ITMWG 53

Chapter 53…

Do you get any energy from eating this?

The next day, as soon as Nadia finished breakfast, she called for Pavel. She had such a serious look on her face that Pavel wondered if something grim had happened to her, since she rarely summoned him. Pavel’s guess wasn’t entirely wrong, as she subsequently handed him the letter she had written yesterday as soon as she returned from the garden.

“A letter?”

“Yes. I want to send it to the merchant who supplied the seedlings to our garden.”

“Why to them…Do you wish to order additional seedlings?”

Pavel tilted his head as he received the letter. The garden had just been renovated, so he thought there was no need to order new seedlings.

“No. I will never order seedlings from that scammer again. I want to tell them to take all the trees in the garden.”

Apparently, Pavel and the gardener carefully inspected the seedlings coming into the garden. Nadia herself did not know how a bad tree that fell down on its own got there.

That’s how cunning the merchant has deceived us.

When she expressed her anger strongly, Pavel widened his eyes in surprise.

“What happened?”

Nadia sighed and led Pavel to the window. From where they looked down, they could see that two large trees had collapsed and were lying on the ground.

“Why are they suddenly… ”

Pavel leaned out of the window and looked at the fallen trees in disbelief.

“The way they collapsed looks a little unnatural. Could it be that someone damaged it?”

“No. Yesterday, while I was having tea with the prince, a tree suddenly fell. The merchant must have delivered defective ones.”

If not, it must really have been done by a ghost.

Nadia poured out her laments to Pavel, hoping for sympathy, but the response she received was completely different from what she expected.

“Pardon? You had tea with the prince yesterday?”

“Uh…Is it the time to talk about such a thing?”

“In the garden? Right after turning away from his lord in the hallway?”

To Nadia’s puzzlement, Pavel kept asking weird questions. She absent-mindedly nodded, wondering about Pavel’s intention.

“Yes. I went to the garden after that and the prince was there so…”

At her answer, Pavel laughed refreshingly, as if he had found the answer to the great mystery.

“So that’s why his lord had such a sullen face yesterday…”

“His lord? What’s with Altair?”

Why is Altair suddenly brought up?

“It’s nothing. It’s just, something has made a little more sense..”

Pavel hurriedly corrected his words and waved his hand dismissively at her, who was tilting her head in confusion.

Pavel fiddled with the letter Nadia gave him in a visibly awkward manner before putting it into his pocket. At his action, Nadia became even more baffled.

“There was no problem with the seedlings? You can tell just by looking at it this far away?”

Was Pavel that knowledgeable about plants? Of course, Pavel had a considerable amount of knowledge about various things, so he helped a lot with decorating the garden, but she didn’t know that he was able to notice problems with the seedlings just by having a glance at them.

“That…well…yes…”

Pavel cleared his throat, as if feeling burdened by the admiration sparkling in her eyes.

“First, we will replace the damaged trees with new ones. And for today’s lunch, the lord…”

“Madame.”

Before Pavel could finish speaking, Marie’s voice was heard from outside.

“A guest has arrived. He came to pick you up.”

“Oh, it’s already that time.”

Her conversation with Pavel took longer than she expected, and she didn’t even realise how much time had passed.

Nadia answered Marie and ran to the mirror. Since preparations had been made on time, it was meant to be the last check. As she turned around, moving in a hurry, she found Pavel standing awkwardly in place.

“Oh right. Pavel, didn’t you want to say something?”

“Oh… I see you already have plans for lunch?”

She could obviously see Pavel contemplating. He appeared to be wondering who she could be having an appointment with, as there were few people in Aylesford who could arrange a lunch date with the Baroness.

“I’m going to eat with the prince.”

Nadia quickly gave him the answer so he wouldn’t have to worry anymore.

“We made an appointment yesterday when I came back from tea time. He’s going to give me some precious tea leaves.”

“Is that so…”

“Yes. Since a guest has arrived, as the lady of the house, I have to treat them to a meal at least once… And so we decided to have lunch and tea time together.”

“Oh…so that’s how it is…”

Pavel smiled awkwardly, looking a little flustered. There seemed to be something wrong.

When Nadia called his name, implying to ask whether everything was alright, Pavel shook his head lightly.

“It’s nothing. It was us who did things as we pleased without considering madame’s schedule…I will take care of it.”

“What’s wrong? If I can help, we’ll figure it out together.”

“Hmm…nevermind it. I think it would be better to accompany His Highness the Prince for the time being.”

“Right…”

Pavel had probably finished organising things in his head and come to a clear conclusion, but his awkward smile stuck to Nadia’s mind.

But Pavel’s said it’s okay, so if I keep asking…

Eventually, Nadia gave up and left the room. As soon as she opened the door, Prince Orca, with his usual friendly smile, extended his hand to her.

“Shall we?”

