🍄🍄🍄
THREE days had passed since the royal squire’s visit.
Agnes had spent all her time at home, diligently sewing in her room. She didn’t have any more fabric pieces large enough for skirts, so instead, she’d made hair ribbons and other small accessories to use up the remaining material.
“…You really have become like a seamstress, haven’t you?”
Kevin was sitting in Agnes’s room with her again today, sipping tea as he watched her sew away. He was clearly keeping an eye on her, but she didn’t mind. She was grateful to have someone to chat with as she worked.
“Thank you. But I’ve run out of dress material. I’m going to have to think of the next thing.”
“What do you mean, the next thing?”
Agnes remained silent. She didn’t want to have to deal with Kevin’s reaction if she mentioned raising funds for commoner life again.
Just then, Therese came running into Agnes’s room, all aflutter.
“Lady Agnes!”
Therese was always so calm, but now she looked frantic. Agnes was getting a bad feeling. She could almost feel the mushroom spores gathering.
“It’s the royal squire…”
“Ugh, he’s back again?”
“Yes, and more! He’s here to take you away, Lady Agnes!”
“What?”
Agnes and Kevin exchanged confused looks.
But they had to go and greet the man. He was a royal squire, after all. And so, Agnes and Kevin left the room together and headed to the drawing room, where they found the man with the russet-brown eyes talking to Benoit.
“Father? What’s going on here?”
“Agnes. This knight is to escort you to the ball.”
“What?”
Agnes had been sure the man was a palace squire. But apparently, he was actually a knight.
Why would a knight be running errands like a squire, though? Oh! But I’d heard that Claude was a knight. Perhaps this young man is one of his subordinates.
Agnes looked back and forth between the knight and her father. It was clear what’d happened here.
The palace had used its influence on her father.
Benoit knew that Agnes didn’t want to go. He would never have sold her out.
Therefore…he must’ve been threatened.
Agnes felt rage swell within her. As she glared at the young man, a large, yellowish-brown mushroom suddenly popped out of the top of his head.
Ah, Rugiboletus Extremiorientalis.
The mushroom had a distinctive large cap, about twice as wide as that of a human palm. The cap was covered all over with cracks and looked like a glazed loaf of bread.
The royal knight-squire looked ridiculous, as if he was just sitting there with a loaf of bread atop his head.
From the corner of her eye, Agnes could sense Kevin desperately trying to hold back a laugh.
Benoit remained poker-faced but shot Agnes a warning look and shook his head ever so slightly.
It would never do for her to cover the royal knight in mushrooms.
Agnes clenched her fists, trying to hold back her anger and suppress the shrooms.
Actually, what she really wanted to do was give the young man a piece of her mind. But he was here on business for the royal family. And based on how persistent he’d been so far, it didn’t seem like he was going to let up.
If Agnes lost it now, it’d only cause trouble for Benoit. And if she kept holding out, it’d only lead to further mushroom sproutings. The young knight would end up with half a bakery’s worth of buns coming out of his head.
So…I should probably cave. Just this once.
If the royal family had threatened Benoit, the only reason Agnes could think of as to why he would’ve given in was if what they had threatened…was Agnes herself.
She couldn’t trust this young man. Nor could she trust Prince Claude, the one who’d sent him. But she had to obey. For Benoit.
“…Very well, then.” As Agnes growled these words in reluctant submission, the young man’s eyes lit up with relief. “But as I told you last time, I have no ballgown. I’m going to have to go wearing this old day dress.”
“That’s fine. We will take care of matters on our end.”
Take care of what on their end? Maybe the knight has permission from the royal family to bring me in my ordinary clothes…?
That wouldn’t be much fun for Agnes, appearing amongst fancily dressed noblewomen in her shabby day dress.
Or perhaps he meant they’d give her a dress to wear at the palace.
Either way, Agnes was not pleased.
“My name is Maurice, Maurice Gounod. I shall escort you to the palace.”
