The Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace

by Yu Sakurai

  “No, it’s all right. I don’t know what I’d do if you quit, so as long as you stay here in the villa, it’s not a problem.”

  Gilbert would continue to work under my roof.

  That was one of the reasons why I worked so hard over the last few days.

  He knew so much about food and always prepared me wonderful meals, and not to mention, he helped me re-create a number of Earth recipes already. Gilbert was a valuable person to have with me.

  Though he lacked courage and had a tendency to be too negative about himself, I knew he took great pride in his work as a chef.

  “There’s still lots of meals I’d like you to help me cook. You’ll stay here and make even more delicious food with me, won’t you?”

  “Of course! Getting to cook with you is an honor unbefitting of someone like me!”

  Gilbert had turned red. Since he was usually so pale, it was a bit of a rare sight.

  With that, the two of us began to discuss our next endeavors in the kitchen.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  AFTER parting ways with Laetitia, Gilbert sat in his room inside the villa, staring down at the letter of resignation.

  “Tomorrow, I’ll get to work here again…”

  His heart warmed in a combination of relief and happiness.

  Gilbert knew he was a man who struggled to get on in the world. He was aware that he was a timid, undependable person too.

  After being driven out of Natalie’s villa by Giran, he ended up working for Laetitia, only to bring more trouble to her doorstep.

  “And yet, the queen didn’t want to get rid of me…”

  He felt his heart start to speed up when he thought of her.

  Laetitia was beautiful, wise, and cooked all kinds of delicious meals.

  Still, she always smiled kindly at him. He still remembered how fast his heart raced when she first asked if they could cook together.

  Queen Laetitia…

  Her title carried weight, and he knew if she were anyone else, Gilbert would never be able to speak so casually to the queen.

  It was nothing more than a coincidence that she chose him to be her cooking partner. And yet…

  “Thank you…”

  Gilbert was determined to live up to Laetitia’s every expectation.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  ON the same night that Gilbert was reflecting on his dedication to Laetitia…

  Glenreed had finished reviewing all of his birthday presents and decided to take a short break.

  I’m kind of hungry…

  The king usually wasn’t so aware of the state of his stomach.

  Glenreed had little interest in food. He never minded missing a meal or two, and no one particular food or meal ever sounded better to him than another.

  But now, it was a sweet aroma that was coaxing an appetite out of Glenreed.

  “A chiffon cake, huh…?”

  He turned his gaze to the silver platter that sat atop his desk. It was Laetitia’s birthday present to him.

  Glenreed’s sharp nose could pick up the sweet smell of cake, even from underneath the metal lid.

  Its shape is unusual, but it smells normal for a baked good.

  For some reason, the sweetness overcame him, and shockingly, the king felt an appetite start to form. He cocked his head, confused by this strange reaction from his body.

  Very well. I’ll just give it a try.

  The cake was a birthday present, after all. There was no reason why he couldn’t have a bite or two.

  Glenreed removed the lid and found that the cake was already cut into slices. He reached out and grabbed one for himself.

  “……”

  He chewed in silence.

  “…This is good.”

  The comment slipped out of his mouth, surprising even himself.

  Glenreed couldn’t remember the last time he truly enjoyed anything he ate, but that reaction must have been involuntary.

  The king usually had no interest in food. He didn’t even have the words to describe what it was he liked about the chiffon cake.

  I’ll take one more slice.

  Reaching out and taking one off the tray, Glenreed parted his lips to receive another slice of cake.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  AT His Majesty’s birthday celebration, Giran and the others fell under suspicion of plagiarizing our chiffon cake recipe.

  Though no humans were harmed, the location of the reveal was a big problem.

  Gifting the king a plagiarized cake was the ultimate sign of disrespect. That’s why Diaz broke down so dramatically that day.

  The head of Diaz’s household, Lady Natalie, was also shaken up, but even as she turned pale, she never backed down until the end.

  I’d always seen Lady Natalie as something like a doll without a will of her own, so her intense transformation surprised me. I wondered if she couldn’t stand the sight of her subordinates continuing to rattle off false evidence, so she felt compelled to speak up.

  It appeared I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The young girl gained a lot of sympathy by trying to take the blame for her subordinates’ actions.

  She wouldn’t be acquitted, I was quite sure, but if she were to lose her spot as a candidate for queen, relationships were sure to fall apart and cause chaos among the ranks.

  Now, two days after the birthday party, there was still discussion about what their punishment was to be.

  “Krona, I’ve been invited to a party of nobles outside the castle walls this evening, so I’ll be back somewhat late. Can you check to be sure Strawberry, the cat, doesn’t get locked in my room tonight?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty. Have a good time at the party!”

  Krona sent me off as I boarded my carriage and left the royal villa.

  A nobleman’s mansion outside the castle walls…

  …was not where I was heading.

  “You were right, my queen. There they are,” Lucian whispered to me.

  We exited the carriage and turned back, hidden from view. We stood behind the trees that bordered the villa.

  The two of us watched as a hooded figure emerged from the house.

