The Missing Ingredient
It was all because her body had grown weak.
That was Donghee's conclusion after seeing the hallucination of a man who looked like a hairtail fish.
The sudden flood of status windows that had appeared right after still lingered in her mind, but since the expressions were ones she used often anyway, the unease didn't last long.
The status window would act like it was trying to help her, only to suddenly behave like a mischievous little sibling that kept interrupting her homework.
Maybe that was why she kept bickering with a status window that wasn't even a person.
“Aigoo, I don't know anymore.”
She had never been the type to dwell on something for long.
Perhaps it was simply her habit of living by tackling whatever urgent problem was right in front of her. For Donghee, there were far too many pressing issues that needed immediate solutions.
Watching the sky outside the carriage window gradually turn orange, Donghee began dozing off again.
By the time the carriage arrived at Grace Castle, the sun had nearly set and darkness was settling in.
The coachman who had driven all day, the horses, and even the lord who had been riding inside were all equally exhausted.
“Shall I have them prepare a bath?”
Delma, who had come out to greet them, asked while quickly walking beside Chloe.
When she heard from the coachman that they had stopped by Enol Village on the way back and arrived late, she had been shocked beyond words. It hadn't been on the schedule, and both the horses and the coachman looked utterly drained.
If even the others were this tired, she thought the lord might collapse the moment she stepped down.
But the lord's reaction was completely different from what Delma had expected.
“No. Instead, could you bring me some Tiese Stone powder and Como Tree sap?”
“Pardon? Suddenly? Without resting first?”
Chloe's skin, which had been smooth and glossy that morning, now looked dry and dull from fatigue. Her neatly arranged hair, which she must have leaned against the carriage wall while dozing, was now a mess with stray strands sticking out everywhere.
This would have been absolutely unthinkable for the old Chloe Grace. The lord who used to fuss until she looked like a perfect doll at every moment now seemed completely unconcerned about her hair.
It was nice to see her acting more mature, but these sudden changes made Delma's heart tremble with fear.
“There's something I need to check urgently. I'll take a bath after I confirm it.”
“How long will it take?”
Delma asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the lord's disheveled hair.
“I'm not sure. I'll have to try it first. But since it's already late today, it probably won't take too long.”
“Understood. Shall I bring the Como Tree and Tiese Stone to your room?”
“No. To the kitchen.”
“Ah… Yes.”
It almost sounded like the head chef was screaming somewhere in the distance.
Donghee's laboratory was, in fact, the kitchen.
It had fire and water, bowls of various sizes she could use freely, and the excellent marble countertop could withstand anything no matter how hot she placed on it.
“What are you planning to do with these?”
Although she had brought them at the lord's command, Delma's expression was full of suspicion.
She already knew from Handsome that the lord had mixed Tiese Stone powder and Como Tree sap in the shaded garden to make something. Was that not the end of it?
Delma's worries were endless. The lord kept trying to do something with materials that couldn't be eaten or used to make anything useful.
“I'm not entirely sure either.”
“Pardon?”
These days the lord had been so sharp and decisive that Delma had willingly brought the ingredients, only to realize she might have trusted her too much.
Delma barely swallowed the sigh rising in her throat and stood beside Chloe. No matter how pathetic, she was still her master. If she could help in a moment of need, that was enough.
Donghee picked up one of the pale gray Tiese Stones, turned it over in her hand a few times, then dropped it into the mortar with a clunk.
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of pounding Tiese Stone in the small mortar echoed.
Since it was originally a soft rock, it quickly turned into fine powder after just a few strikes.
Next came the Como Tree. Donghee cut a branch to extract the sap, then placed a small bowl underneath.
As soon as she made the cut, the sticky liquid quickly filled the bowl.
She had done this process before, so there was no hesitation.
Delma watched with fascination as Donghee worked with the serious expression of an alchemist, grinding powder and extracting sap.
She had watched over the lord since the day she was born, but this side of her was completely new.
She desperately wanted to ask what she was making and how she knew how to do it, but she held back.
Whatever it was, the way the lord pursed her lips in concentration was somehow endearing to watch.
The lord mixed the Tiese Stone powder and Como Tree sap in exactly equal ratios, then divided the mixture into several bowls of the same size. She stirred them vigorously with a wooden spatula, just like kneading dough.
Delma could already picture the head chef's devastated face when he discovered the ruined spatula tomorrow morning.
That spatula would probably have to be thrown into the fireplace or the oven tonight.
Before long, ten bowls filled with a thick gray liquid were neatly lined up on the marble countertop.
Delma had been staring at the lord's work in a daze when she suddenly remembered something. She pulled a letter from her pocket and held it out to Donghee.
“What's that?”
Donghee had been staring intently at the row of bowls when she glanced at the envelope Delma offered.
“It is a letter from Viscount Patrasche.”
“Patrasche? Why, did they put red beans in it or something?”