“…Agnes Lefort. I’d like to be returned home before it gets too late, if possible.”
“Certainly.”
Maurice bowed and Agnes took that opportunity to quickly snatch the mushroom off his head and chuck it to Kevin.
Maurice lifted his head, looking confused as he caught sight of the count’s daughter flinging something large and round (that looked very much like a mushroom) across the room. Still, he brushed it off and escorted his charge to the royal carriage.
They were sitting on opposite sides of the carriage, but Agnes still felt extremely uncomfortable being alone with Maurice.
She’d flung herself inside as quickly as possible to avoid Maurice offering her a hand. Her unladylike behavior had drawn a raised eyebrow from the young knight, but that was preferable to any further impromptu fungal appearances.
Oh, but how uncomfortable it was being trapped in such close quarters with a man!
She never felt nervous around Benoit or Kevin, and as far as men she wasn’t related to were concerned, only Philip had felt safe, too.
But she’d only met Maurice a few times. And she didn’t like him very much.
Agnes sighed as two small orange mushrooms suddenly sprouted from Maurice’s shoulder.
Hygrocybe conica. The Witch’s Hat. They were slimy mushrooms, glistening in the dim light of the carriage.
She’d tried to hold the larger mushrooms at bay, hoping that if she let some small ones through, they’d be less noticeable. But this was still no good.
…In fact, this is bad. Very, very bad.
They were on their way to the palace. What would happen if the young man emerged covered in mushrooms when they got there?
And he wasn’t a mere squire, but a royal knight. That was so much worse.
Most people knew about the existence of the protective spirits, but few had ever seen them in action.
If Agnes tried to explain the knight’s shroomy appearance by blaming it on her protective spirits, that’d only serve to make her birth father’s native country look bad. It could even cause a diplomatic issue.
That’d be very bad indeed…
And what was she to say if they asked her how exactly making mushrooms sprout on people was supposed to protect her from harm?
After all, the mushroom sprouting hardly fell under the definition of a curse.
Many of the mushrooms that sprouted were edible delicacies or had medicinal properties. They weren’t all poisonous and slimy.
Agnes clenched her fists. She would do her best to let no more mushrooms sprout on the young man. No more!
“…Are you nervous?”
“No.”
Agnes shook her head in a fluster, taken aback at being spoken to.
She was nervous, actually. But not the kind of nervous Maurice was expecting.
She was nervous about losing the tightly pitched battle of wills she was currently having against all manner of mushrooms, fungi, spores, and fungal filaments. Can’t he just shut up?
Agnes clamped her lips tightly together and went back to concentrating. Maurice watched her with curiosity in his eyes but did not say another word until they reached the palace.
✦ ✦ ✦
🍄🍄🍄
Mushrooms of the Day
Coprinellus Disseminatus
White-gray caps that are only about 1 centimeter in size. They grow in clusters.
They look like a white chocolate version of the Apollo chocolates you can buy in Japan. They’re kinda cute!
They’re not poisonous, but they don’t seem to be edible, either. Maybe they just don’t taste very nice…
Akamomitake
Bright orange caps. It sort of looks like a cross between a Shiitake and an oyster mushroom. It’s got that “I could definitely eat that” look to it.
Apparently, it tastes good but is a little dry. I want to put it in a soup.
If you scratch it, a reddish-orange juice seeps out. I want to see that for myself.
Rugiboletus Extremiorientalis
Yellowish-brown or orange-brown caps, around 30 centimeters in size. A big mushroom.
As it matures, cracks appear in the cap, and it resembles a loaf of baked bread.
It’s kind of like a big French boule loaf or a Japanese melon pan.
It’s not poisonous. But apparently, it draws a lot of flies…
Hygrocybe Conica (The Witch’s Hat)
Red, orange, or yellow caps around 1.5 to 5 centimeters. Shaped like a round umbrella.
It kind of looks like “Kinoko no Yama” chocolate cookies.
It can be poisonous, though, depending on the specimen. Let’s just categorize it as poisonous.