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 28

Chapter 28: Going Out into Town with Alicia

A few more days after that. In Alicia’s room.

“Alright, so today’s the day we head out into town. You all set?”

“Yeah, I’m good! Looking forward to today, please take care of me!”

When I asked her that, Alicia clenched her fist in a little victory pose and answered super enthusiastically.

Like we’d talked about before, Gilbert gave the okay for her to go out, so today’s rehab activity was gonna be me heading into town together with Alicia. Of course, for safety, one of the Elfemina house maids was coming along too.

I also tried asking Estelle and Rufus—people who really care about Alicia—but both of them unfortunately had stuff going on, so they couldn’t make it today. That meant it was just the three of us: Alicia, the maid, and me.

“Setsuna-sama. I’ll be accompanying you and Alicia-ojousama on your outing today. My name is Sils, the maid. Nice to meet you, and please take care of us.”

“Yeah, thanks for being so polite. I’m Setsuna. Looking forward to the whole day today.”

“Yes, same here. But ojousama asked me to stay as much in the background as possible—like a kuroko stagehand—so if you don’t mind, Setsuna-sama, please handle supporting ojousama as much as you can today. Hehe.”

“Huh? Like a kuroko?”

“Ah, hey, wait a sec! Sils!”

As soon as the maid Sils said that, Alicia’s cheeks flushed bright red and she quickly tried to stop her.

“Hehe, my apologies, ojousama. My mouth just slipped a little.”

“Geez… Sils…”

“? Um, so what’s the deal with Sils’s role today exactly?”

“Yes. I’ll be following a little ways behind you two—close enough but not too close. So please don’t worry about me at all and just enjoy wandering the town together. And, well… ojousama, since it’s your first time out in so long… don’t you think you should ask Setsuna-sama properly?”

“G-geez, I get it already. Sils, don’t rush me like that.”

“Hehe, sorry about that.”

“??”

deep breath in… deep breath out… “Fuu. Okay then, Setsuna-sama. So today… um, since it’s been forever since I went out, I tried dressing up a little nicer than usual. What do you think? Does it look okay on me?”

Alicia’s face was all red as she asked that.

And yeah, today Alicia was decked out in really cute, stylish clothes. She looked seriously pretty. So I answered right away…

“Oh yeah, it looks amazing on you! Super pretty outfit! And your hair’s all nicely braided too—it’s really cute!”

“R-really? Hehe, that’s a relief then…”

So I straight-up told her how good she looked the second I saw her. Alicia’s face lit up with this shy, happy little smile.

I mean, even now it hits me—getting to go out with someone this pretty is honestly making me pretty happy too.

“Hehe, see? Told you it was good, ojousama.”

“Y-yeah… thanks, Sils. It’s all thanks to the clothes and hair you picked out for me.”

“No no, I’d do anything for ojousama. So Setsuna-sama, from here on out, escorting ojousama is all on you. Since it’s her first outing in ages, please make sure she has lots of fun, okay?”

“Yeah, got it. I’ll do my best to escort her properly, so leave it to me!”

“Thank you. Hearing that makes me happy too. Alright then, from now on I’m going full kuroko mode, so the rest is up to you. Hehe.”

“G-geez, Sils… don’t keep bringing that up…”

Sils said that and then moved to the back of Alicia’s room, starting her full background ninja act. She was clearly trying not to get in the way of me and Alicia heading out.

“Alright. No point wasting time, so where do you wanna go in town today? Since it’s a special day, I’ll escort you wherever you feel like going, Alicia.”

“That makes me happy. But… it’s been years since I last went out, so I can’t really think of anywhere off the top of my head… Honestly, I’ve been cooped up at home for so long that I don’t even remember what the town looks like anymore…”

“Yeah, makes sense. That’s totally normal. So, if it’s cool with you… how about we head to that chiffon cake shop you used to love? I looked it up ahead of time, and it sounds like the place is still open, so wanna go together?”

“…Huh? The chiffon cake shop? Oh… y-yeah! I’d love to go there! But wait, Setsuna-sama, you actually checked on the chiffon cake shop beforehand?”

“Yeah. I figured maybe you’d wanna go there, but what if it closed down or they stopped selling chiffon cakes or switched to something totally different? That’d be kinda sad, right? So to make sure I didn’t disappoint you, I asked Estelle where the shop was and went to check it out ahead of time.”

