A Story of a Noble Lady Who Was Ravaged by an Incurable Disease and Covered in Bandages All Over Her Broken Body; After Healing Her, She Turned Into a Stunning Beauty and Started Desperately Courting Me - Chapter 10-11

Chapter 10: Eating Pudding Together with Alicia

A few minutes later. In Alicia’s private room.

I took the pudding out of the kitchen refrigerator and placed it on the table where Alicia was sitting.

“Here you go. Please help yourself, Alicia-san.”

“Thank you very much. So this is the dessert called pudding that you told me about earlier. I’m so happy I get to eat a sweet treat from Setsuna-sama’s homeland. It looks so soft and delicious!”

“Yes, it’s very soft, so I think even the current Alicia-san will find it easy to eat. It’s one of my proudest creations, so please definitely give it a try!”

“Okay, I understand! Then right away… Itadakimasu!”

Alicia pressed her hands together properly, then scooped up a spoonful of pudding and put it into her mouth.

“…Mmm!?”

The very next instant, her eyes sparkled brilliantly as she turned to me and said,

“Mmm!! It’s—delicious! It’s really delicious, Setsuna-sama! It’s so jiggly and soft and easy to eat, and the rich egg flavor comes through perfectly. It’s sweet and absolutely wonderful!”

“Haha. I’m glad it suits your taste, Alicia-san. Then I’ll have some too right away… Yep, sweet and tasty. It’s been a while since I made it, but I’m happy it turned out delicious.”

So I also took a bite of the pudding. It was cold, jiggly, sweet, and delicious. I hadn’t eaten pudding in quite a while, but it really was as good as I remembered.

“Yes, it’s truly, truly delicious! And since it’s been so long since I last ate any sweet dessert at all, that makes me feel even happier right now! Thank you so much for making such a sweet and wonderful treat for me, Setsuna-sama!”

“Haha. Hearing you say that makes all the early-morning effort worth it. I’m glad I remembered you saying before that you like sweet things. By the way, Alicia-san, do you have a favorite dessert of all?”

“My number-one favorite dessert? Hmm… probably that one. I love all sweet things, but… I think chiffon cake might be my absolute favorite.”

“I see. So chiffon cake is your top favorite, Alicia-san. Did you eat it a lot as a child?”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s from quite a long time ago, but… when I was little, my late mother once took me to a chiffon cake shop in the royal capital. The very first chiffon cake I ever ate there was so sweet and delicious that I was completely amazed. After that, almost every day I would cling tightly to my mother’s hand and beg her over and over to take me back to the chiffon cake shop. Hehe.”

“Wow, that’s a heartwarming image of a mother and daughter getting along so well… Wait, huh? Y-your mother… has already passed away?”

When those shocking words came out of Alicia’s mouth, I was so surprised that I couldn’t help blurting the question.

“Hm? Yes, that’s right…? Oh. I thought Father had already told you about this beforehand, but it seems he didn’t… I’m sorry if I made you feel awkward. But my mother passed away a very long time ago, and I’ve already come to terms with it. So please don’t worry about it or feel considerate toward me, Setsuna-sama.”

“I-I see. If you’re saying it’s okay, then I feel relieved. Even so, looking at the gentle expression on your face right now… it really comes through how much you loved your mother, Alicia-san.”

“Hehe, of course. Mother was a kind and wonderful person. When I was little, she would help me study every day, play with me, read books to me, sleep beside me… Even though she must have been busy with noble social events, she always made time for me and treasured our moments together. She was an incredibly gentle mother. And since she loved sweets just as much as I did, we often sneaked off to the shopping district in the capital behind Father’s back to secretly eat sweet treats. Hehe, I loved that mischievous side of hers too…”

Alicia smiled happily as she shared those memories of her mother.

“…Oh. S-sorry. It’s been so long since I last thought about Mother, so I ended up talking about her with too much enthusiasm… I’m sure listening to such a heavy, sentimental story must be boring for you, Setsuna-sama. Let’s talk about something else.”

“No, no, it’s not boring at all. Hearing about the family you love so much is really enjoyable. So could you tell me even more about your mother, Alicia-san?”

“Huh? More…? Is that really okay? I don’t think family stories like this would be interesting for you to hear, Setsuna-sama…”

“Not at all. Since you and I have become connected like this, I want to know a lot more about you. So please, tell me even more stories about your mother!”

