The Strenuous Effort of the Reincarnated Princess

The Strenuous Effort of the Reincarnated Princess

I was in the kitchen at night.

I stood with a cooking utensil in one hand, but I was unsure of what to do.

“What should I make today?”

This was already my fifth round of making candy. It was too soon to run out of ideas, but I had trouble every time—there were too many ingredients that I couldn’t find in this world, so I couldn’t use the best recipes that I’d learned in my previous life.

“Anything you make will surely be the most wondrous delight there could be, Lady Rosemary.”

“Klaus,” I said, deadpan.

“Yes?”

“Be quiet.”

“Understood.”

Today, as always, I had the annoyance of my personal guard at my back. I let out a sigh.

What made him turn so weird? In the game, as long as nobody flipped his masochism switch, he was a normal, good young man.

But for some reason, abnormality plagued Klaus at present. His looks, if nothing else, were first-class. This was to be expected for a suitor character, but his words and actions sabotaged all of that. If left alone, he’d start lavishing me with every sort of unbidden compliment, just as he’d done a moment ago.

To be honest, it’s a massive pain in the ass. Who wants to see a pretty boy tripping over himself to flatter a little girl at every turn?

Being around Klaus during nighttime was a huge burden, and it came with a healthy dose of mental exhaustion—at the moment though, I couldn’t protest too strongly. After all, I was getting my way.

For want of a better plan, I’d focused my attacks on Lutz’s taste buds in an attempt to get closer to him. Luckily, it was proving to be an unexpectedly effective strategy.

After learning about Lutz’s sweet tooth from Teo, I’d planned to ask one of the chefs to make some candy. But the sweets that the palace chefs whipped up tended to be overly extravagant. To put it bluntly, they wouldn’t serve well as refreshments.

In that case, I’ll make them myself, I’d thought, but obviously a princess had no opportunities to go into the kitchens.

That was where Klaus had come in; I’d made him pull a few strings, and this allowed me to creep into the kitchens at night for personal use.

Klaus had just one condition: whenever I went to cook, he required that I always take him to guard me.

“I’ve already made steamed buns, so...” I murmured.

The mugwort steamed buns had gone down spectacularly.

Since this world had no adzuki beans, I’d instead diced up something similar to a sweet potato and mixed in the pieces for a filling. The two sorcerers had eaten the buns with relish. They’d enjoyed the cookies and the madeleines as well, but when I realized that they might have a surprising preference for Japanese-style foods, I’d set myself the challenge of making red bean paste.

I was still having no luck obtaining adzuki beans, so I’d substituted them out for something similar to a cannellini bean.

And here we have the finished cannellini bean paste. Great! It’s white bean paste, not red, but it’s turned out yummy anyway, if I do say so myself. The question is, what should I make with all the paste that I prepared yesterday?

Without glutinous rice, mochi-wrapped confections like daifuku weren’t an option. I’d have also needed that rice to make other starch-based sweets, like nerikiri.

With a longing for those foods in my mind, all of a sudden I desperately want glutinous rice. Next time I meet Julius, I’ll try asking him to find some.

Unfortunately, bread was the staple food of the various countries in this region, including Nevel. Not a single farm cultivated rice. Perhaps someplace on the outskirts of the continent grew rice, but there was no mention of this in the public records. Even so, I’d managed to find Thai fish sauce, so I was certain—somewhere out there was a country with Asian-style cuisine.

I won’t stop searching. Not until the day I can get my hands on rice, normal and glutinous. Oh, and soba noodles too.

For today though, what should I make? Something cold would fit the season, but a jelly-coated dessert like mizu manju won’t be easy to make without a fridge. The palace does have an ice room, but I probably shouldn’t use it without permission.

Okay, let’s take the easy route: make pancakes, sandwich them together with sweet bean paste, and done! That’s dorayaki.

“By the way, what came of the matter I asked you to investigate?” I asked Klaus, who was behind me. I continued lining up the ingredients, not turning around to face him.

“Here is what you requested.” His hand glided into my view gently and placed a piece of paper above the worktop.

I glanced down at the folded note while whisking the eggs and sugar in my mixing bowl. Written upon it was the personal information of one of the maids.

Hilde Kremer, fifteen years old. From a household of wealthy merchants. Her family is composed of her grandfather, father, mother, an older brother, and an older sister.

Hmm, so she’s a distant relative of Baron Bechem’s wife.

I gave a little nod, and Klaus picked up the letter and threw it into the flames of the stove. The small scrap of paper caught fire in an instant and immediately turned to ash. After seeing the last of it burn, I resumed making the pancake patties for the dorayaki.

