“I think it’s…the north villa,” Margaret remarked, surprised.
“Oh, you’re right.” Elizabeth pointed at the corner of the page. “It says here: ‘The Royal Villa of King Liones.’ ”
“The north villa—as in where you’re about to go, sister?”
“Yes. When you and Elizabeth were little, you visited once as well. Don’t you remember?”
“No…” Veronica said, before murmuring, Oh. “That ‘lake’ earlier, is that this lake?”
“Maybe it is. I think its name was—Lake Grau.” Sure enough, it fit perfectly in the puzzle.
“I see, so the fact that it was inserted by that page was another hint!”
Veronica and Margaret exchanged glances. Both of them looked much more cheerful than before. For whatever reason, they found this very funny and broke out in laughter at the same time. Elizabeth stared blankly up at her older sisters’ faces.
“I’m sorry, sis, I won’t be so selfish anymore.”
“Thank you, Veronica.” Margaret smiled. “For now, please let me do as I wish without asking why…I’ll make sure to finish this puzzle at the north villa.”
“All right. When you do, send a messenger. Then Elizabeth and I will come see you together.”
“Yes—I promise,” Margaret said. With that, she returned the puzzle to its place, hugged the book, and grinned.
Chapter Five
His Cuisine and the Answer to the Secret
—from Ban
“—What a pain! Why do I have to do this?” a hulking man complained, his silver hair spilling over his shoulders as he shook an iron frying pan with one hand.
“The loser of the bet has to do whatever the other says. That was the deal.”
The kitchen was considerably large and splendid, but it looked terribly cramped thanks to the man, who stood almost seven feet tall. Moreover, another stately figure, a woman, was directing him on all manner of things.
That wasn’t all.
“Wait, Ban. What kind of meat did you just add?”
The top half of a frightfully large armored knight was poking in from the doorway that connected the kitchen to the backyard. He seemed unable to fit his whole body into the room.
“Huh? It’s the meat of a gray wild rabbit.”
“In the recipe, it’s supposed to be a pulled rabbit.”
“There are none around here. So instead ♪” The man called Ban didn’t rest his hands as he spoke in his singsong voice. He roughly chopped a yellow fruit, skin and all, and began to pulverize it with a marble mortar and pestle.
“Is that a cirin fruit?” the woman asked.
Ban nodded and said, “Yup, you got it ♪”
“Wait, Ban. That’s also more than the recipe calls for,” the armored knight objected again.
Ban responded with irritation. “The Chief likes it. Besides, gray wild rabbits have a stronger flavor than pulled rabbits, so it’s perfect if you add a little more cirin.”
“I see.” The woman nodded to herself and jotted something down. The armored knight twisted and leaned forward so that his palm almost touched the ground as he followed Ban closely.
“Wait, Ban, that spoon is different from the one you were just using. That’s less than precise.”
“You’re nagging me about everything! It fell on the floor and disappeared somewhere. It’s about the same size, so it’s fine! Hey, Merlin, send away that bullshit armor. I can’t work like this,” Ban complained to the woman at his side.
But Merlin only laughed. “Oh, don’t say that. It’s part of my research. I need Gowther’s impeccable memory.”
“Heh, do whatever you wish, then, and I’ll do the same. Either way, stop commenting on every single detail, Gowther.”
“Sure.” Gowther lifted an armored finger to signal his assent. Hmph, Ban snorted, and without giving the knight a second glance, resumed cooking, humming a tune.
1
Margaret let out a sigh and got to her feet. As she carefully opened the window, the wind blew into the room with a whoosh. She could smell water.
She was at the royal villa of King Liones, which stood upon a small island that floated in Lake Grau. Margaret had been staying there for about a week. It was a terribly quiet place. The closest town was over five miles away, and untamed hills thick with brush completely surrounded the lake.
She was in the highest room on the third floor of the castle, which jutted out from the cliff on the northern side of the island. Directly below her window was the cliff that continued down past the wall, and below that spread the lake’s surface. All she could hear was the wind and waves lapping against the shore.
