“Those staff members have their own duties to do, right? We can’t go piling a major cleaning job on top of them as well. Claude, would you hang the duvets out to air? And Duke Granier, can you…” Agnes propped her broom against the wall and picked up Ciel, who was still running around chasing mushrooms, “take a seat, relax, and try to keep Ciel under control?”
“Agnes, I’m perfectly fine,” Cesar said.
“Well, then, could you bring in some water?”
The two Crest Bearers caved under Agnes’s tenacity, nodded, and muttered, “Yes, Agnes.”
“Here I was thinking she was a meek young lady… She’s surprisingly headstrong,” Cesar remarked to Claude.
“Right. She’s the Mushroom Princess who thwarted the bad, bully guy by covering him with mushrooms,” Claude responded.
“In your case, that would have been heaven, not a punishment,” Cesar laughed. “Well, anyway, I suppose we’d better get to work as well.”
“Ciel, keep an eye on Agnes,” Claude called out.
The beast let out a loud roar and dashed over to Agnes. Excitedly, he jumped up at Agnes, leaving dirty paw prints on her skirt.
“Yeek! Ciel, your paws are black as soot! I must wipe them.”
Ciel, now in Agnes’s arms, shot Claude a look and let out a cry.
“Well, Ciel, you seem to be enjoying yourself…” sighed Cesar.
“He’s saying to leave Agnes to him,” Claude interpreted. “Shall we get on with our work then?”
The two Crest Bearers got to their respective tasks, both smiling wryly.
After the sweeping, mopping, laundry, and wood chopping were finally done, the sky had gone completely dark. Atop the table of the now-sparklingly clean room, all kinds of dishes were laid out.
Claude and Cesar let out gasps of admiration as they cast their eyes over the slightly hard bread purchased in town, the wine from the cellar, and the stew filled with hearty ingredients.
“Wow! Everything looks delicious,” exclaimed the duke.
“Agnes made everything. Isn’t she amazing?” Claude boasted. “Is that mushroom stew?”
“I just used mostly what was in the pantry, but as for mushrooms…”
Loud, echoing pops as if to punctuate Agnes’s sentence preceded a fungus frenzy. Appearing on the table between the gaps of the plates were a brown-capped Porcini mushroom with a thick white stalk, a slimy reddish-brown Nameko, a yellow-brown Hypholoma lateritium, a whitish Bailing Oyster Mushroom with folds that extended all the way to the stalk, and a dark brown Boletus edulis.
Most notably, Claude’s eyes were sparkling. “…Freshly sprouted.”
The dinner’s star ingredients sprouted in the kitchen while Agnes was making stew, and now by coincidence. In other words, these morsels seemed to have grown as a demonstration, as if to say, “Here we are!” as they bobbled around happily. Were they really that happy about being cooked and eaten?
“Ah, what a festival of edible mushrooms. Beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. Truly amazing,” Claude breathed as he brought a spoonful of stew to his mouth without taking his eyes off the table, nodding with a smile of great satisfaction. “Mmm, it’s delicious.”
Claude’s flattery and mushroom enthusiasm aside, the stew actually did seem to be delicious, at least to him.
Agnes grew up cooking and cleaning before joining the Lefort household. Even after she joined Benoit and Kevin, she tried to please them by baking treats and other domestic responsibilities. Seeing people appreciate her efforts made her happy.
“Glad to hear it,” she said. “There’ll be freshly baked bread tomorrow morning.”
“We’re grateful, but you’re not here to be a servant, Agnes. Please, don’t push yourself too hard,” Cesar said kindly.
“I’m not. This is fun, and doing it makes me happy. I want to help.”
Actually, Agnes was excited and highly motivated.
Claude smiled too as he watched Agnes excitedly ponder the following day’s menu. “Well, now that I’ve finished with the wood chopping and prepping the bedrooms, let me help you wash up after dinner,” he offered.
“I can handle it, though?” Agnes replied.
There weren’t all that many dishes. It wouldn’t take Agnes long.
“I want to help,” Claude countered, smiling at her with those twinkling eyes of his.
