#031 The truth is sometimes harsh (2)
“···So, please let me know about you.”
Just getting close to my face made my heart pound, and I felt like I was a prisoner of the diamond.
“Uh, Diamond…?”
In his suffocating silence, Dia slowly tilted her face towards me.
What does her current behavior mean?
What she was sure of was that Diamond was now closing her eyes and quietly bringing her lips closer to hers.
Even when she playfully rolled around with Amethyst, she kept her lips at least, but if this mood continues…
[ Ding. ]
“···!”
From behind, the oven’s manual timer beeped as it finished.
We were startled by the sound and fell away from each other almost at the same time.
Dia apologized to me with her face turning bright red.
“I’m sorry…! “Stop playing around.”
I She also shook her head vigorously, her face getting hot.
“It’s okay! “I also thought Dia was playing a joke on her.”
We looked at each other awkwardly for a while, laughing, then our eyes wandered wildly in the quiet air.
It was Dia who broke her awkwardness first.
“I don’t know if I baked the cookies too long. Shall we check?”
“Yes. “Of course.”
What on earth was it? The strange airflow just now.
For a moment, it felt like something had happened to her head.
As she smelled the freshly baked cookies with Dia, that feeling disappeared.
I picked up a colorful cookie and said with an ecstatic expression.
“It smells so good!”
“I added a lot of butter. “Try it.”
I put the cookie in my hand into my mouth without hesitation and tasted it.
‘Delicious!’
A fantastic sweet taste that can’t be compared to anything I’ve made so far.
···Oh, sweet?
I tilted my head and asked Diamond.
“Aren’t the cookies Dia made sweet?”
Dia responded to those words with a slightly puzzled expression.
“···Yes. “Because it contains sugar.”
‘It contains sugar?’
I asked again about that shocking fact.
“Isn’t there supposed to be salt in cookies!?”
“Yes? “Where did you hear that information?”
Where did you learn that?
Unlike where I was, in this world, printing technology was not widely available, so there were very few books that recorded skills needed in general life, such as cooking.
Therefore, in order to learn a new dish, it was common to go through trial and error or learn the recipe from someone who knew it.
Maid Jean Merilda taught me various dishes, but she refused to teach me at all, saying that snacks were not as good for the body.
So, I learned the cookie recipe by guessing from an old picture book in the young lady’s study…
‘I thought it must be salt because there was white powder on it…’
Until now, I always added salt as a matter of course, so I thought it was natural for homemade cookies to be salty.
A slightly uneasy thought crossed her mind, and she asked her another question.
“Then what about this brown powder sprinkled on top of the cookie? “What is this?”
“It’s chocolate powder. “If you sprinkle it on top, it adds sweetness.”
“···That was chocolate powder?”
Until now, I thought it was pepper and sprinkled it heavily, but of course I made a mistake.
When I explained to Dia my cooking steps so far, she was surprised and asked back.
“Amber, did you really put pepper in your cookies?”
“Yes. “I put in half a container each time…”
“Wasn’t it strange when you tasted it yourself…?”
“Well, I thought it was ambiguous, but the lady said it was delicious.”
After that, when I tried it myself, it didn’t really suit my taste, but Ruby liked it, so she thought it was okay.
Dia muttered with a slightly shocked look on her face.
“So, Ruby, how many years have you been eating those cookies?”
“And Amethyst ate it every time she visited, and she always raved about how delicious it was…”
One day, the two of us were competing over cookies, and I was thinking that this is what tastes like in this world.
But looking at DIA’s expression when she heard what I said, I guess that was definitely not the case.
She spoke to me with a very sad expression.
“If it’s okay, may I tell you my recipe?”
“Is it okay if I tell you that?”
“Of course. “It’s not that difficult.”
It was always Ruby and Amesheet’s responsibility to dispose of the remaining cookies.
For some reason, the other club members all took a bite of the cookie I brought out and didn’t dare to put it in their mouths.
Dia moved the finished cookies into her bowl and looked at me and said.
“For now, let’s go back with some snacks. “Everyone will be waiting.”
“Yes, Lady Diamond.”
As I was walking back with the cookies, a part of my heart felt uneasy as I remembered the cookies I had made so far.
***
“Everyone, enjoy your meal.”
When DIA put the cookies down on the table, everyone took them one by one, making exclamations of exclamation.
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“I’ll eat well, Dia.”
“Thank you!”
At that time, I quietly got up from my seat and started walking.
Then he stood behind Ruby and Amethyst, who had just put cookies in their mouths, and spoke.
“Are the cookies delicious? “Two people?”
Both of them seemed to have no objection to the fact that Dia’s cookies were delicious, and responded by nodding her head vigorously.
“Yes. “It feels like it melts in your mouth.”
“If I just eat this every day, I won’t have any time left…”
I could tell intuitively when I saw the two people using facial expressions and even body language to express deliciousness.
I see.
This is how you react when you eat something truly delicious.
I said, handing over the homemade cookies I had made from the basket I had brought separately.
“I was afraid you would get tired of eating just one type, so I brought mine too. Please eat together.”
Then the two people who were moving their mouths stopped and looked back at me.
“”···.””
Then he responded with an exaggerated smile and picked up a snack.
“Thank you!”
“I’ll eat well, Amber!”
The two people picked up the cookie I gave them and stared at it closely before putting it in their mouths.
“···Mmm, it’s delicious. Today.”
Reactions are clearly different from before.
‘It’s definitely different.’
Not missing that opportunity, I asked in a low voice.
“···Honestly, don’t you think my cookies taste good?”
“···.”
