Robert, who had been shedding tears while peeling onions, grumbled as I returned to the kitchen after sharing cookies.

“Why are you here now, why! The head chef told me to peel the onions alone because you were late! It’s really mean.”

I pointed out, looking at the basket of onions that wasn’t even half peeled.

“You’ve just started.”

“You caught me.”

“Let’s finish quickly and get off work.”

The key to peeling onions is to keep your eyes half-closed.

As I diligently peeled the onion skins with squinted eyes, I fell deep into thought.

‘Dietrich didn’t seem to be at the training ground earlier.’

Dietrich’s daily routine was almost the same.

Unless there was something special or an outing, he was at the training ground in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

I’m not sure what else he does, as I haven’t seen it yet.

Anyway, true to his nickname of being obsessed with swords, Dietrich spent most of his time holding a sword.

So I thought I might be able to see his face at least briefly if I went to the training ground…

‘Wait a minute.’

Why am I suddenly so concerned about seeing Dietrich’s face?

Is my inner radar unconsciously looking for Dietrich because I have something to say to him?

‘Well, it has been a while since I’ve seen his face.’

Even if I wanted to send a letter to the Duchess, I couldn’t see Dietrich, so I had no idea what he was up to.

Ah, that’s troublesome indeed.

So that’s why I was more curious about Dietrich’s whereabouts!

I felt pleased with the surprising answer I had realized on my own.

Although I’ve had fewer occasions to go to the main building since moving to the kitchen, I still go to see Marie occasionally.

Every time I go, I glance over the second floor where Dietrich stays, but I haven’t seen him directly.

‘Then where did he go?’

Without saying anything?

He doesn’t necessarily have to tell me, but thinking that Dietrich left somewhere without a word made my mood, which had been fine, turn unpleasant again.

My mood was swinging up and down like a seesaw.

“Harpe. I think there’s an onion skin stuck near my eye. Can you remove it for me?”

“Done?”

“Aaaagh!”

Even as I touched Robert’s eye with the hand that had been handling onions, at his request as he was fiddling with onion skins beside me.

I was still not in a good mood.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was the next day that I found out Dietrich was really not in the mansion, thanks to Blaine who came looking for me.

“Harpe! Someone’s here to see you.”

It was well past lunchtime in the afternoon.

Exhausted from the heat after a round of cooking, I was tucked away in a corner of the kitchen.

Last night, I had asked Marie if Dietrich was in the mansion or not, but she said she didn’t know. Since then, I had been so preoccupied!

[Sorry, Harpe. I have no memory of seeing him at all. The other maids don’t know much about Young Master Dietrich either. He’s not the type to say where he’s going, you know.]

Marie was right.

It seemed like I was the only one in this mansion curious about what Dietrich was up to.

Everyone else just averted their eyes and shrank away when they saw Dietrich, not caring about what he was thinking or where he was going.

Was it because I hadn’t slept properly, thinking about Dietrich all night?

My eyelids were so heavy.

It was break time, so I was about to take a quick nap leaning against the wall, covering my face with my apron when.

“Hey, Harpe! I said someone’s here to see you!”

Robert’s noisy shout chased away all my sleepiness.

“Who came to see me?”

When I asked with a sleepy face, Robert covered his mouth and shrugged his shoulders.

He looked pleased, seemingly quite fond of the visitor who had come.

“How do you know someone from the Knights? A man in a knight’s uniform came looking for you. He said he came to find you and was acting really shy.”

Leaving Robert behind, who was shouting ‘Did you get a lover?’, I jumped up from my seat.

Someone from the Knights?

If it’s the Knights of Delgado Mansion, it would be the Hareon Knights.

There was no one from the Knights who would come looking for me.

I patted down my wrinkled apron and straightened my hair, which had become disheveled from sweat.

Fortunately, my silky hair became smooth again after combing it with my hands a few times.

As I carefully opened the kitchen door and went out, hair the color of a sunny sky immediately caught my eye.

“Hello, Miss Harpe.”

“…Oh?”

It was the appearance of an unexpected figure.

Blaine, with his slightly curly sky-blue hair brushed back with his hand, was dressed in a knight’s uniform.

It seemed like he had just come from the Knights.

“What’s this, what’s this? What kind of relationship is this?”

I don’t know when he followed me out again.

Robert, standing behind me, whispered in my ear while glancing at Blaine.

Robert looked like he was bored but now excited about this development.

He was so intrigued that I was starting to feel uncomfortable.

