Chapter 41

Strawberries, as red as can be, spill out from the pot.

Beside them, a basket and a small pair of scissors are prepared.

The strawberry picking season has begun.

As I approach, I am enveloped in a sweet and tangy aroma.

The green calyxes curve back, and the surface of the strawberries, which seem to be bursting with moisture, are a clear sign of their perfect ripeness.

I carefully cut the stems above the calyxes with the scissors to avoid damaging the fruit.

The strawberries that fit into my palm are cute in their round shape, and even more so, they are a powerful temptation to my stomach.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

My stomach growled.

But it wasn't mine; it was Itto's, who was staring intently at the strawberries right next to me.

His eyes gleamed, drawn to the ripe strawberries.

Perhaps from excitement, even though he was bathed in the morning light, his pupils were dilated, making his eyes appear larger.

Itto seemed to be very, very much looking forward to harvesting the strawberries he had grown by hand.

Under Itto's watchful eye, I picked the strawberries and placed them in the basket.

Thanks to being grown indoors, or perhaps due to the gardener cat's abilities, the strawberries were free from insect damage and looked delicious.

After picking all the ripe strawberries, we decided to head to the strawberry field outside the palace that Itto had made.

"These are impressive too. As expected, Itto! Gardener cat-sama!"

"Meow!!"

Itto puffed out his chest as if to say, "Hehe."

Grateful to the little gardener cat, I crouched down by the strawberry plants, which were perfumed with a sweet scent.

The strawberries Itto had grown using his gardener cat abilities numbered about thirty plants.

Their growth varied slightly, with some plants bearing bright red ripe strawberries and others adorned with delicate white flowers.

While harvesting the ripe strawberries, I noticed a strangely shaped one.

"This is………"

Unlike the other diamond-shaped strawberries, this one was wide and plump.

The tip was not a triangle but had two protrusions on either side.

When I turned it so that the stem was at the bottom and the two protrusions were at the top,

"It's a cat's face………"

The two protrusions looked like cat ears, resembling a cat's face when viewed from the front.

When I held it up next to Itto, the shape was indeed identical to a cat's face.

Feeling a warm sense of coincidence, Itto turned his head and pounced on the cat-shaped strawberry.

"Hey, stop it! If you eat them raw, you won't have enough for the dishes I've prepared!"

Itto paid no heed to my warning.

I chuckled at his carefree attitude and, prepared for such a moment, I had something ready.

"Here, Leetisia, please."

Telepathically.

Lucian quickly handed me a ceramic bowl filled with a thin, yellow, syrupy liquid.

"Strawberry picking wouldn't be complete without condensed milk, would it?"

I scooped up the condensed milk I had prepared the night before by mixing milk and sugar and drizzled it over the freshly picked strawberries.

The strawberries, coated in the creamy condensed milk, were incredibly delicious with the added milky sweetness.

"Here, Itto, do you want to try one?"

I offered a strawberry drizzled with condensed milk to Itto, who was watching me intently.

Itto sniffed it with his nose and then bit into it with his small fangs.

The strawberry quickly disappeared into his mouth as he used his tongue to catch the condensed milk so it wouldn't drip.

"Meow!! Meow meow meow!!"

It must have been delicious! More, please!!………or something to that effect.

As Itto reached out with a meow, I said, "Just one more for now," and gave him another strawberry drizzled with condensed milk.

As we were doing this, Gilbert appeared, rustling the trees.

"Good morning, Leetisia. The harvest seems to be going well, doesn't it?"

"Yes, they are sweet and tangy, and very delicious. Would you like to try one?"

"Yes, thank you."

I handed Gilbert a strawberry that I had washed with magic.

"………Today's strawberries are very delicious. I have tasted strawberries from the time they were called the poor man's gem, and I feel that these are sweeter and have a stronger aroma."

"Does that mean other strawberries are not as sweet?"

"No, it's just in comparison to these. Other strawberries are also sweet and tangy, and I remember them being quite delicious. At the very least, they were much better than the bitter and sour monster gems."

"Hmm, really……… Wait! What did you just say!?"

There was a line I couldn't let go!

"Did you eat a monster gem!?"

"Yes, I did. The taste was so bitter and sour that it couldn't be called delicious."

"Thank you for your detailed feedback!! But aren't they poisonous? Are you okay?"

"As you can see, I am perfectly healthy. The dangerous ones are those that have been specially treated. If eaten raw, they would only cause a day of stomach pain."

"That's still a proper poison!!"

I was taken aback.

Even Itto, who is usually so eager to eat, seemed to be slightly taken aback.

According to Gilbert, he had tried eating them when he was younger because he was curious about their taste.

He wanted to be able to detect them quickly if they accidentally mixed into a dish, but trying them himself seemed a bit too adventurous.

"Well, I was young back then. I was curious about the taste. If it had been delicious, I would have tried to remove the poison and eat it, but………that taste is not there. What a pity."

"Y-Yes, that's a real pity………"

I nodded in response to Gilbert's serious face.

………If Gilbert had been born in ancient Japan, I wonder if he would have tried the highly dangerous pufferfish?

As a top-notch chef, his curiosity about ingredients is truly remarkable.

Thinking about it, the reason he came to this palace was because he was concerned about Lady Natalie's diet.

Though he is usually gentle and soft-spoken, his passion for cooking is undoubtedly greater than most. However, I think it's questionable to eat ingredients known to be poisonous out of curiosity.

………Good children should never imitate such behavior.

I found myself taking a step back, as did Itto, at this unexpected side of Gilbert.

I have made corrections to the feedback and fixed the typos.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback and pointed out the typos!