The lake reflected the dull gray of the clouds. The opposite shore was blurry as if it was only a shadow.
“ ‘The lone old castle that stands upon the small island is like a stone cell that imprisons me’—” Repeating the lines that her attendant Grace had heard, Margaret sang in a tiny voice. She didn’t know if the melody was correct. “ ‘My body is cursed and torn apart by the fates of the day and the night. It stands here still as stone, it sighs’…” Rustled by the strong wind, Margaret’s long platinum-blond hair danced.
“Lady Margaret!” Just at that moment, Grace, who had entered the room, rushed to her side, her face pale.
“What’s wrong, Grace?”
“Well, for some reason I thought that you were going to fall…”
“Oh dear, I’m fine.”
Grace peered out the window, trembling. “No matter how many times I look, it scares me. The wind is so cold, it’d be better if you shut the window—”
“Right.” With a faint smile, Margaret closed the window.
Grace knelt upon the floor to pick up a fallen piece of paper. “Your Highness, here.”
“Thank you.”
It was that puzzle. It had probably been blown by the wind.
“How are you faring with it?” Grace asked.
“Yes, well…I have a little bit more to go.” Margaret smiled, but in her mind, she had begun to give up.
“The hints, they’re too sparse…Like, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with an obscure one like ‘Fish’…‘Put in a rabbit stew’? Doesn’t seem like carrot would be the right answer.”
“Yes…”
As Grace said, the ten empty spaces that remained corresponded to hints that were far too simple. Margaret was at a loss. She lacked the knowledge to tease out the answers from the connecting words.
“I thought I would be able to help with something like ‘Herb’…I apologize for not being more useful.” Grace, whose family ran a medicine shop, hung her head.
In the capital, Margaret might have asked somebody about the hints or looked them up in a book—there may have been some way. But all she had at the royal villa was herself, her three maids, and several servants. She could do nothing.
It can’t be helped. Margaret closed her eyes. She’d promised her younger sisters to send a messenger upon solving the puzzle, but that seemed unlikely now. But it’s probably for the better. This way, no one will be hurt…
Margaret glanced at Grace, who was still looking at the puzzle and shaking her head.
The maid suddenly turned around. “My apologies, I’d forgotten what I came for! Your meal is ready.”
“All right…” Margaret followed her out into the hallway and spoke to her as they descended the stairs. “Grace, it might be about time that you and Erica returned to the capital. When the next carriage arrives, have it take you on its way back.”
“What are you saying?” Grace turned around with a sorrowful expression. “I don’t know about Erica unless I ask, but as for me, I will always stay by your side. I was told to by my parents as well.”
“But…”
“Um, did I…commit some blunder?” Grace asked, wringing her hands at her chest.
Margaret shook her head from side to side. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just…”
It’s just that yo
u might be put in danger again—Margaret swallowed those words.
Margaret had heard the very next morning from her maid, Erica, who loved gossip, that a monster had escaped from the circus and attacked people on the night of the Summer Solstice Festival. Learning that one of the people who had been assaulted was none other than Grace, she understood everything.
Apparently a chimera, a creature begat with magic, had gone after Grace. In that case, it was the doing not of some circus curiosity, but of that woman—Vivian.
Encouraged by Grace’s words, Margaret had entrusted her maid with a message, but shouldn’t have.
If it was only a date, a time, and a place, she could conceal a message in the Holy Knight apprentices’ daily schedule. If the person who gave it to Gilthunder was Howzer, nobody would be suspicious, or so Margaret thought, but that woman wasn’t so easily deceived.
Undoubtedly, the chimera that watched Margaret was, even now, hiding somewhere in this castle. Just like back in the capital, it was monitoring her.
To get away from Gilthunder, and to protect Grace, she’d come to the royal villa. Yet Margaret was gradually growing unsure about the best course of action.