While sieving and mixing the flour, I thought about Hilde.

Hilde Kremer was likely the woman who would be the catalyst for Lutz’s derangement. The incident that would spark Lutz Eilenberg’s mental scarring would occur a little while before he turned fourteen.

As I said before, sorcerers in this world were exceedingly rare. Lutz in particular possessed an outstanding talent, which was said to be found only once every few hundred years. There were countless people both inside and outside of Nevel who’d prowled after him.

However, in Hidden World, Lutz found himself the target of a group that was, by far, more wicked than all the rest.

The group’s client was the War-Hungry King, who reigned over a country adjacent to one of Nevel’s neighbors. The king had callously ordered the apprehension of Lutz, just as flippantly as if he were requesting the purchase of a rare weapon. In his warmongering machinations, the king forged connections within Nevel, slipped an informant inside the palace, and abducted Lutz. He then attempted to use Lutz’s magical powers to support his wars.

Lutz feared that he would be turned into a living piece of artillery meant for slaughter, so he’d attempted to escape.

But he was soon caught. The king used a maid from Nevel, whom he’d abducted at the same time as Lutz, as a hostage against him.

The maid had taken a romantic interest in Lutz while he’d lived in Nevel’s palace, and he’d, in turn, developed a slight romantic affection for her. Unfortunately, this made her the perfect leverage to use against him.

If he was to protect her, Lutz had no choice but to obey the king.

Lutz was indeed used as a weapon; he’d charged through battlefields and slain masses of enemies, in hopes that she would remain safe. When Lutz at last received permission to see the girl face-to-face, he learned the shocking truth: she had been the informant. She’d been placed inside the palace for espionage purposes, and had assisted in his abduction.

In other words, the girl had befriended him with the express intent to trick him all along.

Betrayed and scorned as a monster, Lutz transformed his first love into an unspeaking ice sculpture.

Afterwards, the king was assassinated and his kingdom lost the war. Lutz barely escaped with his life amid the turmoil, and was taken into the custody of the Kingdom of Nevel. He became the court sorcerer.

To prevent this dark future, I had personally wanted to keep Lutz and the girl from ever meeting. Unfortunately, the girl’s name hadn’t turned up in the paragraphs of Lutz’s backstory. There’d been no illustrations of her, so I had no idea what she looked like. There was also no indication as to why she’d betrayed him.

However, while I was worrying about the next step to take, one of the maids had, at last, made contact with Lutz.

That woman was Hilde Kremer.

All the other maids kept their distance from Lutz and Teo. They were afraid of sorcery, which was a strange and unknown existence to them; only Hilde had proactively drummed up conversation with Lutz.

It has to be her.

At least I think so, but I can’t say for sure. After all, Lutz clearly doesn’t have any interest in her.

If everything went down as it had in Hidden World, she would become Lutz’s first love.

But, for now, he’d ignored her when she’d spoken to him, and he’d run away with a look of undeniable annoyance when she’d approach him. I couldn’t discount the possibility that he was just being shy, but I thought that his reactions were too harsh for a simple tsundere; there was no trace of warmth underlying his coldness.

One additional point of concern was that I didn’t know the reason why she’d try to manipulate him. Hilde had been raised in a family of wealthy merchants, so the chances that she was after money were low. Moreover, this wasn’t the sort of evil plan that a fifteen-year-old girl would come up with.

Based on this fact, I ascertained that there must’ve been someone pulling her strings behind closed doors. Hilde’s merchant family were too upstanding to be the possible masterminds though. While she did have distant noble relatives in Baron Bechem’s family, they weren’t the likely culprits either. The current Baron Bechem was famed as an opportunist who liked to sit on the fence during conflict. Therefore, I didn’t think that he’d have the guts to plunge himself into such a major affair.

Anyway, Lutz’s lack of interest and Hilde’s absence of any clear motive were the two reasons why I couldn’t be sure that she was the culprit.

“Lady Rosemary,” called Klaus.

The patties had finished baking while I was carried away in thoughts, so I was lining them up on a board and covering them with a damp cloth. I looked over my shoulder at Klaus and saw him watching me with a grave expression.

“Klaus?”

What’s wrong? I thought. I tilted my head slightly, pressing him to continue.

After a moment of hesitant silence, he spoke: “I can be of more service to you. All you have to do is give me the order.”

I was dumbfounded. The words Sir Leonhart had spoken to me some time ago passed through my mind, and the sight of the pugilant expression on Klaus’s face ensured that I understood the truth of it: he’s a savage wolf, not a tame dog.

The blazing light in his eyes and the powerful tone of his voice urged me to make use of him.