  Here at my villa, I had guards who were permanently stationed to protect me, and soldiers from the castle also regularly patrolled the area.

  The person wasn’t being stopped by the guards, nor was there any patrol out at that moment, meaning it had to be someone who worked on the inside.

  But at this hour, there was no reason for anyone at the villa to be going out.

  “This is it. Let’s follow them.”

  Lucian and I quietly pursued the shadowy figure.

  My trusty servant was the only one I could take with me, since I had no proof of the true traitor in our midst.

  The cloaked figure continued through the silent forest.

  Though we were technically within the castle walls, the land was just that vast. There didn’t appear to be any guards on patrol in these isolated sections where there stood no buildings.

  Anxiously, we followed our subject until we reached a bit of a clearing.

  This was their meeting place. The cloaked figure started to speak with a few men, when I spotted the feathery body of a gigantic creature glowing under the starlight.

  “A griffin… That means…”

  This was a type of Mythical Beast.

  Griffins were incredibly rare. I’d heard it was Lady Natalie’s associates who brought it here to the castle.

  If the stolen chiffon cake didn’t work out, they were planning to gift the king with a griffin on the day of his party.

  Griffins are creatures of legend, with birdlike talons and beaks, majestic wings, and the strong haunches and torsos of lions.

  This one appeared to be kept in an unpopulated area, to be sure it wouldn’t attack any passing humans or beastfolk.

  “I’d heard that griffins were proud, peaceful animals…”

  But this one was snapping its beak and kicking at the ground as it paced aroun
d.

  It seemed to be upset, probably because it was tied to a metal post by a thick rope. It scanned its birdlike eyes around the area, until…

  “Gyo-iiiii!!”

  Oops.

  Its sharp senses appeared to have picked up our presence.

  When the griffin started to screech, the men all turned to look at us.

  “Y-Your Majesty?!”

  I knew that voice.

  It was Krona, my maid.

  The beastfolk girl had keen senses of her own. She could see us even in the dark of night.

  “Why have you come here, Your Majesty…?”

  “Because I was suspicious of you.”

  With no reason left to hide, I emerged from the bushes where I was standing.

  The men looked shocked to see me, and they quickly stood at alert.

  “But…why? I haven’t done anything to be suspicious of…”

  “That’s true. You’ve been a fantastic maid, and as far as your schemes went, you carried them out perfectly.”

  “Then, how did you…?”

  “Because of your personality, and how you never acted like a maid in the first place.”

  “What? It was something that simple…?” Krona’s mouth fell open a little.

  That reaction, in such a serious setting as this, seemed like the perfect example.

  Honestly, I always liked how Krona marched to the beat of her own drum.

  The doubts started when I thought about why a girl like her would choose a job where she was forced to wait on other people. I even wondered if someone had forced her to sneak in as a maid and give them an inside man under my roof.

  It was just a crazy idea of mine, but that wasn’t the only reason I questioned her.

  First, the chiffon cake that Giran came up with—it was more like a rip-off than an imitation of ours.

  But all the chefs at my villa were well versed in the chiffon cake recipe. Even if one of them had betrayed me and sold off the recipe, we wouldn’t have seen such a drop in quality.

  Of course, there were small differences when it came to things like the skills of the chefs involved, as well as the actual utensils used.

  But even if Giran wasn’t quite at Gilbert’s level, he was still a very talented chef.

  The shape of the chiffon cake mold, the most unique cooking utensil in this world, had been masterfully re-created by their blacksmith.

  Even if they didn’t steal a whisk from our villa or try to re-create one, I knew the whisk wasn’t absolutely necessary in the first place.

  When Gilbert and I tried making a few cakes by using a wooden spatula or fork instead of a whisk, the finished results weren’t as good, but they were still acceptable as chiffon cakes, so we knew it was possible to substitute the whisk entirely.

  That’s why I found it strange that Giran’s cake lacked so much of the flavor that ours had.

  But it would all make sense if the traitor wasn’t one of the chefs.

  Aside from the chefs, few people in the house would be able to keep a close eye on our cooking process.

  There was also the possibility our kitchen was being spied on, or that the information only came from one of the chefs secondhand, but that wouldn’t have yielded anything close to the complete recipe for the thief.

  Other than the chefs, there were very few servants who could know how to make the chiffon cake.

  There was Borgan or the head maid, who were in charge of all the work throughout the house overall. The only person left was Krona, who had been in the kitchen on the day I first made the cake.

  She’d been in the kitchen with me while I prepared the ingredients and utensils, but she had to leave the room when I actually worked on the recipe. She could probably only guess the proper steps in making the cake.

  Assuming that she was the traitor, it made sense why the fake chiffon cake didn’t turn out very well.

  Now I was getting into conjecture, but I wondered if Krona didn’t properly understand how I used the oil in my recipe.

  When I first tasted the fake chiffon cake, it reminded me of my failed attempt at making one in my past life, when I forgot to add any oil to the batter.

  I was pretty sure it was uncommon to add vegetable oil, instead of something like butter, to a dessert recipe in this world.