These past few days I’d been wandering all over town to prep for escorting Alicia today. I got the details from Estelle and made sure the chiffon cake place was still going strong.

Since I confirmed it was still open and doing its thing, I suggested it.

“So yeah, the chiffon cake shop’s still running. Wanna go eat some nostalgic chiffon cake together?”

“Setsuna-sama… you went out of your way to check on the chiffon cake shop for me… Thank you so much. Yes, I’d really love to go… to the chiffon cake shop with you!”

“Sweet, glad to hear it. Then let’s head out right now and make a beeline for that chiffon cake. Alright, here—your hand, please.”

“Yeah… okay…”

—squeeze…

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yes. Please take good care of me, Setsuna-sama.”

“Of course.”

So after that, we headed out holding hands tight, straight toward the chiffon cake shop in town.

◇◇◇◇

A little while later.

We arrived at the chiffon cake shop in town. It was this hidden little spot tucked away on the edge of the capital. No way you’d stumble on it just wandering around randomly.

The shop itself was small with this cozy, retro vibe. Gotta be one of those old-school cake makers who still does everything just right.

So we went inside, sat down at a table, and ordered the chiffon cakes we came for. By the way, Sils stuck to her kuroko role and sat at the table next to us.

“Chiffon cake sets for everyone, correct? Thank you for your order. It’ll be just a moment while we prepare it.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Please do.”

The server headed back to the kitchen after that. Right away, Alicia started looking all around the place and said…

“Wow… the atmosphere in here, the smell of the cakes and tea… it’s exactly the same as back then. So nostalgic… Coming back to this shop where I used to come with Mother and Estelle… it really makes me happy…”

Alicia said that, sounding all sentimental.

“Yeah? That’s awesome then. Now we just gotta hope the chiffon cake tastes the same as it used to—that’d be perfect.”

“Hehe, yeah… oh—”

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here’s your chiffon cake sets. Please enjoy.”

The server brought over our chiffon cakes and tea and set them on the table. Super tempting-looking chiffon cakes and fragrant tea lined up in front of us.

“Whoa, these cakes are huge. And the tea smells amazing.”

“Yeah, they really are. The cake and the tea haven’t changed at all. They look so good…”

“Yeah, so let’s dig in right away. Alicia, go ahead and take the first bite—tell me what you think.”

“Yeah, okay. Itadakimasu.”

Alicia said that and immediately took a bite of the chiffon cake. Then…

“…Ahh, that’s the taste… It’s exactly the same as the chiffon cake I ate back then. Hehe, it’s really delicious…”

“Really? Haha, that’s great then… oh—”

Alicia said that and kept eating with this happy smile. But even so, her expression had just a tiny hint of sadness in it.

(Yeah, makes sense. Her mom already passed away and all.)

So I…

“…Yeah, this taste… it’s seriously nostalgic… The same flavor I ate with Mother back then—”

“Wow! This chiffon cake is so fluffy and tasty! The sweetness is just right too… and it goes perfectly with this tea! It’s seriously delicious, Alicia!”

“Huh… huh?”

I took a bite of my chiffon cake too and said that out loud right away. Alicia looked over at me with this slightly surprised face.

“No, for real—it’s so good! I’m so happy I get to eat such tasty chiffon cake. I’m seriously grateful to you and Estelle for telling me about this place… and also… huge thanks to your mom, Alicia!”

“Eh… Setsuna-sama…”

“Finding a hidden gem cake shop like this in the capital? Your mom must’ve been incredible! And going around to all these yummy sweet shops in the capital with her daughter… sounds like she had so much fun doing that! You can totally tell she was this super kind and wonderful mom!”

“…Hehe, yeah. My mother really was so kind and wonderful. Sneaking off to sweet shops with her without Father knowing was the best days ever.”

“Haha, sounds like it. Oh yeah—wanna tell me more about you and your mom?”

“Huh? About me and Mother?”

“Yeah! I’d love to hear more stories about your mom if that’s okay!”

“Setsuna-sama… hehe, okay. Then I’ll tell you about me and Mother. Um, so this was back when I was still really little, but…”

After that, Alicia told me tons of stories about her mom while we happily ate our chiffon cakes and enjoyed the time together.