Still, once I began getting used to the work, I was able to catch up with Roel’s pace of writing the invitations fairly quickly.
Thanks to that, my workload disappeared in no time. Sitting around with nothing to do was starting to feel awkward.
Just then, a servant hurried into the study.
Grandpa Ben, who had been standing beside Ridden while he was on the phone, turned pale the moment he heard what the servant had told him.
Feeling awkward, I unnecessarily looked over the perfectly sealed invitation in my hands once again.
Grandpa Ben noticed me and carefully called out.
“Chase.”
Having something to do was much better than sitting there awkwardly.
I carefully walked over to Grandpa Ben so I wouldn’t disturb Roel, who was busy writing letters.
“I heard in the letter of recommendation from the Seville family that you can do calculations. Is that right?”
“I… can.”
I hesitated slightly as I answered. I could do calculations, but I wasn’t particularly good at mathematics.
“That’s a relief. Something happened in the annex, so I have to go there immediately.”
Fortunately, what Grandpa Ben needed me to do was just some simple arithmetic. I only had to review the budget sheet that had been prepared for the upcoming banquet.
“Just check whether the calculations are correct, and once His Grace finishes his call, show it to him then.”
“Yes.”
I had no idea what had happened in the annex, but judging from how completely pale Grandpa Ben had become, it seemed to be something quite serious.
Before he could even hear my answer, he hurried out of the study.
I quietly sat down in the chair Grandpa Ben had been using and began checking the calculations.
To be honest, it was difficult to concentrate because of Ridden, who was angrily shouting into the phone right beside me.
Whenever I tried to calculate something, Ridden’s furious yelling made me forget the numbers I had been working with.
It definitely wasn’t because I was bad with numbers.
After struggling through the calculations and finishing most of the review, Ridden finally slammed the phone down roughly, apparently having ended his call.
He looked to be in a terrible mood.
When would be a good time to show him this budget sheet?
I carefully gauged his mood before speaking.
“Um… Your Grace.”
Ridden’s gaze, which had been fixed on the telephone, immediately turned toward me.
“The butler asked me to do something…”
I held out the reviewed budget sheet to Ridden.
His eyebrow lifted slightly before he took the budget sheet from my hands.
Why did I tremble for no reason whenever I stood in front of Ridden, even when I hadn’t done anything wrong?
The only sounds in the study were the rustling of paper as Ridden flipped through the budget sheet and the distant clacking of Roel’s typewriter.
I was afraid that even swallowing incorrectly might make Ridden’s gaze immediately turn toward me, so I couldn’t even swallow properly and simply fidgeted with my hands.
Ridden tapped his fingers lightly against the table.
Then he suddenly stopped, apparently having found something he didn’t understand.
His neatly relaxed brow furrowed slightly.
“Why are you replacing perfectly good windows?”
“…I wasn’t told anything by the butler, so I don’t know about that part either.”
“And I’m certain I instructed them to make flowers the main theme.”
Ridden rubbed his tired face before speaking.
“Bring the old man here immediately.”
Roel and I quickly exchanged glances.
I left the study and hurried off to find Grandpa Ben, who should have been in the annex.
But then I suddenly stopped when I heard the maids cleaning the Duke’s room talking among themselves.
Of course, I knew it wasn’t right to eavesdrop…
“Do you think a woman gave it to him as a gift?”
“Probably. It was chocolate, after all.”
“Good grief… Even if he didn’t want it, he could have at least left it alone out of consideration for the sincerity of the person who gave it to him. He didn’t have to burn it.”
Through the crack in the door, I could see the bag of chocolates I had given Ridden lying half-burned in the fireplace.
Even though Ridden Akarut had burned the chocolates I gave him, it wasn’t as though I was hurt by it.
I just thought it was such a waste that those expensive chocolates could no longer be eaten by anyone.
If he wasn’t going to eat them, he shouldn’t have accepted them in the first place!
Why would he smile and happily accept them only to burn them afterward?
‘Then what exactly is the problem?’
No matter how much I thought about it, aside from the mistake I had made on my first day, I didn’t think I had done anything in particular to make him dislike me.
Of course… it was possible that my very existence annoyed him.
But if that was the reason, it would be a really serious problem, so I decided to completely rule it out.
Was Peter right?
Was time really the only cure?
“D-Did something happen?”
I had been lost in thought when Flynn’s voice suddenly brought me back to reality.
At his question, I carefully shook my head.
Flynn placed the lobster dish he had brought in front of me.
It looked absolutely delicious at first glance.
Even though I wasn’t in a particularly good mood, it was appetizing enough to make my mouth water.
Flynn nervously asked me the moment I started eating.
“H-How is it?”
His expression was filled with nervousness as he waited for my answer.
“…It’s delicious.”
