FSW Chapter 12

Cookies

"Wow, that's really bad for my heart."

Nishina murmured, placing her hand gently over her heart.

Whether he'd misunderstood Nishina's words, he stiffened his face and sent a worried gaze. At Lavis's serious expression, Nishina finally laughed aloud—pft.

"I mean your smiling face is too pretty."

She felt like she was saying "pretty" to him too often. But what could she do? When he was that pretty.

Nishina's aesthetic sense was perfectly normal. She'd bet anyone who saw him would think the same thing. Joy, who loved beautiful things, would probably admire him even more. Thinking such thoughts while staring at him intently, his face turned red like a ripe apple.

"...That's not true."

Covering his eyes firmly with the back of his hand, he murmured in a small voice. He seemed to want to hide his agitation—did he think if he couldn't see, it was hidden?

He had probably just wanted to cover his most telltale eyes. But it was a cute gesture impossible to imagine from the original story.

In the original work, he had been described like a machine that didn't know how to smile. Even the prince who'd been closest to him said he'd never seen him display emotion.

'Wait, then does that mean this reaction, this smiling face—I'm the only one who's seen it?'

The smile on Nishina's lips deepened even more. It felt like she'd obtained some rare jewel. And at the same time, she felt regretful.

Because cuteness was justice, was truth.

Nishina, offering her sincere condolences to the Aiden in the story who never got to see such a precious sight until the end, grabbed his hand and pulled it down.

She wasn't someone who would easily let go of a valuable scene. His fingertips twitched restlessly, but as long as he couldn't shake off Nishina's hand, it was a futile gesture.

"What lovely weather."

The spring air coming through the open window was impossibly sweet. Thanks to being close to the garden, the vibrating fragrance of flowers along with the scent of warm sunlight tickled her nose gently.

Perfect weather for a nap. No, wait, that's not it.

How many days had it been since she'd caused problems with a nap, and here she was thinking like this? Nishina, who had been half-sprawled on the plush sofa, sat up. She was disgusted with her own laziness, but more importantly, there was something she had to do right now.

"This many invitations came in one month?"

"Yes. Just as you requested, Your Highness, I selected only invitations from families of viscount rank or higher, sent by young ladies before their coming-of-age ceremony, within one month—this is how many there were."

Joy, who answered calmly, set down her teacup.

The warm tea held the full fragrance of spring, but in contrast, the table was utterly bleak. Looking at the envelopes filling the table made her sigh involuntarily.

Given her age, she hadn't debuted in society yet, but invitations to tea parties from young ladies came endlessly. She couldn't possibly accept every invitation and go out, so she'd simply sent formal letters of refusal—that was all.

"Will one type of stationery be enough?"

"Mm, ask for ten sheets for now."

While Joy went to get stationery and envelopes, Nishina opened the invitations one by one. The letters were written densely across as many as three pages, but the actual business was essentially one line—the rest was all useless flowery language.

As if searching for hidden pictures, Nishina confirmed the business and sender, reading through the invitations quickly.

With miraculous concentration, she managed to get through over twenty invitations in one hour. Her throat was parched from concentrating for so long. Rubbing her stiff neck, Nishina gulped down the tea that had gone cold.

This task alone had completely drained her, but an even bigger mountain remained. Writing replies. And not refusals—invitations from her side.

"It's quite unusual, isn't it? Your Highness, who said you'd decline troublesome matters until after your coming-of-age, is hosting a tea party yourself."

"I know. Back then, I didn't think things would turn out like this..."

Nishina murmured in a hollow voice. She really hadn't thought things would turn out like this.

She'd decided to prepare this gathering that sounded burdensome and annoying just to hear about it because of her mother's advice. The noblewomen who attended her mother's tea parties were all veterans who'd been in society for a long time. So before that, she should gain some experience through tea parties with young ladies her own age. She could have refused if she wanted to. But Nishina judged she needed to imprint her will on the daughters of noble families as well as the noblewomen. The young ladies were still unrelated to politics, but they were all people who might inherit their families.

In the Snow Empire, determining an heir had nothing to do with male or female, or whether one was the eldest. Legitimate children were prioritized over illegitimate ones, but among children of the legal wife, as long as there wasn't a severe age difference, the most outstanding among siblings usually inherited the family.

The existing generation was important, but so too was the force that would support Aiden in the future. She needed to make those who would become that strength recognize in advance that she was his supporter, not his competitor.

So she had no choice but to swallow her tears and host such a tea party.

"The young ladies invited to Your Highness's first tea party will be honored."

It was very much Joy's perspective, but it probably wasn't wrong. Just look at those invitations. How much care they'd put into inviting her—she'd felt guilty every time she refused. Of course, when she reminded herself that their purpose wasn't pure friendship, even that disappeared.

In any case, Nishina picked up her pen. The sentences drawn from the pen's tip were simple, without flowery language. The letters had more blank space than writing, but it couldn't be helped. If she wrote long replies like they did, it might take not just a day but over a week.

