??? POV
Since that time, I have been wandering throughout the closed mountains in a horrible dream that I have had day and night.
But the me who is wandering is not the real me.
I was assimilated into the spirit of this person who was starving and hanging on to the edge of his life with his labored breathing.
Human beings are terrifying creatures. Especially those who want to rise to the top so much so that they don’t mind kicking someone down and eliminating those who are inconvenient to them. The most frightening thing is that if it is done secretly in a group, such as in a house, family, or village, the truth is distorted to the outside.
If someone in a group deliberately manipulates a person’s consciousness in one direction, and when this is done with malicious intent by someone who has a voice in the group, the rights of the target are trampled on and even kept hidden. On a larger scale, a small village can be suddenly be burnt down by another tribe and the entire village can be lost.
Indeed, this situation I am experiencing is the fate of such a clan that has been set up by its malevolent owners.
What has my family*** done to you? (***T/N: the word used here is “ichizoku” which refers to those who belong to the same family or clan)
Why should we have to go through this?
In a confined space, there is someone is burying our dying friends and family.
In that small space with no way out, the beasts have already eaten their fill.
They strip the bark off the trees, dig up the roots and eat them.
Digging in the dirt and sipping muddy water.
The struggle to breath, resignation and rage, disheveled hair, and companions crawling on the ground without a trace.
We were fighting over food. We were going through a war.
There are not many people left who can even do anything about it.
In the end, when everything was exhausted, I dug up a corpse in the ground and sucked the bones while crying.
I knew that I, the most powerful person in my family, would be the last to survive.
But that was unavoidable.
The one who had died first took my hand and squeezed out my envy.
That was where my resentment grew and grew and grew until everything was covered.
The dirt, the trees, the sky…
***
Fiara’s POV
When I arrived at the Duke of Valmonter’s residence, Zak had not yet returned. There were still a lot of problems related to the reconstruction of Kainahatan, so he was often late returning.
“Welcome home, my lady, the master has asked that you have your meal ahead of him.”
That was what Frosty said to me as he greeted me at the front door of the main residence.
“Is Zak still going to be late?”
“Yes. He will let you know when he’s ready to leave.”
“Okay, I understand. I will have dinner at Shion Castle and spend the rest of the day away.”
“Then I will make the necessary arrangements. Once you are finished dressing, please come down to the dining room. Your meal will be ready for you to eat.”
“Oh, I’m so hungry that my belly and my back are practically sticking together.”
“That sounds pretty serious. Then, please hurry and come, Miss.”
Frosty smiled and replied.
It was a pity that I wasn’t able to meet with Zak as soon as I got home, but it couldn’t be helped. It was embarrassing to say, but the best part of my day after work was seeing Zak. At any rate, for now I’d just have some food.
“Welcome back, Miss. I will take care of your luggage. The master told me about the magicians divisions expedition, so I will prepare your luggage. Would you like me to bring it to your separate room later?”
“Silk, you’re here. Yes, thank you. Please do”
Silk spoke to me as she received the handbag I always carried with me.
“Miss, you don’t have to be so disappointed. Once the master comes home, you will be the first he comes see.”
“Ehh, does it seem that way?”
I couldn’t help but turn around and look at Silk. I had intended to keep it from being noticed, but apparently that didn’t work.
“…Yes, by all appearances, you are visibly disappointed and your shoulders are slumped.”
Silk nodded, making her glossy black hair shake, and her sweet golden honey-colored eyes seemed to be looking somewhere in the distance.
“Yeah, I’m just no good. I get lonely easily when I don’t see Zak for a while.”
“That’s not true. The Master is the same way, so there is no need to worry about it.”
“Ahaha, Silk says some interesting things.”
Yes, Silk always made jokes with a straight face. No, perhaps she was really serious about it? It was a little hard to tell the difference with her.
“Is that so? I don’t know what’s so interesting, but it is true. The Master seems to be very bored without the Lady in the house.”
“Really?”
What does Zak look like when he’s bored? I’d like to see that. It’s super rare.
Afterwards, I changed my clothes and went to the the Shion Castle cafeteria, where I was very pleased to see that today’s main course was a hearty, thick cut of ‘Mame Pig’ steak. It was cooked to my liking—cooked well on both sides, leaving a little pink in the middle. The seasoning was simple, with just salt and pepper, but the fantastic pork was superbly tender and meaty, which did not disappoint. The head chef must have used a simple seasoning to give let me taste this meat’s flavor.
