Twenty Times More Delicious
At Ed's words, the smooth furrow of Kadrian's brow tightened in an instant.
"...Why."
Kadrian countered shortly.
"Why a butler, of all things? It's not as if you don't know what a butler does."
Ed replied with an expression that said it was obvious.
"It's not unheard of for nobles to bring a butler along as an attendant, my lord."
"That's what they do when their aide is absent or they have no knight to guard them."
"Oh, come now, my lord. Then we simply declare everyone absent, don't we?"
Kadrian's sharpened gaze swung toward Ed.
Urgh. Ed glanced away from that look and pressed on.
"N-no, I mean—our grand duchy's butler at the moment is, well, just a butler, isn't she? What household's butler goes around killing assassins?"
"......"
"She's skilled at my work too, and she fights as well as any guard knight."
"......"
There didn't seem to be any flaw in his logic.
And since Ed wasn't meeting his eyes, his words flowed without a hitch. Kadrian listened in silence, then found Ed's sheer shamelessness so absurd that a hollow laugh burst out of him.
At the sound of Kadrian's laughter, Ed's gaze crept back up. Seeing Kadrian's expression considerably eased, he let out an inward sigh of relief and spoke again, carefully this time.
"And above all, my lord—you can't be at ease about having kept her locked away for two years. That's why you took her to the temple, isn't it?"
"That was merely to show the butler to the High Priest."
"And even after the High Priest told you that black magic clung to her soul, you did not kill her."
"......"
Ed was certain of it.
Even if it were all but confirmed that another soul, planted by a black mage's trickery, now resided in that butler's body—
He wouldn't kill her. No, he couldn't.
Whose body was that, after all? Whose body had it been...?
Wasn't she the fiancée my lord protected for no less than ten years, against everyone's pleas to give her up?
To anyone else, she might have been the last survivor and heir of the family that guarded the World Tree. But to Kadrian, she was simply the fiancée who had once given him her whole heart.
Just then, Kadrian rose from his seat.
"Enough of this nonsense. Go and send it."
"Ah—yes. But before that..."
With startling speed, Ed snatched up his pen and swiftly wrote Freya's name into the correspondence bound for the imperial palace.
"Ed!"
Kadrian shouted his name in alarm, but Ed was simply too quick. He was already stepping out of the office.
"I'll see it delivered right away, my lord!"
Waving the letter as he tossed off a bow, Ed looked positively delighted with himself.
Hah.
Kadrian let out a short sigh. Yet he did not chase after Ed to stop him—despite being more than capable of it.
[It's meat! Meat!]
"......"
The fur ball came charging toward me at a terrifying speed.
[Meat! Meat!]
I practically fled, setting the plate down on the floor and taking a step back.
Chop-chop-chop-chop.
No sooner had the plate touched the ground than the fur ball pounced on it, eating as though it hadn't been fed in days.
[Mmm! That rich, meaty aroma—!]
Chop-chop-chop.
[The flavor of the juices...!]
Chop-chop-chop-chop.
"Either focus on eating or focus on reviewing. Pick one."
[......]
The fur ball went quiet. Apparently, it had elected to focus on eating.
It really does eat well.
I settled into a chair, propped my chin on my hand, and looked down at the little creature. And then—
"It really eats well, doesn't it."
The Grand Duke's words to me surfaced in my memory.
Don't tell me that's how I looked to him back then.
Damn it all. I can't even remember how I ate in front of the Grand Duke.
Which only meant it was that good. That whole roast pig.
[It's cooked just right. Tender, but with a bit of chew to it too.]
Whatever chef works in this house, they're good!
The fur ball muttered on.
This little...
From how it demanded meat while claiming to be starving, right down to its preferred degree of doneness—
...its tastes are eerily similar to mine.
Somehow, that realization stung worse than anything. Fine. I would make it a rule to avoid eating anything in front of the Grand Duke whenever possible.
The fur ball was at least cute.
Well, this great one is pretty too, I suppose.
But there was no guarantee I looked pretty in the Grand Duke's eyes as well.
The man's a block of granite, after all.
Pff. I hugged the back of my chair and watched the fur ball. Having polished off the plate, it now seemed busily grooming itself, licking its fur.
"Hey, fur ball."
[......]
The creature paused mid-lick, then shot me a sidelong glare.
