TGPFC 13

Chapter: 13

She must have looked truly desperate, because she was staring at Prim with pleading eyes.

“I told you to dress properly when you come to dine! Honestly, I’m scolding you and you’re just standing there with your eyes all wide—!”

Vianna had done exactly as she was told, yet she was being scolded anyway. Not knowing what else to do, she could only look up helplessly. When even that was nitpicked, her expression crumpled as if she were about to burst into tears.

At that moment, a flash of delighted exhilaration crossed the couple’s faces.

Prim could no longer endure the stench of this revolting failed experiment, their expressions, or Vianna’s crushed heart. She spoke up.

“Baron. Baroness.”

The baron, who had been about to shout, was cut off mid-sentence. He inhaled sharply and broke into a violent coughing fit.

“Kh—kugh, cough, cough! Kkhh—!”

“P-Prim? Why… why are you saying that all of a sudden?”

“I want to do perfumery.”

Baron Corvas glared at Prim, his face red as he kept coughing. What kind of absurd nonsense was this now?

“Cough, cough! What? Perfumery? Do you think just anyone can do that?”

The baron continued coughing. The baroness shot him a look, then gently placated Prim.

“Why are you getting so angry? Um, Prim, I did hear that you were planning to take the perfumer qualification exam with the priest, but let’s talk about that later—”

But Prim knew exactly how to draw the attention of perfumers.

“Patchouli, vetiver, ginger, frankincense, lavender, vanilla, ylang-ylang, orange blossom.”

The baroness waved her hand again.

“Prim, it’s impressive that you know so many fragrance ingredients, but that doesn’t mean—”

“Wait! Wait, wait! Be quiet for a moment!”

Baron Corvas shouted as if having a seizure. The baroness grimaced and looked at him.

But the baron was staring at Prim with a spellbound expression.

“Don’t tell me… you recognized all the ingredients in the oil I made today?”

When patchouli and vetiver came out of a child’s mouth, he hadn’t thought much of it. They were commonly used materials.

But the names that followed made his blood run cold. Every single one was an ingredient he had used all day in his perfumery.

“…You didn’t sneak a look, did you?”

“I can’t walk around, you know.”

Prim proved her innocence by showing her uninjured bare feet. Even at this dinner, a servant had carried her in.

Baron Corvas slapped his forehead and nodded.

“Ah, right. That’s true. But then… how did you—”

Prim simply blinked and looked up at him in silence.

When all paths are blocked and a glimmer of hope appears, no matter how faint, people are inevitably drawn to it. Prim knew that well.

When the silence had stretched long enough, she spoke.

“If you add cypress extracted from the wood rather than the leaves, and remove the orange blossom, it would become a good fragrance.”

The baron flinched, then rolled her words around in his head.

“Cypress extracted from the wood, not the leaves…?”

Even after hearing it, he wore a foolish expression, as if he couldn’t imagine it at all.

Prim quietly felt a moment of shock—and reflected, just a little, on how harshly she had scolded her juniors in the past.

“It’s a woody scent, but at the same time it’s bright and light, with a fresh feel.”

“Bright and light, fresh… Yes, you must have talent. So that’s why the priest said you were going to take the perfumer qualification exam!”

Prim sensed the exaggerated agreement of someone pretending to understand despite knowing nothing, but she didn’t point it out. Baron Corvas suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“Let’s go to the perfumery room at once!”

“What? Now?”

The baroness, who had only been staring blankly at their exchange, jumped up.

The chef was even in the middle of serving the dishes. But the baron’s eyes were blazing with passion.

“Eating isn’t what matters right now!”

“Well, fine, eating aside—”

The baroness adjusted her posture, trying to resume her noble composure.

“But then… what about her? What about this one?”

She gestured toward Vianna. Their plan had been to savor Vianna’s blood and tears, but now they were left utterly bewildered.

Vianna stood there, her face full of confusion, not understanding what was happening.

“That’s not important right now either. Prim has talent for perfumery! As her father, it’s only right that I teach her immediately.”

“Ah—ow.”

The moment Prim’s feet touched the floor after being dragged from her chair, thorns sprang up, and she let out a pained sound. Baron Corvas startled, then hastily scooped Prim up into his arms.

“Then we’ll see you later!”

“What—are you insane… honestly…!”

Left behind, the baroness pointed after them in disbelief. When she met the embarrassed gazes of the maid and the chef, she plopped back down at the table.

“Hey! What are you standing around for? Sit down and eat. And next time, dress properly.”

Vianna hurriedly nodded and sat down. She had no idea how she was supposed to dress any more properly than this, and the baroness’s sudden temper frightened her.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but keep glancing toward the door through which Prim and Baron Corvas had disappeared.

Until now, Prim had looked down on Baron Corvas and his perfumery skills. From this moment on, she decided to look down on him even more.

How can you produce a fragrance like that with a perfumery room like this?

The first thing that caught her eye was a large, well-equipped perfumery organ.

Dark bottles were lined up neatly on each shelf, each with a white label bearing its name, making it look exactly like an organ.

She herself had only acquired a perfumery room of this scale after gaining considerable recognition as a perfumer.

It’s twice as big as I expected. With this, there’s no problem making whatever scent I want.

The slight worry that she might not be able to summon Yulberon was washed away.

“Well, this is a fragrance to be offered to Lethemor,”

Baron Corvas said as he seated Prim in front of the organ.

“I just can’t seem to make any progress.”

“To Lethemor…”

Prim stared up at him blankly.

Unaware that this was the look she wore when staring at a fool, the baron smiled smugly.

“Ha ha, a person should be devout, shouldn’t they?”

She could easily guess why he wanted to offer fragrance to Lethemor and receive a blessing.

If their plan was to seduce high-ranking nobles and gain power, they would seek out a god capable of tempting human hearts. Lethemor, god of oblivion and dreams, would be a likely choice.

But no god grants blessings that directly manipulate the human heart.

How could someone this ignorant think of accomplishing anything?

“Can’t you think of any good ideas?”

Avoiding the baron’s eyes, which were brimming with anticipation, Prim looked at the perfumery organ.

“Lethemor likes lavender and narcissus.”

“Lavender and narcissus? Is that true? How would you even know that—?”

Prim wanted to ask how he could be doing perfumery while knowing so little.

She gave him a look full of that question, but Baron Corvas still looked completely clueless.

Prim simply turned back to the organ.

“I saw it at the temple.”

“Ah, right! You were at the temple orphanage!”

From the black bottles filling the organ, it seemed as though the forms of the ingredients were rising up.