Resolve yourself, and find the inner strength to use me, I felt that he was telling me.

I pursed my lips and kept silent.

I wasn’t ready yet. Not ready enough to live up to his loyalty. My half-hearted approach to him always left him running around after me. That’s all I ever did. I didn’t have the right to answer “yes” or “no” to his question.

So instead I made my reply vague.

“You do more than enough. Thank you, Klaus.”

His face darkened at my blandly positive expression.

I’d dodged his direct profession of loyalty with only a smile. What a terrible person I am to work for.

He wanted to do more, and his innocent frustration made him bite down on his lips, but he didn’t seem disappointed in me. The sight pained my heart.

I’m sorry, Klaus.

Inside my mind, I gently whispered the apology that I couldn’t say aloud.

***

The following day, I was in the break room, which was located next to the plant-filled greenhouse.

“Are you serious?” Teo asked me after a few seconds of silence. He was frozen in position with a teacup in his hand.

“I don’t see what’s so surprising.” I gave a small nod while staring back at his pigeonite-colored, almost ocher, eyes. He’d opened them wide in shock.

“Going by that reaction, you are serious,” Teo whispered with a sigh, wearing a strained smile and making no effort to hide his shock.

Teo was gradually coming to reveal his true personality more frequently. He was quite fond of sarcasm, and in this case, it felt like he was making fun of me pretty directly. His completely unreserved and unforgiving attitude left me conflicted—should I be happy that we’d become such good friends? Or pissed off that he was treating me rudely?

He evaded my light glare with an aloof grin.

All I did was a little probing about Lutz and the maid Hilde.

Hilde Kremer was a beautiful girl with a docile air to her. Her flaxen hair was long, and her green eyes harbored a gentle look. When she dropped her head and blushed, she made everyone desire to protect her—Hilde’s faint smiles were guaranteed to seize the hearts of all the boys who preferred a pure and innocent look.

That’s how cute she is, and now she’s trying her hardest to strike up conversations with Lutz.

Her act might not work on me, but that was because I’d viewed her with suspicion from the start. A boy without my mistrust shouldn’t find her unpleasant; that’d be rather strange. I think that it’s only natural for a healthy boy to be won over, just like Lutz was in Hidden World.

So why is he putting her off so stubbornly? Doesn’t he want to be around someone who understands him?

When I decided to be upfront and ask Teo about it, he gave me the incredulous reaction from before.

But...why?

“Oh, Lutz! Just in time,” said Teo.

“Huh? What is it?” Lutz asked with a suspicious look on his face, since the conversation had suddenly focused on him. He’d finished his errands and arrived a little after we had. He sat down at our table in a crude movement, and the elegantly crafted cast-iron chair creaked out a dry scream.

I picked up the pot, which I’d shrouded in a tea cosy, and while pouring tea for Lutz, I listened to their conversation with a distant look in my eyes.

Are they gonna make fun of me again? I am a princess, in case they’ve forgotten.

Although perhaps not a very convincing princess, as I was pouring the tea myself.

But I’d had no choice—I’d sent the maids away, and Klaus’s home economics skills were catastrophic.

Klaus had poured my tea just once before. He’d agreed so enthusiastically upon hearing my request that I’d been amazingly convinced that he could handle housework.

He can do anything, I’d thought, giving him a rare mental compliment.

And yet...

The thing he’d made couldn’t be called tea. It was bitter, sour, and too sweet. On top of that, for some reason, it’d been gloppy.

Someone should’ve complimented me for not spitting out the one sip that I’d taken.

I’d withheld the urge to grab him by the collar, shake him, and scream, “What the hell did you put in there?!” Instead, I’d feigned composure.

When I’d asked him in a roundabout way whether he’d supplemented the tea with anything, he had replied with a confused no.

You got this muck out without putting anything else in? Okay, I’m impressed.

That day had taught me never to entrust housework to Klaus. So now, the task of pouring the tea had fallen to me, by process of elimination.

“Lately, one of the maid girls has been chatting to you a lot, right?” asked Teo.

“Oh, that.”

A single glance was all that it took to know that Lutz’s mood had taken a plunge.

Lutz squinted his eyes deeply, and his eyebrows knitted together tightly on his forehead. To top it off, as he spoke, the tone of his voice dropped.

If he’d acted like that towards me, my heart would be in pieces, no question.

“The princess finds it strange that you’re openly shunning that girl. She thought you’d want someone who understands you. So what’s the story?” asked Teo, and for some reason, his eyes looked amused.

“What?” After a beat of silence, the voice that Lutz growled out was incredibly low. His eyes were still narrowed unhappily, and he pierced me with a glower.

