Chapter 25

It had been three months since Laila first met Julius at that evening party.

The season, which still retained a faint scent of summer, quickly turned into the time when fallen leaves dyed the courtyard, and before they knew it, winter was about to arrive.

In the afternoon of that day, the winter clothes that Laila had ordered for Julius a month ago arrived at the tailor's shop.

While the other clothes only needed size adjustments, the wine-red formal suit that Laila had designed turned out exactly as she had imagined, and seeing it hanging on the hanger, Laila was completely enchanted.

"Julius in this outfit will definitely be stunning..."

"That's certainly the case. ...Well, I'll take care of putting the clothes away."

"Yes, thank you. ...Oh?"

When Laila turned around, she noticed that Vernele, who was about to leave the parlor in a hurry, was carrying a large box that she didn't recognize.

(The size of that... it's for a woman's dress.)

So, that means...

"Vernele, that box—"

"Laila, it's almost time for the cake to be done, so please come to the distillery."

Just as Laila was about to call out to Vernele, Helka spoke up. While Laila and Vernele were checking the winter clothes, Helka had been watching the oven for them.

(...Well, I can ask Vernele about it later.)

First, she needed to check the cake.

When Laila entered the distillery, a sweet aroma tickled her nostrils. Helka was fidgeting in front of the oven, and Laila smiled.

"Good smell. I'm sure it's risen beautifully."

"Waiting until the cake is done without opening the oven door is quite a trial..."

Laila recently realized that Helka, despite her composed and mature demeanor, was not very patient. She reacted immediately to Vernele's sarcasm and often fidgeted because she couldn't wait for the pastries to be done.

But the cool and beautiful Helka, wearing a cute apron and glancing at the oven, looked incredibly adorable.

(...When I told Vernele that, he looked at me as if I were an idiot.)

Putting that aside.

Laila checked the baking time with Helka's watch, put on oven mitts, and opened the oven door. On the black baking sheet, five risen doughs were lined up. Unfortunately, one of the five had an odd shape and couldn't be served to Julius, but since she had considered the possibility of failure, four successful ones were enough.

Laila cut slits in the beautifully risen dough and filled them with the cream she had prepared in advance. Finally, she sprinkled powdered sugar on top, completing the cream puffs.

"They're done, Laila!"

"Yes, thanks to Helka for keeping track of the time."

"Hehe, thank you. ...I should give the misshapen one to Vernele, right?"

"Well, yes."

Julius loved sweets, but giving him a large amount every tea time was bad for his health and would invite Vernele's wrath, who was in charge of the meals.

Therefore, out of the well-baked cream puffs, Julius could only have two. One would be shared with Laila, and the remaining two would be for Helka and Vernele to taste-test.

(...Well, Vernele doesn't seem to care much about taste-testing anymore.)

It seemed he had come to trust that Laila wouldn't put anything strange in Julius's food, so he no longer urged her to do it and would even say, "I'm fine," with a huff.

However, when the three of them ate without Vernele, he looked very sad while making tea, so Laila now prepared his share without being asked.

Helka used magic to cool the cream puffs to the right temperature and placed them on a tray. Since they had baked as planned, they could be served at the afternoon tea time.

While chatting with Helka, Laila went up to the third floor, where Vernele, who had apparently finished putting away the winter clothes, was in the hallway.

When he saw what Laila was holding, he sniffed arrogantly.

"Today's tea snack is cream puffs, I see."

"Yes, of course, there's a portion for Vernele too."

"Though it's misshapen."

"...Hmph. I don't particularly like sweet things... but I suppose I can eat it."

Vernele, with his arms crossed and looking away, seemed relieved that his portion was there, as Laila noticed his eyes drooping slightly.

Unable to bear Laila's beaming smile and Helka's smirking, Vernele pursed his lips and said, "I'll go prepare the tea," before leaving.

(...As Helka said before, he's just not very good at being honest.)

Helka opened the door to Julius's room, and Laila entered after a brief greeting.

It seemed Julius had been reading a letter, as he put it down and stood up when he saw Laila.

"Good smell... What's today's treat?"

"Hehe... The hint is the pastry that, three years ago, Julius got cream on his cheek when he ate it."

"...I see... It's cream puffs!"

"Correct!"

The two of them giggled together.

The homemade recipe left by the previous maid was filled with notes about Julius's reactions, and Laila had used the note about how much Julius enjoyed the cream puffs three years ago as a reference.

When Julius sat on the sofa, Vernele soon entered with the tea set, marking the start of their daily afternoon tea.

...Up to this point, everything was almost the same as it had been a month ago.

But.

"Here, this is Laila's special seat."

Julius patted the spot next to him. The sofa was originally designed for two people, so there was plenty of room, but sitting side by side meant their arms would touch.

After the party at the Balthschech family's residence, where they had shared their feelings with each other, Julius had become much more proactive with Laila.

He hugged her more often, claiming it helped his magic accumulate, and started chatting with her before bed or showing her simple magic tricks.

(...And when I wake up in the morning, I feel closer to him than before...)

This morning, when Laila woke up feeling her body was hard to move, she found that Julius had entangled one of his legs with hers. While being hugged was one thing, this felt more like a restraint, and she hurriedly woke Julius up. However, Julius, who was weak in the morning and still half-asleep, hugged Laila even tighter, and she felt like she was being crushed.