CH 137

After confirming that tea was being brought to the common room, Margarete was convinced that those two were there. Prince Ludwig had already been inviting guests to have tea since he was officially decided as the Crown Prince, but it would be quite disrespectful for an uninvited person to barge in.

But it’s a different story if it’s a child who doesn’t understand such rules. And if said child is a Princess who is the Crown Prince’s younger sister, she will not be severely punished. In the first place, Magarete knows that Ludwig is not the kind of person who would get angry and give a severe punishment for disturbing a tea party of his.

“Princess Eleonore, His Highness Ludwig is in that room, but he is currently talking to a guest, so please wait until he finishes,” Margarete said, at least on the surface.

Of course, she does not intend to follow through. As soon as she said it, Eleonore was all for her plan.

“Noh!” Eleonore cried. “Big Bwotha wit’ sumwon~!”

And as expected, Eleonore rushes into the common room. Even though Margarete has graduated from school and lives in the royal castle, she is not a member of the royal family and has almost no chance to meet Flora. Although the Greif Duchy is distantly related, they have royal blood, but they cannot be called royalty now.

“Big Bwotha~~!”

“Oh, wow! So-So cute~~~!”

After seeing Eleonore running away, Margarete slowly approaches the door. When Margarete looked inside, her thoughts stopped at the unexpected sight.

The young lady who was there was probably Flora Charlotte von Carruthers. She looks beautiful. Her appearance and demeanor are more beautiful and perfect than any young lady Margarete had ever seen. Perhaps she is more beautiful than Elisabeth, who has acted like she was worthy of becoming a princess for many years.

She was also more beautiful than any young lady who had ever courted Ludwig. She makes even Margarete fall in love with her beauty.

But that wasn’t what was important… the young lady crouched down in front of Eleonore, who was about to run up to Ludwig and started stroking her head.

“Ah~~! Cute~! What’s your name?” she asked.

“Mnn~!” Eleonore went.

A stranger stroked her head, and Eleonore shook off the lady’s hand and hid behind Ludwig’s legs. Still, the young lady smiles at Eleonor without change.

Margarete can’t believe it. In a situation where Ludwig is present, it is unacceptable to deal with a child who has barged into things and then start ignoring Ludwig, your host, and the crown prince, as well. Nevertheless, the young lady who seems to be Flora behaves like that, and Ludwig also says nothing to Flora and Eleonore.

Margarete was listening outside the room when Flora and Eleonore introduced themselves then suddenly regained her sense and started to move. She entered the room herself and bowed to Ludwig. She introduces herself to Flora and then takes a seat. Ludwig wasn’t for her presence, but Margarete had no intention of backing down from the beginning. Luckily for Margarete, Flora welcomed her presence.

On the surface, they laugh at each other with “fufufu” and “hohoho”. Margarete is doing her best to intimidate her opponent, but she feels like it’s not working for Flora.

It’s not that she’s too stupid to tell the difference in family status. Still, as the daughter of Duke Greif, Flora must have thought that she had the backing of King Wilhelm and Crown Prince Ludwig and did not succumb to the pressure. Thinking about it makes Margarete angry.

Even though it’s not her power, she relies on other people’s power and behaves like she’s the highest. Margarete disliked people who play this hand. This was nothing. So this is who Flora is, after all. She is favored by Wilhelm and Ludwig, so she pretends like she owns someone else’s authority and behaves arrogantly. Why would Ludwig allow such a person to be by his side? Margarete clenched her teeth.

In the first place, why does Ludwig act so affectionate around her? With a shy smile that he’s never shown to other young ladies, it’s obvious that Ludwig is smitten with Flora. Margarete gets even angrier as the two talks so flirtatiously and intimately.

That’s why she can’t help but snap at Ludwig. Then Ludwig will talk back at her. How is it always like this? She just wanted to have a nice chat with Ludwig… for some reason, the two of them always end up arguing.

Compared to that, Flora, who is calm, doesn’t get angry even when talking to Ludwig. Of course, there may be something to be said for his being the Crown Prince and her just a noble daughter, but if you look at the conversation and the way they interact, it doesn’t look like a simple relationship between the Crown Prince and a Margrave’s Daughter. Unless you’re fairly close, you probably won’t be able to interact with him without hesitation.

How frustrating… Margarete’s known Ludwig since he was born, but a few years ago he suddenly got engaged, and someone he’d only met a few times before became closer to Ludwig than Margarete was. What else could you call it but frustrating? With that, Margarete poked at Ludwig more and more.

Why was she like this? She wondered if Ludwig would treat her like that if she acted more gracefully like Flora. While thinking so, Margarete was even more crushed when she looked at Flora with a sideways glance.

While she and Ludwig were arguing, Flora quickly lifted Eleonore as she was about to reach up to the tabletop and made her sit on a chair. Margarete knows why: if Eleonore had reached out from under the table, she might have spilled the tea and burned herself. Margarete realized that Flora had saved Eleonore.

What a blunder even though Margarete is supposed to be the one watching her. In the first place, she used Eleonore to get into this common room. Even now, Margarete realizes this and pales. What did she just admit to doing? She uses Her Royal Highness Eleonore to interrupt a meeting between Crown Prince Ludwig and his guest. Such a thing should not be allowed.

How does Flora compare to that? She offered Margarete a seat without making a disgusted face despite Margarete barging in, and she was careful enough to avoid an accident in advance so that Eleonore wouldn’t get burned. She also offered tea cookies to Eleonore, and once Ludwig and Margarete started ignoring her, occupied Eleonore’s time so she wouldn’t get bored.

“But cookies will make you thirsty, won’t they?” Flora asked. “I should have brought some pudding for you, Princess Eleonore.”

