Chapter 25

“Lady Natasha baked an apple pie for everyone as thanks after that, but Lord Sergei ate it all by himself. When I recall that incident, I smacked him without thinking much.” – (Forli)

That is…

“…I recall that my grandfather didn’t like pies very much.” – (Alexei)

“He ate so much that he got a terrible heartburn later. From then on, he didn’t eat pies anymore even though he liked them.”

Is that so…

I mean, eh?!

I’ve never met my grandfather, but I’ve seen his portraits in the Duke estate. There was also a two-shot with brother, who was about 10 years old then. Brother was such a pretty boy that I couldn’t do anything but fangirl over him. Grandfather, however, was the epitome of dignity.

A very dandy and cool uncle…

Even though this was an episode from his younger days, the gap is still too big!

Seeing the Duke’s grandchildren being so perplexed, Novak and others smiled wryly. Sergei was indeed their supportive benefactor and yet also a stern superior, but they also knew of his easygoing side.

“Forli, this story between grandfather and Baron Czerny…Why have you never mentioned it before?” – (Alexei)

“I think My Lord had some big decisions to make back then. It would have been a special case considering the connection with Lord Sergei, wouldn’t it?” – (Forli)

“…”

Alexei was unusually silent. If he had allowed Ekaterina and Flora’s friendship to blossom simply because of the connection to his grandfather, then he wouldn’t be able to re-evaluate his way of thinking.

“I was curious about what happened between Joseph and Lady Natasha after that, but things kept happening here and there, and I wasn’t able to catch up with them. Thanks to some strange fate, I’m glad to know that they’re still living happily together.”

Forli said earnestly and took another bite from the pie. It really was such a nostalgic taste, he says.

They had watched Joseph and Natasha being driven away in the Duke’s carriage earlier. Sergei joked that he had eaten all the thank-you pie, so Forli hit him, and he hit back. They were lying on the ground after wrestling each other for a while when Sergei said:

“—My chest hurts.”

“Probably a heartburn, cause you ate too much. Are you stupid, eating a whole pie by yourself?”

“I’m stupid.” – (Sergei)

“Yeah.” – (Forli)

Sergei sighed.

“…Maybe you shouldn’t have let them go.” – (Forli)

“That’s not what I want. …So, this is good enough.” – (Sergei)

“Shut up. Why do you always have to drag me into these things, you idiot.” – (Forli)

It was definitely not love, not at all.

The issue was, the person who Sergei was engaged with; Crown Princess Alexandra, despite being well-matched to him in terms of appearance, was an arrogant and a coldhearted person. To Sergei who was sincere but elusive, and unwaveringly fair yet gentle, she was the polar opposite. They were so different that it could already be seen from the very beginning that the relationship would not end up so well.

Natasha wasn’t the type to be praised for her beauty, but she had a petite build, had gentle eyes, and always smelled sweet. If she was Sergei’s marriage partner, he would be happy.

“I’ll never eat apple pies again.”

Sergei groaned, and Forli laughed.

In those days, Forli never thought that the annoying friend who always caused him troubles without any reservation would leave so soon, not even in a dream.

Looking back, he now knew that those were truly the good old days.

…

For some reason, I woke up a bit earlier that day.

As I sit up and stare at the letter on my bedside table, Mina enters the bedroom. Her eyes widened slightly.

“‘Morning, Mina.”

“Good Morning, My Lady. You’re early today.”

“I somehow did.”

Mina opens the curtain, and I squint at the brilliant sun. Seems like it’ll be a fine day today.

“What do you have today?”

“Well, a new class. Magic Control, the first one on practical skills. Because of that, I’ll reread Mardu-sensei’s advice. She’s the teacher you delivered the sweets to, Mina.”

“Ah, that small young lady. She was overjoyed about the sweets. She was thankful to receive a reward for just one question, terribly so. There’s no one else like her.”

“A teacher’s knowledge is something for sale. It was a proper payment.”

Well, when I was a system engineer in my previous life, clients of previous projects often called and asked me all kinds of questions, taking up a lot of my time. Even though I wasn’t in charge of maintenance and had already transferred to a new project, they kept going like ‘Can you fix this? Yes? Then fix it.’

Knowledge and skills are not for free!