  She probably mistakenly thought the oil was supposed to be used on the cake mold itself or something like that, and she gave Giran the wrong information as a result.

  Well, the details didn’t matter.

  There were still many things I wanted to hear from Krona.

  “Krona, I had your past investigated and learned that you’re from a famous commoner family. But your parents passed away three years ago, isn’t that right? And unfortunately, they were traders who lost their goods in the same accident that took their lives, leaving you behind with their debts. You have a little sister as well, so it’s not unnatural for you to have taken the high-paying job of royal villa maid… I’m just a bit curious about who you’re in debt to.”

  “…My parents borrowed money from someone who worked for Miss Diaz’s family.”

  “…I thought so.”

  If they were related to Diaz, they probably looked down on beastfolk.

  They beckoned Krona, a beastfolk girl, into their merciless debt repayment scheme, maybe even demanding she be their pawn if she couldn’t pay back the money.

  But certainly, she took the job as a maid for its use in undercover work.

  “Please allow me to ask…how did you find out I was the traitor?”

  She trembled as she spoke.

  “Who knows? Maybe it was my women’s intuition.”

  I had my reasons, of course, but I wasn’t about to give them away so easily.

  Another hint came from the day of the birthday party, when Giran revealed he wasn’t familiar with the black tea chiffon cake.

  We only made that version after Giran first stopped by to visit the villa. Keeping the kitchen locked down while we cooked, we were careful not to let any information escape the premises. Simultaneously, this became free time for the chefs to do as they pleased in the kitchen.

  I kept them under strict orders not to reveal the black tea cake to anyone, but if any of them were the traitor, they still would have gone straight to Giran with that information.

  On the day of the party, Giran looked shocked by what appeared to be his first time seeing the black tea chiffon cake.

  At that point, I could safely assume none of my chefs were the traitor under our roof.

  The black tea chiffon cake really proved useful in more ways than one.

  After narrowing down the suspects, I decided it was time to lay a trap.

  On the day of the birthday party, I lied when I told Diaz that the ultimate proof of her plagiarism was in my bedroom.

  Earlier today, I’d left a fake, official-looking envelope, sealed with wax and everything, in the back of the drawer in my writing desk. Then, I’d asked Krona to check on it for me.

  If she was guilty, I expected her to use the opportunity to steal this valuable “proof.”

  Just as I expected, Krona took the bait.

  She was here to deliver her co-conspirators the important documents. In fact, looking around, I realized I recognized these men.

  I’d seen them in Lady Natalie’s villa, standing at attention by Diaz’s side.

  Diaz was under house arrest for the plagiarism incident, but she was probably still able to send out her subordinates to destroy evidence for her, at the very least.

  She probably knew that any extra evidence from me could lead to a more severe punishment in her case, so she used Krona as an intermediary to get the evidence away from me.

  I’d kept my eye on Krona, who just seemed dazed by the shock of having her betrayal revealed, when suddenly…

  “Krona, look out!!”

  “?!”

  One of the men had thrown something on her.

  The glass bottle and the liqui
d inside sparkled in the starlight.

  Krona was now soaked in something that reeked of fish.

  “What…?!”

  “Go, griffin! The beast maid should make a nice meal!”

  Another man loosened the rope that was attached to the griffin’s neck.

  The rope remained fastened, but with some slack in it now, the griffin could move around in a wider radius. The creature took flight and headed straight for the drenched Krona.

  “This way, Krona!!”

  I screamed for the girl to follow me, and the two of us dashed into the forest.

  Blocked by the dense row of trees, the griffin came to a quick halt and turned back the way it had come.

  But it didn’t appear to have given up. The griffin soared into the air and looked down from above the trees, searching for a glimpse of us. If we strayed too far from the cover of the trees, the griffin would surely swoop down on us.

  “Haha! This is perfect! Let’s get that fake queen out of our way while we’re at it!”

  The men gave enthusiastic cheers. They were illuminated by the starlight, loudly making their voices heard, and yet, the griffin didn’t try to attack them.

  “It’s your scent…!”

  The smell coming off Krona was probably meat juice or blood of some kind. And the griffin must have looked unhappy because it was hungry. If someone appeared before it like that, smelling of delicious meat, there was no way it wouldn’t attack.

  “Were they planning to kill me as soon as I gave them the evidence…?” Krona paled as she murmured this realization to herself.

  As beastfolk, Krona’s body was more powerful than a human’s.

  If she wasn’t totally spaced out like before, Krona should have no problem keeping up with those humans if it came to a fight.

  Now that Diaz was under house arrest, if she sent any of her soldiers out, it would look like she was plotting an insurrection. She couldn’t use soldiers, but she still wanted to kill Krona, an accomplice in the plagiarism, to shut her up for good.

  That’s why Krona was told to meet all the way out here, where the griffin was kept.

  “Get away from me, Your Majesty! The griffin will get you too if you don’t run!”

  At my command, Lucian stopped Krona from jumping in front of us as a decoy.

  “Your Majesty?! What are you doing?!”