273 - Mean Felicia
"So, were you able to please our guest?"
"Overall, I think it was well received. I suppose even Basilia-sama found it a rare experience to make a cake with her own hands."
In the guest room to which Felicia's lady's maid had guided me, I reported on the results of today's tea party. After we finished making the cakes, we went for a walk while the tables were being cleared, and I also told her about finding the nude statue of Leonardo during that walk.
"...By the way, how was the horned owl cake? I had the cook use alcohol in it, keeping in mind that it was aimed at adult women."
"It was very delicious. When I cut it with a knife, the scent of Psal brandy spread out... Sealing in the aroma with chocolate was a nice touch."
When she invited me to try some since there was still some left, I had no choice but to jump at the offer. I had only assembled Felicia's cake, after all. I had not tasted it yet.
"Here I go~"
"Christina."
I cut the horned owl cake that the lady's maid had prepared for me into bite-sized pieces with my fork and brought it to my mouth. Just as I thought the chocolate flavor would spread through my wide-open mouth, Felicia called out to me before the cake even reached my tongue.
"What did you do with the leftover cake? It looked like you had prepared sweets and fruits, so you and Basilia alone could not have eaten it all."
"Hermine-sensei taught me that leftovers from what was served to guests can be passed down to the ladies' maids and servants, so I did that."
I had prepared several kinds of sponge cake, differing in color and shape, so that combinations could be made. I had also prepared several kinds of cream and jam, and even stocked cookies and Norakamu for decoration. Naturally, it was far too much for Basilia and me to finish with just our stomachs. This cake-making concept was one I could only carry out because Hermine had taught me that leftover sweets should be passed down to the ladies' maids and servants.
With that, I brought the cake to my mouth again, saying I would eat now. I thought surely it could not happen again, but just before the cake reached my tongue, Felicia called out to me once more.
"You said the cake you sent home with Basilia used two colors of sponge, did you not?"
"...Yes. I had the sponge sliced thin and assembled them in a checkerboard pattern... um, so that when cut, it would look like a mosaic pattern."
Thinking she would not understand "checkerboard pattern," I rephrased it to mosaic. Come to think of it, I had missed seeing Basilia's face when she cut the cake and was surprised, despite all the effort I had put into that gimmick.
"Since you used two colors of base... does that mean one portion is left over?"
"Yes. I imagine the servants will eat that later as well...?"
In response to my answer, I could tell Felicia exchanged a glance with her lady's maid. It was only for a moment, but one of the maids bowed her head slightly and left the room.
"...Did you want to see the mosaic pattern?"
"That is right. Since Christina seems to have worked hard on it, I would like to take a look."
...Something felt strange.
When she said in a serious tone that she would like me to tell her more about the tea party, I had no choice but to put down my fork piercing the cake. If it was a serious conversation, I could not exactly be snacking while we talked.
"I made Henrietta's cake to explain the concept to Basilia-sama."
I answered her questions as she asked them about how I left the choice of sponge, cream, and alcohol to the cook, how the kitchen maids worked on making the horned owl's face, and so on. She asked such detailed questions that I realized this was no mere tea party report. Something must have happened at today's tea party that I had not noticed, or that was going on somewhere I did not know about.
"...So then, what you actually ate at the tea party was Basilia's cake, and Christina's cake was taken home as a gift?"
"Yes. Valerier packed it in a box and handed it to her just before she left."
Come to think of it, I remembered I had also given her some tea leaves that would go well with the cake, so I added that. She asked about the brand of tea leaves, but I did not know that much, so I told her to ask Valerier.
I answered as detailed as I could about everything that happened from Basilia's arrival to her departure, and moistened my throat with the tea offered by Felicia's lady's maid. I was thirsty from talking too much, but the tea was a bit bitter, so I could not gulp it down.
...Well then, let me try it now.
I felt like if I said it out loud, I would be stopped again, so I silently reached for the fork that lay on the plate. I was determined to taste it this time, but my hand grasping for the fork grabbed only empty air. The plate floated up into the air, and I saw Felicia's lady's maid taking away the plate with the cake.
"Ah, auh... the cake..."
I looked up at the maid with reproach in my eyes, but she was Felicia's maid. There was no way my tearful pleading would work on her.
"You already ate Basilia's cake today, did you not? It will affect your dinner, so skip it."
"Just one bite...!"
"You can have the same thing made again. Chocolate sponge, Psal berry jam... if Christina is going to eat it, it would be better to change the Psal brandy to Psal liquor."
Felicia smiled beautifully, saying that since no seasonal fruits were used, it could be made anytime. Apparently she had no intention of letting me have even a single bite of the horned owl cake.
...Mean? Is she being mean?
It was Felicia who invited me to try some, but after dangling the cake in front of me, it was nothing but denial. Because she kept calling out to me at just the right timing, I had not managed a single bite.
"Henrieta~"
I tried a whiny voice, saying I wanted to taste it. After all, it was Felicia who had prepared the cake asking if I wanted to try it, but my protests had no effect either. It would be an instant win with Leonardo, but my pleading did not work at all on Felicia, who possessed the beauty of a goddess.
"Yes, yes. If you are feeling peckish before dinner, drink your tea properly."
"This tea is bitter, you know."
"They say good medicine is bitter in the mouth, do they not? Finish it all up."
At this point, even I realized something was off. There was no way Felicia, a Royal Peerage, would have her lady's maid serve meaninglessly bitter tea. There must be some reason it was being given to me.