“Puddihn’!” Eleonore cheered. “Eleonore wuv puddihn’!”

Margarete was surprised by the overheard conversation between Eleonore and Flora. How does Flora know about pudding? Margarete usually has meals with the royal family. It was pudding that His Majesty Wilhelm served as a souvenir after dinner the other day. It’s the latest sweet that hasn’t even hit the market yet.

Indeed, even Margarete had never seen or heard of pudding. Its strange appearance and plump texture are addictive. She doesn’t know why His Majesty the King personally searched for such a thing and brought it back himself, but there is no way that a margrave’s daughter would know.

Even Wilhelm did not say where and how he obtained it. Second Queen Amelie and her sons wanted to get their hands on it, so they were a bit insistent with Wilhelm, but in the end, he never told them where it came from. For Flora to even know of such a thing… it’s natural to wonder.

“Eat puddihn’! Puddhin’…!”

And as expected, Eleonore starts making a fuss. Above all, Margarete understands Eleonore’s feelings well. Not only Amelie and the others, but Wilhelm, Elisabeth, and Ludwig, everyone who ate pudding at that time was captivated by its taste and texture. If she could eat it again, Margarete would have taken the opportunity in a heartbeat.

But she can’t get it again. His Majesty himself says that they have not yet been sold anywhere yet. If so, Margarete had to wonder how Wilhelm got his hands on them, but regardless, she can’t get something that isn’t being sold. If you tell Eleonore that she can’t eat pudding now, she will cry. It takes a lot of effort to appease her.

Even though Margarete expected all that, for some reason Flora was now heading to the kitchen. But of course, that is not acceptable. It was extremely unusual for a noble daughter to enter the kitchen of the royal palace.

For some reason, even though it was supposed to be so, Wilhelm himself gave her permission to use the kitchen.

Margarete peers in secretly from the kitchen door. In the common room, Eleonore made a fuss going, “Puddin’! Puddin’!” while Ludwig tries to soothe her. Margarete, instead, has sneaked over to see how Flora is doing, swearing to herself that she’ll overthrow her position in Ludwig’s heart.

The kitchen had a strange air. The court chefs surround Flora and stare at the work with serious eyes. Even if you look at her, Flora’s cooking skills are probably quite high for a high-ranking aristocrat’s daughter. Normally, these young ladies have never cooked, so if they have some knowledge, it’s a big deal.

Compared to them, Flora’s cooking skills and familiarity are visible evidence that she has cooked quite a bit. However, such a thing is nothing more than an amateur’s skill, and Margarete doesn’t understand why professional chefs are staring at her work so seriously.

Even if Margarete didn’t understand, the cooks certainly did. They know that Flora also brought the sweets recipes and methods they were taught before. And this time, she will make new sweets in front of them. There are no cooks who underestimate Flora because her cooking skills and techniques are inferior to theirs. Everyone was seriously desperate to learn how to make this new sweet called “pudding”.

Swallowed up by the strange air, Margarete became frightened and stopped looking, and returned to the common room. When she did so, even King Wilhelm and Queen Elisabeth were there. Margarete wonders what happened here.

“There is someone who is making pudding right now…” Elisabeth said. “I wanted to taste pudding again, so I came here.”

Margarete knew it was probably incidental. Elisabeth rarely goes outside of the inner palace and went out of her way here because it would have been a good place to meet Flora.

If it’s for the sake of pudding, it was also a good enough reason to come to this place in and of itself. After all, everyone who ate pudding then can understand the feeling of wanting to eat that again. So Margarete wouldn’t be surprised if Elisabeth came out of the inner palace just for pudding.

After waiting for a while, Flora appeared with bowls and plates. She runs a skewer around the inside of the bowl before flipping it over onto a plate. Then the pudding came out onto it and the black sauce was dripping down.

“Thank you for your patience,” Flora said. “Now, please help yourself.”

“Puddihn’—!” Eleonore cried.

Flora immediately offers pudding to Eleonore, who has been frustrated for so long. When she ate it before, she scooped it up from the bowl and ate it, but apparently, this is the proper way to eat it.

“Umm… who might this be?” Flora asked timidly.

“Ooh, Flora, is this your first meeting? This is my wife, Elisabeth,” Wilhelm said.

“I am Elisabeth,” Elisabeth says. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Flora, was it?”

Flora finally turned around to speak with Elisabeth. Normally, such an attitude would not be tolerated with His Majesty alone. And next to him is the First Queen, making it even worse. Such an attitude toward the royal couple is absolutely unacceptable. This was unacceptable, but still, no punishment came. Of course, it’s also because it’s an informal place. But above all, no one says anything because they understand the meaning of Flora’s actions.

Ever since Eleonore heard the word pudding, she has been fussing, going “puddin’, puddin’”. It was Flora’s kindness to give Eleonore the first pudding.

If the other party is an adult, you can tell him to wait until she greets Their Majesties. But Eleonore can’t understand that, as she’s only about to turn 4 this year. It’s impossible to say that she should endure and wait any longer when the pudding is already brought before her, ready to be eaten.

That’s why Flora prepared pudding for Eleonore first, even if she was to be blamed for it. The other person’s servings are still in their vessels. After she prepared Eleonore’s, Flora finally started talking to His Majesty and the others.

Ordinarily, they might have been angry because that was disrespectful. But Margarete no longer felt that way. As a woman, as an adult, as an aristocrat, and as a person who values children, she is overwhelmingly inferior to Flora in everything she does. In the face of all of this evidence, Margaret lost all desire to fight Flora.

T/N: Honestly? I like Margarete. She’s a sweet girl trying her best. But this chapter was fucking hilarious.