Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Chapter 2. ‘Irina Seike’s’ Job-Seeking Diary
“How long will you be staying in the south?”
“I’m sorry. We’ll try to finish our business as quickly as possible…”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant.”
I waved my hands at Roen, who exaggeratedly showed relief and sat down on the old sofa in the reception room.
“Really, we’re grateful to the Count Seike family. If not for you, we would have stayed at an inn, and as a subordinate, I only feel sorry for His Grace.”
Any decent inn would probably be better than our mansion.
But as if he knew what I was thinking, Roen smiled and explained.
“There’s a big difference between the master of the Luwin Duchy staying at an inn and staying at the ‘Count Seike Mansion’.”
“That may be true, but the facilities…”
“My lady, I really like the Count Seike mansion. All the rooms in use are well-maintained. It’s always warm, and there’s no lack of food. I think that’s enough.”
I closed my mouth with an “Mm.”
I felt oddly pleased.
Barely managing to pull down the corners of my mouth that were trying to curl up, I explained why I had asked Roen about their schedule.
“If you two are staying in the south a bit longer, I was hoping you could enjoy the small festival happening next weekend before you leave.”
Roen put down the documents in his hand on the table and asked with a face full of curiosity.
“A festival?”
“It’s not a big festival, but one held in a neighboring territory. Seike has recently started participating too.”
At first, I thought, “Why should I participate in someone else’s festival when we don’t even have money?” But the system made me do it, so I did it while crying.
And through that festival, our wine became famous, and we built connections with neighboring territories.
“Winter is coming soon, and the southern winter is a bit lonely, so it’s a festival held with the meaning of enduring it well and preparing for the next spring.”
“I see.”
Thanks to this, I was in the midst of various preparations for festival participation even without a specific quest.
Usually, during the festival preparation period, both Ijin and I become insanely busy.
Just the amount of wine to be supplied was enormous.
The reason I insisted on keeping Cassis and Roen here in this situation was…
‘Getting a job at the Grand Duke’s household is damn difficult.’
It was to get a job in the Grand Duke Luwin family.
Having already been rejected by Cassis once, it would be better if Cassis stayed here longer so I could somehow show my abilities.
That way, I could somehow demonstrate that I’m useful and appeal to him.
“I’ll relay this to His Grace.”
* * *
“Lady Seike, it seems like you live three days for every one day others live.”
“My sister does have that tendency.”
I turned my head abruptly.
Ijin met my eyes and immediately stood up, leaving to prepare for the festival again.
“Your Grace…”
“As I’ve said many times, you can omit the formal address.”
“…Cassis, if you’re not busy, could you help me?”
Cassis nodded and followed me.
There wasn’t much for a northern noble who didn’t know much about southern characteristics or Seike wine to do.
But by watching me prepare for the festival, wouldn’t he be tempted by my abilities?
So I roamed all over our territory with the white, tall, and somewhat lethargic male lead attached to my side.
I couldn’t help but smile at Cassis, who was trudging along the dirt road beside me with a blank face.
Even for a host where someone is staying just for a day, I wondered if he should follow along without complaint like this.
[He’s gentler than he looks.]
That’s true.
I’m not sure if the debt has had a big impact on him, or if he was born this way, but in any case, the current Cassis was far from the ‘Northern Grand Duke’ portrayed in the media.
“The sun is nice, my lady.”
“Is the request going well?”
“Of course! Who do you think is in charge… Marsha is preparing thoroughly.”
Despite not being a festival directly hosted by our family, there was a lot to prepare.
First of all, all the alcohol to be used at the festival was supplied by Seike, and we agreed to prepare 30% of the food for the street stalls during the festival period.
After meeting with managers to coordinate preparations and having a long conversation, I received two Sheriff fruits that were said to have just been harvested.
It was a fruit from an Eastern sapling that we had brought in after wondering what to grow on the neglected land in the territory.
Interestingly, it was a crop that harvested fruit at the end of autumn, at the beginning of winter.
“Your Gra… I mean, Cassis, would you like to try this?”
I abruptly held out the Sheriff fruit to the male lead standing quietly behind me.
He looked down at my hand for a long time with a face half suspicious, half curious.
Seeing that he wasn’t taking it, I withdrew my hand.
Is it that even though they’ve gone bankrupt or whatever, a noble is still a noble?
In the south, both nobles and commoners eat freshly harvested things just like this.
I took out a handkerchief, rubbed the small, soft pink fruit, and popped it into my mouth.
Sweet and tangy juice burst, filling my mouth.
The Sheriff fruit has a taste between peach and strawberry.
It’s a fruit that I’ve been eagerly waiting for an opportunity to distribute in our territory, as it hasn’t been officially imported into the empire yet.
Of course, we currently only have three Sheriff trees in the territory, so the current harvest is all consumed internally.
“It’s delicious!”
At my reaction, Cassis smiled, looking a bit bewildered.
He answered a little late.
“Is that so?”
“The southern sun is incredibly strong even in autumn.”
Saying that, I wrapped the fruit in the handkerchief and held it out again.
Cassis quietly looked down at the fruit, then slightly curled up the corners of his mouth and took it.
He elegantly rubbed the fruit with his fingertips and popped it into his mouth.