2
Crash!
Grace, who had finished hanging laundry in a corner of the courtyard and was resting on a nearby bench, jumped at the loud noise.
She also heard a young man’s voice: You’ve gotta be kidding me!
It came from the back door of the kitchen. Grace timidly approached it and peered through the small crack in the wooden door.
A young, blond man wearing an apron was holding his head with both elbows on his workbench. Potatoes and other vegetables still coated in dirt were scattered about on the bench and the floor.
“What more can I do?!” The man then placed his hands on the rim of a shallow bucket in the sink next to him. Grace could see fish swimming inside. It seemed he aimed to flip the bucket over.
“Stop, please stop!” Without thinking, Grace rushed toward him and grabbed his arm.
“Wh-What are you doing?” Caught off guard, the young man whirled around in surprise. “Y-You’re the princess’ maid…”
“Yes. I’m Grace. Um, what’s wrong? Vegetables aside, if you throw the fish out, they’ll die…”
“So what if they did,” the young man spat, turning away. “Because no matter how painstakingly I prepare her meals, your princess won’t eat, will she? Who knows what kind of extravagant fare you serve at the capital…”
“That’s…that’s not it!” Grace shouted, taken aback. She gripped her apron dress firmly. “The princess came here to recuperate! It’s not her fault that she can’t eat much!”
“I know that! That’s why I’m constantly trying to figure it out. What’s nutritious, what has light flavoring, what’s easy to eat, what isn’t too hot—but it all comes back hardly touched. I’m losing my motivation.” The man laughed humorlessly. “Why would she ever bother with the cuisine of a country cook like me? She should have just brought a chef with her.”
“Y-You’re wrong!”
“What am I wrong about? Really, you call it recuperating, but she didn’t bring a doctor or a healer. Are you sure she’s not faking it?”
“Wha—” He had gone so far that Grace was left speechless.
The man didn’t know—just how much Margaret was suffering.
“Her Highness is n-not that kind of p-per…”
Grace started to speak but couldn’t continue. She was no different in failing to understand Margaret’s suffering. When the man asked Grace why he was wrong, she couldn’t explain. She could only repeat that he was wrong.
“Her Highness is…” Tears began to well up in the maid’s eyes. In moments, they began flowing and dripping from her cheek to the floor.
“Whoa, hey…don’t cry!”
The young man began to panic as if he was just coming to his senses. He restlessly scanned his surroundings, grabbed a yellow fruit that was lying on the kitchen counter, scrubbed the dirt from it with his apron, and thrust it toward Grace.
“I’m sorry I ran my mouth…Here, I’ll give you this.”
“…”
Grace, who had lifted the hem of her apron to wipe away her tears, was a little appalled. She wasn’t a child of five or six, but he seemed to think that a piece of fruit would make her feel better. When she glowered at him with upturned eyes, the young man faltered.
“No, really…I apologize.”
“Never mind about me. I can’t forgive someone who speaks ill of Her Highness.”
“I understand. Sorry—please take this back to your room and have it with the princess. She can stomach at least a little bit of fruit, can’t she?” the man said, pushing the gift into Grace’s hand.
Accepting it helplessly, Grace tilted her head. “This fruit…What’s it called? It’s like an apple…”
“Ah, cirins are only picked in this region. They also taste like apples but are somewhat sweeter. You can crush it and add its flavor to a stew too.”
“Cirin…” Grace suddenly remembered something. “This must be…” She spun, fruit in hand.
“What is it?!” the young man shouted in surprise, but she didn’t bother.
3
“Your Highness! This is it! The cirin fruit!”
Margaret had moved the table up against the window and spread out the puzzle. She was sitting chin in hand when Grace burst through the door and startled her.
“What happened, Grace?”
“I figured it out! The hint! The ‘put in a rabbit stew’ clue!” Grace, who was normally calm, pushed the yellow fruit at Margaret with uncharacteristic fervor and pointed at one of the blank spaces in the puzzle on the table. “Here! This is ‘cirin fruit,’ isn’t it?”