Hoping that the girls sensitive to trends would discover the beauty of white space in her letters and practice it in the future, Nishina steadily moved her pen.

"Y-Your Highness! I'll do it, so you don't need to do this! No, you mustn't do this!"

The pâtissier, who looked even more haggard than when he'd been tormented over menu concerns, stamped his feet. He hovered around Nishina restlessly and busily, but Nishina didn't spare him a single glance.

Today's version of herself was as firm as a pumpkin—no, firmer. Nishina, with sugar powder all over her cheeks, answered firmly.

"No. I want to do it myself."

The reason she was inviting hardship while burning the pâtissier's heart black was because of past mistakes.

Because of her, her teacher had been severely punished and even injured on top of that. This sin was of such weight that ordinary desserts couldn't smooth it over. The decision to attempt handmade ones came from that. She couldn't guarantee the taste, but with that much effort, he might give her some leniency.

Of course, he probably wasn't harboring even a speck of resentment, but her guilt felt that way. Following the pâtissier's advice, she was attempting chocolate chip cookies, the most basic recipe, but she wasn't relating to it at all.

If this was the easiest, just how difficult were the others? Without any skill, even the simple act of mixing made her arms tingle. As she furrowed her brow all the way to the bridge of her nose and wielded the spatula, Ellis, sitting beside her, added a comment in place of the mentally shattered pâtissier.

"Your Highness! Don't knead the spatula—you need to draw vertical lines!"

"Like this?"

She tried drawing lines clumsily, but Ellis didn't seem satisfied at all.

"Like this!"

Only after Ellis showed her directly did she nod with satisfaction.

Usually, the handmaids of imperial family members were all daughters of noble families within the empire, but Ellis was unusually from another country. She couldn't remember exactly which country it was, but because of her considerably poor family, despite her status as a noble lady, she'd said she had kitchen experience.

She'd never attempted desserts, but she'd boasted quite confidently about knowing the theory inside and out.

She'd brought Ellis trusting that confidence, and it seemed to be the best choice after all. Secretly admiring the convincing form, Nishina moved her hands mimicking it. Whether thanks to Ellis's support, after one bone-deep failure, she successfully managed to bake something cookie-shaped.

"Wow! This is a success, right?"

"Yes! I'd say about 65% successful!"

"...Is that actually a success?"

"Of course! Shall we hear the expert's opinion too?"

The two gazes that had been examining the result proudly turned backward simultaneously. The pâtissier, who had been catching his breath thinking her eccentricity was over, flinched and trembled.

"Th-this much is quite... considerably well made."

"Hmm, is that so? Then I can try it after all!"

"...Pardon?"

She pulled up the corners of her mouth—not the expression of someone who'd finished hard work. She looked exactly like a little kid who'd scribbled Mom's rouge all over the mirror with a proud face. His eyes, filled with anxiety, began to tremble as if in an earthquake. Despite his agitation, Nishina threw the stone in the end.

"Could you also tell me a recipe for cookies that aren't sweet?"

"Why on earth would you..."

The pâtissier, trailing off, reacted as if the world had ended. She felt bad that he was so shocked. But she couldn't stop. Today she planned to make a gift of apology and also make a gift for her brother.

When she thought about it carefully, there weren't actually many ways to convey her feelings to him.

First, tell him verbally. Rejected—he didn't even want to exchange words.

Second, send a letter. 99% probability he wouldn't read it and would burn it.

So the last resort was a gift. Almost no one would feel bad about receiving a gift. When she tilted her head and pressed for an answer, the pâtissier, who had barely gathered his wits, answered with a pretense of composure.

"...Then what about whole wheat cookies? We just received whole wheat flour this morning."

"Whole wheat cookies?"

"Yes, if we reduce the sugar amount a bit more, it will have a mild taste."

Whole wheat cookies. With that level of sweetness, even Aiden should be able to eat them. Aiden didn't enjoy sweet things. She'd seen him not touch even one spoonful of the fondant au chocolat served as dessert at luncheon, so it was probably certain.

"Good! Let's do that!"

"Oh my, then we'll have to start from the beginning again."

Ellis reminded her of the merciless reality in a somehow cheerful tone. Unlike the expectation that he'd fall into deeper despair, the pâtissier obediently brought over a sack of whole wheat flour. He also recited an appropriate recipe in a gentle voice.

However, his expression alone was somehow vacant.

Nishina, who had been fiddling with the blue ribbon knot as blue as Aiden's eyes, let out a small sigh.

After burning several batches, she had carefully selected only the prettiest shaped cookies from the ones that finally succeeded and packaged them by hand. The pâtissier and Ellis had applauded, saying this was a masterpiece, but somehow her courage kept disappearing.

'Will he like it even a little?'

She couldn't even imagine him looking happy. Still, she hoped he at least wouldn't be displeased. Holding such a modest wish, she stood before the door.

Taking a deep breath, Nishina knocked—tap tap.