“O-Okay,” Agnes stammered as her heart skipped a beat.
Yikes.
She could handle Claude easily when he was doing weird things like gathering mushrooms into a basket he’d produced out of goodness-knows-where. But when he started giving her those seductive smiles, she started getting chest pains. She was glad Cesar was there. And that the mushrooms were around as a distraction.
After dinner, Agnes convinced Cesar to go straight to bed. He insisted he was fine, but Agnes didn’t want him overdoing things. Tomorrow would have work of its own, and Cesar needed to get plenty of rest.
Agnes and Claude carried the dishes past Ciel, who was rolling around on the carpet, and started the washing and drying process. With the work split between them, it would only take a few minutes.
“Dinner really was delicious. Thank you, Agnes.”
“Oh, you’ve already said thanks so many times. Anyway, it’s not like it was anything fancy.”
Before eating, after the meal, now while washing dishes. Claude had heaped praise on Agnes’s cooking multiple times. She knew that he was naturally kind, but he was really making too much of this.
Or was it that the dinners served in this residence were usually really disappointing?
“You cleaned and cooked after a long carriage journey. It’s only natural for me to want to thank you,” he said. “And it really was delicious.”
“Right, but you also chopped wood and helped clean after your own long carriage journey.”
In terms of physical exertion, Claude probably had the tougher time of it.
“I’m used to it,” Claude said. “Anyway, I’m not tired at all.”
“But you still worked hard. Thank you.”
“Oh, enough already.”
Agnes heard Claude sigh behind her as if to indicate she was being unreasonable. At that moment, he enveloped her in a hug from behind.
Agnes, enveloped in Claude’s arms, stopped wiping the dish she was holding.
“Um, it’s hard to wipe.”
Partly because she couldn’t move her arms. But mostly because her heart was pounding so hard.
“Yeah. But I need to top up my Agnes levels,” he whispered.
“Haven’t your Agnes levels been topped up quite a lot recently?” she countered.
“I can’t help it. You’re so adorable. This is actually me holding back.”
Agnes wanted to know what part of this exactly was Claude holding back. It’s not like she wasn’t enjoying the hug a little. She was a little worried that if she admitted it, though, she’d be opening a floodgate of Claude’s affections. He had been hugging her so much, surely his Agnes levels were fully replenished. She’d prefer to move more slowly going forward.
“Once we get married, we can be together like this every day,” he said.
“Yes, you’re right.”
Claude had his official duties. No doubt there’d be days when they’d be apart. But what would be the point of pointing that out now?
“I can’t wait. I want to gaze at you all day long.”
“That makes me a little nervous, so please don’t,” she said.
Agnes hoped Claude was just exaggerating. But knowing him, he wasn’t. And if he did insist on gazing at Agnes all day, no doubt he’d do it up close and personal. She rather he didn’t; it would make daily life quite difficult.
Just then, a hand snaked around her from behind, taking away her plate. She then felt a gentle touch on her palm. Hearing a surprising smooching sound, Agnes looked up to see Claude kissing her palm and smiling.
“Claude, we still need to do the dishes,” she tutted.
“It’s okay. The plates aren’t going anywhere.”
Claude returned the plate to Agnes’s hand, kissing the back of her hand this time. This came with another loud smooching sound, then a soulful gaze. Agnes started to think he was doing this on purpose.
Though she knew that, she couldn’t stop herself from blushing, her heart from pounding.
“I’m not going anywhere either, you know?” she pointed out.
“Even if you tried, I wouldn’t let you go.”
Claude whispered into Agnes’s ear, making her shiver. The sultry tone of his voice, his clear devotion—it made her chest constrict.
“…Claude, you’re so naughty.”
He knew Agnes would never leave. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was smiling. Frustrated, Agnes tried to break free, but Claude held her even more tightly.
“I love you, Agnes.”
His sweet voice in her ear almost finished her off. Agnes gasped a little.
Uh-oh. It looked like the dishes were going to take a while longer.
Agnes closed her eyes, giving in to the warm, almost painful sensation spreading through her chest.