So be it, I thought, giving up on the cake for now and obediently drinking the bitter tea. Since I already knew how to make the horned owl cake, I could just have the cook make it another day, just as Felicia said.
Complaining about how bitter it was, I finished a full cup of tea, and the maid gave me a piece of candy to refresh my palate. So it seemed the excuse about it being before dinner really was just a pretext.
"Ah...? You are not Valerier?"
I thanked Stina, who had brought me hot milk before bed, not a nightcap, and took the cup from her while asking about Valerier's whereabouts. Usually, it was Valerier who prepared anything that went into my mouth. It was unusual for Stina, a Flower Peerage member, to be assigned such work.
"Valerier has been called away by Felicia-sama and is currently away."
"I see. ...Huh?"
Accepting that it was not Valerier, I took a sip of the hot milk. The faint scent of honey passing through my nose felt wrong, and I furrowed my brow.
...My imagination? Somehow it felt different from usual?
Hesitant to swallow because of the strange feeling, I held the milk in my mouth and thought for a moment. If I was going to spit it out, I would need some kind of container, and if it really was just my imagination, wasting the milk would be a shame. As I wondered what to do, it seemed someone noticed something was wrong with me. Aaron, who had been standing by the door as my guard, lent me a handkerchief.
"Please spit it into this."
"...Mm."
I felt bad about it, but since I was genuinely troubled, I gratefully accepted his offer and spat out the milk in my mouth. Meanwhile, Aaron took the cup from my hand and sniffed the hot milk.
"I do not smell anything strange...?"
"Was it my imagination? I thought the smell was different from usual, so I thought it was odd."
"Did you do anything differently?"
As Aaron and I both turned our gazes toward her, Stina flinched, her shoulders trembling. From Stina's perspective, she had only prepared the hot milk to fill in for Valerier's absence, so she probably had no idea why I would say the smell was different.
"I only prepared the milk in Valerier's place... Valerier had prepared the milk and honey, and there was nothing strange about it..."
"Where are the milk and honey?"
"I returned them to the underground pantry for Tina-sama. The honey is Anahonan honey from Sazarant."
"...Giselle."
At Aaron's single word, Giselle moved. Whether Giselle had called out to someone as she ran out of the room, after a moment, Ulrika arrived pushing a cart.
...Huh? This smell, I feel like I have smelled it somewhere recently...?
I took the cup he offered, told to drink it just in case, and looked down at the liquid inside. It looked no different from black tea, but somehow it gave me an ominous feeling.
"...What is this?"
"It is an antidote. If it was your imagination, it is just bitter tea, but if something foreign was mixed into the hot milk, it will be useful."
"Bitter tea..."
Hearing it was bitter, I understood the source of my ominous feeling. It was that overly bitter tea Felicia's lady's maid had made me drink before dinner. The same smell as that tea was wafting from the cup in my hand.
"This is my second cup today..."
When told it was necessary, I obeyed, but honestly, it was not a taste I wanted to drink. I took small sips of the antidote-like tea, letting it wet my tongue, and once my tongue got used to it, I gulped it down all at once. It was so bitter that there was no room to enjoy the flavor or aroma like regular tea.
"It was bitter... my mouth feels astringent."
"Second cup today, you say? Do you remember where you were served this?"
I wanted to refresh my palate with some candy or something, but Aaron would not allow it. He had keenly caught my complaint and picked out the part he deemed important.
"When I was reporting to Felicia-sama after the tea party, Felicia-sama's lady's maid served it to me."
Felicia had also told me to drink it all, so perhaps she had intended it as an antidote.
...Huh? Why would I be served an antidote when I went to report on the tea party?
By the time I realized something was strange, Aaron had already moved on to his next action. He took the empty cup from me and, without a word, carried me onto the bed. By the time I understood I had been thrown onto the bed, the canopy had been closed.
"Am I being shut out?! I demand an explanation!"
I opened the canopy that had just been closed, grabbing Aaron's clothes to stop him. I understood his intention that I should go to sleep quickly, but the nagging questions bubbling up inside me would not let me obey.
"Warning and explanation of the situation to Felicia-sama or the knights around her. Confirmation of whether a foreign substance was mixed into the hot milk. All of these are urgent, so I would ask that the young lady sleep quietly in bed with the Black Dog at your side."
"...You could have just explained that from the start."
I thought something terrible had happened when I was suddenly thrown into bed without a word, but when explained, I understood perfectly. In short, my guards were short-handed. And Aaron wanted to leave this spot to attend to those matters. That meant he wanted to use the time when I, the person being guarded, stayed still, for example while sleeping, to take care of those errands. For a short while, even if Aaron left my side, it would be fine since the Black Dog (Oscar) was there.
"I will stay quietly in bed, so please explain it to me tomorrow morning."
"I will call Ms. Hartmann to watch over you. Please do not get out of bed under any circumstances."
"I know I would just get in the way, so I will behave."
Saying this, I sent Aaron off and closed the canopy again. It seemed something strange was happening in the detached palace, but all I could do was not get in the way of Aaron and the others who were dealing with it. It was frustrating, but I understood that pushing myself forward would only be a hindrance, so I obediently slipped under the blanket.
I think the reason I had a fever the next morning was because I could not sleep well. During the day I had been playing and frolicking with Basilia, and at night I was worrying about the strange things happening around me and could not sleep. I even drank that bitter antidote just in case before sleeping. There is no way something was mixed into the hot milk. Absolutely not.
I will deal with typos and errors another time.