In the middle of July, right when the heat was getting unbearable, we decided to visit Chiffon-san’s new home… Well, not really new though, since it’s the house her husband, the Marquis of Reandre, already owned.

In any case, her husband seems to be out for a few days because of work, so Aria-sama one-sidedly decided we should have a tea party at Chiffon-san’s house. I didn’t particularly mind it though, since I had a new recipe I wanted to try anyways.

Well, the recipe is just butter cookies with ice cream though. It was to give people some other use to the magical freezers that ended up becoming popular between nobles because of shaved ice, though you can now even see some stalls selling it during summer.

As for the butter cookies, it’s because they go really well with pretty much any sweet or tea and hardly anybody dislikes them, so it’s easy to give it as souvenirs and it won’t be wasted even if you make a lot of them.

The ice cream I made using milk, mainly because there is no fresh cream in here like there is in Japan. Though it also has the benefit of being easier to teach, since I wouldn’t need to show how to make the fresh cream in the first place.

And like this, me, Aria-sama and Chiffon-san gathered together in the garden of the Reandre family. Or well, in its arbor, since none of us would want to get exposed to the strong summer sun and harm our skin.

I mean, even as an adventurer I still need to protect myself from the strong sun rays, otherwise my skin will get all red. When I’m doing quests I actually use magic to protect myself from the sun… Magic is surely convenient.

In any case, in the table in front of us was the tea prepared by Chiffon-san’s maid, together with the cookies and ice cream I made.

“Mmmmm, it’s cold and sweet.” Aria-sama said.

“Perfect for the hot season, as expected of Sakura-sama.” Chiffon-san complemented.

The two immediately started with the ice cream, I guess no matter what world, women love sweets. Well, the ice cream will melt if we don’t eat it quickly though, and they ate cookies many times already, so it’s natural to go for the new thing first. “Ice cream is mainly meant to be eaten as a dessert by the way. And while it’s mostly suited for hot summer days, it is just as enjoyable in winter.”

In all honesty, I think eating it in a heated room mid-winter right after some noodles is even better than on summer.

“Is that so? I’ll try it in winter too then.” Aria-sama commented.

Chiffon-san also said her mind, “I’ll try making it for my husband later, I think he’ll enjoy it.” So the first thing that comes to her mind is that she wants to make it for her husband? Newlyweds certainly have it nice…

I drank a cup of tea to avoid having evil thoughts… Hot. Delicious, but hot. It’s a shame there is no iced tea in this world, so we need to drink hot tea in summer. I understand it’s actually good for our health, but I came from Japan and I want to drink cold tea.

And since there is no iced tea, I guess I have no choice but to make my next recipe be iced tea. Oh, and it seems they finished eating while I was thinking about that, it’s a good thing they still have the manners of high class ladies so they didn’t eat it too quickly, otherwise they’d be assaulted by a headache.

“It seems all sweets Sakura-chan makes are delicious.” Aria-sama commented, seemingly satisfied.

“Indeed, they also look beautiful, to the point it feels like a waste to eat them.” Chiffon-san complemented.

“She’s so good that I want to hire Sakura-chan as my personal cook actually.” I truly appreciated Aria-sama’s praise, nothing pleases a cook more than having people love their food after all.

“That would be no good, Sakura-sama promised to provide recipes to my family after all.” Chiffon-san commented with a smile.

“Even if I were to become Aria-sama’s personal cook, I could still do that much though?” I answered.

“I know, but I doubt her highness would be willing to share you.” Chiffon-san said while giggling.

“She’s right about that, though before getting Sakura-chan, I’d first need to do something about onii-sama.” Just why was the prince’s name suddenly mentioned?

Wait, now that I think about it, he actually proposed to me… That was a proposal, right? Not just a confession… I was trying to not think of it, but I can’t evade the topic forever, can I? The prince has many responsibilities and can’t postpone finding a fiancée for too long after all, but…

“So, what about you, Sakura-chan?” Aria-sama’s question took me by surprise.

“Eh?” I’m not sure what the question was about, so I could only manage this kind of answer.

 “Your confused face is adorable by the way. But I was asking what you thought about being my personal cook.” Aria-sama explained.

“Eh? Ah, that is…” I totally lost track of the conversation, so it was hard coming up with an answer.

“Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll do something about onii-sama.” Why did the prince’s name come up again…? Let’s change the topic.

“Wha-what about the cookies? I’m pretty confident on them, but I made them sweeter than normal so I wasn’t sure how you would feel about them, did you like them?” I know it was a bit sudden, but my head is a mess right now so I’d rather avoid the topic of the prince at the moment.

I know I’m just running away, but I need some time to think… This talk made me tense and got my throat dry though, so I reached out to the tea cup and started drinking it, “So, Sakura-chan, how is it going with onii-sama?” To Aria-sama’s sudden words, I choked on my tea and started coughing. “Ara ara, are you alright?”

“Sakura-sama, handkerchief.” Chiffon handed me a handkerchief that I used to clean my mouth.

“Thank you Chiffon-san…” I said once I stopped coughing, “Aria-sama, just what might you be referring to?” I couldn’t help asking.

“What else of course? Just what will Sakura-chan do about Sedrim onii-sama.” Aria-sama answered.

“Ho-how do you know he proposed to me!?” I asked with a beet red face, just who told her about it? The prince? No, he wouldn’t say it, but there was nobody else that could have know...

“Eh!? Onii-sama proposed to you!? So he finally did it…” Aria-sama exclaimed.

“To think he got this far already…” While Chiffon-san commented.

“Eh? You didn’t know…?” Then what was that just now?

“I knew something had happened because of Sakura-chan’s reactions, it was plain obvious with how you were avoiding the topic of onii-sama, but I saw nothing unusual with him when we met yesterday, so I thought he might have done something to Sakura-chan instead… But I never imagined it was actually a proposal…” Aria-sama explained.

“Eh? Th-then…” Didn’t I totally shoot myself in the foot just now? What a blunder! I told it to the last person I should have said this to!

“So, how did he propose to you, Sakura-chan?” Aria-sama’s face looks like that of a predator! I need to escape!

Eh? What are those hands on my shoulders…? “Sakura-sama, it’s better to be honest when you’re by yourself.” Chiffon-san too? I thought she was my ally!!

“So? How did he do it? What were the words he used, where was it and how did you feel when onii-sama was proposing?” Aria-sama got closer with an overwhelming smile… Hahaha, I’m an idiot for making this kind of blunder…

I gave a powerless sigh in front of such unbeatable opponents.

AliceShiki

Translator's Note: And that's the last chapter I had yet to import from NU... I'm considering picking this series up to translate again, but it'll probably be only 1 chapter per week if I do.

Still unsure if I'll do it though, but well, you'll probably find out by next week if I decide to try my hand at translating it again! xD

In any case, there are like... 26 chapters left to translate IIRC, would probably take around 1/2 a year to fully translate it in that case... Oh well, I'm not really in a hurry or anything. We'll see how it goes.