CH 9

For three days in a row, the Mainz family carriage comes to pick me up.

This made him feel a bit like an aristocrat.

While being rocked by the carriage, Ginjiro wished that today would be another pleasant day.

“Oliver-san and all the cooks, sorry to bother you at this busy time of the day. I’m borrowing the kitchen again today, so please think of it as payment for letting me use your place, please it eat with everyone. There will be enough for all the maids, too.”

Saying so, Ginjiro handed over a large amount of cookies and pound cake.

Amelie, the maid, quickly put the cookies in her mouth.

“Delicious~”

Amelie looks happy, but immediately became teary-eyed after being scolded by Cohen-san, the head maid.

“Good afternoon, Ginjiro-sama. I look forward to working with you again today.”

After greeting Cohen-san, whose skin had become more moist and even more beautiful, Ginjiro proceeded to make preparations in a corner of the kitchen.

===

“I’d like to introduce you to my best friends, Laina and Iris. They’ re both lovely, aren’t they?”

Sophia looks a little more mature in her navy blue dress.

Her beautiful silver hair is tied back in ponytail.

Thinking that a beautiful girl with a ponytail is a foul sight, I greet Lady Sophia, the star of this event, and the ladies.

“My name is Ginjiro and I have been entrusted with the tea party by Sophia-sama. Thank you very much for your cooperation today.”

Ginjiro bows.

“Ginjiro, you’re back to calling me like that again.”

The tea party started with Sophia’s pouting, making me a little nervous.

First, an afternoon tea set is prepared.

Scones, chiffon cake, pound cake, cookies, and sandwiches are set on the table.

“What a cute little thing. This is amazing Sophia.”

Lady Laina, the eldest daughter of Viscount Saxony, has her eyes shining.

This reaction is not much different from Japanese high school girls.

I bowed to Laina-sama and took a step back from the table.

“I mean, if it’s Ginjiro, this is obvious.”

What makes it so obvious?

I don’t feel bad, but I can’t help but wonder about Sophia’s mysterious evaluation of me.

“What is Ginjiro-san to you, Sophia?”

Lady Iris, the second daughter of Heidelberg Barons, who is also today’s star of the party, asked her a question.

“Secret~”

Sophia says this with a smile on her face, and the three of them start having a girl talk.

I prepared drinks, thinking that no matter where in the world three women get together, they are all the same.

“Today’s tea is Darjeeling. This tea is said to make women even more beautiful.”

It’s just a sales talk, but I guess such talk is acceptable for a girls’ party.

Only Cohen-san, the head maid, looks at me as if she wants to say something. ……

Pour the tea into the teacups that had been preheated.

“Please use sugar or honey as you like.”

Each of them put sugar or honey as they liked, and sipped the tea.

Ginjiro was happy to hear that the tea tasted so good.

===

After a while, I look at Sebastian and he looks at me and then nods slowly.

Sofia notices the interaction between Ginjiro and Sebastian and began to get nervous.

Next, Ginjiro looks at the head maids, Cohen-san and Amelie.

Cohen-san noticed first and gave a signal to Amelie.

Ginjiro walks slowly to the door because Cohen and Amelie gave him a signal of understanding.

Let’s start the surprise, shall we?

Just as he puts his hand on the door, Sebastian turns off the magic lamp to darken the room.

The timing was perfect, just as we had practiced.

Cohen-san makes sure the room is dark and invites the ladies’ servants who have been waiting in another room into the room.

Oliver, having lit the candles for the birthday cake, slips through Ginjiro’s open door and carries the birthday cake to Iris-sama’s front.

“Iris, it’s a little early, but Happy Birthday!”

Sophia stands up and declares.

Then everyone sang the birthday song, which we had all practiced.

However, although they had sung it well in practice, everyone was so nervous that they could not speak aloud.

Ginjiro, who is tone deaf, decides that it is better for him to step forward and sing the birthday song loudly.

“Now Iris, blow out the candle.”

“Eh?　What?　Blow on it?”

After realizing that everyone in the room was congratulating her, she willingly blew on the candles.

With puff, puff, and repeated breaths, Iris extinguished the candles prepared according to the number of her age.

When Sebastian turns the lights back on in the room, everyone applauds and celebrates.

The surprise is a success, and a sense of accomplishment overflows.

At the same time, the tension is dissipated and the cheeks naturally relax.

Iris-sama, the star of the day, was smiling and shedding tears.

Seeing her, everyone around her cried.

I’ve done a lot of surprises in my life, but I’ve never had a pure and exciting surprise like this.

Well, I won’t let it end with this.

Ginjiro is going to surprise them even more.

“Iris-sama, this is a birthday cake with as many candles as the number of your age. And this plate has Iris-sama’s name on it. In other words, this is a special cake just for Iris-sama. We would like to eat this cake together, but would you mind if we cut it into pieces?”

“Give me a minute. ……”

A small, pretty woman stares at the birthday cake.

After confirming that she looked at me and nodded a little, Ginjiro called out to Sophia and Laina-sama.

“Please look here and stop moving for a while.”

The three of them don’t know what they are going to do now, but they follow Ginjiro’s instruction as it is.

“All right… Ok, cheese.”

Instant camera film comes out with a nostalgic sound.

It is still blank, but in ten minutes it will make a good picture.

Ginjiro puts the film in the bag and signals to Sebastian and Oliver.

Oliver, the head chef, cuts the birthday cake nicely.

Sebastian and the maids bring a simple table and chairs and set them up so that everyone can eat the cake.

Ginjiro brewed tea for everyone and let everyone enjoy the birthday cake.

The servants asked if they are allowed to take the cake, but I convinced them that it would be a waste if they did not enjoy this surprise together.

Ginjiro took out his instant camera again and took pictures of everyone.

He was seen as if he was doing something strange, but he was happy to be able to capture good smiles on their faces.

As he was feeling happy about the success of the surprise, an elderly man with gray hair and small stature who was standing next to him shed tears and asked for a handshake.

This white-haired old man is Iris-sama’s butler.

The white-haired old man held my right hand that holding the instant camera with both hands and repeated said “thank you”.

Ginjiro was perplexed by the momentum of this gesture, but he decided to take a picture of just the two of them, the old man and Iris-sama, the star of the day, with the instant camera.