Demonas

Apricot Tarts (2)

Evading his gaze, which held his incredulous feelings, she fell back into her thoughts.

‘…Come to think of it, there was a book I had read in the restricted area that went along the same lines as this one. About how demons have the ability to subjugate human beings.’

To think a ten-year-old child would pose as such a threat to the maids even without taking any actions.

This may be the said ability to mentally overwhelm the opponent to subjugate those of his species.

However, the problem was that such dangerous power was being exerted independently of the user’s will.

Altair hoped that he would be able to gain control of himself as soon as possible.

Growl.

At the sudden sound, Altair paused in her thoughts and stared at the child.

He had a very serious facial expression as he shook his head.

“…This…This isn’t me.”

Growling.

“…I’ll have to give you something to eat first.”

“This isn’t me! Besides, all the food that is served to me comes in like that. How can I possibly eat that? Do you want me to add to the mess on the floor?”

“Listen to me carefully, Ahin. I’ve just thought of an excellent plan.”

The phrase, ‘What are you talking about?’ was plastered across his face. Noticing this, Altair could not help but smile.

“We’re going to steal. It’s called stealing from Count Estarrot’s kitchen.”

“You’ve finally gone crazy. You’re so young too…”

Ahin’s face turned solemn.

Altair did not want to point out how she was two years older than him.

“You’ll see. I’m confident in my guerrilla warfare* skills.”

“…What?”

Even though he made his words off to be disapproving, he was still interested in what she planned to do. So, as per usual with children of his age, he followed behind her.

***

Not long after entering the kitchen, the duo found freshly-baked crisp apricot tarts in the oven.

Altair was so happy that she quickly packed away all the tarts that had been on the large tray.

…So how did such a thing happen?

Altair wrinkled her nose and whispered a bit too loudly.

“Ahin, it’s narrow here.”

“It’s because you’re fat. Move over there.”

A large and spacious storage area was underneath the cupboard; It held all the high-end tableware used in the Count’s residence.

Inside, they were squatting together so closely that their breath could almost touch.

“…If you move further to that side, there will be a sound.”

“If you think about it, this is all your fault since you wanted to do such a thing called ‘stealing from the kitchen’.”

“Zip!”

Altair shoved her finger to his lips and pulled his head towards her.

Thud. His face, which had suddenly come into contact with her chest, turned beet red. But this was not the situation for him to care about such things right now.

“How peculiar. I’m certain I had made and left the tarts here…”

The maid murmured, suspicious as she rummaged through the cupboards multiple times.

She had been filling up the large tray with tarts for the VIPs that had visited the Count’s residence to attend swordsmanship classes.

However, the apricot tarts that were supposed to be ready by now have disappeared, leaving behind only an empty tray.

“He-Hey. Let go of me.”

Ahin growled lowly as he wiggled in her grip. An unnatural silence fell in the kitchen.

Almost intuitively, Altair could sense that the maid’s attention was fixated in their direction.

No.

Her large hand gestures she made in an attempt to shut Ahin up only made him struggle more.

“Argh.”

“…Was that a rat? I could’ve sworn I heard something coming from there.”

The shuffling of her feet drew closer and closer.

The thin ray of light entering the cupboard through a thin gap from the door’s opening was soon covered and darkness filled the inside.

Both of their bodies hardened.

At that moment, the sound of the kitchen door opening was heard as a middle-aged lady’s raspy old voice rang out.

“Nora, I’ve called for you to bring the tray a long while ago. Yet you’re still here dragging your heels!”

“I… That’s… I remember placing the tray of tarts in here but…”

“No excuses! Quickly fill the tray with any other kind of snacks and send it out!”

“Yes…”

Taking out the extra desserts in the storage cupboards, the maid, Nora, hurriedly placed them onto the tray. With a loud clatter, she too placed a few cubes of ice into a cup.

The sound of shuffling of feet subsided and the kitchen came to a still as soon as the door closed.

Thump.

The moment he realised the maids had left the kitchen, Ahin stormed out of the hiding place.

Altair calmly followed behind him as she smoothened out the wrinkles on her clothes.

Ahin said, his face still flushed.

“…Hey. Who told you to do such a thing like that?”

“It was an unavoidable and unexpected situation.”

“Ah yes, well if you say you can’t help it then I guess there’s nothing I can do. After all, you’re a human.”

“Ahin, you’re not a demon…”

“Huh, is that so?”

Ahin turned and stared at her. Altair, who was not yet immune to his gaze, quickly turned her head elsewhere, away from his eyes.

“As I said, it was an unavoidable situation.”

“That’s hilarious. You’re telling me that you’re scared of things like that and prefer hiding?”

“It would’ve been another four months if you had met the maids. Plus, your father would have come to see you and instead find out all that you’ve done. You do not want him to find out, if he does, you would be forced out of the house.”

“…”

Without another word, Ahin simply gnawed at his lips as Altair turned to face the detached house.

It was not long before they finally stepped into the garden when Altair opened her mouth.

“It would be great if you trained hard.”

Ahin seemed nervous; It was as if he was dazed.

“…Wh-What? Why? What is it?”

“Let’s train you to not scare the maids next time. You can’t always resort to stealing food whenever you’re hungry.”

“Ugh. Why should I have to train to stop them from being scared?”

“Well, you’re the one who’s vicious…”

Reading her lips, Ahin made a move to remove his gloves and toss them away.

“…Vicious? I guess that’ll be a mystery that will forever remain unsolved.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Somewhat satisfied with her answer, Ahin grinned as he tucked the gloves into his pocket.