The ‘Mame Pig’ pork is tender and has a strong meaty flavor. When I bit into it, the flavor of the meat permeated into my mouth. The sweetness of its fat was irresistible. Some girls tended to avoid the fatty meat when eating steak, but when it comes to this Mame Pig meat, it’s just too awful to throw away that fatty meat. I ate the whole thing with gusto. I had already gobbled it up in no time.
As I was wiping my mouth with a napkin after enjoying the food, the head chef brought me dessert in person.
“Hmm? Pumpkin pudding?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Now please, eat up.”
The head chef smiled, cutely holding up his index finger with his large body.
After the meal, I thought about what was served for dessert. In terms of color, it looked like pumpkin pudding, but I thought it might even be the butternut squash from Cross Island. As soon as it was placed on the table, the brightly colored, dark yellow color bobbed around in the light green glass container, as if to say ‘It’s delicious, eat me!’
With a silver dessert spoon, I had scooped up a deep mouthful and took a big bite. It was a blissful morsel. As I enjoyed the heavy texture of the rich flavor mixed in with the texture on my tongue, a gorgeous aroma passed through my nose along with the sweetness.
By the way, One needed a colander or strainer for straining potatoes and pudding liquid, and also for sifting flour, so I had asked my ‘dwarf uncle’ to make me one. There were wide and narrow meshes. The pumpkin paste was very smooth to the tongue.
“I knew it! Is this one made with vanilla?”
A sweet and mellow aroma left my mouth and nose. I wondered if it was because of those black grains…
“Did you know about it, Miss? That’s right! It was a dried bean-like fruit from a plant called ‘Bannila,’ as the Lady just said. We bought it from the Hasad region of Rhodocaius.”
Banilla! (T/N: Nobody pulled any muscles there, huh?)
I couldn’t help but laugh at myself, but I kept my mouth shut.
The head chef himself brought the pudding to me and showed me the pods of vanilla beans he had laid out on a tray, watching me eat the pudding with a look of satisfaction. There were about ten of them, dried, chocolate-colored, and long and bean-like.
I nodded. I see, so it is called ‘bannila’ in Rhodocaius.
I was looking for the flavor of vanilla from my previous life. The flavor of sweets would be completely different with and without it. I had been asking Filgred to look for various other ingredients as well.
“Mmmm, what a sweet flavor.” I sighed.
“Yes, truly. The Lady was right! This is the first time I have ever heard of such a flavoring in this world.”
“Did the Adalard Trading Company find it? Filgred was negotiating with them.”
“That’s right. Today, I received a call from the port city of the Trading Company, and Filgred went to pick it up.”
To begin with, the vanilla fruit, from which vanilla beans could be obtained in my previous life, had no scent, and neither did the orchid-like white flowers or the fruit that formed after the flowers had finished. It was only through curing them (a process of repeated fermentation and drying) that the rich flavor could be enjoyed.
In this world, there might be a difference in the way we use them. For example, the flavor came out only by drying them.
“I was given a piece of paper with instructions on how to use them, and I was told that not only the seeds, but also the pods would have the flavor when they are boiled.”
“Yes, you can use them in various dishes.”
I guess that part is just as useful as the vanilla in my previous life.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The head chef was delighted with the new ingredients.
“I think it’s also delicious to soak them in sake or boil them in milk. Depending on how you use them, you can add a very strong flavor by using both the seeds and the pods.”
“Oh, I see. I’ll have to try that next time!”
“Also, if you use it in various other snacks, they will have a whole new flavor.”
“The Lady is a genius!”
“Oh, no, that’s not the case.”
“No! you are a genius.”
No, actually, it’s just the memories from my previous life…but I can’t say that. All I could do was scratch my head.
“Oh, yes, Chef, didn’t you receive new dates from Cross Island? I’m going to take them to the expedition the day after tomorrow as a snack, so can you pack some in a can for five people?”
“Yes, I understand. I will get you everything you need.”
The head chef smiled at me and said he would take care of it.
***
“I wonder if Zak is here yet, it’s been a long day. I can’t wait to see him…”
Involuntarily, the voice from my heart came out of my mouth.
I finished my bath and changed into my nightgown. Ever since I had come to Zak’s home, I have had the luxury of a hot water bath every day.
Those who used purification magic could live without a bath, but baths made one feel relaxed and comfortable, and the feeling of getting out of the bath at the end of the day is a very good thing.
This was not the case as a commoner. In the house where I once lived, there was a well so we could get water, and we could wipe our bodies in the place designated as the bathroom, but it was not a place meant to soak in a bathtub. That was the norm for middle-class families of the common people.
