12 — The Missed Memo

Although I was temporarily interrupted when Calendula barged in on us, her little scene had been all but wiped from my mind by the time I finished redoing the salon.

The outdated feel of the room had been toned down in favor of a much cuter look, and I’d totally turned it into a much more convincing salon! It was a lot of work, but I couldn’t have done it without the servants (who were still putting up with my weird desire to be one of them)!

So today I’ll treat them all to my special deluxe chocolate tarts!

So there I was, standing at the kitchen door.

“What do we have here, Madame? You look particularly lovely today! I’m so happy you’ve come to see me.”

Following his indulgent remarks, he took my hand in a series of flowy gestures and kissed it. ~mwah~

Oh! You frivolous man! I’m not lovely at all! You said the same thing yesterday. I’ll only twist your sweet words, my heart exclaimed, but this ritual was performed every time I came to the kitchen.

The one with my hand in his was Cartham.

I don’t mind that he’s a lady’s man, but doing this every single day is a bit much.

He really is something else, though, to be able to say such sappy words with such a sappy smile without batting an eyelid.

This is a daily occurrence, so I’m gonna have to get used to it.

It seems most of the personal maids and female staff line up to watch him, too, just like me. No one seems to take him seriously, however, and they just let his comments slide.

Cartham doesn’t seem to worry about not being taken seriously.

For real, this happens every day!

I’ve gotten to know everyone, so I don’t have any trouble dealing with them, and I’ve only been at the Fisalis house for a month; I’ve had no contact with men outside of those on the estate, though, so my immunity to flowery words and gestures has been compromised.

Thus, I was still unable to let his flirting go.

And thus, his flowery words struck me senseless again today. I could do nothing but gape.

For his efforts, Cartham received an astonishing blow to his head. A clean hit! He let out a soundless scream and his body writhed in pain.

Dahlia was a karate chop master.

“D-Dahlia? What were you thinking? Is he—” I said, standing between them in a panic.

“He’ll be fine. Something like that will not deter him for long, anyway,” Dahlia said bluntly, shooting a cold glance Cartham’s way.

And just as she said, he was back to his usual self in a snap.

“Ma chérie, how could you? Am I to believe you enjoy assaulting me like that?” Cartham whined at Dahlia, pouting.

...back at it again.

But Dahlia continued on, wearing her usual severe expression.

“The Madam pulled away. Behave yourself!” she said with a glare, look up at him. However, far from flinching under her intense gaze, he said, “Hngh, you’re cute when you’re mad~” and went in for a hug, landing a kiss on Dahlia’s cheek.

EEEEYAAAAH~!! I shouldn’t be seeing this! What’s with these two!? Are they...!?

My cheek quivered as I reached the limit of my tolerance for PDA, and as I inched away, Dahlia seemed to come to her senses.

“What do you think you’re doing in front of Madam!” she grilled Cartham, albeit with a blush on her cheeks.

“Sorry about that! Hahaha,” Cartham awkwardly laughed, without seeming the slightest bit remorseful. He ran his hand through his uncommonly blond hair while he gave us a dopey grin.

Hang on a second, though.

Just why is he so sweet on her? Why someone as straight-laced as Dahlia over a younger personal maid?

It’s not really my place to ask, but... now that I think of it...

“Cartham, did you just call Dahlia ‘ma chérie?’”

I was stuck on what he had said a little while earlier.

To which Cartham replied smoothly, smiling ear to ear, “Yes, I did. She is my old lady, after all!” ~Wink~

Uh, what?

“Huh? Your ‘old lady?’ Then you mean you two are married?”

“...that’s correct, Madam.”

I repeatedly blinked in shock at Dahlia’s seemingly reluctant answer.

Whaaat? How am I only finding this out just now after a month of living here? Seemingly upright Dahlia and... outgoing but pathetic and shallow Cartham.

...I guess opposites attract. I would never have imagined.

Then again, Dahlia only seems so uptight because she’s so overprepared; she’s still perfectly good-looking, even at her age. She must’ve had all the boys chasing her when she was young. Now, she’s got that ‘strong, independent woman’ look.

They’ve got their differences for sure, but when you put them together, they work.

After coming to terms with that shocking factoid by way of the head chef (who was nonetheless a cooking ace), I made my chocolate tarts and handed them out to the servants.

Eventually, the only servant we hadn’t given one to yet was the head gardener, Bellis.

Bellis...

I said it all before—he was strikingly handsome, with intense eyes. You could easily imagine him holding a sword instead of a trowel. His ash brown hair was messily tied back and his long fringe fell over those sharp eyes, but did not completely hide them.

