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“That’s actually quite natural, if you think about it.”

Surely, people are often influenced by their surroundings.

This influence only grows stronger over time, not weaker.

Thus, it was only natural that Flora was affected by Alicia, just as dwarfs are known for drinking. Not long ago, Flora’s relationships had been utterly limited.

Guardian Corvus.

Life mentor (?) Alicia.

Fortunately, for many, Corvus’s influence was significantly evident.

Thanks to this, Flora projected a free spirit, much like Alicia, but her freedom was confined to the greenhouse.

Of course, partly, it was due to her being too scared of the cold outside the greenhouse, but still, it was as it was.

So Flora was being thoroughly Alicia-ized, though not quite to the same extent, and she craved food quite a bit.

“No snacks… but the smell… over there?”

“Porororong~?”

Alicia and Flora, who rushed over and took their seats, scanned the empty table thoroughly before hastily turning their heads towards the source of the aroma.

“Princess, please wait just a moment.”

“Umm… the smell…”

“Pororororong…”

As the scent grew richer from the oven, Alicia felt her mind starting to blur, yet she decided to sit still at the table and wait.

Under normal circumstances, Corvus or Karem would have urged her to eat quickly, but she was not alone anymore.

Flora was there.

Surely, older siblings must set a good example for their younger ones.

Unlike the rude Robin, Alicia would become a wonderful sister.

So Alicia resolved to wait calmly in her seat.

“Porororong-”

“Flora. Just because you’re urging doesn’t mean the snacks will come out faster. We must wait patiently.”

Seeing her earnest expression made Karem hold back a smile, while Catherine quirked her head in confusion.

“Is there something you want to say?”

“Should I mention that spot on the right side of Alicia’s mouth?”

Karem whispered softly, turning his head. Just then, as Catherine was about to speak upon spotting the clear drool mark on Alicia’s face, Mary, who was assisting Corvus in setting the table, came right over.

“Princess Alicia, may I intrude for a moment?”

“Huh? M-Mewbup?”

Mary picked up a napkin and meticulously wiped Alicia’s mouth.

“Now there’s no need to say anything.”

“Indeed.”

“By the way, did you say it was Strudel? Is that a dish you remember?”

Catherine asked nonchalantly.

“Yes. Whether here or there, there are similarities, so perhaps there might be a similar dish somewhere.”

“Hmm. It does seem like a variation of Wurstbrötchen.”

“Wurstbrötchen?”

Unfamiliar with Brötchen but knowing that wurst means sausage in German… Germany? So Eisenwald?

“Yes. It’s a traditional dish from Eisenwald. Ground pork seasoned and wrapped in sugar-free pastry, then baked.”

“…Hmm?”

“What’s up with that reaction? Is there something similar?”

“Uh… if there is, I suppose there might be…”

Honestly, if we were just talking about descriptions, it was just a sausage roll that those islanders claimed to love and were quite confident about.

No, it’s basically a sausage roll.

“The ingredients themselves are nothing special, so I’ll make it for you next time.”

“Alright, it’s complete.”

At those words, Flora and Alicia’s gazes focused on the baking tray that Corvus carefully lifted with his claws.

“So, Sir Karem, can you tell us how to cut this Strudel?”

“Well, there isn’t really any special technique.”

When asked to demonstrate, Karem had no real reason to refuse; he stood up and accepted the bread knife Mary offered.

He then moved towards the tray, feeling the enthusiastic gazes of a large child and an average child as he sliced.

Swiish-

Flora watched intently as the pastry fragments flaked off with every precise cut.

The pieces, carried by the gentle spring breeze flowing through Corvus’s nest area, danced through the air like golden flower petals before falling gracefully.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Karem made another cut, lifting a piece of Strudel with the bread knife.

The sweet aroma wafting from the yellow apples and white pears, covered in buttery caramel, filled the air.

Gulp.

It was a scent unlike any Flora had ever encountered.

Alicia would sometimes bring her snacks.

She had often smelled something like that back then.

But this scent was far richer and more appetizing than any from before.

Freshly baked from the oven, the aroma of butter, sugar, and roasted fruit was a delightful attack, particularly for Flora, who had only tasted snacks brought by Alicia or prepared by Corvus.

“However, even with butter, this dark brown is… sugar?”

“Yep. Just to make it more appealing. I was worried it might burn, but it turned out quite well.”

And then, a plate filled with Strudel was set right in front of Flora.

“Porororong…”

For Flora, fruit was a very familiar snack.

The greenhouse was filled with fruit trees, and whenever she asked, they would happily drop a bud and quickly produce a fruit.

Though, the fruits grown that way were often not tasty at all.

So she primarily ate the fruits stacked high in the warehouse.

The warehouse fruits were so juicy and sweet that just taking a bite would splash juice everywhere, but now, in Flora’s gaze, the item contained a more intense and robust scent.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

For some reason, feeling oddly familiar, Mary suddenly interjected, catching Flora’s attention. Ignoring her, Mary tapped a sieve on top of a piece of Strudel.

“Powdered sugar? When did you prepare that?”

“Before I brought the luggage from the warehouse, I made it in advance.”

It’s snow.

Each time Mary lightly tapped the sieve with her hands, white powdered sugar fell and settled on the piece of Strudel.

Flora couldn’t hold back any longer at the sight of that which she’d only seen beyond the greenhouse.

“Flora. You know how to hold a fork and knife, right?”

“Porong!”

While Mary poured the buttery caramel sauce around the Strudel, Flora boldly picked up the fork and knife from either side of her plate, following the etiquette.

“Oh, I see. They say you’ve never been outside the greenhouse, yet you seem adept at holding tableware.”

“Hmph. Alicia’s been training Flora diligently.”