Donghee made the silly joke and chuckled, only to meet Delma's blinking eyes. Delma looked like she was wondering what on earth the lord was saying now.
“What are red beans?”
“Never mind, it's nothing. What does it say?”
Donghee's lips protruded even more than usual as she asked. Her ambitious little joke had completely failed to land with Delma.
“Since it is addressed to you, my lady, I have not read it. However, I suspect it is a letter announcing that he will soon visit Grace Castle. Letters like this always arrive around this time of year.”
“Really?”
Donghee shrugged and tore open the envelope. Since her hands were covered in the mixture from all the stirring, the envelope became a complete mess.
She pulled out the letter with her fingertips, then used the torn envelope to wipe the gunk off her hands.
Delma gasped in shock and offered her handkerchief, but Donghee refused, saying it would only get dirty.
“Wow, look at that handwriting! You'd think it was printed.”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. I just meant the handwriting is nice. But the person who sent it isn't Patrasche-with-beans, is it?”
“Ah! Then it must have been sent by Lady Aileen.”
“Aileen?”
It was a name she was hearing for the first time. But she couldn't let on that she didn't know it, so Donghee kept her mouth shut and simply stared at the letter.
The letter said that she would soon visit Grace with her father, and that she would be coming along as well. She was also bringing a gift for Chloe.
“She says she's bringing a gift?”
She didn't exactly have warm feelings toward the viscount, but the word “gift” strangely made her heart flutter.
It was because she hadn't received many presents in her life.
“My lady, why do you look so happy again? I'm certain he will once again try to get you to sell one of the remaining villages.”
“Then I just won't sell it.”
“Ah!”
Delma remembered that Grace's financial situation was no longer what it used to be and broke into a bright smile, albeit belatedly.
“Then this time, you must absolutely not do whatever Lady Aileen wants! Understood?”
“Why?”
Donghee asked in a voice that even she thought sounded stupid. It was because she had no idea what kind of feelings the original Chloe Grace had held toward this person named Aileen.
When she gave such an ambiguous response, Delma took it upon herself to spill all the information so that Donghee could make her own judgment.
“Well, aigoo! Can I even say this?”
Delma opened her mouth, then clamped it shut like a clam. She let out several deep sighs. She repeated the motion of opening her mouth, shaking her head, and closing it again several times.
Worried that Delma's lips might not survive, Donghee grabbed her arm with a hand still stained with gray mixture.
“Just say it.”
Delma looked at the gray stain on her clothes, raised an eyebrow, then gave up and let out a long sigh before continuing.
“The gifts that Lady Aileen gives you, my lady, as if she were bestowing charity… all of them are, well…”
“Why? Are they cheap? Is everything low-quality junk?”
Delma clamped her mouth shut again and nodded.
“And Chloe used to love them without realizing, giggling like an idiot.”
“…Yes.”
Delma looked at the lord, who was speaking of herself as if she were someone else, with a puzzled expression and answered slowly.
“It's because the old me was pathetic. Let's just say that person wasn't me. Got it?”
Realizing she had slipped up, Donghee quickly tried to gloss over it.
“Yes!”
But the method seemed to work. Delma's expression had never looked brighter.
“By the way, my lady, what exactly are you making all of those for?”
Those thick, grayish substances definitely didn't look like food. Watching them sit in the bowls, Delma grew anxious, afraid the lord might try to shove them in her mouth like she had with the dural, claiming they were perfectly fine.
“Ah! I'm trying to mix something into this.”
“Into that?”
“Yeah. I managed to make something similar to cement, but I don't think that's the end of it.”
“Cement?”
“There's something like that. It's a material that hardens and makes buildings and roads strong and long-lasting.”
“You even know about such things?”
Delma, who had never once seen Chloe open a book in her entire life, found the lord's current behavior utterly unfamiliar.
“Why isn't this hardening?”
Donghee stared at the solutions she had made with a serious expression.
When she had mixed only the Como Tree sap and Tiese Stone powder, it had hardened in the blink of an eye. But now that she had added one more thing, it refused to set.
She had tried mixing in every kind of powder she could find in the kitchen—salt, flour, and so on. However, adding any other powder besides the Como Tree sap and Tiese Stone made the viscosity drop significantly compared to the original. When she mixed in salt, the Tiese Stone powder and Como Tree sap even separated like water and oil.
“Whoa, that's interesting. Guess I can't use this method if I build a house by the sea.”
She muttered to herself in fascination at the new discovery. Delma, who had been quietly watching, suddenly spoke up.
“My lady.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you planning to use that to make roads and build houses?”
“Of course not. Obviously I'd mix in soil too, and wood… Wait, gasp!”
“What is it!”
“Soil!”
“Pardon?”
Donghee realized belatedly that she had forgotten the most important ingredient.
“Where can I get some soil?”
“In the garden, I suppose?”
The moment Delma answered, Donghee thrust a large bucket in front of her.
“Go dig up some soil.”