CH 107

[The Hated Hero Watches the Sweets-Making]

The next day.

A sweets-making class was held for Reina’s sake.

Tayte and my three maids served as the instructor, and a special guest student turned up, too.

“I-I want to learn how to make sweets as well!”

It was Eureka, Tayte’s personal maid.

Still lacking experience as a maid, she always did her best to learn the ropes every day.

Learning how to make sweets was only a part of them—or so I thought…

“W-well, I wanted to give some sweets to Raul as well…”

Eureka and Raul had made up and just started dating.

So… this would be her first present for Raul. I see, it was no wonder she was so fired up.

By the way, the class was held in the kitchen in the cafeteria. The principal had kindly given us permission, saying “Very well, just make sure to give it your best.”

Today’s subject was cookies.

They were the go-to sweets to give as presents.

They were relatively easier to make too, and there were three experienced maids on top of that.

Marina, in particular, was top-notch when it came to making sweets.

The cookies she usually gave when Tayte and I were studying were really good. When it came to cooking, she was undoubtedly the most talented of the three.

Rebecca and Priim’s cooking skills, however, weren’t that far behind her, and Tayte had said that her repertoire had increased recently, too.

With this many experienced people around, there should be nothing to worry about.

――Or so I thought initially, but as it turned out, I was too naïve.

How should I put it… Reina’s cooking skills was ungodly.

The cookies she made, again and again, turn out so bizarre, it made you wonder how she even made them… then again, she was the daughter of the Albers House, a noble among nobles, so it didn’t matter even if her cooking skills were catastrophic.

But for her beloved fiancé Mr. Abel, Reina didn’t give up and continued to try making cookies with cream on her nose and sweat dripping from her forehead.

As her personal combat-oriented maids were secretly watching from the door, at last…

“Done! It’s done!” Reina let out a cry of triumph the moment she laid eyes on the freshly baked cookies just taken out of the oven embedded with a heat-generating magic crystal.

Their shapes were a bit distorted, but they were baked just right. Smelled good too; did she succeed?

“Y-you did it, Young Mistress Reina.”

The main instructor Marina, contrary to Reina’s high-spirited jubilation, was completely worn out.

…Thank you for your hard work.

I should tell her that she could take the rest of the day off later. No, she deserved at least three days off.

“Mine are done too!” Eureka shouted excitedly.

“They look delicious, Eureka,” Tayte said.

“Yes! It’s all thanks to your teachings, Young Mistress Tayte!”

Tayte shook her head. “No, I think your feelings for Raul played a bigger factor.”

“T-that’s… ehehe.” Eureka laughed bashfully.

Talk about youth.

It was too bright to look directly in her direction.

Thus, the first stage of the gift operation was completed.

◇◇◇

The next day.

“Ngh… I’m getting nervous…”

Reina had been wearing a look like she going to die since morning.

Tayte and Eureka were encouraging her by saying “Everything will be fine!” and “He will surely love your gift!” but… would she be able to regain her composure before we arrived there?

By the way, we also had surprising last-minute additional companies.

“Is that the carriage we’ll be riding in?”

“It seems so. Shall we load the luggage?”

Jarvis and Raul were going to tag along with us.

It was all because of Principal Abigail’s suggestion: “May as well go with the rest of the members of Knights of the Academy and observe how the kingdom’s knights work first-hand. I’ll give them a heads up with my familiar.”

Both Jarvis and Raul were aiming to join the Order of Knights, so it would be a great opportunity for both of them.

…However, I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen for some reason…