Chapter 23.2

I also remembered what happened to me one time before.

I had a dream and there was nothing I could do about it. Dreams are something you can’t control, so this is an irresistible force.

I woke up refreshed and light, raised my body from the bed and looked out of the window.

It was still dimly lit, but it seemed to have dawned.

My resentment towards Gilbert-sama had subsided, as if it were an illusion.

I have blamed him somewhat unreasonably. It’s not like me to reveal my anger and blame him in a strong tone.

And I said, “I’ll always be the head chef”, as if the head chef’s job is lower than serving at Master Gilbert’s side.

I feel sorry for the cooks. After all, nothing good comes from working while tired without proper rest.

I must apologise to Gilbert-sama when I see him.

Besides, as head chef I have only cooked once. This is not good enough. First and foremost, it’s important to make sure I do the job I’ve been given.

I don’t have time to feel down.

I quickly finished bathing, washed my dirty clothes and hung them on the hooks on the bathroom wall, then changed into servant’s clothes. I put my hair up and left the room.

I can’t say I had a very good dream, but I suppose it was the dream’s way of chastising me for remembering so much of the past. I felt like I was being told that I didn’t need to remember any more.

“Good day, fire spirits. I am an early riser, but you are even earlier.”

When I opened the door to the kitchen, there were less than ten fire spirits moving around busily.

The soup I had made yesterday was being cooked, and the leftover meat from the narwhal was being neatly chopped up and processed into dried meat and intestines.

“Good morning Lady Lydith. You could do with more sleep. You must be tired, please rest in your room while we bring you breakfast,” The fire spirits said.

I shook my head because I couldn’t do that.

“Since I am the Head Chef Lydith, I will work together with everyone.”

“I am flattered by your sentiments, Lady Lydith, but we have been shirking our duties for quite some time now. We were doing what we could to comfort the king’s heart, to give colour to the long-lasting life of the demon people. But we got bored or sick of it, I don’t know now, but we stopped before Master Yule’s reign began and Master Gilbert was born.”

“A human’s life lasts at most fifty years. Most of us leave this world when we are over forty, for example, due to illness. You have been working since after the war a thousand years ago. You must be sick and tired of it. I understand a little how hard it is to go through the same thing day after day.”

When I came here, I also had the feeling that I didn’t want to repeat my first life again.

As Master Gilbert says, in that sense, I would certainly have escaped.

From the academy, from Cynthia-san. And from Rafael-sama.

I have no regrets. I don’t even think it’s wrong. I just live the way I want to.

I met Gilbert-sama and have lived here for a few days. I have learnt a lot and I am fulfilled. I think I made the right choice.

If I had chosen to go to the academy, I would have taught Cynthia in the same way again. Even if I had known the consequences, I wouldn’t want to cling to living a false version of myself.

“Thank you, Lady Lydith. We must make up for what we have done. Master Lydith-sama’s cooking was wonderful. Not just the food, but the thought that went into it. It is because it has shaken the heart of Gilbert, who had stubbornly rejected human culture. We too want to please Master Gilbert and Lydith-sama.”

“Did Gilbert-sama hate Humans?”

“What he hated was Master Lucis’s delusion. It torments Master Yule, and I imagine Master Gilbert is also tormented.”

“That’s right… I don’t think it’s something I should know right now. Fire spirits, I understand how you feel. I’ll leave the cooking to you.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but I didn’t think it would be good to hear about Master Gilbert’s distress without his knowledge and without his permission.

First of all, it seems that I need to reconsider how I am as head chef.

When I decided not to help in the kitchen, the fire spirits danced around me happily.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Lydith-sama, if I may be so bold, I would like you to go to the forest and gather some foodstuffs.”

“We are good cooks, but not pickers. That was the job of the wood spirits. They used to live in the forest, but they haven’t been seen since we stopped cooking.”

“I understand. I am very good at collecting them. I’ll take care of it.”

I was so happy to be entrusted with the job that I shook the hand of one of the fire nymphs lightly.

The fire spirit’s ears fluttered. It seems they don’t dislike me.

“Master Lydith, I baked bread with the breadfruit that I picked in the backyard. Real bread can’t be made without the ingredients that the wood spirits have collected.”

The fire nymphs then pulled out a baking pan from the kiln.

There was a line of flat, white, burnt and fragrant-smelling nuts.

Breadfruit is a nut that when crushed, mixed with water, kneaded and baked, produces a food that tastes similar to bread.

They don’t puff up as much as bread, but the texture is very similar.

“It’s wonderful. Let’s make sandwiches with roasted thin slices of meat and herbs. Would you like to give it to Gilberto and Astaroth?”

As soon as I said this, the fire spirits moved quickly and in no time the sandwiches were lined up on the plates.

I put the sandwiches into two paper bags from the kitchen.

One is for my lunch and one is for Cronaea-san.

The fire nymphs don’t think well of her, so it would be better for me to take it to her.

I am sure that Ms. Cronaea will miss me too.

“Lady Lydith, aren’t you going to stay with Master Gilbert?”

“I will deliver the food to Miss Cronea and then go to the forest to collect the ingredients. I am grateful for the sandwiches.”

“For Cronaea? Oh, Lydith-sama, how kind of you.”

“Cronaea-san also had her own circumstances.”

When I was about to leave the kitchen, the fire spirits all said, “Please be careful,” and sent me off.

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