Chapter 48
**CHATPER_TITLE: The Cheese Cake and the Misunderstanding**
I blinked in disbelief, alternating my gaze between Pythia and Damien. They were still convinced there had been some kind of misunderstanding.
Arian Danier, the daughter of a noble family who had been raised with golden silver, was far too pragmatic and resilient for her own good. She had only agreed with that logic.
Damien was still clutching her hand tightly. Only now did she understand. Damien had not been afraid or distressed at all. He had been terrified that she might be abused, so he had held her hand to make sure David would not hurt her.
He had been trembling because he thought I might be mistreated, because he felt sorry for me and hated David.
Why do you like me so much?
It was impossible to understand. Even if Pythia had been lonely, why would you?
Arian lifted their intertwined hands, wrapping her other palm around the back of Damien’s hand as well. His hand was ice-cold from the shock.
She stroked it gently and asked.
“Lord Pythia. Do I look like someone who could be abused by anyone?”
To be perfectly honest, it was our family who had abused me.
By the standards of this world, our family was not particularly dirty, yet to her eyes they were absolute trash.
I had called them filthy for spreading diseases and insulted them, while my family had been forced to live far cleaner than the world’s common sense because their young daughter and young siblings were crying and throwing tantrums.
By modern standards, it was a situation where one overly fastidious family member made everyone live according to her standards.
Pythia could not answer, so Arian stared straight into her eyes.
“Look at me, Lord Pythia. Do I look like someone who has been beaten or treated unfairly by anyone? For example, someone who is a noble woman’s daughter but still treated like a maid, yet I live in that life in silence, obedient to it, and endure everything like that person?”
That description was not bad, she thought to herself. She had expected an answer from Pythia, but the other woman avoided her gaze.
When she looked up at Damien, he looked like a man who had suddenly remembered his dark past and regained his senses. His entire face, even his ears, turned bright red as he turned away.
“Well, I do respect my superiors, obey everything, and live faithfully according to the gods’ will. So that is why Lord Pythia must have misunderstood Damien as well.”
“Um, um…”
“Today I feel very good. Shall we have cheese cake?”
Even though Pythia had no idea what cheese cake was, her face brightened instantly.
This world had no cake yet. She was not even sure it would turn out well, but she had decided to try since she had made it yesterday.
She had mixed Muri Cheese with cream to make it look like cream cheese, lined a tart pan with dried bread crumbs, nuts, sugar, and butter instead of cookies. Sugar was incredibly expensive, but the large lordship of Serpine could obtain it.
Of course, the amount of sugar Arian had used would make Pythia think she had truly found a god. Ten silver coins’ worth.
A very good amount was worth seven silver coins. So the cake contained sugar from one and a half birds.
But she wanted something sweet. Not the sweet things here, not the honeyed ones, but the real sweet thing.
There was no sweetness in this world. The closest description was that everything tasted bland.
It seemed that Pythia grew more energetic each time she received feedback on food. However.
“Arian… what melted in my mouth…?”
Pythia looked at her with a bewildered face. She seemed pleased with the taste, but Arian could not tell from her expression whether it was good or bad.
She blinked in confusion too, and Damien, who had belatedly taken a bite, dropped his fork in shock. Why was he acting like that now?
“What is this? It has an odd flavor.”
Did I upset him?
Muri Cheese was, of course, something that could spoil during transport from Serpine to here. But she had stored it in her sub-space, so it should have been fine.
Suddenly, the Muri Cheese she had received when she consulted the oracle came to mind. Everyone had been carrying cheese around at room temperature like that.
Had it really spoiled? Worried, Arian took a bite of the cheese cake herself.
It was okay. It was not as smooth as in the modern world, but it was sufficiently creamy and sweet, yet why?
“It is not spoiled… If you are worried, do not eat it and come here.”
She reached for Damien’s plate to give it to him, saying, “You, eat mine—,” but he was faster. Damien snatched the plate away, startled, and lifted it high.
“It is mine.”
“You said it has an odd taste.”
Damien shook his head vigorously at her words. Then he began nibbling the cake with his fork, very slowly.
If he did not want to eat it that way, he could just ask.
Arian stretched her hand out again, but Damien stood up while holding the plate. He seemed ready to flee at any moment.
