Chapter 21.2

What on earth was he doing here?

I’ve wasted so much time. Anyway, I opened the door to my room to hurry back to the kitchen because I had kept Gilbert-sama waiting.

When I opened the door, four of the lovely fire spirits I had seen earlier, who looked like cats clad in human-shaped flames, were floating in my line of sight.

“Oh, how do you do, my dear Fire Spirits? Uh… what should I call you, do you have a name, like Cronaea?”

“Cronaea in the dungeons looks good, doesn’t it? Spirits don’t have much of an individual ego by nature, because we are all one, so we don’t need to call ourselves names,” The fire spirits answered my question.

“I have a name, but you don’t need to call it.”

“We don’t need to call them.”

It sounds as if they are all speaking at the same time, or each speaking one word at a time.

Their voices are high-pitched, like those of young children, but their speech is polite and intelligent.

“Okay, I understand. What can I do for you, fire nymphs?”

“Gilbert-sama is waiting for you. Please come with us.”

The fire nymphs lightly grasped my hand and pulled me along and urged me to go upstairs instead of downstairs to the kitchen.

“Which way are we going? Gilbert-sama should be waiting in the kitchen.”

I asked as I walked.

I felt like it had been a long time since the last time I wore delicate shoes with narrow heels. It was a little bit difficult to walk in them.

“The kitchen was our place of work. The food that Master Lydith made was wonderful and we remembered our role after a long time. Originally, our job was to serve delicious food to comfort the king’s heart in this world that has been abandoned by the human world. But Master Yule had stopped eating, Master Gilbert didn’t eat anything, and we got tired of our job.”

Yule refers to the previous king.

“Come to think of it, the demon tribe has a long life span. The only Kings up to now have been Gilbert-sama and Yule-sama?”

Gilbert-sama was born 200 years ago, and Yule-sama was the king before him.

The demon kingdom was closed a thousand years ago. There are only two kings, I think.

“When the Great War broke out, it was Master Lucis. When Master Lucis was gone, it was Master Yule. The next was Master Gilbert.”

‘Master Lucis,’ I ruminate several times in my mind.

“I see. Did Master Lucis often dine with you?”

“Both Master Lucis and Master Yule longed for people. Gilbert-sama too. A king’s vessel is something that also carries over memories, so I’m sure he’s interested.”

“And memories too…”

“A king inherits all his powers and memories. He may forget some things over the years, but there are some things he just can’t forget. Master Lucis was very fond of a human girl, the girl in the vessel of the goddess.”

I tilt my head.

The term ‘vessel of the goddess’ was new to me.

The goddess is probably Elvisa, the fertility goddess who brings love and peace in the mythology of the kingdom.

She is often the subject of sculptures and paintings, but I thought they were fairy tales.

I don’t think anyone in the kingdom believes that Elvisa really exists.

I wanted to ask them more about the vessels of the goddess, but before I could do that, the fire spirits finished guiding me.

At the top of the stairs, a massive door was opened. There, on a clean white tablecloth, my meal was beautifully laid out, decorated with red roses and candelabras.

It was the ideal dining table I wanted to conduct as head chef.

Perhaps because they had finished their role, the figures of the fire spirits disappeared.

And instead, Gilbert-sama was gently holding my hand.

“…Oh, you are different from usual, aren’t you?”

Master Gilbert is neatly dressed in his formal clothes.

It resembles a knight’s uniform with a stuffed collar, but with less ornamentation. It is black, trimmed with gold thread and suits him well. His hair, which was shaggy and bouncy, was also neatly arranged in its own way.

I felt a little sad that the coarse impression was gone. The current Gilbert-sama fits the words ‘fearless and heroic’.

“Your hand.”

With the word, the palms of my hands become warm.

The palms of my hands, which had been marked by cuts and roughness from working day after day, were transformed into their original scarless skin.

“Thank you. Did you heal me?”

“…Ah. Thanks for the food, Lydith. You look good in that dress.”

“You look lovely too, Gilbert-sama. But… I also like you in your usual dishevelled way.”

I was surprised because there was no one like you around me, but there is such a thing as familiarity, isn’t there? Once you get used to it, it’s not so bad.

Gilberto-sama muttered a small “I see,” and opened the front of his collar and breathed deeply as if he was relieved.

The neck is so tight that it’s hard to relax. Is this okay?

“Yes. I prefer the usual Gilbert-sama. I feel at ease, like at home, shall I say?”

“I don’t really understand what you mean, but if you’re okay with it, it’s fine. When I was waiting in the kitchen, the fire spirits were rude and noisy. They asked me to do my first meal properly.”

The fire spirits must have prepared the room.

An awkward escort took me to my seat.

In the middle of the long table, in front of me, Gilbert-sama also sat down.

The food was warm and steamy without getting cold. This may be the power of the fire spirits.

Golden eyes stared at me.

It felt like my chest was beating faster than usual.

For some reason, I seemed a little nervous. It may have been because I was a cleaning lady or head chef for a while, or maybe it was because Cami-sama had been nagging at me about my sense of shame.

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