Third Arc: Second Chapter

"Airing the place out matters, you know! Look! The wind's crossing the grassland!"

I threw the carriage window wide open and breathed in the scent of the wind. At the very same moment, wind full of snow came rushing in with tremendous force, and my hair stood straight up all at once.

Gah! I, I can't open my eyes...

"...Milady, it's cold, so please shut it. Lady Julia will catch a chill."

"Ngh... all right..."

Right now I was in a carriage bound for Lumelica. Riding with me were Lady Julia, her maid Dora, and Sissi.

Leaving my messed-up hair as it was, I quietly closed the window, feeling a little deflated. Ever since we left Altria, it had been nothing but out-of-season snow and rain, so I hadn't even been able to open a window.

A carriage journey feels closed-in as it is. I thought that keeping the window shut the whole way would darken my mood, so I forced it open. It was a complete failure. Well, the wind was so fierce that the air got changed in an instant, so I'll call it a win.

Still, aren't Sissi's jabs a little too sharp lately? At first Lady Julia had worn a look that said, "Is that quite all right?" at Sissi's rough manner toward me, but she must have gotten used to it, because now it didn't faze her.

Without sparing me a glance, Sissi, who had said her piece flatly, was working away in silence on her papers. That was Signora business, no doubt. I stole a look at her hands and gently turned my eyes away.

After we decided to go to Lumelica, I had done what I could of Signora's work in advance, for the time I would be away, but it seemed there was still more left undone. Ever since the hunt especially, there had been no time to breathe. It started with founding a clothing brand under a joint name with Madam Zamus and opening new shops, then new designs for riding wear and boots, then strategy meetings for the spring clothing and shoes. One thing after another.

And Sissi, who handled the talks between all the departments, was forever running around. Day by day her face grew more grim and driven, and it was truly frightening. Well, it still is.

"Sissi, once we get to Lumelica, let's eat lots of meat. Shall we have sirloin? Or maybe the fillet after all. Chef! Cook it medium rare! Only joking. And mashed potato soaked in the meat juices is superb too. Ahh, I'm hungry..."

"Milady, have an onigiri."

"Oh, how thoughtful. That's my Sissi. Would you like one too, Lady Julia?"

Sissi handed me onigiri wrapped in bamboo leaves, and I pressed them eagerly on Lady Julia and Dora. They were superb onigiri, filled with the special tsukudani our head chef had put up in jars. This tsukudani was the fruit of blood, sweat, and tears, worked out by the head chef and me together.

"Th-thank you, Lady Cosette."

"Not at all. Eat your fill."

Munch, munch, munch. Mm, that sweet, salty, savory taste is irresistible. Sending away for soy sauce really was the right call.

Yes, this tsukudani uses soy sauce and mirin, believe it or not. When I asked Yoshihero, the merchant from the East, it turned out the Eastern lands had soy sauce, well, something like it, and mirin, or rather a mirin-style seasoning.

The shock I felt when I learned this, well, I can't tell it without tears. Once I got my hands on those two, my cooking grew far wider in its range. It's no exaggeration to say I came into my own as a housewife.

Look, the thing is, you get tired of nothing but rich, saucy Western food. It was the norm here, so I put up with it until now, but once I remembered the taste of home, I couldn't stop. The head chef was struck by soy sauce and mirin too, in a different way from me, and we developed dish after dish together. Now our earl's household is in the middle of a huge boom in Eastern cooking.

"Tsukudani really is the best onigiri filling," said Lady Julia. "Kombu tsukudani especially is wonderful. Though the little dried fish are hard to pass up too."

"True," said Dora. "Tsukudani is nice, but I like umeboshi best."

As we chatted happily and ate our onigiri, the carriage gave a jolt and stopped. Almost at the same moment, the driver's voice came from outside.

"My ladies, we've reached Medius, the border town."

While I'd been absorbed in the onigiri, a good deal of time had passed, it seemed. Outside the door the driver opened, the snow had stopped and blue sky showed through.

"Medius..."

The name of the town I was seeing for the first time set my heart racing, and I stepped out.