Age 14 Part 7
I decided to explore the house to clean it up. Annie seemed to be playing alone as she hadn't gone to do laundry with Mother. She flinched when she saw me, but her eyes followed me. Seems like she's curious about me.
There are three rooms in the house, and next to my room is Mother and Annie's room, and next to that is Marle and Fritz's room. Considering the life of commoners, I think it's a spacious room. But from the point of view of aristocrats, it's very small. Maybe it's because we've just moved into this house.
Mal and Fritz's room wasn't messy either, so cleaning was easy. Just casting a clean magic spell was enough. This way, the sheets would also become clean. I feel sorry for Mother, who's doing laundry, if I'd only used magic, laundry could have also been finished easily.
I cast the Clean spell in Mother and Annie's room as well.
Annie's eyes sparkled as she watched the room instantly become clean with my magic.
But this magic is basic, and it's very easy to learn as long as you have magical power. It can't make everyone happy like the healing magic Annette used.
Come to think of it, I remember she said there was no bread. Let's bake some bread. All that I have is my cooking skills.
"Clew, we had wheat flour in stock, right?"
"Yeah, we have flour for making bread and flour for making sweets. I went to get the one for making bread yesterday. It seemed like it was going to be thrown away."
"Without the one for making bread, we couldn't have made soft bread. It's a relief (that we got it)."
To make a new batch of bread, which requires fermentation, it would take time. If it weren't for Clew, it probably would've been thrown away.
While I was using body strengthening magic to knead the bread, Mother came back from doing laundry. She looked at me with wide eyes.
"What are you doing, Anna?"
"I'm making bread. I'll start with making some dinner rolls."
"Anna, can you make bread too? Did you make those udon noodles as well?"
"Yes. I still can't make many types of dishes, but I can make a few things, so please leave it to me. But I have no talent whatsoever in sewing-related things, so I can't help with that."
It's better to confess from the beginning, rather than getting expectations.
"I heard that nobles only do embroidery, so it's understandable that you can't sew- but, it's surprising that someone raised as a noble can cook. And you can even make bread, that's amazing."
Since I had only seen awkward smiles from her, I felt relieved to see a genuinely happy smile from her.
"Nobles usually don't cook for themselves. In my case, it's because my fiancé wanted to eat my homemade dishes."
"Fiancé? You already have a fiancé at that age?"
"Yes. It's not uncommon among nobles. It's normal for us to have a fiancé from birth."
"I see..."
Oh, maybe she's thinking about Annette. Annette was raised as a commoner, so she doesn't have a fiancé.
"It's okay. As for Annette, I think he will continue being her fiancé."
I explained that to reassure Mother, although it made me feel a bit lonely to think about Ed and Annette being together. But I had to hide that to reassure Mother.
"Huh? He was your fiancé, and now he'll be Annette's? Does that mean you're being replaced?"
I meant to reassure her, but Mother seemed exasperated.
"It's inevitable. It's originally an engagement between families, so Annette will be replacing me."
"An engagement between families? Is that how nobles do it?"
"Yes. So I'm not bothered by it at all."
Yes, I'm not bothered at all. I didn't learn to cook for Ed. I just practiced to live as a commoner.
"Really? You seem to look sad."
"No, it's not like that. Ed and I weren't a good match anyway. Annette is much better suited for him."
"Oh, does Anna know about Annette?"
I was surprised by Mother's curious expression. Doesn't she know that we met at the Manchester Academy's acceptance announcement yesterday?
"I saw her when I went to see the Manches Academy's result announcement yesterday. It was obvious to my family that she was my daughter. Of course, it's natural. Annette looked just like her mother."
"Annette went to the acceptance announcement?"
Mother looked puzzled by my words. I thought it was natural to go to the acceptance announcement. It was something unthinkable for my entire family to go as they were nobles, but it was a fairy's guidance that led them there.
"What did you think of Annette's room?"
"It was very tidy."
"Yes. She didn't leave anything important behind. And we've just moved here recently. Looking back, it's strange that we managed to suddenly rent such a big place. Even the rent, when I went to the landlord yesterday to pay in advance, it seemed like she had paid for a year in advance. It's as if she knew it was going to happen, don't you think?"
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