CH 306

A Passionate Friendship Grows

Keithwood was about to give up when he heard a new voice that gave him hope.

“Don’t worry, Keithwood. I’m here to help because I heard the story.”

Someone showed up at the door.

“Lord Sapphias?”

Sapphias Etoile Bluemoon walked into the room with a smile. He was the son of a duke and the heir to the House of Bluemoon. He was also the official assistant to the secretary of the student council.

Keithwood looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. Sapphias walked over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder before turning to Mia.

“Oh? Why are you here, Sapphias? I don’t think that we need your help. Or are you saying that something is wrong with my plan?”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Your Highness, but…”

Sapphias shook his head and spoke in a serious way.

“Something isn’t right with your plan.”

“My! Is there something missing? From my plan for perfection? And what could that possibly be?”

Mia spoke up, surprised and angry at the same time. Keithwood gritted his teeth as his vision began to blur next to her.

Ugh, just… Please don’t give her any more crazy ideas, for the love of the sun…

Keithwood was very upset when Sapphias started to talk about his idea.

“Simple. It’s the surprise factor, Your Highness.”

“…Surprise?”

Mia closed her eyes a few times. Sapphias kept going with a happy smile when he saw that his idea had caught her off guard.

“Absolutely. Surprise. You have to keep people guessing. Think about what kind of event you’re planning. It’s a trip to look for mushrooms. What a marvellously unique idea! One that is sure to be full of new things to try and fresh treats. But you want to start this special event by making sandwiches, which I know you’ve done before. Don’t you see? When compared to the excitement of something new and different, making a sandwich will seem boring. It won’t be very interesting.”

“Novelty…”

“If I may be so bold, Your Highness’s idea is as boring as tea made with used tea leaves.”

“Spent leaves?”

Mia groaned. That was painful.

“I… guess that’s right. At the swordsmanship tournament, the sandwiches were so important because I wasn’t supposed to make them, but I did anyway. This time, I won’t be able to have that element of surprise…”

She clapped her hands once after giving it some thought.

“Okay, I see what you mean. So, sandwiches aren’t really enough, right? I have to make something fancier!”

“No, you don’t understand me right,” Sapphias quickly said. “What I mean is that since the girls made the sandwiches last time, I think you should let us boys do it this time.”

“You? Make sandwiches?”

Mia didn’t like the idea, but Sapphias kept going. “Absolutely. I’m also going to ask for help from the princes. Oh, Keithwood, would you go get us a couple of aprons fit for a prince?”

“A-Aprons?!”

Mia’s frown went away when she heard about aprons.

“…Thank you for your help, Lord Sapphias.”

Keithwood said with a tired sigh after Mia left the room, “Your help couldn’t have come at a better time.”

They had to work at it, but they finally got her to agree that she didn’t need to help make any of the food. Sapphias shrugged in a funny way.

“Eh, it’s all right. It doesn’t bother me. Also, based on how white your knuckles were, I’m guessing that Her Highness’s cooking skills are…better not seen?”

Sweet sun up in the sky… I’m about to cry, I think…

Keithwood was pretty sure he now knew what it was like to be about to lose a battle and then see an allied army charging down the hill.

It was nice. Even more so because the person who helped him was someone he had given up on. His feelings were really strong right now.

Mia Luna Tearmoon had an incredible amount of charm. Those who saw it were quickly mesmerised and lost all sense of reason. Almost nobody could stay away from it. Even the Holy Lady Rafina couldn’t help. Both his master, Sion, and the Remno prince, Abel, had made bad decisions because of how much they liked her.

People were not all the same. They had different parts, and not every part was as good as the rest. No one could be good at everything. Still, people seemed willing to think that way about her for some reason. To think that everything would work out well as long as she had the idea. It had become normal for people to have this much faith in her abilities. But it was an irresponsible faith.

The rule wasn’t right. Because, at least when it came to cooking, Princess Mia was not to be trusted.  Keithwood finally found a friend in the student council after all this time. A fellow sceptic who could still see a shadow of reasoned doubt in the face of her blinding light.

“Actually, it’s because,” Sapphias said sheepishly as he scratched his head, “I’ve kind of been through the same thing. My now-fiancée used to be really into cooking. I mean, she’s the daughter of a high-ranking noble, so I told her to calm down and let the servants handle it. But wouldn’t you know it, she got even more stubborn and insisted on making her own meal, so… Ha ha, this was a long time ago, but, well… It’s a funny story now, but I think I had nightmares for weeks after it happened.”

He was happy. It was a real laugh that didn’t come from any pain. Then he kept going.

“In general, I think that if someone you love cooks for you, you shouldn’t leave any food on the plate. But.”

He paused to make a point, and then his voice got louder and more excited.

“Let me just say very clearly that this is only about food and nothing else. I don’t think charcoal or raw meat are food either. If I bite something and it makes me look like I licked a chimney or tried to eat a live person, then—”

Keithwood coughed.

“…I think you’ve made your point, Lord Sapphias,” he said, giving Sapphias a pointed look around before giving him a silent nod to remind him that he should keep this particular complaint to himself.

“R-Right. Anyway. The point is that what I did was the same thing I did to get her to stop back then. Women want to cook on their own, but they also want to watch men cook.”

“I see… Wise words. They have been taken into account.”

Keithwood was usually pretty popular with the ladies, but he had never been with one girl for a long time or gotten to know her well. As Sion’s servant, he was much too busy for such things.

So, he had a little bit of respect for Sapphias, who had been with his fiancée long enough to know all of her flaws and was still willing to tell everyone that he loved her.

Furthermore…

“So,” Sapphias said, “what happened next was, in a nutshell, a fire test for me and her younger brother. We made food. A lot. It was kind of scary. We were literally fighting for our lives, because if we made something bad, she might decide that she should cook after all. We got pretty good at it in the end.”

Keithwood probably wouldn’t have expected Sapphias to have this skill, but since he did, the student council boys team is now more even. Even though Sion and Abel didn’t know how to cook, they would have Keithwood and Sapphias to help them. If Sapphias’s servant knew how to cook, they could get even more help. In general, things were looking a lot brighter.

Keithwood let out a long breath. He felt like a big weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“Okay, then. If that’s true, I couldn’t have asked for a better plan. I’ll convince milord.”

“I’ll also talk to the other people. We’ll get through this predicament together.”

Sapphias put out his hand, and Keithwood took it firmly. This was the start of an interesting new friendship.

This international friendship would last even after Sapphias graduated from the academy and went back to the empire. It was the basis for a rare episode of the Great Wisdom of the Empire, in which Mia Luna Tearmoon played the bad guy.