I looked up at him with expectant eyes.
How is it, how is it?
It’s delicious, right!
It’s a fruit you can never taste in the north!
Cassis didn’t show much of a reaction.
But as he slowly chewed and swallowed the fruit, slightly pulling up the corners of his mouth to smile, I beamed at him.
“It’s delicious, right?”
“Yes. I can see why the people of the empire praise southern crops.”
No matter how noble he is, in this world that hasn’t developed the distribution capabilities of 21st century Earth, it must be difficult to encounter fresh fruit.
I shrugged my shoulders happily and moved on.
“Great! Then shall we go check on the most important thing, the wine?”
“…Alright, my lady.”
“Please call me by my name comfortably too, Cassis.”
“…Thank you, Irina.”
I led Cassis around the territory.
If he had come in summer, I could have shown him more beautiful vineyards.
At least if he had come in autumn, I could have let him taste freshly picked grapes.
We tasted well-fermented wine at the winery, and checked on the wine being supplied to major clients and grape jam made by soaking grapes in sugar.
“Do you like grape jam?”
“I don’t dislike it.”
“You’ll probably like this one.”
I grinned and held out a scone that our family’s chef had just baked to Cassis.
After confirming that he took one, I picked up my share of the scone.
The steaming scone looked like it might crumble if touched carelessly.
“Actually, it should be eaten cold, but freshly baked scones are delicious too.”
“It smells very good.”
“The combination of freshly baked scones and grape jam produced in Seike is really the best.”
I scooped up a generous amount of grape jam with a wooden knife, spread it thickly on the scone, and took a big bite.
The hot, crumbly bread and the sweet and sour grape jam swirled in my mouth.
Looking to the side, I saw Cassis following my lead and biting into the scone.
Like a well-trained noble, even his fingertips were extremely elegant, but the background was not a beautiful mansion but a corner of an old winery.
The scone was on an old plate that had been used for a long time, not on a precious porcelain dish.
And we were eating scones standing up because there was nowhere particularly suitable to sit.
It was a familiar scene to me, but Cassis looked somewhat awkward.
‘I think I prefer a kind male lead rather than a Northern Grand Duke after all.’
[Really?]
[So Irina is a fan of the sub-male lead.]
I’m not sure if Cassis is a kind person or not.
But at least when the host says let’s do this, let’s do that, and drags him around everywhere, someone who follows along with a bit of curiosity without complaining doesn’t seem like a self-centered person who doesn’t know how to consider others.
Cassis slowly chewed and swallowed the scone in his mouth and said,
“The chef is excellent.”
“Our chef can do everything from formal dinners to desserts.”
We saved someone who was about to die from a false accusation somewhere using a system chance, and they pledged loyalty to our family and started making such delicious food.
The chef created unique dishes I had never seen before using modest and ordinary ingredients, not grand ones.
“The jam is incredibly delicious. I especially like how the grape pieces have a texture that’s not overwhelming when chewed.”
“Really? I’m glad! I feel reassured hearing the Grand Duke say that.”
I handed Cassis the wine glass that the butler who had followed us out had given me, and continued speaking.
“It was a new product we were planning to introduce at this festival. While we don’t expect to supply to famous bakeries in the capital, it would be nice if we could make our name known a little through the festival.”
“I’m sure there will be good news.”
“Thank you.”
And I poured one of the old wines that we hadn’t been able to sell into Cassis’s glass.
After handing the bottle to the butler, he poured red wine into my glass as well.
“This is wine made from Sing Lemelle grapes from the Seike plains, vintage 880.”
“Seike’s representative wine, I see.”
I raised my eyebrows sharply.
I thought he had no interest in the south, but it seems he did some studying since he’s staying at our house.
“That’s right. Seike has the technology to brew wine of consistent quality regardless of climate or harvest conditions. That’s the reason why the Count Seike family hasn’t gone completely bankrupt yet.”
“I think that’s amazing.”
“But this year was exceptionally delicious for wine.”
Even for Seike, which maintains consistent quality, the year when the wine was exceptionally delicious was 880, before the bankruptcy.
At that time, we weren’t in dire financial straits, so we consumed it within the family rather than selling it externally.
As a result, it’s fair to say that there’s virtually no wine from this vintage available on the market.
“It’s delicious with scones.”
I smiled brightly and held out my glass.
Cassis kindly clinked his glass against mine.
The pleasant sound of ‘clink’ echoed through the small, old winery.
[Irina, your personal feelings are showing more than your job-seeking…]
Personal feelings, huh.
I couldn’t help but smile at Cassis, who was looking into his wine glass with a small exclamation.
Although my biggest goal is to persuade Cassis well and go to the Luwin Grand Duchy together, it’s not that I don’t have any personal feelings at all.
It’s not strange to give the most precious thing I can to my great benefactor, is it?
“Cassis, how is it? Do you think our territory will show some good results at this festival?”
Cassis took the glass he had been sipping alone away from his mouth and nodded.
“Yes.”
I met his red eyes.
“Not just this festival, but I think Seike will be fine in the future as well.”
“…”
“With such an excellent leader, the people of the territory have nothing to worry about.”
As I stared at him blankly, he added, “You’re amazing.”
That, in turn, seemed very lonely.