In the city of Elementia, it was amazing that the waterways were well developed and separated from the sewage canals. It was thanks to this that terrible plagues were less likely to spread among the common people. Although there was not a waterway connected to the commoner houses, there were commoner washing and drinking water supply facilities. The rest of the houses that could dig wells had wells. And the middle-class area and the aristocratic district were supplied with water from the canal to the houses. That was because they were paying that amount in taxes.
As I was lounging on the sofa, muttering to myself while hugging the cushions tightly, I felt the presence of someone important beside me. A pale purple butterfly had appeared with a faint light, and fluttered over, stopping at my nose.
“Zak! Are you finished? Are you coming home now?”
I spoke to the butterfly with a bit of a bite. My eyes were leaning towards the butterfly.
“…Fii, I’m sorry I’m late. I’ll be home soon. Are you sleepy?”
For a moment, it felt as if Zak was about to laugh.
“Nope, I’m fine. I’ll be waiting for you.”
With that, the beautiful, light purple butterfly was gone as suddenly as it had appeared.
Then, after a while, the floor of the separate living room glowed blue and Zak’s magic circle appeared. Zak was standing on the floor when he felt the flow of wind.
“Welcome back. Are you tired? Do you want to eat?”
Zak’s silvery-white hair came spilling out, shimmering like a curtain as he looked down at me.
“I’m home, Fii. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired. Well, I’m very short of Fii, after all. And as for food, I had a light meal at the castle, so that was enough.”
“Whoa!”
Zak crouched down a little, and then lifted me up and hugged me tightly. I put my arms around Zak’s neck and hugged him too.
“You’ll be leaving on the expedition tomorrow, right? I won’t be able to see you for a while, so don’t get hurt.”
I heard Zak’s voice by my ear.
“Yeah, I’ll be careful. Well, when I get back, I’ll have a lot of questions about the crops of Cross Island and such.”
“What? Can’t we do that now?”
“There’s a lot of them, so I’ll talk to you about it when I’ve got plenty of time off after work. Zak will be on his day off too.”
“Okay, then let’s do that.”
Then we went straight out onto the terrace of the detached house into the night garden.
“Zak, aren’t I heavy? I can get down and walk.”
“Fii is not heavy. I like it this way.”
“Okay.”
This mansion’s garden was a labyrinth of interweaving spaces. Zak walked in a different space from the garden I loved to roam around alone.
It was something no one else could do. Sometimes, he was generous with the magic that only he could use, and would show me sights which I had never seen before.
The garden tonight was very beautiful, with plants and other ferns and shrubs scattered everywhere, emitting a strange, pale green and blue light at the tips of their leaves. Little fairies with wings, also emitting light, would perch on the leaves and branches and look at me or fly through them. It was like a dream.
“It’s beautiful.”
“That’s right…”
***
Filgred POV (***T/N: I believe this is Filgred. I have been adding these POV comments because the original text just switches around and is sometimes confusing to tell who’s perspective we are in. I might not be perfect all the time, so I apologize in advance if there are any mistakes.)
“Oh, Silk, where is the Master going?”
I asked Silk as I noticed the sudden disappearance even though I had sensed his return.
“It looks like he has gone out for an evening walk with the young lady.”
“But I heard that tomorrow is the day that the young lady will be leaving for an expedition with the Magical Division…”
“Yes, so I believe that he will come back soon.”
“I see. The master and young lady were both so busy these days that they couldn’t spend much time with each other, so Master must have been lonely.”
“Yes, the young lady has been out on vacation a lot lately, and Master has not been in a good mood.”
“Oh, so you felt the same way?”
“Yes, I found the temperature of the house to be a little low, especially when she went out with her Tizar brother, for example.”
“Ah, the fountain in the garden was definitely frozen over…”
The master, who never showed his emotions, had been so moved by the young lady Fiara who had suddenly been brought back from somewhere about five years ago.
The master, who was not interested in other people, had placed that person so forcefully by his side, someone who was the owner of a special and rare purification ability.
With her power, she cured the master of his illness.
The one and only person cherished by the master whom we had decided to follow until the end of his life.
“Tonight, many fairies are flying around the garden, and the Master seems to be in a very good mood.”
Silk’s golden eyes narrowed in happiness as she said this.
“I see, truly…”
The garden, with the faint light fluttering about, was very beautiful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
T/N: I didn’t take Zak to be the secret jealous type, hahaha. But really–freezing the fountain because she was with her brother? I hope we can get a side story on that in the future (＾▽＾)
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