Third Arc: Thirty-Seventh Chapter

"Teacher! How will you cook that ingredient for tonight's supper?! No, of course this Jackson knows every dish you make is wonderful! But I can't picture the finishing at all! Truly, Teacher, you're at heights this Maikel could never hope to reach..."

"Is it Jackson? Is it Maikel? Or... no, never mind."

It struck me just then that this was the first I'd heard of the head chef's name. Maikel and Jackson. I had no idea which was the given name and which the surname, but string them together and only a certain legendary singer came to mind.

"...Are you good at singing, or dancing?"

"Singing? No one's ever praised my singing, but when it comes to bon dance I've a little skill..."

"Bon dance?! Bon... bon odori...?"

No good. The riddle only bred more riddles. This is another world. There's no way they'd have an Obon like Japan's here. Right?

I was dying to know the head chef's background, but there was no time to chase it.

Still talking, I reached the kitchen, switched my head over, quickly put on my apron, and fired off orders to the waiting cooks.

"Right, everyone, are we ready?! Tonight's supper, we give it everything!"

"Aye aye, sir!"

At my command the cooks sprang into motion and the kitchen turned into a battlefield. But could they do nothing about that reply? I'm not a ship's captain.

---

A grand chandelier blazed, and the flicker of lit candles was reflected all through the room, where a long dinner table stood draped in pure white cloth. Yet for all that length of table, Lyonetta and Remias sat nestled together at one end, in the seats of honor.

"Our house's cook has a name for skill. I'm sure you'll be pleased too, Viscount Dranju."

"I look forward to it. Though before you, Lady Lyonetta, I may lose all sense of a dish's taste..."

"Oh, why is that?"

"Because before someone as charming as you, any dish would blur away... heh."

"My! You jest!"

At Remias's words Lyonetta wriggled and beamed. Whether the tea party had drawn them closer, she now seemed quite smitten with him.

Someone was watching the two of them with a sour look.

That's... the mansion's butler. Dunhill, wasn't it. From the corner at the lower end of the room, peering in from behind the door that led to the kitchen, the one separate from the entrance the masters used, I noticed Dunhill was irritated. Maybe he didn't like Lyonetta losing her head over Remias. It was the middle of an important plan for them, after all.

As I watched, the head chef, whom I'd left in charge of the finishing, came to report that the dishes were ready. Hearing it, Dunhill seized the chance and cut in between Lyonetta and Remias.

"Madam, the meal is ready. May we bring it in?"

"Hm? Yes, bring it."

Lyonetta, who had been clinging to Remias close enough to kiss him, frowned at Dunhill for cutting in, but she nodded.

At the word, maids led by the head chef carried the dishes in.

"This is kasujiru. Please take it with the wine-steamed shellfish."

"Oh, what a lovely smell... oh? Isn't the drink in it a bit strong?"

"A supper for a special night, then. Thank you."

Lyonetta drew her brows together at the rising fumes of alcohol, but the moment she heard Remias she smiled happily and tipped her wine glass.

"Yes indeed! Tonight I feel I might... get quite drunk... oh, this is very strong wine."

"Ah, this is my favorite wine! To think you'd prepare it specially!"

"O-oh, is it now?"

Lyonetta tilted her head at wine far stronger than her usual, but decided it must have been Remias's request and was satisfied.

And just as the two of them finished the dish, the next plate arrived.

"Sake-steamed asparagus, spring vegetables in wine sauce, and turnip pickled in sake."

"How colorful... hang on, isn't the alcohol heavy?"

"Ahh, superb!"

Remias, all smiles, ate on and on. Drawn along, Lyonetta too kept lifting the far boozier than usual dishes to her mouth, tilting her head all the while.

---

"I, I've had enough... I'm quite full... ooh..."

By the time the supper neared its end, Lyonetta's white face had gone bright red and her eyes had melted sleepily. Remias gently propped up her shoulder and signaled the maid to bring the parting gift he'd prepared.

"Lady Lyonetta, you look very tired. Won't you rest now? I'd hoped you would have the fruit juice I prepared as a last course, but it's a pity. It won't keep, so let all of you servants drink it."

"Th-that... zzz."

"Oh dear..."

Before she could even answer, Lyonetta was breathing in her sleep. Holding her up, Remias smiled with a look full of tender affection.

---

"Honestly, the Madam and her taste in men. What a trial."

Lyonetta had retired to bed early, and with Viscount Dranju gone home too, the mansion had settled into an earlier sleep than usual, like the hush after a festival. In one of its rooms, Dunhill slowly tipped a glass.

The fruit juice Viscount Dranju had left behind was apparently made with a fruit called ume. One sip spread a soft sweet-and-sour scent, and it was very good, but.

"Juice? This seems to have drink in it..."

The Viscount, for all his gentle face, must be surprisingly strong with drink, Dunhill said to himself. He had calmly polished off the dishes Lyonetta kept calling so boozy, so a little fruit wine was probably like juice to a man like him.

"Still, a wonderfully sweet, tasty drink, this..."

But Dunhill never finished the thought. His mind slid away into a pleasant sleep.