Chapter 70
***
“Miss lody can’t bring herself to use the green ink because it’s too pretty, isn’t that right?”
“Uh…?”
That was news to him. He hadn’t realized that even lody, as frugal as she was, had preferences.
“Isn’t she just fond of picking up expensive ink?”
“Miss lody prefers the color that the ink emits rather than its price.”
“What…? So she’s not just frugal.”
“Pardon?”
“No, never mind. Anyway, throw these away but… not too far. It’s cold outside.”
If it’s sowhere close, like the garden’s trash bin, lody might rummage through it if she knows there’s pretty ink there.
“And.”
Ronny decided to ask the servant, who seed to know quite a bit about lody, one more thing.
“What does she like? I an food-wise.”
“Miss lody?”
“Yeah, I’m not asking out of curiosity. It’s just for the party preparation. It’s necessary to know the likes and dislikes of the attendees, right?”
He added that sowhat defensively. Fortunately, the servant didn’t seem to read too much into Ronny’s curiosity.
“Well, doesn’t Miss lody eat anything and everything?”
“I thought so.”
Typical frugal taste. As long as it fills the stomach, it’s good enough.
Ronny wrote ‘lody, anything.’ in his party preparation notebook and nodded in satisfaction.
***
That evening, lody had a strange experience during dinner.
For so reason, Ronny kept looking at her, with a face that seed to be analyzing sothing.
‘Did he dislike the story about
picking up ink bottles that much?’
lody tried to ignore his gaze and finished her al.
The problem was that the persistent gaze continued the next day, and not just during als but even when she was having snacks.
Even lody, who was unfamiliar with noble etiquette, knew one thing: it’s a huge breach of manners to stare at soone while they’re eating.
‘But why?’
To solve this mystery, lody asked a maid for so warm milk.
She planned to take it to Ronny and subtly probe for the reason.
When she entered the parlor, which he recently used like an office, he was, as usual, seated at his desk, busily writing sothing.
lody tiptoed closer and quietly placed the milk beside him.
“Young Master.”
“Ahh?!”
Ronny hastily covered the paper he was reading with both arms and barely managed to turn his head to look at her.
“You’re supposed to knock before entering!”
“I did. But there was no response.”
“Then you should have not co in!”
“I’ll leave then. It would be a waste if the milk got cold.”
“Typical frugality…”
He clicked his tongue briefly and stuck out his chin, a clear sign for her to leave.
“You seem very busy.”
“Yeah, really busy because of you. Oops.”
Ronny inadvertently let the words slip and wished he could take them back, though he knew he couldn’t.
“Did I make you busy, Young Master?”
“What, that’s nonsense. Don’t get the wrong idea. At the party, soone like you… Oops.”
“The party?”
By now, Ronny wanted to cry. He had wanted to keep the fact that he was preparing for the party a secret until a certain ti. Especially from lody and Loretta.
He montarily buried his face between his arms, which were covering the paper.
“Well, actually.”
lody quietly spoke to him. It seed like lody was the one being considerate, even though it was Ronny who had made the slip.
“I don’t want to bother you, Young Master. If my presence is a discomfort, I’ll hide in a corner during the party.”
“What are you talking about?!”
Ronny was shocked and quickly stood up. Was lody misunderstanding sothing?
“You’re worried I’ll stand out in the eyes of the guests of the ducal party.”
“Do I look like that kind of person to you?!”
“Isn’t that why you’ve been staring at
so fiercely every day?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Ronny, exasperated, opened the notebook he had been covering and showed it to lody.
It contained everything lody had eaten, listed by date and ti, including the order she ate them in.
“…?”
Why had he organized all this?
As lody looked puzzled, Ronny slumped into the chair and crossed one leg over the other arrogantly.
“The mystery is all solved.”
“I didn’t give any mystery.”
“You did!”
He yelled, shaking the open notebook aggressively.
“Why can’t you properly express what you like! Do you have any idea how frustrating it is for soone preparing for a party?!”
“Well.”
“I’m going to host a party that will amaze everyone. And that ‘everyone’ includes you.”
“Thank you for that. And I generally like anything…”
“Don’t joke, you grew up frugally so you dare not have preferences. But don’t worry. I’ve figured everything out about you now.”
“Figured out?”
As she cautiously asked, Ronny smirked confidently.
“You, you keep the ink you like without using it, hoarding it like ant food, right?”
“How did you know?”
“There are plenty of servants here who serve as my eyes and ears. Frugally obtained ink being used frugally.”
He let out a low chuckle, ‘huhuhu’, like the protagonist of a detective novel he once read.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from history, it’s that human nature applies the sa across all areas.”
That was exactly why he had been carefully observing lody’s eating order.
“You’re the type who saves and hoards what you like, eating it last!”
“No, not at all.”
“Don’t make
laugh!”
Ronny stood up abruptly and approached lody, as if to confront her.
“You always leave the at till the last, cutting it into incredibly small pieces to savor! And yet, you chewed it at least 10 tis more than other foods!”
The at served in the ducal house is prepared to be very tender. There’s only one reason she’d chew it so thoroughly.
“You’re extrely frugal! You wanted to keep even the tiniest bit of your favorite at in your mouth for longer!”
“…!”
lody was so taken aback by the accuracy of his statent that she couldn’t say a word.
“Moreover, according to the chef’s notes, the ducal house serves food considering the balance between at and vegetables. You may not have complaints about vegetables, but you definitely crave at more.”
He looked at lody with a ‘see?’ expression.
lody sohow felt a shadow of Claude in that smug face. Brothers are indeed brothers.
“I… I like vegetables and at equally.”
“Oh, is that so? Then it ans you wouldn’t mind if your plate is filled only with vegetables at the party, right?”
“Well, if it’s just vegetables… I would.”
“You liar. You’ve ignored my sincerity!”
“What? How did you co to that conclusion?!”
“I’ve been desperately trying to figure out what you like, and all you do is deny it.”
That was quite a logical statent from Ronny, leaving lody with no room for rebuttal.
“I’m sorry.”
“Fine, I’ll accept your apology. Now tell
what you really like.”
“Uh.”
Although she felt sowhat uncomfortable, lody realized she couldn’t escape any longer and decided to be honest.
“The truth is, it’s not that I unconditionally love at.”
“What?!”
“That…”
lody didn’t particularly like at before coming here.
The small pieces were just tough, often getting stuck between her teeth, and sowhat fishy.
But the mont she encountered the large pieces of at at the ducal house.
She realized that the at she had been eating before wasn’t true at.
“I, I like…”
lody cautiously voiced a desire she had always harbored.
“Large chunks of… lt-in-your-mouth at.”
See. I knew it, Ronny snorted.
“How big?”
Faced with a more specific question, lody hesitantly held out her small fist.
“About this much…”
“You’re joking.”
That’s the usual amount served in the ducal house.
“You cut it into tiny pieces to eat. You want to stuff a huge chunk in your mouth and chew on it!”
“I didn’t say that much!”
“But you thought about it, didn’t you!”
“…!”
Unable to refute, Ronny let out a sly laugh. Indeed, the results of observation don’t mix with falsehoods.
“Look forward to it.”
He snapped the notebook shut and stood up from his seat again.
“I’ll serve you the biggest piece of at you’ve ever seen on a plate. You’ll have to stuff your small mouth until it almost bursts.”
“Young Master…!”
lody’s gaze began to twinkle as she looked at him. Of course, it was a gaze filled with anticipation, sothing Ronny had recently been longing to see.
“Seriously. What am I doing…”
He brushed his hair back unnecessarily.
It seems the ducal house can’t do without
after all.
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