ASE 6

Chapter 6

In that short span of time, countless young ladies struck by Eros’s arrows began falling ill with lovesickness once Lord londmio had left the hall. The banquet hall instantly turned into a gathering place for patients.

Watching the scene, I thought yet again that I really needed some popcorn—then suddenly, Kano came to mind, so I turned to look beside me.

And I swallowed a sigh.

“Latte, I… I can’t get His Highness’s face out of my head.”

Kano’s expression was dreamy, as if she were in a trance.

Oh no, my friend had become one of the patients…

I tried my best not to look at her with pity and asked,

“Is your heart pounding?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you feel short of breath when you think about him?”

“A little…”

“…Good luck.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her, “The crown prince you’ve fallen for is soon going to belong to someone else, so just ditch that crappy feeling as soon as possible.”

And honestly, even if I told her, it wasn’t as though she’d be able to give it up so easily.

So instead, I cheered her on.

Hang in there, keep your mental state intact… and please don’t go doing something like throwing tea on the heroine.

Kano had always been gentle-natured, so I wasn’t too worried. But just in case she showed the slightest sign of evolving into a villainess, I swore I would throw myself in her path to stop her.

I didn’t want her to throw tea and then fade away like tea steam.

With that thought, I picked up a champagne glass nearby.

Here’s to my friend’s safe and peaceful future—cheers.

I drained the peach-flavored champagne and wondered what I should do next.

The crown prince, having left, wouldn’t appear again today. Probably not tomorrow either, or the day after.

By the story’s sequence, he would only reappear after Ebelin had met Male Lead No. 2, Kenis (the duke), and Male Lead No. 3, Arwin (the tower master).

If I remembered right, Ebelin would meet Kenis in the imperial palace gardens, and Arwin in the capital’s marketplace.

The order was exactly that, but the dates were… Let’s see…

Ah, I remembered!

Ebelin would encounter the duke on the final day of this week-long banquet.

She would meet Arwin later than that, which meant I had at least five days of free time.

Popcorn. I’d make popcorn!

Once I’d decided on a plan, standing around idly suddenly felt like a huge waste of time.

This wasn’t the time to just stand here— I was no longer a leisurely bystander. I was now a busy woman with important business to attend to!

Feeling the urgency, I set down my empty glass and was just about to say goodbye to Kano—

When my wandering gaze happened to land on the banquet’s original star, the imperial princess.

Roselia. Lord londmio’s sister, she was surrounded by people and now and then let out a light laugh in response to them.

Every time her eyes crinkled and her lips curved into an arc, it felt like flower buds bloomed around her.

I calmed down and quietly switched into observation mode again.

The saying “as beautiful as a flower” suited Princess Roselia perfectly.

She’s so pretty…

Admiring her elegant figure, I couldn’t help but think it was a shame.

From what I recalled, the princess was rather foolish as a character.

When the heroine’s “fishpond” of male leads was just about ripe, Roselia would fall in love with Kenis—Male Lead No. 2.

But Kenis, being every bit the cliché male lead, ignored the beautiful, well-mannered, high-ranking princess entirely, and instead chased the heroine, who already had two other fish in her pond.

Even without anything else, that made Roselia a tragic figure. But on top of that, she even treated Ebelin—her romantic rival—with extreme kindness.

The confusion in the comments section back then—full of “…?”, “…??”, “…???”, “…????????”—was proof that her actions were completely illogical.

If it were me, I would’ve already grabbed Evelyn by the hair four or five times by then. But instead, the princess said things like, “If you smile, Kenis will smile too…” and devoted herself to making the heroine happy, even though Ebelin was stringing along both her brother and her love interest.

Her “doormat” level was piercing the heavens.

Thinking about that soon-to-come future, I looked at the princess with a heavy heart.

Beautiful lady, why are you such a pushover?

Shaking my head in regret, I saw Rozellia laugh again, as beautiful and pure as before.

If such a beauty was that hung up on Kenis… then Kenis’s face must be nearly on par with the crown prince’s.

Imagining a duke who looked roughly similar to the prince I’d just seen, I turned my gaze back to Kano.

I’d seen enough of the princess for now. Time to say goodbye and hurry off. Popcorn was urgent business.

When I told her I’d be leaving first, Kano looked quite surprised.

“Why? Already?”

“Yeah, I just have something to do. You’ll be staying longer, right?”

“Oh, uh… yeah. I guess…”

She trailed off, her cheeks flushed.

