Chapter 27

“Do you have time after school today?”

“I don’t have anything particularly busy lined up. But, are you okay? You suddenly started laughing, and then your face went all pale right after inhaling that magic herb…”

Seeing Leonore’s reaction, it was clear she wasn’t in a good mood.

I quickly smoothed my expression back to neutral and said, “I was feeling a bit lightheaded from inhaling, but I’m alright now.”

“That’s a relief, but…”

To steer her attention away from her doubts about my condition, I brought up the main topic.

In fact, this was the crux of the matter.

“By the way, I’m planning to join the cooking club, so if you’re free today, could you teach me a bit? I really want to learn something.”

“You’re joining the cooking club? Good thinking! If it’s something I know how to make, I can teach you as much as you want. Although, why didn’t you let me know a day earlier? Today is Saturday, so we can’t use the kitchen.”

Saturday?

Her words struck me as odd.

Why are we at school on a Saturday?

Suddenly, I recalled a detail I had skimmed over in the novel.

It was set that Aegis Academy students must come to school every second Saturday.

It felt similar to the notion of honoring the heroes who fought day and night for six days to defeat the witch. At the time, I had just laughed it off, wondering what kind of world still had Saturday classes…

I had assumed that we didn’t need to come to school on weekends, but it seems I had come here out of habit due to my alarm going off, allowing me to avoid being marked absent.

Can this be considered a blessing in disguise?

For a moment, I thought about how this would complicate my club fees and living expenses, but then I realized that it didn’t matter since I couldn’t pay my club fees anyway.

“Actually, I was going to ask you to teach me at my place. If you feel uncomfortable going to someone’s house whom you’re not really close to, you can refuse…”

“No, no! That’s totally fine! In fact, I’m happy! I’ve always wanted to teach someone cooking at a club member’s house!”

As I deliberately put on a gloomy voice, Leonore hurriedly reassured me.

She’s so easy to manipulate…

I felt a slight twinge of guilt, but since Leonore was an essential part of my plan, I had no choice.

Taking a large puff from the remaining magic herb helped calm my nerves a bit.

After burning the small leftover stub with my right hand, I pulled out ten 10,000 gold bills from the envelope I had placed in my uniform pocket and offered them to Leonore.

“Well then, I’ll wait for you in front of the school after classes. Oh, and this is the club membership fee. I only have 10,000 gold bills, so I’ll pay you back for the magic herb later.”

“You really don’t have to… But okay, see you later.”

While Leonore accepted the money with a somewhat weird expression, I headed down from the rooftop.

When I returned to class, the kids who saw me had expressions that seemed oddly relieved.

*

After classes, as I waited in front of the school gate, I spotted Leonore walking toward me from a distance.

Her striking looks and considerable height made her stand out even from afar.

I thought my current body wasn’t that small for a girl, but she seemed to be at least 10 cm taller than me, which made me a little jealous.

“Now that I think about it, you haven’t told me what dish you want to learn to cook. What do you want to make?”

Leonore asked me.

“Macarons. You can do pastries, right?”

“I can indeed. But how did you know that?”

“I just got the feeling you’d like that kind of thing.”

I discreetly tucked away the number one forbidden phrase according to Forbes: “I saw it in the original work.” I rambled in a suitable manner, and she looked at herself and asked, “Does it really show?”

Honestly, she did look like someone who enjoys sweets.

The problem is the sweets she liked were those ‘cloud cookies.’

“By the way, macarons? That might be hard for a beginner. Don’t you want to try making something else?”

“No, I’m not really interested in anything other than macarons.”

“Got it. Well then, today I’ll teach you everything from A to Z.”

Hearing my determination, Leonore smiled warmly and gave me a pat on the back.

A blonde, tanned older sister teaching me cooking from start to finish sounded quite motivating.

I took Leonore with me to a discount store to buy the ingredients for macarons.

“By the way, do you have an oven at home?”

“No.”

“Hmm, then we might need this. Do you have a whisk and a sieve?”

“No.”

“Then let’s add those too.”

She started picking things one by one to add to the cart as she asked me.

There seemed to be quite a few tools to buy on top of the ingredients for the macarons.

Well, there’s no way to make them without some equipment.

Her voice started to rise as she began gathering the ingredients for the macarons.

“Do you have cream at home?”

“No.”

“Butter?”

“No.”

“Please don’t tell me you also don’t have eggs and sugar?”

“No.”

As I became nothing but a malfunctioning voice recorder repeating “no,” Leonore let out a sigh of disbelief.

