Chapter 105 Cookies
We continued to chat idly, not getting too excited or too bored. We carefully chose conversation topics that wouldn't offend each other, like our favorite flowers, colors, and dishes. It felt like the distance between us had narrowed slightly.
In the middle of our conversation, Diona suddenly looked up. And then she muttered in a trembling voice.
"Reinhardt..."
"Huh?"
As I listened to Diona's mutter, I started to hear footsteps. They stopped in front of our room, and the door slowly opened. Standing there was
"Diona!"
Reinhardt-san, with sweat on his forehead.
Diona looked relieved, and I stood up to leave. When Reinhardt-san saw me, he looked surprised, but then he bowed his head towards me.
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Laura-sensei."
He seemed to have rushed over and was still catching his breath, his apology mixed with gasps.
"It's okay, I just accidentally intervened."
I smiled and told him not to worry, and Reinhardt-san looked up. His expression was slightly softer than before.
"I'll thank you properly next time"
"No, it's okay. We were just chatting."
I shook my head, but Reinhardt-san didn't seem convinced. Honestly, I still didn't understand what kind of relationship the 2 people in front of me had, but from their conversation, it seemed like Diona was an important person to Reinhardt-san.
Before he could bow his head again, I quickly made my way to the door to leave.
Maybe there was something Diona wanted to tell Reinhardt-san as soon as possible. I didn't want to waste any more time with this exchange.
"Uh, well, I'll excuse myself then."
As I called out to Diona, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes, her expression a mix of relief and gratitude because Reinhardt-san had arrived.
I felt like I had somehow managed to connect with Diona, who was the main heroine.
* * *
When I returned to the synthesis room, my childhood friend and junior were enjoying tea and cookies at a table.
"Hey, Laura, welcome back!"
"I'm back... What's with the tea and cookies?"
Iris replied with a smile to my question.
"Basilio brewed the tea for us!"
As soon as I heard those words, I looked over at Basilio-san, who was beaming with a shy smile.
"I just received some tea leaves from my family's estate, and I thought I'd share them with everyone."
Laura-san even prepared an empty teacup for me, and Basilio-san poured the tea. The refreshing aroma wafted up to my nose.
I took a sip, savoring the taste. Honestly, I'm not refined enough to detect the subtle differences in flavor, but it felt different from the tea I usually drink in the royal capital.
At any rate, I could tell that this tea was to my liking.
"Delicious!"
When I expressed my genuine opinion, Basilio-san smiled and said, "I'm glad you like it."
"Basilio-san, you're really knowledgeable about tea leaves, aren't you?"
Lukas's words made me look at Basilio-san again. He began to speak as he poured the tea.
"When I didn't become an alchemist, I studied for a while. My ability to identify herbs can also be applied to identifying tea leaves."
I had heard before that he had knowledge about poisonous plants, but it seemed that Basilio-san had explored various paths. His gentle and calm demeanor belied his exceptionally realistic thinking.
"Basilio knows a lot of things, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, he's amazing."
Lukas and Iris exchanged glances, and Basilio-san chuckled with a hint of embarrassment. In the calm atmosphere, the silence was broken when the 3 of them started eating the cookies.
"What's with these cookies?"
"Iris-san brought them."
As Basilio-san answered, Iris puffed out her chest with pride.
"Did you buy them somewhere?"
"No, Reinhardt made them."
The name that came up was unexpected.
I recalled Reinhardt-san's tense expression from earlier and let out a small murmur.
"Wow, he's really skilled with his hands."
It might be rude to say, but I never thought Reinhardt-san was the type to bake cookies.
I imagined Reinhardt-san and Iris working together in the kitchen ―― and suddenly, I remembered the story Diona told me. Her brother made cookies, she said. Are all the people from Rustu skilled with their hands?
I asked Iris, still wondering.
"Hey, Iris. Are Sieg-san and Leon-san good at making cookies too?"
I thought she would nod enthusiastically, but instead:
"Not at all! Both of them are super clumsy and can't even make cookies!"
I tilted my head, laughing at Iris's immediate response. If I believed Iris's words, then who was the skilled cookie-maker brother?
The image that came to mind was of the 5 people from Rustu I knew, with the same eye color. Iris, Diona, Reinhardt-san, Sieg-san, Leon-san....
Sieg-san and Leon-san, and Diona too, were siblings, she said. Those 3 were related by blood. Sieg-san, in particular, shared the same facial features as Diona.
Reinhardt-san was called "teacher" by Iris and the others, so I thought he must have taught them about synthesis and other knowledge, but...
(Maybe the people of Rustu aren't all the same eye color, and maybe the 5 of them are connected by blood or something?)
I thought that all the people of Rustu had amber-colored eyes, so I assumed that was a unique feature of theirs. But "Last Brave" didn't have that setting, and I didn't really mind the difference between the game and the novel's settings.
I wonder if the "brother" who baked cookies for Diona is Reinhardt-san or someone else.
(I kind of get the heroine, but there's still a lot I don't know about Diona in this world...)
What came to mind was not the beautifully smiling Diona from "Last Brave", but the Diona from earlier looked like she was about to cry.
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