Chapter 10

Tanya, who had overslept, woke to a sweet smell filling the house and dashed off to the kitchen.

The worktable was a mess of flour dough, eggs, and other baking ingredients. Adele stood in front of it, carefully weighing out portions on the scale and jotting down the recipe.

“You should have woken me.”

Tanya said it apologetically, straightening up the scattered ingredients.

“No, I just couldn’t sleep, so I got up early.”

“What are you making, anyway? Apple pie?”

Tanya asked, peering at Adele’s recipe notes.

“Yes, I thought I’d try my hand at apple pie.”

Now that she thought about it, Adele had never once made apple pie before — even though it was the most common pie of all.

“It’s bound to be delicious. Your skills are the best, after all.”

“Delicious isn’t enough.”

“Then what else do you need?”

Adele smiled bitterly.

“My mother’s touch?”

“What?”

“I suddenly found myself missing the pies my mother used to make. Even using the same ingredients, I don’t think I could ever get that taste right.”

Adele’s voice was thick with longing.

“Maybe food tastes different depending on when and with whom you eat it?”

“…Maybe.”

Adele reached back through old memories.

When Adele was a child, her mother had owned the best bakery in the village.

Every morning, people would line up for the bread.

Their household was poor, but they never went hungry — except for the taunts she endured as a fatherless bastard child.

Then, at some point, a boy of six or seven caught Adele’s eye.

A scrawny child who watched the bread line with envious eyes. He was filthy, as though he hadn’t washed in ages, but she couldn’t look away from his silver hair and strange, blue-gray eyes.

People said he was Chris, the miner’s son.

They said his mother had run off with another man right after giving birth to him — and that perhaps even the boy wasn’t his father’s child at all.

That was how little Christine resembled his father. Perhaps that was why the man all but neglected him.

When the father went off to work the mines for days at a time, the boy was left to beg for food to fill his empty stomach.

Adele gave Christine an apple pie she’d been saving.

He devoured it in an instant, and came back again the next day.

Like a pretty little animal returning to beg for food.

Adele made washing himself the price of the pie. She gave him clothes to change into. Later, she taught him his letters, and even dance and piano.

He trailed after her like a puppy, eagerly learning everything she taught him. Adele’s mother was delighted, saying she’d gained a handsome son.

As the years passed, Christine’s father — once always away — began visiting the mother and daughter’s house more and more often.

He fixed their baking oven and even made a sign for the bakery.

And in the end, the two parents decided to formally remarry.

Adele remembered her mother hoping for heavy snow on the wedding day — snow meant a smooth, happy marriage, her mother used to say, dreaming of that happiness.

For her mother’s sake, she made the bridal bouquet with her own hands.

But…

The day before the wedding, her mother died.

On her way back from delivering bread, she was attacked by beasts in the forest — and came home a mangled corpse.

With that, all of Adele’s happiness vanished too.

It had happened in the winter of her eighteenth year.

---

“Mmm, mmm! Delicious! Delicious!”

Mia chewed with her cheeks puffed fit to burst, stamping her feet.

“Right? It’s seriously the best!”

Tanya gave an unhesitating thumbs-up.

But unlike the two women made happy by a single pie, Adele looked dissatisfied.

“This isn’t the flavor I wanted. It should be richer, with a crust that’s crisp but still moist…”

“What was that?”

Tanya whispered to a dumbfounded Mia.

“She says she wants it to taste like her mother’s.”

“Adele, this is the best apple pie I’ve ever had. The Emperor himself would surely love it, so don’t worry.”

“I’m not trying to supply the palace.”

“Then what?”

Adele just smiled quietly, lost in some thought of her own.

“Anyway, it’s about time he got here.”

Mia picked up another slice of pie, glancing out the window.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

At Adele’s question, Mia gave a conspirator’s smile.

“My brother. Mark.”

“What?”

Adele startled, and Mia winked playfully.

“You asked me to introduce you, remember?”

“But so suddenly…?”

Mia soothed a near-tearful Adele.

“Don’t make a big deal of it. He had a house call nearby, so I just asked him to stop by for a bit. It’s completely casual, so just act natural.”

Mark, a veterinarian, often made house calls to the nearby farms.

“Still…”

“It’s not like you two are strangers. Besides, you’re pretty enough today as it is. Just take off that apron, fix yourself up a little, and you’ll be perfect.”

“I’ll go get a comb right now!”

Quick on the uptake, Tanya dashed off at lightning speed and came back with a comb. She undid the knot in Adele’s hair and began brushing it out.

Mia hurried to pull a powder puff and lipstick from her things — as if she’d somehow come prepared for exactly this.

“W-what are you going to do?”

Mia grinned at a flustered Adele.

“You’re pretty now, but I bet you’ll be even prettier with a little makeup.”

“S-stop it, Mia…”

Adele retreated, flustered.

But Tanya, busy brushing her hair, was already blocking her escape from behind.

Mia pressed in closer, her eyes curving into a sly smile.

“Now, hold still, Adele.”

“Ugh! Please. I hate this sort of thing. Weren’t you the one who said to act natural?”

“Oh, but for noble ladies, this is natural. Just bear with it a little, my lady.”

“Tanya, you too?!”

And so the two women joined forces, doing Adele’s makeup and styling her hair.

Maybe feeding them pie had been a mistake — everyone had entirely too much energy.

“He’s here!”

A moment later, Tanya called out, looking through the window.

“Oh, perfect timing.”

Mia looked pleased, having just finished Adele’s makeup.

“Let me see a mirror…”

Adele held out her hand, but Mia quickly hid the hand mirror behind her back, laughing.