“It’s okay if you don’t have eggs, but not having sugar at home doesn’t make sense. What on earth do you have at home?”

“Well, I’ve got a pot and a frying pan?”

“Pfft! Wow, you make jokes with such a straight face. You don’t look like it, but you’re surprisingly funny! Anyway, I think we’ve chosen all the essential ingredients!”

I wasn’t joking.

I grabbed the cart from her, and on my way to the checkout, I picked up a pack of bean sprouts.

At least it felt like I could whip up a decent dinner for a change now.

By the way, how much will this full cart cost?

“70,000 gold,” said the cashier.

My face froze at those words.

70,000 for bean sprouts? Is this for real?

I thought I might have some financial leeway, but that was definitely not the case.

I nervously handed over my student ID.

When the cashier tried to process the payment, a notification for insufficient balance appeared.

“Sorry, but it says your balance is insufficient.”@@novelbin@@

“…I’ll pay the shortage in cash.”

Pulling out two 10,000 gold bills left over from the membership fee, I completed the transaction, leaving me with 9,000 gold in total.

No, not even 9,000…

After I finished paying, I handed Leonore three 1,000 gold bills as she was coming out of the market, giggling.

“This is for the magic herb you got me earlier.”

“Huh? Ah, right. You really keep track of your finances.”

Now I had 6,000 gold remaining.

It was an oddly familiar amount.

Looks like I’ll have to go back to ultra-saver mode for the rest of the month.

Leonore still had a smile on her face, thinking what I did at the market was a joke.

Her smile vanished the moment I stepped onto the stairs in front of my house.

And when she entered right behind me and saw me sneakily opening the fridge to put in the ingredients, her face went completely pale.

Did you think I was joking when I said I only had a pot and a frying pan?

Well then, ta-da, there are no absolutes in life.

Though sure, I had cooking oil and oyster sauce.

Huh? Am I richer than I thought?

“Um… I’m really sorry… I’d heard you had no family, but still, I thought you were joking earlier…”

“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, please show me how to make macarons. We can make them without an oven, right?”

“…Yeah, I’ll show you.”

Leonore was nearly on the verge of tears.

Just staring at her put me in an awkward position, so I urged her quickly to show me how to make them.

Despite the cramped and unfamiliar kitchen, Leonore skillfully made the macaron batter.

Since the kitchen didn’t really distinguish itself from the rest of the house, maybe I could think of it as just one whole big kitchen.

Thinking that, I watched Leonore as she prepared the macaron batter.

After placing the shaped macaron batter onto the preheated frying pan and covering it with a lid, Leonore opened her mouth.

“…Can I ask why you suddenly wanted to learn how to make macarons?”

“I wanted to make some for Sylvia.”

“I see… Recently she said she wouldn’t take the ones you bought anymore. So that’s why you want to make them yourself?”

It wasn’t strange that Leonore knew this.

As a lady of the Astra family, Sylvia’s every move would likely circulate in gossip.

Moreover, Leonore had some acquaintance with her.

Nodding my head, Leonore looked at me and softly asked, “Is there some special reason behind this?”

“Not really. I just want to be friends.”

When I answered that, she let out a sigh that sounded like a gasp.

“Ha… You really are passionate.”

After she said that, she stayed quiet for a moment before retrieving the risen batter from the frying pan and finishing the rest of the process.

The completed macarons, of course, didn’t hold up to that of store-bought ones, but they still looked and tasted quite decent.

After cleaning up the kitchen that had been a mess from making macarons, I walked Leonore to the door.

“Um, I’m sure it will go well. That girl can be a bit picky, but she’s not a bad person.”

Before she left, Leonore said that.

I know that.

I just nodded in response.

After Leonore left, I took out the bean sprouts I’d bought and stir-fried them.

It felt like ages since I had a proper meal, and even though the stir-fried bean sprouts weren’t anything extravagant, they were delicious.

After taking a shower, I changed into the pajamas I had hung out to dry in the morning.

They were still a bit damp, but I couldn’t sleep in just my underwear, so I lay down on the bed.

Thanks to the magic herb, or maybe just the fact that I had dinner after such a long time…

With the tension easing as I lay on the bed, I started to drift off to sleep.

Just before I fell asleep, I intertwined my slightly trembling hands and recalled Leonore’s words before she left.

“I’m sure it will go well.”

I truly hope so.

Murmuring that, I fell asleep, hands clasped together as if praying for something.