Do your job, fringe! Hide those sexy eyes!

He was usually in the greenhouse, so I had been secretly calling him ‘The Demon King of the Orangerie’ in my head, but I didn’t have the guts to say that to his face!

He was quiet and seemed anti-social, but he did magnificent work. It bears repeating how much a thing of beauty the Fisalis garden was; he’d never be able to pull it off if he didn’t take pride in his work and genuinely love flowers.

His careful efforts could be found in every last inch of the garden.

So I was certain that Bellis really was a good person... even if he looked like he’d just walked straight out of Hell.

Though I was inclined to think he was a good man, I was still nervous when I had to talk to him.

And today, just as I expected, he was hard at work in our wonderful greenhouse.

His strong, hunched back, the only part of him facing me, gave off a certain masculine, romantic, pathos... no, more of a sense of ‘go away, I’m working. Whaddaya want?’

But I couldn’t just exclude Bellis because I was afraid of him!

I determinedly called out to him, “Um, hello, Bellis?”

“...How can I help you?” he responded after a moment’s pause, still turned away from me. His hands never slowed.

“I, um, baked some chocolate tarts and thought you might want to have one during your break. Eheheh.”

You can do it! Smile!

“...put it on that table by you, please.” He continued to talk to me without stopping his work or turning around and pointed to a table in the corner of the greenhouse.

“S-sure thing. Sorry for bothering you!”

Unable to bear the awkwardness, I set the plate on the table he had pointed out, and had turned to make my hasty escape, when...

THWUNK

“Bellis, you oaf! Where are your manners!?”

Someone knocked the Demon King—I mean, Bellis—on the head.

I was, as they say, shook.

Bellis rubbed his head where he’d been struck.

Demon King Bellis’ assailant was not some brave hero summoned from... somewhere, but only Mimosa.

...goodness. This is a repeat of what just happened!

There was a wooden trowel in Mimosa’s hand.

Hey, Mimosa, how could you just hit the guy like that!?

As I looked at Mimosa in shock, Bellis abruptly stood up.

Uh oh, is the Demon King on the counter attack!? Our brave heroine Mimosa has gotten herself in quite the predicament, but there’s nothing I can do to help! Someone—! Anyone—!

Mimosa, however, showed no sign of fear and held her ground, glaring at Bellis.

Mimosa’s much pluckier than I would expect!

I pretended to report to a made-up audience as I watched the scene unfold.

“Mimosa, that really hurt!” Bellis said in an exasperated tone, one hand on his hip. The look he shot at her (well, shot down at her, since she was so much smaller than him) wasn’t so much steely as... soft!? What?

The atmosphere around the two of them started to feel kind of sweet, leaving my brain swarming with questions.

Why did they turn lovey-dovey!? I want answers!

“Madam took time out of her day to make those tarts and bring them to you, and that’s how you treat her?” Mimosa angrily shot back—up—at him.

...Yuuup, total déjà vu.

“I couldn’t help it. You know I’m not good with flattery.” Bellis said with a sigh. This seemed to soothe Mimosa.

“I do. You’ve been like this for so long. Madam, I’m terribly sorry for Bellis’ behavior.” Mimosa said, turning to me with her head hung in shame.

“It’s no problem. Why are you apologizing, Mimosa?”

“I assumed you still didn’t know that Bellis is actually my husband, Madam. He’s had difficulty making friends for a long time and looks scary, so people frequently misunderstand him. He truly is a kind person, though...” Mimosa said, blushing.

She praises him so easily. That’s not really my business, though. I knew it! They’re married! It was déjà vu I was feeling! And, duh, they’re total opposites!

“I see now. I understand where you’re coming from, though. Your personality doesn’t exactly shine through when you’re at work. I could tell Bellis was definitely a wonderful man by how magnificently he cares for this garden. It’s just that he has those super intense eyes. What did you mean, ‘he’s been like this for a long time,’ though?”

“Bellis and I are childhood friends. He’s looked after me ever since I was just a wee thing. There are twelve years between us, so we were like siblings with a large age difference,” Mimosa explained.

“Wow, that’s a real age gap!” I exclaimed.

Their sweet and simple romance left me brimming with youthful enthusiasm.

Demon Lord-plus-Wolf-Man Bellis and kind, mellow Mimosa. Yup, another couple I never saw coming, what with their different personalities and that age gap!

I asked Rohtas, too, but he, at least, was single. I was expecting him to have an unlikely partner as well, but alas, I was wrong.