“Don’t worry. ‘Done up but not done up’ is today’s whole concept.”

“I think you’ve done me up way too much.”

With that, Adele swiftly snatched the mirror away from Mia.

The moment she saw her own face, she nearly screamed.

“Mia, this isn’t actually me, is it?”

The Adele in the mirror had been powdered pale, past fair and straight into chalk-white, her lips painted a garishly bright red. And her cheeks — the blush was so riotously red and pink it was almost violent.

And on top of it all, her long, loose hair had flowers pinned into it…

“You’re surprised at how pretty you are, aren’t you?”

Adele smiled brightly. Only her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“Yes, I’m truly, deeply surprised. So — I’m taking it off now?”

Adele moved to wipe it off, but Mia quickly grabbed her hand.

“No, you’re way too pretty right now!”

“Don’t tell me Mark’s type is a woman who looks like she just murdered a rat?”

“It’s just the mirror being weird. In person, you really do look gorgeous.”

“Let go of my hand, Mia. Or else that pie you just ate might turn out to be your last.”

Adele was still smiling, but her eyes were murderous.

“Nooo… I don’t want to.”

But Mia only shook her head, refusing to back down.

That was when it happened.

“Welcome!”

Along with Tanya’s cheerful greeting, a young man carrying a large house-call bag stepped inside.

“Mark! It’s been ages!”

Mia, who had been wrestling with Adele a moment ago, dashed over and threw her arms around Mark — then promptly dragged him over to introduce him to Adele.

With no choice left, Adele had to face Mark with a face she was sure had been done up far too much.

“You two already know each other, don’t you? Still, let’s make it official today. This is my dear friend Adele — and this is my one and only brother, Mark.”

Mark scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed.

“I hope this sudden visit isn’t an imposition. Mia insisted I stop by, said it’s been far too long since she’s seen your face…”

“No, not at all — you’re very welcome. I just baked a pie, please have some before you go.”

Mark’s mouth watered at the sweet smell of pie filling the house.

“I was getting a little hungry, so I won’t be shy about accepting. Johnson’s cow had a difficult birth, and it took more out of me than I expected.”

“Oh dear. Are the mother and calf both well?”

“Yes, thankfully.”

As he took a seat at the table, Adele brought out a freshly baked apple pie from the oven — one she’d set aside to send home with Mia.

Watching them, Tanya leaned in and whispered to Mia.

“The two of them suit each other better than I expected.”

“Of course! My brother takes after me — looks, character, nothing about him is lacking.”

“Well, that’s…”

Tanya couldn’t quite agree with that part.

Unlike cheerful, talkative Mia, Mark was pleasant but composed. His neatly combed brown hair and deep blue eyes gave him a tidy, gentle impression.

He was handsome enough to stand out anywhere, and his tall frame, solidly but not excessively built, was plenty masculine.

Tanya found herself nodding with an odd sense of satisfaction, when—

“Oh, I nearly forgot! Tanya, I completely forgot to bring the knitting yarn you asked for. Honestly, my memory…”

Knitting yarn? What knitting yarn?

Tanya looked at her as if to ask what she meant, and Mia winked.

Only then did Tanya catch on to Mia’s scheme, and she played along.

“Really? Oh no, what do we do? I absolutely need it today.”

“Then shall we go get it together?”

“Should we?”

The two of them, perfectly in sync, moved to make themselves scarce, and Adele startled.

Mia reassured her.

“We’ll be right back, Adele.”

But Mia’s expression made it painfully clear that “right back” was not happening anytime soon.

“I’ll come with you to get the yarn later.”

Adele whispered, mindful of Mark, but Mia quickly shook her head.

“Mm, no need. We’ll bring yours back too, so don’t worry.”

“Mia…”

Adele called out her name silently, mouthing the word in distress.

But Mia only mouthed back “good luck,” her face lit up with barely contained delight.

“Well, I suppose I should get going, then.”

Noticing Adele’s discomfort, Mark made to rise. But he’d only just sat down as a guest, hadn’t he?

“No, please. They’ll be back in no time.”

Adele stopped him, then, as the lady of the house, gave Tanya a pointed warning.

“Tanya, there’s a lot to do today, so come back quickly.”

“Of course. I’ll be back soon, my lady!”

But Tanya’s bright smile made it clear that Adele’s warning had landed on completely deaf ears.

---

Now, the house held only Adele and Mark, seated across the table from each other.

The suddenness of it all left Adele flustered.

Still — if something came of this, even by accident, wouldn’t that be for the best?

Adele tried hard to see the situation in a positive light. Rumors that she intended to remarry had already spread far and wide. If people learned she’d grown close to Mark, the talk linking her to Christine would naturally die down. Then he could go on to marry the Princess without any trouble…

And wasn’t that exactly why she’d asked to be introduced to Mark in the first place — hoping for precisely that?

“It seems things have been quiet with House Oswald lately.”

“Pardon?”

Adele, lost in thought, looked up at him.

Mark took a big bite of the triangle-cut slice of pie.

“You look better than you used to… It’s good to see.”

“Oh… this is…”

So this man really does have a taste for women who look like they’ve murdered a rat?

Adele flushed, remembering the heavily made-up face she’d seen in the mirror just moments ago.

“Though I imagine that bold makeup was Mia’s handiwork.”

“Thankfully, you have a sharp eye.”

“Only when it comes to someone I’m interested in.”

Mark said it with an indifferent expression, sipping his tea.

Adele, equally indifferent-faced, pretended not to have heard.

But being alone with a man who’d just confessed his interest in her was unbearably awkward and flustering.