Flora carefully cut into the Strudel.

Crisp!

Though the surface was crunchy, the fruit inside oozed juice as it poured out smoothly without any resistance.

Flora was moved just as she had been the first time Alicia brought her a treat.

No, her feelings of being touched were even greater than back then.

Even though Alicia was undoubtedly someone hard to find in Winterhome, and while she could be clumsy when sneaking around with something, especially if it was a pastry, that only added to the sweetness of the rare treat.

Consequently, she had only ever brought Flora small snacks or relatively firm pies that had cooled.

In contrast, the Strudel before her was still warm, although it was gradually cooling.

Gulp.

Flora could no longer resist and eagerly devoured a piece of Strudel.

The taste was indeed exactly as it appeared.

The icing sugar met the roof of her mouth and melted, enveloping the Strudel’s pastry layer.

Even under the sugary glaze, the pastry remained crisp, while the flavor of butter lingered.

With the sweetness of sugar and fruit wafting up from below, the crunch and softness of the apple and pear coexisted in perfect harmony.

The apple was as crunchy as it was, and the pear was softer, with a rich, honey-like sweetness intertwined with the thick butter and caramel sauce swirling in her mouth consecutively.

“Porororong-”

Then, just when Flora was getting used to the pastry and fruity flavors, she sensed something slightly different—a sweetness.

It was a sweetness distinct from the fruit’s, with the thick, rich texture of sugar lingering long after finishing the Strudel.

When sweetness lingers in the mouth for too long, it becomes cloying.

Yet Flora had no intention of simply feeling that.

Huff.

As the slight cloying began to settle on her tongue, Flora immediately placed another big piece of Strudel on her fork and brought it back to her mouth.

“……!!!!!!”

Unable to contain her joy any longer, Flora’s shoulders shivered in excitement.

Her hair swirled, dancing like fallen leaves.

Of course, this improper behavior would immediately draw Alicia’s attention—

“It’s so delicious…!”

But she didn’t.

She was too preoccupied savoring the flavor of the Strudel as well.

With the original shape of the Strudel intact, she took a big bite.

A large piece filled with sugar-coated, soft apples and pears.

A mouthful dipped in the melted sugar and fruit essence mixed with buttery caramel sauce.

“Um, but Karem.”

Ongoing mid-bite, she paused her utensils.

“Yes?”

“What was the name of this treat again?”

“It’s called Strudel. Are you implying… that there’s a problem?”

“No, not at all. Hmm. Eating this makes me think…”

With a slightly quizzical expression, Alicia asked:

“It doesn’t seem too different from pie.”

“Oh.”

Karem halted, momentarily caught off-guard by Alicia’s sudden remark as he pondered the difference between pie and Strudel.

“I mean, aren’t there many types of pie? Regular pie, pasty, pastry. If we were to differentiate, wouldn’t this fall under the category of pasty? Pie is a rather ambiguous item.”

“Hmmm? Is that so? I want another!”

Fortunately, Alicia seemed satisfied by Karem’s hastily crafted explanation and refocused her attention on the Strudel.

Karem let out a small sigh of relief, shifting his gaze sideways.

Fortuitously, Flora also seemed content as she devoured the new piece Corvus had supplied.

“So, this might be a humble gesture for saving my life, but do you like it?”

“Porororong?”

“Umm… I don’t quite understand. Princess Alicia. Can you translate…?”

“She’s saying she doesn’t think it’s humble at all.”

While relieved to hear she was pleased, it still felt inadequate to claim one had repaid a life debt with only this.

“Still, I’m glad that the Strudel, which Gordon ‘made himself,’ is to your taste.”

Crash-! Clatter-!?

Flora slammed her hands down on the table in excitement. Everyone’s eyes turned towards her, but she had no room to care. Flora chirped joyfully.

“Porororong~♬♪♩!!!”

“Well, that being said, that guy is someone I’ve known for a while. After all, he saved my life, so cooking is the least I can do.”

Giving homemade gifts to a beloved? Isn’t that a proposal? Flora was convinced. There had been similar stories in the fairy tales Alicia had brought.

“Porororong~♬”

“No, no way! I’ve never had a girl confess like this so straightforwardly!”

“Pororong~♬?”

“No, it’s clearly a good thing! Wait, did you just understand that?!”

“Porong!”

In no time, Flora, resembling a dwarf who had found a precious gem, had latched onto Gordon’s arm and began playfully arguing, holding out her fork speared with Strudel.

“Well, anyway, little one. Your repayment was successful. Um…”

Catherine stopped mid-sentence to have a bite of the Strudel Mary offered, savoring the taste before swallowing.

“That’s how it was.”

“It’s obvious by just looking that you are head over heels for Gordon; a homemade dessert would indeed be quite the gift.”

“But wasn’t most of the work done by you and Mary?”

“Even if Mary made the pastry, who sliced all those apples and pears?”

While not lacking in skill with a knife, it seemed Gordon’s capability with a chef’s knife was unmatched.

“I could have sliced similarly.”

“Please don’t take it as a competition.”

“Why not? Cutting is the foundation of all cooking!”

“Honestly, let’s be real. Could you replicate Gordon’s cutting skills? Frankly speaking, I doubt even Sir Zigmeser could match that.”

“Guh.”

Karem silenced Mary’s competitive spirit with sheer facts. Meanwhile, Gordon pretended not to notice and was happily eating the Strudel Flora offered.

Hmm, feeding him, huh? Karem turned his gaze to Catherine, watching as Mary fed the Strudel to her.

“Eh? Little one, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Considering the sharp, wary gaze that radiated Mary’s trademark suspicion, she must have caught onto some underlying feeling. Darn, with things turning this way, I need to look for an opportunity.

 

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