房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Patishi smiled at the sight of her big brother but then became ghastly pale at the sight of the Miriette and the poor girl even took a step to the side to cover the tray with the steaming batch of cookies as if feeling guilty over making them.

"You are the girl who makes my bread, right?"

Miriette asked glaring at the shaken girl in a cute apron.

|If the cooking might say a man's heart, then wouldn't she be the most dangerous one of all the potential ones...?|

The dark-haired girl thought to herself, squinting her eyes in suspicion.

"That's right, my lady – this is my little sister, Patishi!"

Zoemi wanted to applaud his master for remembering about that detail - back in the Espine's household she always had trouble with remembering the maids' names...

...though in truth that was because of the dark-haired girl's reluctance to do that and not because of her memory...

"I see, Patishi, eh? Keep up the good work."

Mireitte frowned even harder, seeing the closeness between the two, but at the same time felt relieved once Zoemi actually introduced the younger girl as a sister – the black-haired attendant had only his father but he treasured the familiar bonds very much and always wanted a big family.

...that also meant that if he put Patishi into a little sister zone, she wouldn't be crawling out of there for a long, long time – no matter how much – at all – she wanted to get out of it.

"Ah! Th-thank you...?"

Patishi didn't really know how to react so she bowed her head and curtsied awkwardly.

"...!"

But as she did that, Miriette saw the tray of cookies that the young cook was trying to hide.

"How adorable!"

Mireitte gasped while blushing, and ran towards the tray with sparkling eyes.

"O-oh, y-yes, I was just... making them... as a... Test... Yes, a test!"

Patishi had some trouble with finding correct words but she ended up stumbling upon a satisfactory excuse.

But, a test or not, the cookies were shaped like hearts and the chocolate pieces were shaped like many smaller hearts on top of them...

If there was something that was screaming – girl's first love – more than that, Zoemi couldn't really imagine it at the moment.

"Patitishi, teach me how to make those too!"

"E-eh...? Teach you? Y-yo-your highness!"

Without asking for permission Miriette took one of the lovely cookies and took a bite as the girl next to her gasped, staring at her wide-eyed.

"What the?!"

Mireitte's eyes widened in shock and she put a hand to her mouth, exclaiming in shock.

"Zoemi! Come here right now!"

"!!!"

"?!"

She demanded causing Patishi and Zoemi to look at each other confused.

Could it be that the cookies were actually bad...?

No... it didn't make sense - Patishi was basically unable to make something that tasted bad!

Zoemi got to his master's side instantly trying to figure out what was the problem.

"Open your mouth!"

"..."

Miriette demanded and the dark-haired attendant obediently complied with her command.

"GUHHH..!"

And Miriette showed the rest of her cookie into his mouth.

"Delicious, right!?"

The dark-haired girl asked when poor Zoemi was choking on the cookie that Miriette basically pushed through his throat halfway to his stomach.

"Big brother - here...!"

Patishi panicked and hastily gave the black-haired boy a glass of water and Zoemi somehow managed to survive this spontaneous assassination attempt.

"Ohohohoho! Amazing right?!"

But his master wasn't bothered at all - she was already imagining how Zoemi will react when she will make cookies like this for him, and she was laughing out loud while putting one hand up to her mouth.

"Y-yes... my lady... very delicious. And... thank you, Patishi... You saved me there..."

Zoemi confirmed his master's words and nodded towards Patishi for the timely reaction.

"Um... Big brother Zoemi, what's going on...?"

The brown-haired girl fidgeted nervously.

"Nothing much. My master wants to make some cookies for her fiance, are you willing to help her?"

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and explained casually after managing to calm his breath.

"For the first prince!?"

Patishi voice peaked and she glanced at the cookies she baked and blushed.

"Yes, those would be perfect!"

Zoemi nodded enthusiastically and pated the fidgetting girl's head.

"Don't worry, my master is very talented."

The black-haired boy grinned and put his thumb up to reassure Patishi – since he misunderstood the reason for her nervousness and the lack of confidence and not something entirely else.

------

About one hour later Zoemi was forced to eat those words together with barely edible clumps of hardened, burnt-up dough that couldn't be called cookies no matter how optimistic he got.

"I'm sorry, big brother Zoemi, I have no idea what went wrong his time either!"

Patishi was bowing her head to him repeatedly, the brown-haired girl even used her magic on the ingredients, so the current effects were completely incomprehensible for her.

"N-no, the-they are... G-good...?"

Zoemi tried to smile but he just grimaced and his scars twisted horribly.

"Zoemi... you can go back to your room now."

The grumpy Miriette motioned at the door with her chin while she was sitting on a chair by the kitchen counter.

"No, my lady, I will take you to your room..."

"No! I want to talk with Patishi so you can go on ahead! I can find my own room!"

Zoemi insisted but was shot down without mercy by a single scoff.

With the pledge to work on his acting in the future, so that Mireitte won't be able to find out how bad her cooking was ever again, Zoemi left the kitchen.

"...!"

Patishi was shaking in fear, will the lady Espine unleash her fury on her for not teaching her correctly!?

Patishi wanted to cry!

"..."

But Miriette only checked if Zoemi was actually gone and she hurriedly pushed the failed cookies into a trashcan making a space for something else and picked up a bowl from the back of the counter.

"EEEEEEHHHHHH?!"

When Patishi saw the content- she ended up gasping in shock absolutely stunned!

It was the cookie dough they have made before!

"Eh...? But how? Why...?"

"Hmph~!"

Patishi was confused but Miriette only smirked smugly.

"Listen Patishi, if you want to charm a man you can't just give him all the best stuff from the get-go~!"

The dark-haired girl giggled and started preparing the batch of cookies for real.

"But the ones before...!"

Patishi was still confounded by the unexpected reveal, but Miriette only shrugged her shoulders.

"Your teaching was fine – I was able to make things perfectly from the start – for the three failed attempts before, I just threw some random things to the bowl and mixed them together – that's why they ended up so awful."

"...!"

Miriette explained winking at the flabbergasted girl.

"Think about it, kid - if I would make perfect cookies on the first try would my efforts truly be recognized? I don't think so – having a weakness is a charm point in and of itself!"

The dark-haired girl declared, proudly puffing out her modest chest to not much of an effect whatsoever, except boosting her own morale.

"So, make sure to remember it right!"

"!!!!!"

Miriette put her index finger in front of Patishi's nose, making her flinch and tremble in fear.

"We were working on those cookies for two more hours, is that clear?"

The noble lady asked in a deadly serious voice.

"Y-your Highness...?"

Patishi muttered in confusion, lowering her head with tearful eyes.

"Two more hours! Now, you say it!"

Even so, the dark-haired girl was relentless and wasn't going to let her go without complying with her wishes.

"Yes! After big brother Zoemi left, we were working on the cookies for two more hours!"

Patishi straightened her back too as Miriette successfully terrorized her into obedience.