Recipe for Treason: A Flavor So Good You'd Sell Out Your Country
Recipe for Treason: A Flavor So Good You'd Sell Out Your Country
The auction fever wasn't as heated as expected.
Participation itself was high, but everyone bid with mechanical reactions, as if deflated.
Still, as if money doesn't lie, the Ainshuvan Army was able to sell off the wyvern taxidermy and World Tree twigs for an enormous sum.
In particular, the moment the Wyvern Lord taxidermy auction began, Count Yunes,
"100 million gold."
settled it instantly with a courtesy bid.
He wasn't purchasing it as a private individual, but as a proxy for the Imperial Household.
Considering that the regular wyvern taxidermy didn't exceed 30,000 gold, it was a truly staggering price.
It was a courtesy bid carrying the scarcity value of being the first-ever Wyvern Lord taxidermy and the implicit hint that if another Lord taxidermy was produced, it should be sold to the Imperial Household.
Among them, the overwhelmingly poorest count, Hildea, saw her eyes shake dizzily before the gold coins piled so high they would've filled a grain warehouse.
Piel whispered to Hildea.
"25 million gold from the Lord taxidermy winning bid is yours, Hildea-nim."
"Hik, you're truly giving that enormous sum to me?"
"Of course. The four of us caught it together, so we'll split it equally."
However, Rebecca and Luna declined, yielding their shares to Piel.
"I don't need gold coins."
"I don't need them either."
Hildea also struggled with the sight, but Piel reassured her.
"Think of it as tax paid by a vassal. This money is absolutely necessary for the County's development."
"...I shall gratefully accept."
Of course, Piel decided to manage the operations.
With the auction fully concluded, it was now time for the honored guests to set off on their return journeys.
Originally they had no intention of staying even a single extra day, but everyone dawdled as if reluctant to leave.
Count Yunes, unable to withstand the Princess's pressing, came to find Hildea once again.
"Lord Valkenhart, I wish to establish an Imperial Embassy in your territory."
"An embassy? Isn't that already in the capital, as it has been for ages?"
"As you are the Chair of the Standing Inspectorate, it seems proper to establish an embassy here for smooth communication. Would you grant your permission?"
"Would it be you, Count, who would be residing here?"
"It would."
Of course, Hildea smiled and refused.
***
Count Yunes could not give up.
Because of the Princess.
Even after the auction ended, he lingered in Ainshuvan for several more days.
The other honored guests, too, did not leave and stayed in Ainshuvan like mongrels clinging to lingering attachment.
Count Yunes, who had been putting effort into persuading Hildea, could not endure Princess Yuzel's sweetly nagging pressure and finally decided to make his move on Piel.
"If I persuade that duty officer who holds the Commander-in-Chief's favor, it might be possible to at least let Her Highness the Princess remain... but must I truly go this far?"
"Go this far? This is exactly what must be done!"
And so Count Yunes succeeded in secretly meeting Piel alone, leaving the Princess behind.
"I shall give my lady-in-waiting to you. Even if you fail, would you not put in a single good word with the Commander-in-Chief?"
Establishing the embassy could be failed.
But the strategy was that Princess Yuzel, at least, could naturally remain here.
"Pardon? She appeared to be a cherished concubine you were very fond of, and you're giving her to me as a maid?"
"A c-concubine! That's not it at all! I merely look after her like a godfather! That child is an utterly pure body!"
Count Yunes emphasized 'purity' repeatedly.
"From birth until now, she's never so much as held the hand of an unrelated man, besides her father. Not even her own male siblings, for that matter."
"But I don't particularly need a maid...."
"Please, I beg you to accept this token of goodwill from this count. I shall also provide a generous sum for her keep."
"Sum for her keep?"
"Doesn't it cost a great deal of money to keep a maid sparkling and pretty? I shall give 100,000 gold as a lump sum, and send 100,000 gold regularly every year."
Piel found himself thinking, 'Just how rich is this count?'
'What kind of maid's maintenance costs 100,000 gold a year? Does the Empire run a goose farm that lays golden eggs or something?'
The count, catching on to that hesitation, quickly added.
"I shall send the maid's pocket money separately, so that sum, you may use as you see fit. All of it."
***
I pondered.
Do I take this, or not?
'A regular annuity of 100,000 gold is definitely something I shouldn't miss.'
I had earned a massive sum of 105.6 million gold this time.
(560,000 gold from 150 regular wyvern taxidermies and 1,751 World Tree twigs combined.)
In effect, I'd secured decades' worth of budget in one stroke.
Now, there was truly no need to worry about gold.
But hidden by those numbers, 100,000 gold was still a large sum.
After all, the amount I'd squeezed out of the Noble Council for helping with the elf subjugation was exactly 100,000 gold.
The problem was....
"Your Excellency must surely know what it means to give her as a maid."
The count flinched.
Watching him grit his teeth and chew over his dilemma, it seemed this was a truly agonizing decision for him as well.
"I shall speak frankly."
"Yes, I'm listening."
"Staying here by establishing an embassy was not for my own greed, but for that child's sake."
"What do you mean?"
"That child has fallen head over heels for monster meat. She's throwing a tantrum, saying she doesn't want to return to the Empire and wants to live in the North for the rest of her life."
"Then why not just beat her legs until they break and drag her back? You said she's like a daughter, not a concubine?"
"Please, have mercy. It was this count and the other nobles who insulted the customs of the North, not that child."
The count desperately pleaded.
