Chapter 2: Coincidence
“I am afraid your request for a meeting wasn’t granted.” Helt bowed apologetically. “We haven’t received any replies to your letters either.”
Amelia nodded readily. “Welp, I guessed as much.”
Four years had passed since her betrothal, and if you counted the time loops that spanned over three years, seven years had elapsed in total. During these seven years, she hadn’t been granted a single response.
“Still, there’s no time to waste by moping around,” she said. “But hmm, we don’t have any more envelopes or writing paper, right?”
She reminded herself that she had to purchase some next time she went into the city. Though there was an abysmally low chance of receiving replies, there wouldn’t even be that one in a million possibility she could bet on if she didn’t act.
Helt hesitated. “Please don’t do anything reckless in the city.”
“Um, I’ll be fine,” she hurriedly replied with a big smile. “I sold those strawberry daifuku without any problems.”
After narrowing his eyes just a tad, Helt nodded. “Well, please do things in moderation, all right?”
Huh. Amelia blinked. She wasn’t sure how to interpret that. Had he possibly discovered that men had harassed her last time? No, that doesn’t make sense. Helt stayed behind in the Fifth Palace. He’d even welcomed her back home when she’d returned. He couldn’t know what had happened, so he was probably speaking out of pure concern.
While evading Helt’s meaningful smile, Amelia busied herself with making strawberry daifuku before leaving for the city. Her merchandise would be the same as on her previous trip. This time, her fatigue was more intense because she refused to compromise on quality, but thanks to that, the redness of the strawberries seeping through the mochi was mesmerizing.
The customers who’d watched over her exchange with the shopkeeper last time had gathered right away when she showed up, serving as a good advertisement for her sweets. Thanks to that, they sold out in the blink of an eye today, too.
“Your strawberry daifuku is selling like there’s no tomorrow,” the shopkeeper said as she handed payment to Amelia. “It’d be great if you could prepare more next time.”
Amelia replied with a big smile. Her strawberry daifuku didn’t have any material costs, but creating them used up her mana. Because she’d been fussy about how see-through the strawberry’s redness was, even making a single one tired her out to some extent. If she considered other factors, such as the stamina required to sneak into town and go home, roughly ten strawberry daifuku was her limit.
Plus, it’d help if her sweets were rare and made people think they were hard to come across. Thoughtlessly mass-producing stock and lowering their quality would mean that all her hard-earned customers would lose confidence in her. For the time being, the best plan was probably maintaining the same number of daifuku while also selling sweets that were less draining to manifest, such as cookies.
Waving at the shopkeeper, Amelia left the stall. Not long after, she came across a beautiful boy with ashen hair and golden eyes.
She recognized him. “Ah, hello there. Thanks for your help last time.”
“Hello.” He paused. “A-Amelia.”
“Mmhmm.”
She responded because he called her name, but for some reason unknown to her, the boy’s face reddened.
Amelia tilted her head quizzically. “Oh, right. Was the strawberry sweet?” She’d willed her gratitude into the fruit to make it sweet, but she wasn’t sure about the results. It had been a long time since someone other than Helt had eaten her raw strawberries, and she was curious about his opinion.
“Huh? I mean, um…” The young man was at a loss for words, looking flustered.
Seeing that, her high spirits gradually wilted. “Yeah, I should’ve known. Having a strawberry suddenly shoved in your face must be creepy.”
He’d seen with his own eyes that Amelia hadn’t had any strawberries on her, so he must have assumed that she’d taken them out of her pocket or something. Assuming that he was from a rich merchant family, he’d probably been unwilling to eat such a thing.
Recalling Prisca and the fourth consort smacking her strawberries to the ground, saying they were disturbing, Amelia’s strawberry eyes took on a melancholic note and darkened.
“N-No, that’s not the problem.” He shook his head. “Um, I thought it would be a waste, and…I haven’t eaten it yet.”
Startled, Amelia turned to him. He sported an awkward smile. “Do you…like strawberries?” she faltered.
“Yeah.”
His clipped reply sent Amelia’s heart over the moon. She was so happy that she grinned at him. “That makes two of us. I love them too! We’re fellow strawberry lovers.”
The boy’s face grew even redder. Hmm, was it that hot today?
She continued, “Strawberries are the best, aren’t they? As long as you have strawberries, you can do anything!”
“R-Really?”
Amelia nodded. After a brief delay, the boy also nodded and returned her smile.
“Okay, then,” Amelia began, “it’s about time I get going.” She waved and began walking off, but for some reason, he trailed after her.
Confused, she asked, “Can I help you in some way? Do you want strawberries?” That said, she couldn’t secretly summon one while she was walking, so it would be a challenge.
The young man shook his head. “That’s not it. Um… You don’t look like a commoner, Amelia. Why are you selling strawberry sweets?”
Stunned by his statement, Amelia’s feet ground to a halt, which startled him into stopping in his tracks as well. “I don’t look like a commoner?” It was a most unexpected judgment. Amelia’s dress wasn’t just outdated in design—even the fabric was worn from long-term use.
The clothing in her wardrobe, which she suspected was the secondhand clothes of servants, was one of the necessities delivered to the Fifth Palace. That said, she was well aware they weren’t outfits fit for a princess. She was already used to this get-up, though, so she didn’t mind it. Furthermore, she’d thought they were brilliant options to pass off as an innocuous commoner when she wanted to head into the city. But…was I wrong?