I pushed away Robert’s shoulder that kept clinging to me and quietly warned him.

“Go away.”

“No way. A friend’s love story in this boring daily life? How can I miss something so interesting?”

This big guy keeps getting close, it’s unbearably hot.

Although I couldn’t understand why he had come all this way to find me, I decided to talk somewhere without Robert for now.

I felt that Blaine was becoming uncomfortable because Robert kept glancing at him.

I mercilessly grabbed the back of Robert’s neck.

“Why are you doing this! Let go!”

“Blaine, just a moment please.”

I smiled kindly at Blaine and then dragged the struggling Robert into the kitchen.

“Stay put in the kitchen and wait, Robert.”

“But something this interesting?”

“I’ll tell you everything when I get back. So just wait a bit. Sir Blaine seems uncomfortable.”

“…Tch.”

Although he pouted his lips, Robert didn’t insist on coming along anymore.

I gave a thumbs up to the sulky Robert who had sluggishly moved to a corner of the kitchen, and then immediately went outside.

Blaine was waiting quietly in the same spot.

“Let’s go for now.”

It was just break time.

I grabbed Blaine’s sleeve and pulled him along.

I thought I heard an auditory hallucination of Robert shouting ‘Take me with you!’ from inside the kitchen, but I completely ignored it.

Robert’s hobby is to meddle here and there anyway.

If you walk a little to the right from the kitchen door, you’ll come across a bench where there are hardly any people.

After reaching the bench, I let go of Blaine’s sleeve.

Then I asked Blaine, who hadn’t said a word while following me.

“You came to see me, right?”

“…Yes.”

Blaine, trailing off and turning his head, suddenly held out something he had been tightly gripping in his left hand.

“…A keychain?”

What was in his palm was a seashell-shaped keychain.

As I tilted my head with a puzzled look, he hurriedly explained with his ears turning red.

“Ah, you gave me cookies yesterday, but I couldn’t give you anything in return. I’m from Thorn Island at the southernmost part of the Chronotia Empire, so I have quite a few things like these keychains. So, I mean, I wanted to give you at least this keychain as a small token of gratitude for the cookies…”

He spoke hurriedly, seemingly embarrassed, and bowed his head deeply.

As I quietly looked at his sky-blue crown, a gentle smile appeared on my lips.

Although it was unexpected, unlike my initial surprise, my mood improved a little.

I sincerely thanked Blaine, who made me smile for the first time today.

“Thank you. I didn’t give you the cookies expecting something in return though.”

“No, no. I really enjoyed the cookies. They were delicious.”

I carefully accepted the seashell-shaped keychain and smiled brightly.

“I’ll put it somewhere special!”

My mood, which had been sinking due to the hot weather and Dietrich’s whereabouts, instantly improved.

I was truly grateful to Blaine for giving me this small but precious happiness.

It would be nice to have a pure-hearted friend like Blaine.

I offered him a handshake and casually asked.

“Since we’re here, want to be friends?”

“Friends?”

“Yes! I’ll occasionally deliver some treats to the training ground. How about that?”

“Then I’d have to give you something again…”

“Oh no, no! This is enough for me!”

I shook my head, showing him the keychain dangling from my fingertips.

Blaine, who seemed to hesitate for a moment, nodded shyly.

Judging by his gentle eyes folding in half, he seemed to like the idea of becoming friends.

Now that we’ve become friends, I decided to ask the question that had been creeping up since I first saw Blaine.

“By the way, have you seen Young Master Dietrich?”

“Do you mean Young Lord Dietrich?”

“Yes. Oh, should we speak more casually to each other?”

“Ah…”

Blaine nodded awkwardly at the suggestion to speak casually, then opened his mouth again.

“If you’re talking about the Young Lord, he hasn’t been coming to the training ground for days…”

“Not even to the training ground?”

“Yes, I mean, yeah.”

Still uncomfortable with casual speech, he used polite language and then wrinkled his eyes awkwardly.

However, my attention was completely focused elsewhere.

‘Dietrich hasn’t been coming to the training ground?’

If he’s not showing his face at the training ground, contrary to his nickname of being obsessed with swords, doesn’t that mean something has happened?

Blaine, watching me curiously, touched his lips with a slightly awkward expression.

Then he added nonchalantly.

“I think he might have joined and left with the Northern Subjugation Expedition. I mean, that’s what it seemed like.”

Hearing those words, I nearly dropped the keychain.

Wow, what is this now?