It was painfully obvious she meant to wait in case the crown prince reappeared, and I couldn’t help but feel a stab of pity.

She’s probably going to stay here all night.

It was clear londmio wouldn’t show up again until Kenis and Arwin made their appearances—he had to maintain the fishpond’s balance, after all—but with a polite, fake smile, I told her something different.

Leaving her with the vague request to greet the crown prince on my behalf, I exited the hall. The attendant quickly summoned a carriage for me.

As soon as I got in and felt the same rocking motion as on the way here, I closed my eyes.

Immediately, Kano came to mind.

Oof, poor Kano.

I guess youth is all about… tasting the bitterness of love and growing from it?

I leaned back in the carriage, wishing for my friend’s growth. The view outside had already darkened with nightfall.

I closed my briefly opened eyes again and sank into thought.

Relaxing into the seat, my body loosened and my heart calmed as well.

In the quiet stillness, like a calm lake, I shook off the complicated thoughts and focused on the subject that gave me the most peace.

…How much will my royalties be for this work?

Yes, it was thoughts of money.

By the time I returned to the viscount’s estate, night had fully fallen.

I decided to postpone my dash to the kitchen until morning, and instead let Ushla remove the jewelry from my dress and hair.

While she busily organized the jewel box and brushed down my hair, she kept chattering away.

I used every flowery phrase I knew to describe the crown prince’s looks, and Ushla listened with sparkling eyes to my long string of praise.

But the moment I stopped talking, she gave me a look that clearly said, “So… what romantic development happened between you and His Highness?”

Knowing that any answer I gave would only disappoint her, I told her the plain truth.

“I just watched from afar with the other young ladies.”

Hearing the truth, Ushla was silent for quite a while.

She seemed to be holding out hope for some twist, like “But then, while I was watching, His Highness suddenly came over to me”—but when I started preparing for a bath without saying anything more, her face fell.

I worried she might be sulking, but after I finished bathing, she was back to her usual self, so it seemed she hadn’t been expecting too much after all.

The next day, I woke from a deep, refreshing sleep, quickly made myself presentable, and dashed to the kitchen.

“Good morning, Dupu!”

Maybe it was because I’d slept well, but I felt great. I had this unfounded confidence that I could whip up popcorn in one go.

Brimming with baseless self-assurance, I entered the kitchen and greeted the head chef brightly—only for him to make a strange noise when he saw me.

“Eek!”

“…”

That reaction stung a bit, but considering what I’d done before, I couldn’t exactly blame him.

I recalled the various disasters I’d caused in the kitchen over the past week in my attempts to make popcorn and understood his shock.

Perhaps misunderstanding my silence, Dupu gave an awkward apology.

“Ahem… I’m sorry, my lady.”

He clearly knew how he’d just looked at me.

I wanted to pout and complain, but that would only make him flustered, so I just shook my head gracefully to show I didn’t mind.

Me, Latte. A mature young lady who knows restraint.

“But, my lady… what brings you to the kitchen so early in the morning?”

His careful tone carried not curiosity, but fear—an entirely new shock to me.

It seemed he was almost certain I was here to cause “Round Two” of last week’s chaos.

Come on, fear? Was my appearance in the kitchen really that scary?

I began to wonder if I was remembering events wrong.

I didn’t think I’d done anything that bad… or… had I?

“Uh, Dupu, listen. I promise it won’t be as bad as last time.”

“…”

“Really! Honestly! I’m capable of improvement, you know?”

“W-well… it’s not like I meant to suggest you’d turn the kitchen into a dungeon again…”

That bad?

I couldn’t hide my dismay at his choice of words.

Now that I thought about it, maybe I hadn’t just been trying to make popcorn last time… maybe I’d gone at it with the ambition of opening an entire movie theater.

I spoke again, this time with real sincerity.

“Sorry. But I swear, I’ll use everything properly this time. Trust me.”

“…”

His gaze didn’t exactly radiate trust, but oh well. I decided to just get started.

Marching up to the cooking tools with determination, I heard his worried footsteps following me.

Let’s see—first, a frying pan, butter, a lid, and dried corn kernels. Calmly, I gathered the ingredients.

Compared to the first time, when I’d dumped the kernels straight into a bare frying pan, this was a huge improvement.

That was when I’d first realized I was hopeless at cooking…

In the past, I only needed to cook rice and get the water right for instant noodles.

I was good at using a rice cooker, at least.

“Just so you know, you can’t add water to the oil.”

“Oh, come on. I’m not an idiot.”