“Arian, what kind of food is this?”
Pythia asked. Before Arian could answer, she continued.
“Are you eating this kind of thing in the royal palace these days?”
“No. In the royal palace, they probably… would not be able to eat this.”
In winter, the royal family could bring Muri Cheese from elsewhere, but they would not use this much sugar.
It was not because they lacked money, but because the idea itself was unthinkable. Sugar here was no different from precious metals.
She had learned that while living here. Why sugar had become the representative product of colonial farms, and why the owners had made such fortunes.
They had commercialized sugar, which had been treated like precious metals and medicine, and of course they had become tycoons.
“Then how did you make this?”
She could not say, “Look at the tube.”
“Just thought of it in my head. Ta-da. I am faithful, pure, and smart.”
It was said in jest, but neither Pythia nor Damien laughed. They exchanged glances, looked at her with fresh eyes, and nodded.
Did they truly think she was faithful, pure, and smart? She had a conscience and knew she was not that kind of person.
Then why were the two of them nodding?
Just as she was about to ask what they were thinking, a knock sounded.
While the two were still processing the cultural shock of the cheese cake, she opened the door. In that moment, David, who had become something between a snowman and icicles, looked down at her with teary eyes.
“The road… I could not find it…”
In that short time, David’s eyes, now dull and wrinkled, looked down at her tearfully.
“Could you not have said that a little better…?”
She had not worried about the snowstorm or the mountain path. Yet she had not considered the possibility of getting lost.
A stronger snowstorm was blowing behind David’s back.
“Come in quickly, David.”
While brushing the snow off his shoulders with sympathy, Arian whispered, and David nodded. He sniffled once more.
Damien watched calmly as he took off his cloak in the hallway and shook off the snow outside, just as David had looked like a fish stuck in the snow.
Pythia, perhaps feeling sorry for the misunderstanding, approached with a gentle expression.
“If I had known you would get lost like this, I would not have sent you. You may simply come inside.”
David looked at Arian’s reaction, then said,
“No. I will shake it off properly.”
and began vigorously shaking his robe. That kind of eccentric behavior was only possible because of Arian.
Damien reflected anew on how much Arian had changed.
All the clothes he was wearing had been newly purchased for him in Serpine. She had even provided undergarments and repeatedly warned him to bathe and change every day.
Thanks to the enormous quantity of clothes bought, they could collect laundry every week and send it down to the village below the mountain, receiving freshly ironed garments a few days later.
The mountain path guides earned money transporting Arian’s laundry. Each time, Arian gave ten copper coins per person, which was the daily wage of a skilled blacksmith.
It was a large sum for the young apprentice guides, so they loved the work.
She could not know exactly how much she had given to the Demia priests, but when she saw the priests saying they had traveled to Serpine very well, it was probably not a small amount.
Along with the money, Arian had filled the warehouse of the Demia temple with ingredients from Serpine. Great quantities of wheat and barley, dried goods, and preserved meats like ham. She had even released chickens and goats.
The priests of the Demia temple now began to treat Arian as if she were the incarnation of Demia.
Arian had entrusted them with chickens and goats purchased in Serpine for the Gerka temple’s share as well. When she personally gave one copper coin to each young apprentice priest, they nodded enthusiastically.
Due to the dynamic changes at the Demia temple, every temple on the temple street was paying attention to Arian.
They were curious about what she was doing and what she could provide them, and they lingered around the Gerka temple.
To become friends with Arian, she had sent similar-aged apprentice priests to spy, which happened quite often.
Damien marveled at the fragrant scent of sunlight coming from her clothes every day, while watching Arian’s changes bring a healthy glow to Pythia’s usually exhausted face.
Arian was like a gardener who had come to the ruins. She was instantly turning the ruins into a flower field.
She had not been abused. Her brother was not even energetically shaking his robe while watching her face like that.
Arian naturally brushed her brother’s clothes and served warm stew. Before eating the stew, David thanked Arian, and after tasting the cheese cake, he opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, “You are truly a genius!”
Arian Danier was even more dazzling than when he had first seen her.
Damien felt as if he were looking up at her from an immeasurably high place. Although he was closer than at three years old, the gap had widened even more.