a hundred and fifty years after the death of Princess Arthirea, who wrote the recipe for the cake…That was more than twenty years after the discovery of cocoa on the new continent.
The fruits of the tree, originally called maggots, are called “cacao” and the raw material from which it was made was called chocolate because the artisans of La Louvaise d’Agne followed a recipe and called it so.
At the time of Princess Arthirea’s death, there was no cocoa, let alone chocolate, in Dardinia.
We have no way of knowing how she knew of its existence and how she could write down its recipe.
The secret of the queen, who was said to be a woman of rare beauty and brilliance, still fascinates us to this day.
—End—
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T/N: I LOVE this! Even years after her death, she still leaves behind the chocolate legacy~ Plus, it’s shown that Luthia and Nigel had a kid!!! Woo!
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