The corner of his lips curled up as both their eyes finally met.

It was a unique smile that she remembered seeing in her previous life.

Altair, suddenly remembering the past, felt a sense of reverence as she placed a hand over her heart.

“Hey, what is it? What’s with that look on your face?”

Ahin took a step back, frowning as if wary of her change in facial expressions.

Ahem.

Altair cleared her throat awkwardly as she quickly placed her closed fist to her lips.

“It’s nothing. Just… more training… Yes, training…”

She stopped talking, embarrassed by her actions. What else was I going to say?

Ahin, who had watched daylight flip over continuously. He had also noticed Altair flip-flopping several times as he silently observed her a small distance away. Then, suddenly, he shoved his face in front of hers.

“What training.”

“…No, wait. Right now, I’m a little… I’ll help come up with a training schedule for you next time…”

Despite her stuttering, Altair forced herself to turn her head. Looking only at the stump beyond him.

Ahin could somewhat understand her feelings and thoughts from her behaviour.

Soon after, Altair returned to the lounge as she swallowed her saliva. Quickly, she shook the maid in an attempt to wake her up after she had been knocked out using a different method than last time by Altair.

“Hey, are you alright? Wake up!”

“Ugh. What the hell happened…!”

“The decoration suddenly fell and hit you. I don’t believe there was any trauma, but the bathroom needs a repair.”

Of course, the decoration was one that Altair had destroyed before leaving the detached house.

With a face still full of confusion and with no idea as to what was going on, the maid exclaimed.

“Such a…! To think the princess almost got hurt. Tsk, I’ll inform the butler of such a thing and have it fixed immediately.”

“No, I’m fine. I would prefer not to make a huge deal out of this, so let’s just quietly move on.”

“Princess…!”

The expression she had on, one that made Altair think as if she were looking at an angel descent, prickled her conscience.

The butler, who was waiting outside, politely bowed his head as Altair left the lounge.

“The Crown Prince and the Count are waiting in the parlour.”

“Understood.”

Altair frantically followed the butler to the parlour.

Upon entering, she took notice of the custard pudding placed atop a three-tiered tray on the table instead of the apricot tart that she had stolen.

***

The atmosphere in the parlour was very heavy.

The Crown Prince, who was very tired, was leaning to one side on his chair as he rested on his forehead. Arsene, who sat diagonally to his left, had his legs stretched outwards. He too had a rather nervous expression on.

Altair tried to calm her increasingly anxious mind.

‘I must’ve kept them waiting for too long, right…?’

Or could the problem have been her stealing the apricot tarts?

The Crown Prince, who slowly raised his head as he took notice of her new presence, opened his mouth.

“Cousin, you’ve finally made an appearance.”

“…Did you wait for a long time?”

He said, dismissing her question with a wave of his hand.

“No, rather than that… I’ve been having a hard time attending the swordsmanship classes…”

Despite being surprised by his unexpected words, Altair asked in a calm voice.

“Did something happen in the palace?”

“Indeed, there was. Some executives had embezzled trade taxes that were imposed on the southern kingdoms. Plus, it just so happened that they had been trying to increase their power.”

Altair dropped a few cubes of white sugar into the cup of red hibiscus tea in front of her.

Clink. She stirred the teacup with a teaspoon as she placed them in.

“You’re talking about Baron Carl. You must have been furious after finding out.”

The Crown Prince’s eyes widened. Surprised at how she had managed to identify the person despite him having not mentioned a single name.

Regaining his composure, he sat upright as he continued.

“Yes, it was a year ago that we lowered the southern trade tax. Yet, it was only yesterday when a complaint had arrived from one of the top coalition that there had been no real change in the tax rates.”

“The baron must’ve been taking advantage of being in the middle.”

“Exactly. It would be nice if such a matter would end after confiscating his title and territory…”

Noticing him trailing off at the end of his sentence, she commented.

“So how did the southern kingdoms respond?”

“…There was an act of appeasement but that is only done for appearances. And I’m in charge of comforting them.”

“Moreover, this all occurred in an area where there are high levels of conflict. Radicals would likely have already caught public opinion. If anything, you’ll only cause a riot.”

“Yes, it has indeed become a large thorn in my side.”

The Crown Prince, even after finishing his words, did not divert his deep blue eyes away from Altair.

He added, with an unexpected smile on his face.

“Despite being young, she is not only good at swords but also has a keen insight on the political situation of this country?”

Oh no.

It was at this moment that Altair realised she had spoken to the Crown Prince no different from when she would speak to the Duke of Chernobog in the past.

A mistake that she had made while her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the apricot tarts.

To avoid more doubtful gazes, she hurried backtracked.

“…I’ve just simply been expressing my father’s opinion on such an issue that I heard about multiple times from.”

Hmm. She said as she slowly turned her head to one side as if she were simply wondering the meaning behind the words she had spoken just moments ago.

“I’ve merely heard of the tax evasion. Had the Duke already known of that?”

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“No, I don’t believe so. My father had only been discussing the general state of affairs in the southern kingdoms.”

“How amazing. You have shown such a deep insight that cannot be completely trusted since it did come from a twelve-year-old child. She is indeed the Crown Princess of the Empire… Isn’t that right, Count?”

At that moment, Altair’s eyes widened as she froze.

‘…Crown Princess…?”

*TL/N: Guerrilla warfare is a method of combat by which a smaller group of combatants attempts to use its mobility to defeat a larger, and consequently less mobile, army.