Volume 3 Chapter 24 (2/2)

It’s made of slime…..?!

“If there’s jelly, is there any pudding?”

“Pudding? No, I’ve never heard of anything with that name. What kind of thing is it?”

Mercè-san cutely tilted her head slightly.

Humm, it seems like this world still doesn’t know of pudding.

“It’s a soft solid food like jelly.”

“It’s a good snack for the evening party. Can you make that pudding, Lute?”

“No problem. I’ve made it before.”

“Then after breakfast is done tell me what ingredients you need. I’ll prepare them so it’ll be done just in time for the evening party.”

“Thank you very much!”

Thus the “Grand Snack Operation” to get Chrisse ojou-sama to relax her wariness, begins.

I was left in charge of the evening tea party by Mercè-san, to make the food I intruded on the food preparation area.

I entrusted Mercè-san to tell ojou-sama that I’ll be making pudding for tonight’s evening party.

Next is whether or not the taste of pudding is to ojou-sama’s liking.

The ingredients for pudding are eggs, milk, and sugar.

During the time I lived alone in my previous life.

Every now and again, there were many times I got engrossed in food and made it.

For the eggs, peac.o.c.k eggs like the ones I’d taken care of in the orphanage.

Milk from hairy-headed cows.

Imported sugar from the Fairy Human Continent.

This world unexpectedly had similar spices and seasonings.

Thanks to that it took almost no time at all to put the ingredients in order.

I uttered my grat.i.tude as soon as I started making the food.

I began making pudding immediately.

Firstly, I put sugar and water in a small saucepan, then cooked them in a medium fire.

There was nothing convenient like gas stoves so I had to regulate the fire by taking burning firewood in and out.

Once it had become thick and turned the color of brown sugar, I took it off from the fire and transferred it to a ceramic container.

I made pudding batter by mixing eggs, milk, and sugar.

I poured the pudding batter into a bowl using a tea strainer. I filled the saucepan with water, and put it on a fire until it boiled.

The caramel sauce had already settled in the bottom of the cup, so I carefully poured the pudding batter in.

After that, I added hot water, put a lid on it and left it for 10 minutes.

I took it off the fire, and waited another 10 minutes.

I finished by taking the cup and putting it inside a refrigerator.

The refrigerators of this world were the old types that were cooled down by putting ice on top.

I made some s.p.a.ce in the fridge and cooled it carefully so that the smells of other foodstuffs didn’t get on it.

Preparation complete.

All I have to do now was wait for the evening party.

The custom of having tea before going to sleep at night was called “evening party” in the Demon Continent.

Though it’s called a party, because it happens at night it was not something grand, but was a private affair instead, sometimes master and the others came along, but usually it was just ojou-sama and her retainers.

I brought my handmade pudding for today’s evening party.

It’s the third time I went to ojou-sama’s room.

As soon as ojou-sama caught sight of me, she once again covered her head with her quilt and hid behind her bed.

I expected as much.

At first I wanted to leave it to Mercè-san, and just receive her report on whether or not ojou-sama likes it. But Mercè-san rejected my proposal.

She insisted that it would be better in order to shorten the distance between us if I went into the room and made a direct appeal of making the pudding.

“Besides, ojou-sama is sure to like such a tasty treat as this. So have some confidence in yourself.”

To make sure it would suit ojou-sama, I had Mercè-san taste it.

Mercè-san who did not have much in the way of facial expressions blushed in surprise at the taste when she ate a mouthful of the pudding.

Having gained a boost of confidence from Mercè-san’s reaction, I visited ojou-sama’s room; third time’s the charm.

“Ojou-sama, this is the snack I made myself, it’s called a [Pudding]”

“…………”

Ojou-sama reacted to the snack she’d never heard of before, the so-called [Pudding], and peeped from behind the feather quilt, showing only her eyes.

I turned the cup upside down on the plate with slow movements so I didn’t frighten her.

When I moved my hands two, three times, the pudding wobbled left and right on the plate.

Ojou-sama became fixated on the wobbling.

I got a response.

For me who knew what the real thing looked like, it appeared rather bad because the caramel sauce became somewhat mixed with the pudding batter, but it shouldn’t be a problem since it’s the first time ojou-sama saw it.

“This is a snack made from eggs, milk, and sugar. It’s soft like jelly, so please scoop it up with a spoon and eat it.”

I put a wooden spoon on the plate and handed it over to Mercè-san.

Mercè-san took it with care, and presented it to ojou-sama who was cowering behind the bed.

“…………”

But ojou-sama made no signs of taking the plate.

She was curious, but it seems her fear of the opposite s.e.x won out.

(Dammit! Does this mean the “Grand Snack Operation” failed!?)

The moment I thought that, Mercè-san scooped up the pudding with the spoon and brought it towards ojou-sama’s mouth.

“Ojou-sama, say “ah~n”.”

“…………”

At first she hesitated at the spoon she was presented with, but ojou-sama ate the pudding with a *glomp* sound effect.

Ojou-sama’s white skin became red like a flower in bloom.

Her eyes sparkled like twinkling stars and her lips broke into a smile, looking happy.

Without a moment’s delay, Mercè-san presented a second scoop.

“Ojou-sama, “ah~n”.”

She ate the next spoonful without hesitation.

Just like that, she ate all the pudding on the plate clean up.

Holding on to the scented tea Mercè-san had heated up in her small hands, ojou-sama washed down the sweet aftertaste in her mouth and took a long breath.

I talked to ojou-sama in a gentle tone in order to not frighten her.

“Was the pudding I made to ojou-sama’s liking?”

It was obvious from looking at the plate that was eaten clean and the expression on her face.

Ojou-sama, as expected, took her hand off the scented tea and wrote on her mini blackboard.

“It’s the first time I eat that snack, it was very delicious.”

“If it’s alright with ojou-sama, will you be fine with having me make more snacks for tomorrow’s tea party and evening party?”

Ojou-sama hesitated a bit, but she showed her face from behind the mini blackboard and nodded.

“I want to have pudding tomorrow too, so please take care of me.”

“Certainly!”

I made a triumphant pose in my mind, and bowed politely.

The first round of the “snacks operation” was a success!

Let’s make snacks and open up ojou-sama’s heart like this. Then whatever happens, I’ll be ojou-sama’s blood bag and caretaker and stay at the blood house!

Also, for the sake of my chast.i.ty!

The rest was a digression.

As I left ojou-sama’s room behind, I was called to stop by the head butler Merry.

It looks like the master and madam called for me.

With questions in my head, I went to the room where they were and―

“”Hahahahaha! This so-called [Pudding] is really delicious! It was worth buying Lute even just for this!”

“Ah, darling, Lute still hasn’t been formally accepted into the house yet.”

“Hahahahahaha! That’s right, that’s right!”

“Darling is always so careless.”

The reason I was called by master and madam was because they wanted to have the pudding ojou-sama ate―so I was ordered to bring them some.

The two were having a friendly chat while scrumptiously eating the two puddings I had set aside.

The muscular, black-skinned Count with over 2 meters in height was eating the pudding in small bites, it was a rather surreal scene.

Madam was eating gracefully like a picture, but….

Those puddings were the ones I had set aside so I can enjoy eating them tonight after so long.

I certainly can’t refuse saying “these are for me”, so I tearfully handed them over.

Uuuuu…… and I thought I would be having pudding after so long, too.

Thus I shortened the distance between me and ojou-sama, and the first day pa.s.sed.

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