[Byeol-i! How many times do I have to say it? My name is Byeol-i.]
"Yeah, yeah. That name that looks like someone gave up halfway through picking it."
What was the difference between that and wearing a name tag pinned to your forehead? I snorted, and the fur ball bristled.
[Don't you dare talk about that name like that! That name is—!]
"......"
The fur ball stopped abruptly, and then, with a look on the verge of tears, went on.
[That name... was given to me by the human who buried our mother.]
"......"
The fur ball continued.
[When our mother died, that human cried more for her than I did. Grieved more for her than I did.]
Ah. So it was talking about its former master.
I gazed at the fur ball for a moment, then asked,
"If you had a master like that, why did you end up getting pushed around by me?"
[They vanished. I never even got to say thank you.]
Oh no. Every word out of this thing's mouth was a sob story.
Now I'm too scared to say anything at all.
I felt an odd twinge of guilt.
Ahem. Now, where did I put that chicken breast jerky?
Nothing lifted a sulking fur ball's spirits like food.
I was rummaging through my pocket when—knock, knock—a rap sounded at the door.
Hand still digging in my back pocket, I called toward the door.
"Yes, come in."
The door opened. It was Ed, my fellow aide.
Huh?
It was the first time Ed had ever come to my room in person.
"What... brings you here?"
"Ha ha." Ed gave an awkward laugh.
This feels ominous.
And that premonition was usually proven right. Like now.
"...An audience at the palace? Me? I thought you said it was a council of high nobles."
"I'll explain the details later, but I cannot stand before those other nobles myself."
"......"
"So in my place—"
"You want me to fill in?"
Gulp. Perhaps it was my bluntness, but for once Ed looked genuinely flustered.
"F-filling in... I-I mean, that is, yes, that's effectively how it turned out..."
"Hm-m-m."
When I pretended to mull it over, Ed murmured in a low, secretive voice,
"Attendants who accompany a lord usually have a great deal of free time."
Oh? At last, something worth my consideration.
"Once His Grace enters the council, it runs for ten hours at the shortest, and at the longest it can drag on for a week without pause."
"Won't there be meal breaks in between?"
"No need to worry about that either. All meals are provided by the palace."
"Then why is an attendant needed at all?"
"Networking. Networking."
"Networking?"
"Yes. You trade words with the attendants from the other noble houses and pick up information along the way."
Ed explained that one also fed the others a suitable amount of false information and sifted the truth out of whatever they let slip in return.
"And you're telling me to do that?"
"Ah—no, not at all. This time, you'll only need to stay at the lodgings."
"...Why? You don't think I can handle it?"
Huh. That stung my pride more than I'd expected.
When I made my displeasure plain, Ed waved both hands frantically.
"Wha—?! N-no, of course not. How could anyone presume such a thing, I mean—w-well, it's your first visit to the palace, so it would be good to, er, get a feel for the place..."
"......"
Something felt hidden here.
Then, as if struck by a brilliant idea, the flustered Ed hurried on,
"The palace food!"
"......?!"
"Are you not the slightest bit curious about the dishes served up by the palace's head chef?"
"......"
I fixed Ed with a narrowed stare.
That aide... he had definitely heard it from the Grand Duke. That I was weak when it came to food.
And knowing that full well—I still wavered.
Ugh. Honestly, if this was how I operated, was I really any different from that fur ball?
I swallowed dryly a few times over, then asked with great care,
"Is it better than the whole roast pig they sell at the restaurant in Esmenta?"
Ed's eyes went wide.
"You've had it?"
"His Grace bought it for me on the way to the temple."
"His Grace did?!"
"Yes."
Ed's eyes grew wider still.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
"N-nothing."
"......"
The corners of Ed's mouth, even as he said no, were trembling violently.
Is he crying? Or laughing?
When I stared at him with open suspicion, ahem! Ed cleared his throat.
"In any case. It was ten times better than that roast pig. No—come to think of it, at least twenty times better."
"!"
This time, it was my eyes that went wide.
Twenty times? Such a flavor could exist on this earth?
I gave Ed a deeply skeptical look and let out a dismissive hah, then raised my chin with all the dignity I could muster.
"Then I suppose I'll go."
Ed nodded with the solemn expression of a man sealing a hard-won victory.
"You will not regret it."