It really was delicious.
It tasted so good that all the worries I had been thinking about just moments ago seemed to disappear.
I widened my eyes and quickly moved my fork.
Flynn watched me proudly before sitting down in the chair across from me.
“I-I’m glad you like it.”
“I’m the one who’s grateful.”
At my words, Flynn smiled shyly.
Then, fidgeting with the hand he had placed on the table, he carefully spoke.
“Actually, H-Henry told me that he was going to include one of my dishes in this year’s banquet.”
“This is that dish?”
“Mhm.”
Flynn’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
“B-But I still feel like it’s n-not good enough…”
There was a fleeting look of concern on Flynn’s face as he said that.
Flynn was an excellent cook, handsome, and had an absolutely wonderful personality.
Among all the people I had met, after Abel and Isis, he was probably the most perfect person in terms of character.
But if there was one problem with this otherwise perfect person, it was that Flynn’s self-esteem was far too low.
Of course, his low self-esteem wasn’t really his fault.
Even on the day I first met Flynn, he had been getting scolded by Olive, the head chef of the ducal household.
Calling it a scolding was putting it mildly. The things Olive said to him were practically verbal abuse.
Flynn had said that he had been at the ducal household since birth, so he had probably known Olive for a very long time.
After listening to such horrible words for so many years, it was only natural that his self-esteem had suffered.
I cleared my throat lightly.
“I don’t know much about the tastes of high-ranking nobles, but I think I’ve eaten quite a lot of different kinds of food.”
It wasn’t a lie. I had often eaten meals with Isis at the Marquess’s estate.
I raised my thumb and said,
“I’m not lying. Out of all the food I’ve eaten, the dishes you make are the most delicious.”
“T-Thank you, but you d-don’t have to go that far…”
“I always say when something doesn’t taste good. And you’re not just a kitchen assistant. You make His Grace’s meals too, don’t you?”
Because Olive constantly made Flynn do miscellaneous tasks, I had assumed he was only a kitchen assistant.
But Flynn was actually a proper chef.
And he was the same age as me.
I learned later that the food I had eaten in Ridden’s room had also been prepared by Flynn.
Naturally, I had assumed it was made by Mr. Olive.
Being a chef in the Akarut ducal household would surely be an incredible career opportunity, but Flynn didn’t seem to realize that yet.
“His Grace has recognized you. You should be a little proud of yourself.”
“C-Can I really be?”
“Of course.”
I picked up a piece of lobster meat with my fork and popped it into Flynn’s mouth.
“It’s good, isn’t it?”
At my question, Flynn cautiously nodded.
If Flynn gave up on his dream of opening a restaurant, it would undoubtedly be a loss to the entire country.
When the food Flynn had prepared was almost gone, the thoughts I had temporarily forgotten began floating back into my mind.
Perhaps my expression had darkened without me realizing it, because Flynn carefully spoke.
“Hey, Chase…”
“Hmm?”
“Y-You’re a wonderful person too.”
Flynn smiled faintly before continuing.
“And H-His Grace will realize that soon too. J-Just hang in there a little longer.”
“Yeah. I have to endure somehow.”
“W-Would you like some dessert? Ah, no. I-I think it would be better if you just ate it.”
With that, Flynn hurriedly disappeared back into the kitchen.
“Your Grace, as you ordered, I have been looking for anything suspicious about the two of them. But in this old man’s eyes, there was… nothing particularly suspicious.”
Ridden’s hand, which had been running through his hair, suddenly stopped.
“From what I’ve observed, the two of them are simply… brothers who are very close.”
The Chase and Abel whom Ben had observed all this time were siblings who cared deeply for each other.
Having such a family was a kind of luck that neither of them would ever encounter again.
After listening silently to Ben, Ridden spoke.
“Old man, do you know that rats can spread disease?”
Ridden lit the cigarette held between his lips.
“I do. The plague that spread on a large scale in the past was also caused by rats living in the sewers.”
People who grew up being loved without reservation showed it unmistakably.
Those were things that could never be fabricated.
Someone he could never become like, even if he died and came back to life a hundred times. Someone he could never resemble or reach.
People like that seemed to shine.
Those who had become accustomed to a certain degree of light would naturally be drawn to it, but to those accustomed to darkness, it only hurt their eyes.
And when you stayed beside such a rat, you inevitably got hurt.
The wound wasn’t painful enough to kill you, but it stung unpleasantly.
Yet you could never admit that you had been hurt by a rat.
Even while being repulsed by it, you kept it by your side because you had no justification to push it away.
And then even that simple sting would eventually fester, becoming a plague that slowly ate away at you.
“Prepare the drinking table.”
“…Your Grace.”
“Don’t worry. I already know that the cunning fox wouldn’t have sent people who were that incompetent.”