“Ah…you’re right.” Margaret, too, traced the blank with her finger. Sure enough, those letters fit perfectly.
“Sometimes this fruit is crushed and added to a stew. The kitchen man—uh, I forgot to ask his name, but he said so.”
“Oh…”
“Apparently this fruit is only harvested in this region. No wonder we didn’t get it!” Grace said happily. Margaret looked down at the puzzle anew.
“Come to think of it—this was inserted by a page that showed this castle.” The princess remembered the time she’d started working on it with Veronica and Elizabeth. It seemed not only the name of the lake but also all the other vague hints had something to do with this castle.
“Maybe there are other answers that only people here would know!”
“Yes!” Margaret met Grace’s eyes and stood up.
“Hello,” Grace called at the kitchen entrance.
“Oh, it’s you,” a voice replied, and the young blond man came forth.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
“No, I’m the one—whoa!” The young man widened his eyes when he realized that Margaret was standing behind Grace. He hurriedly took a step back and bowed his head.
“P-Princess, what brings you to such a squalid place?…Y-You didn’t rattle on me, did you?” The young man glanced at Grace with frightened eyes, but she furiously waved both her hands.
“No, no! Actually, Her Highness has something she would like to ask you.”
“Me?”
Margaret smiled at the bewildered young man. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Margaret Liones. Thank you for always making such delicious food.”
“No, that…um….Excuse me for not being able to serve anything to your liking.”
“No, pardon me. I’m sorry I can’t eat much. What’s your name?”
“I’m Phil.”
“Phil. Well, Phil, there’s something I’d like to ask you.” Margaret handed the puzzle that she held in her left hand over to Phil. “This is something I brought from the capital. I just can’t for the life of me fill in spots like this one…or this one. But just now, we figured out ‘cirin fruit,’ and we thought maybe we should ask someone who is better acquainted with this region…”
>
“Huh, let me take a quick look.” Phil took the sheet from Margaret and for a while compared the hints with the empty places on the puzzle, lowering his fingers from time to time to count letters, until finally, he nodded. “Well, these certainly aren’t the kinds of things you would know. Almost all of these blanks are vegetables, fish…anyways, ingredients associated with this area.”
“I thought so.” Grace was beaming. “I wonder if the person who made this puzzle is from around here. But Ladies Veronica and Elizabeth found it at a bookstore in the capital, didn’t they?”
“Yes…”
“The herbs and other leafy vegetables are almost all things we grow in the garden here. Would you like to see?”
At Phil’s words, Margaret smiled and replied, “Really? I’d love to.”
“Right this way.” Returning the puzzle to Margaret’s hand, Phil invited the two of them into the kitchen. They passed before the sink, opened the wooden door at the far end, and found themselves in the courtyard. Enclosed by the keep, its two towers, and the ramparts that connected them, the courtyard measured about 160 feet on each side. The brick walkway that linked the keep’s front entrance and the gate between the two towers cut through the center. Various garden trees were planted on either side of the path.
“Those far rows over there are vegetables, and that area over there is herbs.”
Many varieties of flowering plants grew in the plot where Phil pointed, their leaves all subtly different shades of green. There were tall plants, plants that crawled and spread over the ground, plants with tiny flowers.
“…”
“The potted ones over there are mint. This block is sage. That’s lemongrass, and this here is what was in that puzzle just now, ‘snow on the mountain’…”
Listening to Phil’s explanation, Margaret approached the spot and knelt down in the dirt, unconcerned that her hem would get dirty. Just as the name suggested, the new leaves were whitish in color; it looked as if they were dusted with a light layer of snow.
“…”
When the wind blew, it carried the smell of damp earth and the strong aroma of grass with it. Margaret gently felt the grass before her with her fingers, and when she tore one blade, she caught a sweet scent.
The Seven Deadly Sins Page 7