She put her hand over his in response to the simple request and glanced behind her to see Pavel looking at her with a complicated face.

What should I do with this?

Pavel looked at Nadia’s back as she walked away while holding Prince Orca’s hand and lightly scratched his head. The night before, the second countermeasures meeting was secretly convened in Aylesford. It was a meeting held by Pavel, who saw the cold atmosphere between Altair and Nadia. Participants were Pavel and the kitchen staff.

We will prepare a place for the madame and his lord to reconcile. How about preparing a meal centred around capital food that she might like?

The kitchen workers agreed with Pavel’s suggestion. And so, they stayed up all night researching and making food that was mainly eaten by the capital’s nobles.

I’m sure the madame will be satisfied with this!

All preparations were complete. He also told Altair to come to the dining hall on time, but he failed to take Nadia’s schedule into account.

Who knew that she would have another appointment?

And not to mention it was having lunch with the prince of all people. It was obvious that Altair would feel uncomfortable if he found out.

It won’t end with breaking the trees this time.

Pavel looked out the window and clicked his tongue at the trees strewn across the ground. That day, Altair went after Nadia at Pavel’s urging. He must have been enraged when he saw Prince Orca and Nadia drinking tea in a harmonious atmosphere in the garden, so he took out his anger on the trees.

For some reason, he returned to the office sooner than expected and had a sullen expression on his face.

Just by the look on his face, it seemed like they hadn’t reconciled properly, so he couldn’t ask him about the situation, but today, he learned the reason through a conversation with Nadia.

For now, before the lord goes to the dining hall, I should inform him that the schedule has changed.

If so, there was no time to waste. Pavel hurried to Altair’s office, but it was already empty. When he grabbed one of the servants who was tidying up the office and asked about it, he was told that Altair had already left for the dining hall.

Oh no.

Pavel sighed at the twisted situation and rushed to the dining hall. When he opened the door and entered, Altair was sitting quietly with a generous amount of food in front of him. Altair, who glanced over at the sign of someone entering, frowned slightly upon seeing Pavel.

“You prepare all these gourmets to have me eat with you?”

“That’s…That wasn’t the plan, but…”

Pavel’s shoulders drooped and he plopped down where Nadia should have been sitting.

“It’s been a while since we last had a meal together. You don’t hate having lunch with me, do you?”

“You invited me to lunch so seriously. In the end, we’re just going to have a meal together?”

Altair scanned the food on the table, the corners of his mouth raising languidly. He couldn’t understand at all.

“You…Did you like this kind of food?”

“What do you mean by this kind of food?”

“It’s food that only sophisticated nobles would eat.”

Altair had a sour look on his face as he went through the salad prepared as an appetiser with a fork.

“Do you even get any energy from eating this?”

“Well, it seems like it.”

Pavel nodded, reflecting on Nadia. She usually enjoyed a light diet. Her eating habits were completely different from Altair, who always craved meat for every meal.

If you think about it, they really have a lot of differences.

Their eating habits and personality were all completely opposite.

Now that those two people have become a couple…There’s no way it’s going to be smooth sailing.

Hmm.

He hated to admit it, but like the lord said, could eating these really give one strength? It was a little difficult to understand the madame’s eating habits. The two men, who were Easterners to their core, started eating awkwardly in front of the capital’s luxurious food. With all honesty, it was a meal that left no one satisfied.

“Baroness?”

“Ah.”

Nadia suddenly came to her senses at Orca’s call. Even as she sat down to eat in the sunny garden, her mind continued to wander elsewhere. It was because of Pavel’s expression she saw before leaving kept coming to mind.

It clearly seemed like he wanted to say something…

If it was so hard for Pavel to bring up something, it would have been about Altair…

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Prince Orca asked anxiously, seemingly worried. A little surprised, she intended to say no, but then bit her lips shut again. Wasn’t it rude to tend to guests while being preoccupied with something else?

If I keep getting distracted by something else amidst the conversation like this…

Before long, Nadia, having organised her thoughts, raised from her seat.

“Your Highness, I’m terribly sorry, but can I treat you to a meal another day?”

It was extremely rude to get up first while serving a guest, but as if her expression was not good the whole time, Prince Orca actually looked even more worried and readily nodded.

“Of course. I think it would be best to just rest and not worry about it. I will escort you to your room.”

“It’s fine. The food has been prepared with great care, so please enjoy your meal until the end.”

“…If you say so.”

Prince Orca, who was about to stand up, sat down in his chair again. Nadia then gave him a final polite greeting and hurriedly walked outside. The servant who was bringing out other food looked surprised when he saw her leaving. She carefully held him back and whispered softly to him to ask of Pavel’s whereabouts.

“Where is the butler right now?”

“He’s probably in the dining hall.”

“Dining hall? Why there?”

“I heard he’s having a meal with the lord…”

Her mouth dropped open at the servant’s words.

Her head was ringing.