After a moment of silence, the cup containing the ruby was placed unnaturally on the coaster.
The young lady slowly looked back at me and said.
“W-what are you talking about? That is?”
Amethyst, who was next to her, also spoke, her hand holding her glass shaking.
“There’s no way Amber’s food isn’t delicious, right? Isn’t that right, Ruby?”
“Of course. Amethyst…”
For some reason, two people who usually never disagreed came together.
I felt like I would never be able to get the answer I wanted from these two people.
‘Let’s ask an honest person.’
I turned my head to look at Citrine and handed her my cookie.
“Try it, Chairman.”
Then Citrine asked, frowning slightly.
“What is this? “Are they different cookies?”
She boldly took a bite of the cookie and lowered her head.
“···How do you feel?”
“···Wow.”
Citrine, who was nauseated, frowned and shouted.
“It tastes like garbage. “What on earth did you put into the deal?”
Everyone in the room froze at Citrin’s remarks.
“···.”
The atmosphere was literally a gutter.
Ruby and Amethyst just glanced at me, and the others were too quick to open their mouths.
“Garbage and filth…”
As I said that and lowered her head, Citrine looked slightly embarrassed.
“Huh…? Did I say something wrong? “Why is the atmosphere like this?”
“···No, thank you for telling me the truth. President.”
Feeling somewhat depressed, I took off her apron and left the room.
“I’ll take some rest today. Miss.”
As I briefly cleaned up the table and left the room, I felt like I could hear Ruby’s voice coming from behind.
“Amber. Wait a minute! Amber…?”
For the first time since she became a maid, she wanted to be alone.
***
Without even taking off her maid uniform, she snuggled into the blanket.
‘It’s shocking. ‘I can’t believe you’ve been feeding Ruby something tasteless all this time.’
This was an assessment made by Citrine, who had no trace of pretense, so what I made was definitely a cookie that tasted like garbage.
I thought I had done a good job despite my shortcomings, but it turns out I was being taken care of without even realizing it.
While I was curled up in a blanket and maintaining zero self-esteem, the door opened and someone came in.
“···Amber. “Can we talk?”
It was Ruby’s voice.
Normally, he would have answered energetically, but today he spoke in a hushed voice.
“···Yes.”
Ruby carefully sat down on my bed and cautiously opened her mouth.
“Amber, I did it because I didn’t want to hurt you. “I thought I would tell you someday…”
“···.”
“I’m sorry. “I’ve been lying to you all this time.”
Ruby had a pitiful expression on her face that was not like her.
I lifted up the blanket I was covering and said,
“There is no need to apologize. “I’m just upset.”
“···What?”
“Even though you’ve been by her side for so long, you didn’t even know what you were feeding her.”
I feel like I am not completely trusted by Ruby.
“I wanted to be someone she could rely on. But, let alone the will…”
She looked so pathetic.
After becoming her maid, she was actually receiving consideration from Ruby.
Ruby listened to me quietly, then folded her hands on the backs of her hands.
“Amber. It is not so.”
Slightly cold hands, not typical of someone who wields fire magic.
Now, it was a thin and precious hand that I was so familiar with that I could even memorize the palm lines.
“Do you think I don’t rely on you?”
“···Well, you’re good at everything even without me.”
Now, I seriously thought about whether my presence next to her might be a hindrance to her future.
“Rather, it would be better without me…”
When I said that, Ruby’s hands came up to my shoulders.
“Amber.”
She looked straight at me with eyes that looked sadder than usual and said.
“Don’t say things like that, even as a joke.”
Ruby, who always had a blunt expression, looked like she was about to cry for the first time.
“You are already half of my life. “I don’t want to imagine life without Amber, and I won’t let that happen.”
“···Lady···.”
“···Have you let me know how much I rely on you?”
She had thought that just being by Ruby’s side during the most important moments in her life was enough.
But was that just my illusion?
Now that Ruby has become the most important part of her life, it seems that I have become that same person to her.
Her face blushed at that new and unfamiliar fact, and she smiled honestly.
“I’m glad. “Because the lady said that.”
After saying that, I felt like some of her snot would come out, so I sniffed her nose.
“Sniff.”
Ruby saw me like that and asked.
“Do you need a hug?”
“···How did you know?”
“Come here.”
Normally her face would have been hot, but Ruby obediently fell into her outstretched arms.
In the past, her physique was similar to mine. When did it become this big?
In the meantime, Ruby often engaged in skinship under the guise of pranks, but it had been a few years since she had had such a deep hug.
Just as she had hugged Ruby as she trembled in fear in her flames when she was 13, now she was comforting me.
“···.”
As she was stroking her head with Ruby’s soft touch, her worries melted away like snow.
She wanted to fool around in his warm arms forever, so she buried her face in his arms and did her best to hide her expression as if she was about to cry.
Ruby’s heart was pounding vividly.
Ruby, who had been stroking me for a while, lowered her head and whispered softly in my ear.
“···I like it. Amber.”
“Yes?”
As I blinked and asked again, Ruby stuttered as her ears turned bright red.
“…Uh, so…What I just said…”
What is so shameful?
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I responded to her new remark with a wide smile.
“I like it too.”
Then Ruby said with a slightly surprised expression.
“···Amber too?”
“Yes. “You are my only family.”
“Ah…”
For some reason, Ruby’s expression seemed to have become lukewarm for a moment, but that was probably because she was embarrassed.
“Yes. That’s right, family…”
“Please continue to look after me. Miss.”
I guess my master-slave relationship with her was destined to become much more deeply intertwined than I thought.
—(Bonus)
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