"If you grant my request, I will speak well to the home country and arrange for regular imperial gifts to come every year going forward. Ainshuvan's chronic supply problem will be resolved in one stroke."
"You truly cherish that maid."
"More than my own life."
"Does that maid know? What it means to be given to someone as a maid."
It means handing over one's entire life.
Romance, marriage—all must follow only the master's will.
Naturally, a maid given to a male master does not marry another man.
Because she must attend to her master's bedchamber needs.
"...She knows. That child does."
"The monster meat must have been that delicious, I see."
"She made such a fuss, calling it a taste worth dedicating one's life to."
Abandoning the glamorous life of an imperial count's adopted daughter, and willingly becoming a maid for the pleasure of the tongue.
My head understands it, but my heart cannot accept it.
"...I too, still cannot forget that taste. When I close my eyes, the savory and sweet flavor somehow lingers on the tip of my tongue...."
The count, who had been speaking as if in a trance, laughed.
"That dessert called ice cream that I haven't tried— how that child worships it."
Not just rave reviews, but worship?
"She said if she could eat such things and live, she would be fine with becoming your servant."
I know well that the honored guests went utterly mad over a single taste of the meat.
Especially since the maid is a young woman, I also know she could sell her body and soul for the sweet taste of ice cream.
'All sweet offers have unexpected poison hidden in them.'
But from the count's perspective, is there a reason to entrust the maid to me, paying a down payment of 100,000 gold and 100,000 gold every year?
"If she's a maid you cherish that much, you could have simply pushed for marriage instead. The scale of this dwarfs any ordinary dowry."
That's why I'm suspicious.
But the count scratched his head.
"It's not that I didn't consider that, but I thought you wouldn't accept it if I did...."
"Pardon?"
"You're suspecting that I'm trying to plant a spy, aren't you? Absolutely not. Purely, that child fell for monster meat and ice cream and wants to stay, and I simply want to grant that request somehow."
Is this for real?
Is this count genuinely overflowing with money and loving the maid like a daughter, so he wants to let her live here?
"First, bring the maid."
"Child, he says to come in!"
She had been waiting outside.
The door opened, and the maid entered calmly, bowing her head before me in courtesy.
Her comportment had been properly arranged as a maid's.
I threw various questions at the maid.
To grasp her motivation for wanting to stay here.
"I think I'd be happy if I could occasionally get just a single piece of the meat left behind after the officer's meal. That kind of happiness doesn't exist in the Empire. Until now, I've lived my life in vain."
An earnest attitude.
"I already love the North. I was born to become a woman of the North, I've lived for it, and coming here was surely fate. This is destiny."
A longing gaze.
"I, I have quite a bit of money. I'll handle my own living expenses. You just need to work me hard as a maid, that's all."
A serious expression.
A highly trained spy could certainly fake such an attitude.
But at that young age, that's impossible.
No matter how I looked at it, I had to see this as the desperation of a girl smitten by meat and ice cream.
Still, I should put up a bluff.
For the final confirmation.
"I too am very rough like the men of the North. Especially in bed, that is."
The maid flinched slightly.
The count, too, trembled his lips and averted his gaze.
"Every night, without rest, you will be coveted. You won't be able to sleep until dawn, and you'll have to spend your days in a haggard state."
It's incredibly cringey, but I endure it for the 100,000 gold annuity.
"No matter how many children you bear, you won't even be treated as a secondary consort, let alone my legal wife. You'll live only as a maid for life. Those children, too, won't be able to call me father. Even so, will you remain here as my maid?"
It wasn't sincere—just fabricated pressure to test the maid's resolve.
"Yes! I want to stay!"
An immediate answer without hesitation.
She's truly selling herself for a single culinary delight?
Wow, how can someone go this far?
"Good. From today, you are my maid."
"Uwaaaa! Thank you! Thank you!"
"But how old are you?"
"I'm 18! Please call me Yuzel!"
This was a bit surprising.
Her physical development is on par with Rebecca, and she's younger than me?
***
Yuzel returned to the lodgings with the count.
To pack her belongings.
The count silently watched Yuzel excitedly packing with a complicated expression, then opened his mouth.
"I too have tasted the meat, so I understand your determination to some extent, Your Highness, but...."
"Don't call me Your Highness. Now I am merely the maid Yuzel. I am from a humble collateral noble line of the Empire."
She threw away both the status of princess and the right to imperial succession in a single morning.
If they would accept him as a knight of the North, the count would have done the same.
He simply didn't even bring it up because they wouldn't accept him in the first place.
Yuzel smiled brightly.
"Princess Yuzel is dead. No, she never existed in the first place. You understand, yes?"
"Your Highness...."
"I told you not to call me Your Highness. If people find out I 'was a princess,' I'll be kicked out of here. So from now on, I am Colonel Marshall-nim's maid, Yuzel."
There was the standard method of revealing the status of princess and pursuing a political marriage.
But Yuzel judged the risk too great.
The North's solidarity in rejecting and guarding against outsiders is too firm.
Rather, establishing herself as a maid was the safer, surer path to settling down firmly.
"Tell Father. That Princess Yuzel is no longer in this world."
"...If I report that, this humble servant will die."
"Then just say she ran away from home as usual. He'll let it pass without blame."
Having packed all the luggage she'd brought for the journey, Yuzel left the lodgings in high spirits.
***
"I want to purchase monster meat."
The southerners' regret, exhaustion, and obsession had already begun.