Yikes! What did I do to earn the full force of your glare?!

“Are you stupid?” The words that Lutz spat out with a sigh came dolloped with a generous serving of exasperation, just like Teo’s had.

They’d finally made fun of me to my face, but I couldn’t really argue because I didn’t understand their reasoning.

This is strange. All I’m trying to do is see whether Lutz has any reason to avoid Hilde. Why are they both tag-teaming me with ridicule?

I placed Lutz’s teacup in front of him, still thinking that they were being unreasonable. He thanked me, though his expression was still one of displeasure. I placed the dorayaki down next. His eyebrows unfurrowed and his attitude softened.

There’s nothing better than sweet things for cheering Lutz up.

“You know, I don’t have to settle for just anyone,” Lutz declared. His voice was almost angry. “Do you get it?”

“Exactly,” Teo added. “If he’d been starving and deprived of food, he would’ve chomped down on anything edible you put in front of him.”

“Huh?” What are they talking about? Is Hilde the food here?

Lutz nodded at Teo, who wore a know-it-all look, and turned his eyes to me. His once-stony, glazed eyes had recently started to possess vigor. My face was reflected in his gaze, caught in an indigo blue the color of the dawn sky, like when the morning star still shines.

After gazing at my face for a while, Lutz averted his eyes and reached his hand towards the teatime snacks.

“I’m not dumb enough to take a bite of poisoned, spoiled meat when my stomach’s full of the finest dishes,” Lutz said. He then bit into my handmade dorayaki.

Huh? Maybe they meant that in a literal way, not a metaphorical one. Is the finest dish my dorayaki?

Maybe Hilde went after his taste buds too, and made him refreshments? I really don’t see her trying to feed him poisoned, spoiled meat though. Could Lutz have discerned what’s behind her kindness?

Before I had a chance to ask him about his basis for harboring distrust towards Hilde, Lutz dumbfoundedly whispered to himself, “Oh wow, what’s this? It’s delicious.” In a rare sight, he widened his eyes and stared at the dorayaki.

I’m glad that you think it’s delicious, but can we forget the snacks for a moment and talk about Hilde?

“It’s spongy and moist... Really though, what is it?” Lutz continued. “The filling is so strange. It’s not jam, and it’s not cream either. It’s so sweet, but not overpowering. It’s just too tasty!”

Thank you for your commentary, Mr. Culinary Reporter.

The thing is, Lutz, your princess is trying to have a serious discussion right now. I’m delighted that it was to your liking, but take a hint.

“Lutz, I think the princess wants to hear about the maid girl,” Teo piped up. He’d been watching our back-and-forth while resting his chin in his hands. It sounded like he’d thrown me a lifeline, but there was a clear smile present in his eyes and in his voice.

This is amusing him to no end.

“Who cares about that? This is way more important,” Lutz said.

Just as I thought that Teo’s intervention had brought the conversation back on track, it immediately returned to its original course.

Like hell it is! I instinctively retorted in my mind.

Faced with choosing his own future on the one hand and dorayaki on the other, is this guy really about to go for the dorayaki?

I cradled my forehead to endure my headache.

Teo finally broke and started to laugh out loud, no longer hiding it. Beside him, Lutz was just enjoying the dorayaki while rabbiting on about its splendidness.

Well, the important thing is that they’re enjoying themselves, I guess...

“Do you like it that much?” I heaved a single sigh, then asked him in spite of my irritation. Lutz nodded at once.

Where usually he’d be broody, eyes only half-open, now his gaze was shining as he bounced his head up and down, over and over again. He reminded me of a little child.

How could I stay angry at him?

He was so delightful to watch that I let a smile slip through.

“I’ll make you some more soon, with a slightly different filling,” I promised.

“You don’t have to change the filling,” Lutz remarked. “This is tastier than jam or cream.”

He’s taken quite the profound liking to bean paste.

I suppose I’ll leave the paste as is and add some Japanese chestnuts or something. But if I’ve got white bean paste, then I just have to flavor it with something citrusy, maybe yuzu... Wait, that’s no good, I don’t have any yuzu. At this time of year, cold dorayaki is tasty too. I wonder if there’s some way I can get to use the ice room?

“Oh!” I exclaimed, clapping my hands. I looked at Lutz, who was eyeing me suspiciously, and it came to me: I might not be able to use the ice room, but there’s a fridge right in front of me!

“Hey, Lutz, how would you feel about using your magic to make frozen desserts?”

“...What?”

“...Huh?”

At my suggestion, Lutz and Teo both opened their eyes as wide as saucers. Their mouths hung half-open.

