Chapter 21

The moment Lady Cynthia shattered the holy crystal, the dance hall fell into an uproar.

Since my cousin and Lord Lewis's cousin were participating in the ceremony, I was watching it from a seat next to Lord and Lady Margaret, and I was quite surprised.

I had been calmly lost in thought just a moment ago.

"Please teach me about sweets made with mint."

Last summer, the head chef of the ducal family sent a message to our family's chef, who was of a lower rank in the baronial household. Upon hearing this, I exclaimed,

"I'm so curious! Let's call him right away!"

and was scolded by the butler for my choice of words. I try to be proper at school, but I want to be free at home.

"I can make a variety of sweets, but I don't have the skills to develop new ones, which is embarrassing."

The head chef came to us because Lady Margaret told him that we make our own sweets and he needed help.

"But why does the head chef of the ducal family need to develop sweets made with mint?"

Our family's chef, who was standing in front of the head chef of the ducal family, whom he admired, asked a very reasonable question while feeling nervous.

The head chef of the ducal family then told a story in a ghostly manner...

"One day, a voice suddenly whispered in my ear,

'Let me create an original mint dessert.'

It sent a shiver down my spine. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but after Lady Margaret's birthday, I started having dreams.

In these dreams, a voice would demand that I develop a mint dessert while I was drowning in grass.

'Let me hurry and create a mint dessert that rivals cookies and chocolate tarts.'

'When the dessert is complete, let me drown it in a grass sauce.'

'Let me show you that mint is versatile.'"

"Grass sauce? Oh! Lady Margaret's lunch box was green once. Was that the grass sauce!?"

"That... was a mistake from my past," the chef said, bowing his head.

Do the ducal family have a lot of eccentric servants? The head maid was recently caught embezzling.

"Is it easy to work for the ducal family?"

I asked out of concern for Lady Margaret, but the chef answered without hesitation.

"The pay is very good. Extremely good."

I could hear the chef's throat make a gulping sound next to me.

I'm sorry for being a poor baronial family.

Anyway, we were trying to come up with a mint dessert, but we couldn't think of a good idea.

At that moment, the butler brought us a refill of tea.

He is a big fan of Lady Margaret and, when her engagement to Prince Keith was broken off, he and the chef spent many nights making sweets. He is a member of the sweets and Lady Margaret fan club.

"Mint sweets?"

"Yes, something that rivals cookies and chocolate tarts."

"In the empire, about 20 years ago, chocolate mint sweets were very popular."

The butler said this so easily that the chef, the head chef, and I looked at each other.

"That's it!"

"Chocolate mint cookies?"

When I gave them to Lady Margaret at lunch, she was very surprised.

"I made them with the head chef of the ducal family."

Lady Margaret smiled happily.

I want to show this smile to the chef, the head chef, and the butler, who have become my baking companions.

That day, when I got home, the garden was a mint field.

The gardener was initially a bit depressed that the well-maintained garden had suddenly turned into a mint field, but he eventually marveled, "This is some good mint."

Incidentally, the head chef's garden was half mint and half grass.

As I was reminiscing, I suddenly noticed Lady Margaret's engagement ring on her left ring finger.

Lady Margaret wears her engagement ring and wedding ring together.

The engagement ring has a blue gemstone, the color of Lady Margaret's eyes.

I'm sure Lord Lewis's eyes are brown, so he chose a gemstone that matched Lady Margaret's eyes. How nice.

By the way...

I remembered the brooch Lady Margaret wore on graduation day.

It didn't seem to be a high-quality brooch that a ducal lady would wear, but Lady Margaret was very happy when she touched it.

When I saw the brooch, I felt like I had seen it somewhere before and stared at it.

Thanks to this, I realized that the brooch looked like a pair with the tie pin the butler always wears.

The butler always wears that tie pin.

When I was about to tell Lady Margaret this,

"Lady Margaret! Such a brooch is not suitable for the future prime minister's wife!"

Lady Kanan arrived, and I missed my chance.

The butler's tie pin is blue, and the brooch Lady Margaret wore that day was green.

Green is the color of the butler's eyes.

"Prince Keith!!"

On stage, Lady Cynthia was being held down by the guards.

If Lady Kanan had been here, she might have run down to the stage and slapped her.

Sparkle

The crystal, which had suddenly shattered, was enveloped in light and began to shine brightly.

When I realized it, the crystal had returned to its original state.

"I knew it! I knew I was the holy maiden!"

Lady Cynthia was shouting, but no one was paying attention to her.

Everyone's eyes in the hall naturally turned to Lady Margaret.

"Really... What a noble lady..."

Lord Lewis muttered, slightly exasperated.

Everyone knows that the holy crystal has no meaning.

After all, it didn't light up when Lady Margaret touched it.

On the day of Lord Lewis and Lady Margaret's wedding, Margaret's flower petals rained down from the sky.

These petals flew across the country, turning into medicine for the sick, bread for the hungry, and gold coins for the needy.

It was a scene so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes.