The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

The Villainess Hosts a Tea Party (3)

***

A satisfied smile forms.

A sense of fulfillment rises from the sight of people gathered in the kitchen, diligently making cookies.

“Darbav!”

“Ugh. Call me ‘honey’.”

“How can you say that after making cookies like rice cakes? Even when we were dating, you got scolded for making cookies like dog food, and now you’re doing it again!”

“Isn’t it better to add more of everything?”

“If you add that much, it’s not a cookie, it’s chocolate!”

“You know, Histania Malik, the quality of chocolate is best in the south.”

“I know. I also know that the chocolate from the southern Gold Merchant Guild is the best.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Hm?”

“The new chocolate plantation run by the Desmond family produces even better quality chocolate by ruthlessly working laborers 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, compared to the Gold Merchant Guild that works them 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

“…Are you advertising?”

“No. I’m bragging.”

“I’d like to hear more details.”

“Shall we?”

The serious conversation between the two gloomy men was also pleasant to see.

Just one thing, Malik seemed to be making art rather than cookies, which might threaten my position as a butler, but it was fine to enjoy it.

I smiled slightly and kneaded the dough on the table with my fist, shaping it.

‘Hmm.’

The butler’s desire seems to be boiling up at the thought of making cookies after a long time. Already stimulated by Malik making dragon-shaped cookies, I gathered aura at my fingertips, thinking of showing the fearsome skills of a housekeeping master focused on his main job.

‘Maximum efficiency.’

‘If I finely adjust the aura to create air bubbles and run an electric current to increase the elasticity of the dough, the best cookies will…’

After concentrating for a while on making dough in the shape of the Eastern divine beast ‘Blue Dragon’, strange sounds started coming from beside me.

-Thud!

“Eek.”

-Thud thud!

“Eeek!”

I turned my head slightly to look at the young lady punching the dough.

“Eeeeeek!!!!”

The young lady with white dough smeared all over her face, sniffling. She wiped her runny nose with the hand that was kneading the dough, then quickly looked around and started moving her hands again.

“Young lady.”

“Mm.”

“Are you fighting with the dough?”

“Mm.”

At the young lady’s simple answer, I raised an exclamation mark in my head and gave a positive “Aha” response.

“Why are you fighting?”

“It keeps sticking to my hands.”

“…?”

“I told it to let go, but it won’t. So I hit it.”

I nodded slightly and started removing the dough stuck to the young lady’s hands.

I definitely gave her finished dough, so why did it change like this? I asked the young lady with curiosity.

“Did you add water?”

“Mm.”

“Why did you add it? I gave you the golden ratio.”

“If you add water, you can make more, right?”

“Are you going to share it?”

The young lady looked at me with fierce eyes.

“No. I’m going to eat it.”

“…”

“I’ll share a little with Ricardo too.”

I smiled slightly at the young lady’s consideration and rolled up my sleeves. After all, I could legally snatch cookies from the young lady with her big appetite.

Carefully holding the young lady’s hands, I started reviving the dough with a languid voice.

“You added too much water.”

“Really?”

“Yes, that’s why the dough is sticking to your hands.”

“Oh…”

The young lady nodded and entrusted her body to my hands. She puffed out her nostrils and shrugged her shoulders as she watched the once watery dough regain its vitality.

After reviving the nearly dead dough, I nodded, placing the dough on the table as if to say, “Now, let your imagination run wild.”

“It’s ready now.”

The young lady started burning with artistic passion, puffing out her nostrils.

First, a handful of chocolate topping.

“One…”

Two handfuls.

“Two.”

Three handfuls.

I let out a hollow laugh at the chocolate topping piled up as if it would pierce the sky. The magnificently piled chocolate topping looked like a shape that was difficult to describe in words.

The young lady, seeming to know my thoughts, glanced at me and said with her lips pursed.

“It’s not poop.”

“…How did you know?”

“…”

The young lady didn’t seem to have a talent for cooking.

I started combining opinions while removing some of the chocolate topping piled on the dough.

Let’s make cookies, not chocolate.

“I’m going to add more.”

“It will all burn in the oven.”

“…”

“Let’s sprinkle it on top after it’s done.”

Just as the young lady’s stubbornness and my stubbornness were starting to match, creating a plausible cookie shape, a timid female voice was heard from the side.

“Umm…”

I turned my head to look at Yuria with dough on her lips. Unlike the young lady, Yuria seemed to have a talent for cooking, as she had made quite decent cookies. She was carefully holding out a tray in front of my eyes.

I smiled slightly at the cookies on Yuria’s tray.

“Is something wrong?”

“Well… I made cookies, but I’m not sure if I’m doing it right. Can I bake them now?”

I nodded at the bear-shaped cookie dough.

“Yes, you’re not doing well.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s too big, way too big.”

Yuria’s hands were too big, much too big.

-Thud!

As if intending to use up all the flour in the mansion, I clicked my tongue at the huge cookie that wouldn’t even fit on the tray.

“Is it too big?”

“Yes. I don’t think everyone here could eat it even if we all stuck together. And a dough this big won’t fit in the oven.”

“Ah… It worked in the North.”

“How did you bake it, I wonder?”

“We’d light a bonfire and put it on top…”

“We don’t call that a cookie, we call it a pancake.”

“A… pancake?”

“It’s a food from my hometown.”

Yuria looked at the cookie she made with a question mark above her head. Seeing Yuria’s timid appearance as she fiddled with the dough, not knowing where she went wrong, I smiled slightly and approached her from behind.

“Eh?!”

“Please stay still.”

“Ah..ah… okay..”

I held Yuria’s hands and started breathing life into her dough that seemed to have lost its way.

“First of all, the bear’s face is too big. At this size, you could fit a goblin in your mouth in one bite.”

“You’re… too close…”

“And while making a beard with dough is good, it might be better to draw it with this carving knife here.”

“I’ll… I’ll try drawing it.”

“And…”

After talking for a while, I lowered my head when I saw Yuria’s stiff shoulders and reddened earlobes. I wondered if there was some problem.

Thinking that she might be upset because I ruined the work she put her heart and soul into, I carefully called Yuria’s name.

“Miss Yuria…”

“…”

“Miss Yuria?”

“Ah! Yes, yes! I’m listening!”

Yuria, who had been hesitating at my touch, raised her head with a broad smile when our eyes met.

“You’re really kind. Ricardo…”

As Yuria moved, I covered my mouth and blushed at the slight scent of shampoo that rose.

“Ah.. it’s nothing.”

It felt good, like I was living a fulfilling life. It seemed like this was truly the life of someone who had possessed another body, making the world look rosy.

A flower in each hand.

‘This is life.’

I hid my rising smile and carefully moved away from Yuria. It wasn’t polite to stay too close.

“That’s how you should make it. If there’s anything you don’t know, please call me anytime.”

“Ah… there’s still a lot I don’t know.”

“Pardon?”

“No, I’m sorry for troubling you.”

I carefully wiped the dough off Yuria’s cheek and smiled brightly.

“I’d rather hear ‘thank you’ than ‘I’m sorry’. I prefer that word.”

“…”

Yuria’s face turned red as if it was about to burst.

“Butler!”

As the time spent with Yuria grew longer, Hanna quickly intervened, showing me the cookie she made with a smile.

Hanna’s cookie, with hair made of strawberry dough and a sharp jawline intricately described.

I smiled slightly at Hanna’s creation.

“Don’t tell me this is me?”

“That’s right.”

“Puhaha! You made it really well.”

“It’s still far from capturing the real thing.”

“I didn’t know I was this handsome.”

“Liar, you say you’re handsome every day.”

“But it’s true that I’m handsome, isn’t it?”

There was no reply. Both women just blushed and nodded slightly, embarrassing me. At times like this, it would have been less awkward if they had said something.

I accepted Hanna’s cookie with an awkward smile and bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

Hanna, wearing an apron, carefully approached me and started talking.

“It’s difficult making cookies for the first time.”

“Is that so? You’ve done incredibly well for a first-timer.”

“Well, who do you think my brother is?”

Hanna said, looking at Malik who was pouring all his heart into making cookies.

A dragon-shaped cookie that looked like it might breathe fire at any moment. I nodded as I watched Malik bending over to make even thin whiskers.

“Indeed.”

Is talent hereditary?

I smiled slightly and helped Hanna.

And as for Chartia.

-Bear.

“What are you?”

-Beaar.

“Is it really a bear?”

-Bear bear.

“Sigh.. hand.”

-Bear.

She was starting to fall for a new kind of cuteness.

“So cute..”

*

And so.

The time for the most anticipated, no, the main event of the tea party was approaching.

“Is this the place?”

I was walking around the mansion’s bathroom, checking if there were any dangerous spots. I didn’t want any accidents to happen. Absolutely not trying to find peepholes, I had come to the bathroom to prepare the bath water in advance.

On my conscience.

End of Chapter