lina carefully tiptoed towards the shop, trying to remain as quiet as possible, when another knock resounded. She peered over the threshold and saw that behind the glass door stood… that red-haired girl she t at the party.
What was her na again? Le… Leila… No. Laila? No. Leilani? No. Oh, right—Leliana. What is she doing here?
lina opened the door, looking curiously at the visitor.
"Hello," she greeted the redhead.
"Hi, lina! It's so nice to see you again," Leliana said in an overly exaggerated, high-pitched tone. Then she leaned forward, pulling lina into a brief hug.
Why is she hugging out of nowhere? We've talked only once before.
"How can I help you?" lina said, and only then noticed the sa two girls that were together with Leliana last ti, peeking out from behind her shoulder. They were younger than Leliana and looked really similar—dark brown hair tied into a high ponytail, brown eyes, and nearly identical facial features. They had to be sisters for sure if not twins.
"We ca here to visit you. Can we co in?" Leliana asked with a bright smile.
I'd rather not deal with them at all, but that'd be incredibly rude, wouldn't it? Curse the social norms of polite behavior. They continue to haunt to this day.
"Of course. We could talk in the living room." lina plastered on her best fake smile and stepped aside to let the three girls enter. Oddly enough, Leliana's minions followed her without a single word, acting more like dolls rather than actual people. "This way."
They went to the spacious living room next to the store, and lina pointed towards the old sofa. In reality, the space wasn't used much so everything looked untouched and unused. She also didn't have to clean it often—just a quick sweep with a dustrag once a week was enough.
"Would you like so tea?" lina offered. She believed that was how people usually treated their guests, but she wasn't sure if this was the right occasion.
"Yes, please. Perhaps you could offer so of the goods from your bakery too?" Leilani suggested.
Have you just co here to eat our pastries for free?
"I'd love to but unfortunately, we do not have anything made at the mont. But I'll bring sothing else," lina replied and went back into the kitchen. She poured so water into the kettle and put it on the stove, feeling rather annoyed.
Good thing that the fire still hasn't gone out since the morning–it'd be a bother to start it back up just to entertain these girls. But why did they co? I doubt it was out of the kindness of their hearts. Surely, they want sothing more than just pastries.
As she waited for the water to boil, lina heard hushed voices coming from the living room. Curious, she sneaked closer to the door and listened.
"This place looks so old."
"And so decrepit. Who'd want to live here?"
I don't recognize these voices so they must belong to the minions. I'm well aware that the place looks old, but surely it shouldn't be a surprise to soone in Sunglow.
"I believe it suits her quite fine. A tasteless girl deserves to live in a tasteless place," Leliana said, and her minions laughed as if they had just heard the funniest joke ever.
Oh, great, I was right. She really is one of those petty girls who bullies others. I hope they leave soon. Or perhaps the Master could return and throw them out by saying that we have a bunch of work to do. That'd be great.
A bit annoyed, lina brewed the first tea that she found in the cupboard and put so long-forgotten cookies that she found in one of the drawers on the tray. They were a bit hard, but with the guests being how they were, she didn't want to search for anything better.
lina took the tray and brought it to the living room where Leliana and her minions smiled at her innocently, batting their large eyelashes at her. Did they really believe lina would fall for this petty act?
"So what brings you here, Leliana, and uh… I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever been introduced to you two." lina's expression was equally pleasant as she gazed at the minions.
"I'm Larah."
"I'm Sarah."
"They're my little sisters," Leliana inford.
"How lovely! It's nice to et you."
Not. You are dragging your little sister down along with your childish sches. Good job, Leliana.
"We've co here to make sure that you're feeling comfortable in Sunglow. It's not every day that a girl our age cos to live here," Leliana said, taking a sip of the tea.
"Yes, I am comfortable."
Now leave. Maybe I can clean so dust from the corners. That seems like a more aningful task. Or perhaps I'll pluck so weeds from the backyard and feed them to Knight. He did seem to like those.
"That is so wonderful to hear. We were so worried, you see. We heard that you and Master Gilbert went to Pertia so we lost sleep thinking whether you'd be attacked by monsters or not," Leliana said with an overly exaggerated expression.
She could at least try to look a bit more sincere.
"We were attacked by monsters." lina took a sip of the tea too and nearly winced. It was way too strong and bitter. Perhaps, she should have paid a bit more attention to what she was brewing. Then again… maybe this bitter tea was well-suited for her guests.
