032 - Torenia: A Talented Maid (6)

Mary blinked. "White?"

After hearing the bewildered question from the Head Maid, Leslie simply covered her mouth almost revealing her ability.

Even though Mary had reared her since she was a baby, Leslie couldn't risk revealing her abilities and endangering her family.

Leslie closed her eyes as she remembered her brother's frenzied but affectionate reaction when little Leslie told her about her abilities with an innocent expression.

-"You can't tell anyone about this ability, Leslie! Please keep your lips shut until your big brother takes over as family head and can properly protect you, okay?"

Leslie's smile broadened as she recalled how adorable her teenage brother was, but he already had the urge to protect his little sister, who possessed special powers.

"Though he's getting on my nerves now, and I don't want to see him too often." Leslie pursed her lips at the thought of her brother, who had grown up to be a nuisance, and teased her every time she returned home from the academy.

"...Miss Leslie?" Leslie's memories of her first brother were interrupted by the voice of an elderly woman.

Leslie smiled briefly as she noticed Mary's troubled expression before telling her to return to her job.

"Okay, then, Young Miss Leslie. I'll excuse myself. Please re-enjoy your reading time." Mary bowed politely.

Leslie returned her gaze to her thick book, which was still closed, while Mary turned around and went straight towards the exit.

"Now, let us continue reading the theory that explains the difference between magic, which is believed to be derived from nature, and divine power, which is received after believing in the Gods, according to the person who is supposed to possess the two types of power!"

Leslie's purple eyes twinkled with curiosity. She was eager to learn more. Her gleaming eyes revealed her thirst for unknown information.

"...?" Leslie was about to continue her activities when Mary didn't come out and just waited in front of the exit.

"What's the problem?" Leslie asked, one eyebrow arched as she saw Mary's strange conduct.

"That is... Outside..." Mary spoke nervously as if to justify Leslie's intuition.

"Outside? What's happening?" Despite her displeasure at having her reading interrupted, Leslie rose and walked elegantly approaching Mary.

Mary carefully opened the door, and two teenage girls they both recognized stood in front of the library entrance.

They were both standing with their teacups.

"Torenia?" Leslie, who didn't recognize the maid with dull brown hair and a red ribbon as a tie, did recognize a black-haired girl with lovely gray eyes.

Leslie's purple eyes locked on the black-haired girl, who still radiated a pure and holy aura. She had the feeling she wouldn't be able to take her gaze away from the white color for even a second.

"... Nelly, what brings you here?" Mary recognized the two and decided to inquire about the reason for one of the girls standing in front of the library entrance.

Instead of responding to Mary's query, Nelly bit her lower lip, as though she was both unhappy and embarrassed that Miss Leslie knew Torenia but didn't know her.

Torenia, as Miss Leslie called her name, flinched but immediately smiled.

"Good afternoon, Miss Leslie! Would you mind giving us a golden opportunity to serve you the tea we both made?"

***

"...Head chef, are these two teas truly made from the same ingredients?" Leslie asked Juane, the head chef who was pushing a trolley with lunch for Leslie.

Juane nodded, then smiled, causing the lines on Leslie's face to deepen even more.

"She has also perfected your favorite food, Miss."

When Juane said these words, Mary, who had also tasted the tea that tasted so spectacular on her tongue, gazed back at Juane with an expression of pure bewilderment.

In the vast and fancy dining room, there was only Leslie as the castle owner's daughter, the head maid, and the head chef. Meanwhile, Torenia and Nelly were advised to wait quietly in the break room for the maids.

Leslie blinked as Juane finished her sentence. "She?"

It wasn't Juane who responded, but Mary as if she had suspected it from the start. "You mean Torenia?"

Leslie was stunned when Juane nodded in response to Mary's guess.

"How can... How come she's so perfect?' Leslie's mind was becoming increasingly disorganized.

The dining room was silent. Only the sound of various food utensils touching each other as they were prepared could be heard.

"Young Miss Leslie, kindly eat! I can assure you that this dish is poison-free!" Juane, who had just finished putting the food on the dining table, spoke out.

Leslie laughed at the head chef's words.

'Poison? Who would dare to accuse someone with the aura of a Saintess of putting poison in this food? Just thinking about that makes me want to bust out laughing.' Leslie thought, trying hard not to laugh.

That's how it is.

After hearing Torenia's name, Leslie ate the potage with a distinct expression. And, much like the tea she had sipped earlier, it tasted very different from the potage, the regular thick soup she ate.

A different scent, texture, color, and, most significantly, taste than usual as the thick, warm liquid began to enter her throat, leaving her feeling lost in a world of nowhere.

'What's she up to? Why do the foods and teas she makes taste so different?' Her mind began to rush.

Her curiosity over why Torenia was able to do what the other maids couldn't leave her impossible to breathe quietly.

Leslie inhaled and exhaled gently, as if to calm her raging emotions, for the world of food and drink, which she had previously thought of as only satisfying the stomach and relieving thirst, had changed dramatically.

Now she realized why that knowledge made her thirsty, and the thirstier she became as she learned more about it.

Because knowledge is limitless for those who want to keep learning. Meanwhile, those who are uninterested in knowledge will believe that knowledge simply consists of this and that.

"Huff...." Leslie breathed a forced sigh of relief as she managed to calm down her emotions. Leslie turned to gaze at both the head maid and the head chef.

"Have you two tried this amazing dish and tea?"

Juane and Marie both shook their heads.

"All I tried was potage."

"I've tried the tea, Young Miss."

They responded with overlapping voices.

Leslie smiled and gestured to the teapot Torenia had made as well as the enormous pot of stew Torenia had also made.

"What if the two of you join me for lunch? I'm disappointed that I'll have to eat alone because I wasn't informed of my brother's departure time."

It's simply an ordinary excuse. But Leslie was in such a good mood that she insisted on taking her out to eat with the people who had looked after her when she was a child. Leslie also wishes for her family to sample the delectable dish and refreshing tea.

"… Yes!" Juane and Marie responded with happy auras around them.

***

Meanwhile, not far from the dining room, in the break room for female maids.

"It's no surprise you appear to be so well-trained. You must have had a lot of support from great and powerful people like Miss Leslie, right?" Nelly, who had been chattering nonstop the entire time, had purposefully angered the girl seated across from her.

Unfortunately, the girl was not only provoked, but she also openly ignored it.

Nelly clicked her tongue since she felt her words had no effect. "Ha! You think you can disregard and insult them because you have all that help?"

Torenia, or Faerie, pursed her lips, annoyed by the constant conversation. 'Hey, little girl. Haven't you always been the one who humiliated people at will?'

"Just wait and see! I will still be regarded as the best tea brewing maid in the Marquess' residence even if Miss Leslie supports you!" Nelly proudly stated.

'I don't care.'

Faerie rolled her eyes, despite her engraved smile.

'All I need is a maid job in any field so that I can approach the knights who work here without raising suspicion!'

"After my official appointment as a tea brewing maid in this castle. I'll gradually become Miss Leslie's exclusive maid, then Miss Leslie's lady in waiting after she marries, and then I'll have the option of marrying a nobleman blablablabla...."

After Nelly uttered a long sentence about her future self in a proud tone, the door abruptly opened.

Nelly stood up instantly as if she was impatient. "Finally! Now is the time for you to recognize your place--"

The door swung open, and two people rushed into the room, shouting. "TORENIA!"

"W-What's matter with you two?" Two women shouting at the same moment drowned out Nelly's voice.

"Torenia, please be the next head maid!"

"Torenia, please be the next head chef!"

"... Huh?"