“Setsuna-sama… Yes, thank you. I’m very happy that you want to know so much about me. Hehe, then from now on… would you be willing to listen to more of my memories with Mother?”

“Yes, of course!”

And so after that, I continued eating pudding together with Alicia while listening to her talk about her mother.

—

Chapter 11: About Alicia’s Mother

After that, I listened to Alicia tell me all sorts of things about her late mother.

Alicia’s mother and father had been childhood friends, and they had always gotten along well since they were little.

Because of that, with approval from both sets of parents, they became officially engaged and got married soon after. They went on to have about three children. One of them was Alicia.

It seemed Alicia had loved her mother dearly ever since she was born. She told me lots of happy memories from her childhood: stories about how she always stuck close to her mother and hardly ever left her side, times they played together, outings where they ate sweets, moments when her mother helped her study, and so on.

Every single one of those stories carried a strong sense of how much Alicia loved her mother, and they were all wonderful to hear.

“I see. So Alicia-san’s mother was a kind and wonderful mom.”

“Yes, that’s right. She was an incredibly gentle and amazing mother. I really wish I could have spent much more time with her, but…”

“Yeah, it’s only natural to wish you could have stayed with your mom longer… Oh, but wait a second? Sorry, Alicia-san. This might be a harsh thing to ask, but… did your mother perhaps pass away from an illness?”

At that moment, a question suddenly came to mind, so I asked Alicia about it.

I knew full well that asking about the cause of her mother’s death was probably too cruel. But the fact that no one could figure out the cause of Alicia’s illness struck me as extremely unsettling.

And if her mother had also died from the same mysterious disease as Alicia… maybe it could lead to uncovering the reason behind Alicia’s strange condition. That was why I decided to ask.

(If that’s the case, since they’re parent and child, it could be a genetic illness.)

In that case, her siblings might also be showing some physical symptoms, and it might be a good idea to examine them someday too.

“Ah, no, that’s not it. Mother did not die from an illness.”

“Huh? Oh, really? Then how did your mother pass away, Alicia-san?”

“Mother died in an accident. It happened when I was still a child, so I don’t know all the details, but apparently when she went on a business trip to a neighboring country for social duties, the carriage she was traveling in got attacked by monsters in the forest…”

“I-I see. So something like that happened. And I’m sorry for making you recall such a painful memory, Alicia-san…”

I bowed my head to Alicia as I apologized. I felt completely sorry for forcing her to remember something so hard.

But at least it became clear that her mother had not suffered from the same mysterious illness. That meant the parent and child had not both been afflicted by it.

In other words, that strange disease probably wasn’t genetic. But if that’s true, then what on earth caused that illness to appear?

“No, no, please don’t worry about it. In fact, I’m really happy I got to talk so much about Mother. Thank you so much for listening to all these stories about her.”

“Haha. I really enjoyed hearing about your mother too, Alicia-san. So thank you. …Oh.”

“Hm? …Oh…”

While we were talking like that, I suddenly noticed something. At some point, Alicia’s plate had become completely empty.

But my pudding was still more than half full. That meant Alicia had eaten hers way faster than I had.

The moment she realized it too, her cheeks turned a little red as she said,

“Ahaha… I ended up showing you an embarrassing side of myself. Setsuna-sama’s pudding was just so delicious that my hand kept moving the spoon faster than usual…”

“Haha, that’s the best compliment I could get as the one who made it. So if you’d like, would you eat the rest of mine too? There’s still more than half left.”

“Huh? Y-you mean Setsuna-sama’s pudding??”

“Yes. Of course, since my mouth has touched it, feel free to say no if that bothers you.”

“N-no, I don’t mind that at all. But… I’m worried it’ll make me look like some girl with a huge appetite…”

“I don’t think that at all. If anything, seeing you enjoy the pudding I made this much makes me want you to eat even more. So please don’t hold back—go ahead and have it if you want!”

“Setsuna-sama… Yes, thank you. Hehe, then I’ll take you up on that.”

“Sure, here you go!”

With that, I gave the rest of the pudding to Alicia too. After that, the two of us kept chatting casually and spent a relaxed, enjoyable time together.