“Frozen desserts?”

“That’s right,” I said. “The only ingredients we’ll need are fresh cream, eggs, and sugar. Don’t worry, I won’t forget to ask Miss Altman for permission.”

Miss Altman could be rather cool, but she was a flexible person as well. Plus, she seemed to have a sense of humor—I thought if I presented my suggestion as a form of magical training, she’d give me permission.

Actually, making sweets should require a precise fine-tuning of their magic. It can’t be easy to maintain a stable temperature over time. If I think about it like that, this starts to sound like a great plan, right? Lutz gets to practice controlling his magic, and I get to eat ice cream!

We can have strawberry and banana flavors, and peach sounds good too! Tea-flavored, coffee-flavored, matcha... Maybe I’ll have to give up on that last one for the moment. Scrumptious with or without nuts, and we could break up some chocolate and mix it in—that sounds delicious too. But you can’t beat the standard: vanilla.

“You’re gonna use me as a makeshift ice room?” Lutz whispered in hushed tones, while I was distracted by thoughts of ice cream. I couldn’t see his facial expression because he’d hung his head, but his shoulders were trembling.

Shit, have I made him angry?

“If Lutz is the ice room, then I guess that makes me the stove.” Teo drooped his head, and covered it with his right hand. His shoulders were trembling, just like Lutz’s.

Oh, now that you mention it, there’s an oven right by my side too, I thought, while I kept my mouth shut with an innocent look on my face. If my inner voice had slipped out, they’d have probably yelled at me immediately for my lack of remorse.

Maybe that was an insensitive thing to say to them, after all the trouble that their magical powers have put them through. I suppose I really should apologize.

I hadn’t at all intended to make fun of them—in fact, I believed that their powers were a wonderful thing.

“Lutz, Teo, I—”

“Ah ha ha!!!”

I’m sorry, I’d tried to whisper, but my voice was drowned out by their raucous laughter.

“Huh?” was all I could say.

The two of them were bent double, roaring with laughter, as I sat there, frozen and dumbfounded. The sound of their cheerful cackles and the occasional coughing fit resounded throughout the room.

“Good day to you, Ice Room!” shouted Teo.

“And to you, Stove!” responded Lutz.

They pointed at each other, using “Ice Room” and “Stove” in place of their names, laughing all the way and exacerbating their breathing difficulties.

What’s up with these guys?

“Lutz, Teo.” I tried again.

“You’re the best, Princess!” Teo exclaimed. “You have an extraordinarily powerful sorcerer at your disposal, and you use him for an ice room?!”

“I didn’t see that coming one bit! For all your talk about how scared you were of us a few weeks ago, you don’t have any sense of danger!” Lutz chimed in.

I said nothing.

I understand that I’m the one most at fault; I’d rounded up two genius sorcerers and treated them like a fridge and an oven. I can’t defend the poorness of my memory, since I’d said with a straight face that I was afraid of their strange power. And yes, maybe it is pathetic that I got so enthralled while discussing frozen desserts, especially after trying to end the talk of dorayaki and encouraging conversation about the maid.

But even so, you don’t have to laugh that much!

“You meanies...” I mumbled.

“S-Sorry, Princess.”

If you want me to accept your apology, then stop laughing!!!

I was now in a mood, and after I went silent, they tried to bring an end to their laughter. But several times, they remembered my remarks and let out giggles, which they tried to disguise as coughs.

You still don’t look apologetic, assholes!

“Hmph.” I turned my head to the side. I’d lost my temper.

Go on, tell me that I’m acting like a child. I am a child! I’m a pretty little ten-year-old girl. Okay, sorry, I’m getting carried away.

“Cheer up.” Shocked at the sensation of a gentle pat on my head, I looked up to see that Lutz was leaning over and staring at me with a kind smile on his lips.

My eyes widened. A smile like this was exceedingly rare for a tsundere like him.

“It’s because you are the way that you are—that’s why our stomachs are full. Get it now?” Lutz asked.

“Exactly. We’re full up, so we don’t need anyone else,” Teo informed me, with a gentle look in his eyes.

All of a sudden, I felt restless.

At the same time, I thought, Your “stomach’s full”? You’re “full up”? What on earth does that mean?

However, I didn’t have the time to dwell too deeply on that thought. First, I had to do something about the clear and present danger to Lutz.

“For now, Lutz, could I just get you to stop patting my head?” I said, my face serious. Lutz’s eyes widened. I wasn’t saying that because I was embarrassed, or because I didn’t want to be treated like a child, or anything like that.

“Otherwise, Klaus just might kill you.”