"You were?!" Both minions exclaid in shock, eyes wide.
"Did you get hurt, lina? Is Master Baker fine?" Leliana actually managed to pull off a rather convincing worried expression. Perhaps a few more years of these theatrics could help her master the art of lying.
"We're fine. We were escorted by adventurers from the Guild. They protected us."
"Oh, really? That's wonderful. Who was it that escorted you?"
"Remi, Leon, and Lord Sinclair," lina said and noticed a glint in Leliana's eyes—as if she had been waiting for this exact answer.
Wait, she already knew this, didn't she? It's not surprising, sobody from the town must have seen us leave, but why all these theatrics then?
"Oh, Lord Sinclair too?" Leliana pretended to be shocked.
"Yes."
"Oh, how admirable of him! Although he is from the noble Sinclair family and his father is a duke, he is still humble enough to help the commoners. People of Sunglow are really lucky to be blessed by his gracious presence," the redhead praised, her eyes looking dreamy and distant.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Wait… she's not acting now. Is this whole charade because of Alistair?
"Yes, he protected from certain death." lina batted her eyelashes, making sure to add her own dramatic flair by activating . Leliana's eye twitched just a little and for a mont it seed like she'd get angry. Even her minions looked a bit worried.
But she managed to temper her expression. "Of course, he would. He is an honorable nobleman after all. But we mustn't forget that he's worlds apart. Commoners are re flies in his presence and they should be grateful to even breathe the sa air as him."
The way she worded it implies that she doesn't think of herself as a commoner. Is she actually going to try to seduce Alistair? She is going to end up in a world of pain then. After all, he'll marry the third princess soti in the future—random country girls are of no interest to him.
But I'm not going to be the one to break her out of her delusions. I probably couldn't even if I tried. She can learn the truth about this world the hard way. Nobles and commoners cannot be together.
"Of course. I feel unworthy to be protected by such a gracious and noble person," lina said with a smile while sipping the bitter tea.
Leliana's expression softened, and she also took a sip of the tea. "It is wonderful that you understand that, lina. Everyone in this world should know their rightful place."
"Yes, mine is right here."
"Indeed," Leliana agreed with a satisfied smirk. "Well, thank you for the tea, but we should be going now. There is still much work to be done today."
"Of course. Thank you for stopping by."
"You're welco, lina."
Leliana and her minions left without so much as a wave, disappearing just as quickly as they had appeared.
Thank System, that's over. That girl sure is annoying, but I don't think she'll cause any real trouble in the future. After all, I plan to stay here and make bread. She can try and woo Alistair all she wants. Not that she'll get any results from it.
lina cleared away the bitter tea and stale cookies that in the end remained untouched. Not even five minutes later, she heard the familiar shuffling of Gilbert's footsteps.
"Did you have so guests over?" He asked, noticing the teapot in lina's hands.
"Yes, so girls from the town ca to visit. I served them tea," lina replied, putting the cleaned teapot back into its place.
Gilbert raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Are they bullying you?"
"I believe they are," lina replied nonchalantly.
"You sure seem calm about it."
"Oh, don't worry about them, Master. These girls have nothing better to do so they bother . They'll grow tired of these charades sooner or later. Besides, they are quite harmless," lina explained. "More importantly, did you find sobody to help with the door?"
"Yes, I got a few n taking care of it right now. They'll put up the sign too, so we don't need to worry about it either. Did you finish the dough?"
"I did. I believe that the first batch should have had sufficient ti to rest by now." She nodded and retrieved the tub, showing it to the old baker. He looked at it thoughtfully then nodded.
"Indeed. Let's get to work then."
Before touching the dough, Gilbert instructed lina how to make proper herb butter filling. It was quite simple—mix softened butter with garlic, oregano, basil and parsley. Apparently, it was great to spread on regular bread and eat with various toppings.
With the filling done, they returned their attention to the dough. Gilbert demonstrated how big the ball of dough was for a single pastry and how to properly roll it out into a long log. Obviously, his balls and the following logs were all the exact sa size. anwhile, lina's varied greatly.
"Master, do you have so skills that allow you to make them perfect each ti?" lina grumbled, looking at her misshapen creations.
"It's just the higher rank of ,
User Comments
0 comments from readers