Chapter 380

Tea Party 3

“Ah, now that everyone seems to have relaxed a little, why don’t we enjoy a cup of tea?”

“”Yay~ Snacks~””

Now that the homes of all the Pastel Rabbits have been decided, I thought on moving on to the tea party, which was the original purpose of today’s event. People were so nervous that they didn’t drink any tea at all right after the tea party started.

The tea was completely cold, so I asked the servants to brew us a new pot of tea and serve it with the new snacks.

“I haven’t seen these before. Tak.u.mi, are these new ones?”

“Yes, they are. They are donuts and yogurt jellies.”

It was winter now, and the ice cream would melt inside, so today I’ve prepared yogurt jelly instead of yogurt ice cream.

“I thought so at the castle too, but Tak.u.mi-dono’s cooking skills are amazing.”

“Truly. It’s very delicious~”

Richard-sama and Charlotte-sama were praising the snacks.

“How about it? Would you like to work at our mansion?”

“”No way~””

“My, oh my, the kids turned me down before the person in question could answer.”

Richard-sama’s offering of a job(?) was met with Allen and Elena’s refusal. It was me who was offered the job, though~

“My Dear, if you keep saying something this outrageous, the children will come to dislike you.”

“That would be troubling.”

Richard-sama, rebuked by Charlotte-sama, looked at Allen and Elena with a troubled face.

“Have you come to dislike me already?”

“Won’t take.”

“Our Oniichan?”

“I won’t, I won’t. When I have a favor to ask of your brother, I’ll ask Allen-kun and Elena-san together, so you won’t be separated.”

“”Then, is fine~””

“I see. I will be relying on you at that time, then.”

The conversation was over before I had time to interject. Well, it’s fine.

“I see, in order to win over Tak.u.mi-dono, you must first win over his children.”

“Richard-sama, did you need something?”

“N? That, of course, was just to let Charlotte eat something good.”

“Ah, yes, I see~”

I really didn’t know what Richard-sama wanted to do, so I asked him frankly, and he answered simply.

However, Charlotte-sama smiled happily at the reply, and Rosalie-san, Celestia-san, and Olga-san were entranced with flushed expressions. Richard-sama seems to have captured the hearts of the ladies.

“If you want to know how to cook something, whether it’s a dish or a sweet, I’ll teach you what I can. So there is no need to hire me.”

As one would expect, I can’t easily teach anything related to the Fiji Company’s business, but otherwise, I’m happy to give out recipes.

“Is that so?”

I don’t know why Richard-sama looked at Wald-san, as if he didn’t believe what I was saying.

“Tak.u.mi doesn’t keep that kind of knowledge to himself. Rather, he discloses it so easily that it worries us.”

“Isn’t that to Tak.u.mi-dono’s detriment?”

“I think he’s doing a good job there. The business a.s.sociation with which he’s in contact are also very firm, and they make arrangements on Tak.u.mi’s behalf so he can receive profits even if he does not say anything.”

“How do you know so much!?”

Wald-san answered Richard-sama’s question smoothly, but his explanation was so precise that I thought he had seen what I was doing!

“N? The people you are personally acquainted with are also our acquaintances, and of course we get information about what is going around in Rubia, too. But it’s mainly because the Fiji Company reports to us on a regular basis.”

“……”

“And on top of that, Mother is very good at getting the children to talk about various things.”

“……”

Ah, yes, it’s not surprising that Rebecca-san is able to guide the kids well and get them to say everything she wants to hear about our trips. My kids remember things that have happened well, so they’ll tell her exactly what she wants to hear.

“I listened about your little incident of capturing the pirate’s s.h.i.+p with an indescribable look on my face, ya know?”

“!?”

They even knew that we had encountered a pirate s.h.i.+p that we had not dared to report!

“Come to think of it, I heard that a pirate who had been raging around the Serdik nation had been captured, but it was Tak.u.mi-sama who had resolved the problem, huh?”

“Tak.u.mi-sama is truly amazing~!”

“That’s enough talking about pirates! It’s already something that happened in the past.”

I forcefully tried to end the conversation.

“Oh my, I would like to hear more about your bravery, Tak.u.mi-san.”

“That’s right, I also want to hear more~”

“Me too, I want to hear more!”

“Me too!”

But Celestia-san, Olga-san, Theodore-kun, and Latis-kun all wanted to hear more.

“Allen-kun, Elena-san, can you tell us the story of how you defeated the pirates?”

“”Sure~””

When Cedric-san targeted Allen and Elena, the children smilingly agreed to tell them the story.

“Eh, wait a moment!”

I hurried to stop the kids.

“Can’t~?”

“Why~?”

“Eh, why, you ask…?”

The kids looked up at me with curious looks on their faces.

But when they asked me why… I was at a loss for words.

“Erm, you see…”

“”Say, why~?””

“I see no reason why not. Allen, Elena, you can tell us all about your adventures to your heart’s content!”

“”Alright~!””

In the meantime, Wald-san gave his permission, and Allen and Elena happily began to share their travel adventures.

The stories were about the “Dungeon of Colors” from around the time we boarded the s.h.i.+p—mainly from the time we left for Serdik and came back.

Perhaps because of their training in reading picture books, their adventure stories were told in a amusing way, as if they were putting on a kind of show, and the adults, as well as Theodore-kun and Latis-kun, listened to them with sparkling eyes.

The adventure storytelling continued until the tea party was over, and all the tea party partic.i.p.ants left with Pastel Rabbits in their arms, satisfied that they had enjoyed themselves.

The day after the tea party, while delivering a Pastel Rabbit to the castle, I went to show the Aurora Bird to Tristan-sama, who gave me a look of utter dismay and said, “Don’t let people find out.” It seems that I was able to avoid his scolding. Thank goodness.

However, when it came to the newly freeze-dried rice porridge and stew that Matthias-san reported, I had to explain at length, as he did not let me finish easily.