Chapter 86
Chapter 86. To Me, You Are
Penelope's footsteps were rough.
She looked ready to kick any piece of trash that happened to roll in her path out of sheer spite.
"Brigitte is our enemy……. Our enemy. What is this, getting along so warmly like that."
Penelope had headed to the Odéon kitchen when Jurgen's return was taking longer than expected.
What she found there was Brigitte and Jurgen sharing food they'd cooked together while flirting away pleasantly.
On top of that, it wasn't just any food — it was the dish they were submitting to the competition.
Did that make any sense?
Brigitte, fine, she could understand.
That young lady was the reckless sort who'd stake her entire life on a competition she didn't even know she'd win, even going so far as to rack up Loan Shark debt.
But!
"You shouldn't be doing that……!"
Wasn't the Royal Warrant — which she'd thought was as good as secured thanks to Brigitte's cooking skills — now hanging in jeopardy?
That was precisely why he'd gone to the kitchen saying he was going to do additional research!
And yet there he was, all lovey-dovey with the enemy!
Did he have no sense of urgency? Or had Brigitte's appearance made his desperation for the Royal Warrant simply vanish?
She couldn't stand any of it.
So the moment she returned to the hotel, she called someone who would share in her outrage over Jurgen's slacking off and dereliction of duty.
[……You're calling at 2 in the morning for something like that?]
"Yeah, just listen for a bit."
[Haaa, yes…….]
It was Serena.
"Isn't it strange? I'll admit that Brigitte is necessary for Y&P Trading Company's big picture. But right now she's the enemy, isn't she? Jurgen acknowledged it too. He said we need to win the competition first before deciding whether to scout Brigitte or not. So that was why he went to the kitchen to develop a secret weapon? And he even told me to rest! But then when I actually went to the kitchen, do you know what he was doing?"
The more she mulled it over, the more heated she got — Penelope's words came faster and faster.
"The two of them were playing around! Cooking for each other, getting along all haha-hoho — it was an absolute scene! Anyone watching would've thought they were a team, I'm telling you!"
[Penelope, it seems you have become quite the talker over the phone…….]
"I'm not usually like this, okay? I'm only like this because it's so frustrating!"
Getting it off her chest like this should have felt somewhat lighter — like hell it did.
Something kept nagging at her, kept feeling wrong.
[Hmm……. I have a few things to test. Would you answer my questions starting now?]
Serena paused for a moment, then asked in a voice that had shaken off its drowsiness.
The sense of keen interest that seemed to travel through the receiver was surely just her imagination.
[By any chance — this chef named Brigitte, is she pretty?]
Hair calmly braided and draped forward in two strands.
Warm cocoa-colored hair and eyes.
And on top of that, a lively and spirited atmosphere like a wildflower.
The shabby clothes brought it down, but if she dressed up properly, she had more than enough potential to claim the title of 'beauty.'
But Penelope, acting on an instinctive aversion, denied it first.
"No, not really. She looks ordinary to me."
[Honestly now.]
"……She's decent enough. But why are you asking that?"
[Hm~~~, alright. Then second question. Why didn't you go in and say something? Why did you peep and then leave?]
Serena had been asking nothing but incomprehensible questions.
But it wasn't a particularly difficult question.
"Why are you asking something like that? Well……"
Hm?
[Honestly, with Penelope's wild-filly temper — ah……! Let me correct that. With Penelope's bold personality, you would have gone right in and confronted him.]
That was true.
If she'd been her usual self, she would have kicked the door open out of sheer frustration, dragged Jurgen out, and demanded an explanation.
What on earth do you think you're doing?
And yet what Penelope had actually done?
She'd spent over ten minutes watching the two of them flirt away in sullen displeasure, then quietly left.
And was now pathetically calling Serena — who had been asleep — at 2 in the morning to complain.
That was not 'Penelope' at all.
Penelope offered an appropriately grateful farewell and ended the call.
She had called to vent, yet even after hanging up, a gritty unease like tea dregs lingered in her chest.
An unease that Serena had put her finger on precisely.
"Hearing it like that, she's right……"
Just as Serena had said.
Why hadn't she barged in right then and there and interrogated them?
Like a faint trace on a piece of wood that you could only make out after running your fingers over it several times.
Penelope turned it over again and again before finally finding a vague reason.
'You know a thing or two, don't you?'
'Jurgen's eye for things is truly remarkable!'
'To think I'd have a conversation like this in Britannia…….'
'I'm moved! Moved again!'
The warm scene she'd glimpsed through the gap in the door.
When she'd watched the two of them — seemingly understanding each other fully, communicating so naturally.
Penelope had felt a small fear.
She was also frightened of herself for feeling such an emotion.
So she'd run away.
'You and Jurgen aren't in a romantic relationship…… are you?'
Serena's absurd speculation, resurfacing at an out-of-nowhere moment.
The recollection carried a slightly sharper, more vivid hue than when she'd recalled it before.
Could it be———
"I…… Jurgen……"
Tring-tring-tring!
The telephone installed in the suite rang.
"Wh-, what a fright……!"
Snapped out of her reverie, Penelope picked up the receiver with a touch more roughness than intended.
"Yes, I've got it."
The faint, watercolor-like thread of emotion that had been on the verge of taking shape scattered away in that same instant.
[Ah, I do sincerely apologize for the intrusion. This is the front desk. There is a guest who says they absolutely must meet with Lady Rosemore.]
***
Two in the morning is time that belongs to the individual.
Not a stretch shared with others, but a portion allocated solely to oneself.
Those who intrude upon it generally fall into one of three categories.
A friend so close there is no hesitation between you.
An enemy so bitter that mutual courtesy is not even a consideration.
Or someone who is neither friend nor enemy — a discreet proposer bearing a clandestine offer.
The neatly dressed, middle-aged man before Penelope appeared to belong to the third category.
"Penelope, I apologize for requesting a meeting at such a late hour. It is a meeting that must take place away from prying eyes, you see……"
"It's quite alright. I happened to be reading."
"What a relief. I am grateful for your generous understanding."
With the pleasantries dispensed, the man moved without delay to the matter at hand.
"I understand you have advanced to the main round of the culinary competition for which the Royal Warrant is at stake."
"Yes."
Ah, so he's someone from that side?
Penelope did her best to quell the stirring in her chest and focused on the conversation.
"Since the hour is late, allow me to state my business first……. I would like you to withdraw from this competition. Naturally, appropriate compensation will be provided."
Quite so — exactly the sort of business one would want to conduct away from others' eyes.
For all that it was a newly established culinary category, to request match-fixing in a competition hosted by the royal family.
But it was hardly an uncommon thing.
In this aristocratic society, there was nothing that could not be traded so long as both parties came to an agreement.
"It will not be a bad proposition for the Y&P Trading Company you lead, either. Now, please take a look."
The henchman opened a heavy bag and placed it on the table.
Inside were gold bars bearing no serial number engravings.
"Gold bars worth 250 Crowns. Five times the entry fee."
"Ha."
Penelope let out a hollow laugh.
Even at her openly displeased reaction, the henchman of some unknown participant didn't so much as twitch.
"This is disgusting. It already was, and this makes it worse."
It might look at first glance like an ordinary(?) backroom deal, but viewed through the grammar of Social Circles, it was anything but.
One.
The henchman had not disclosed whose will had brought him to this meeting.
Two.
A mere henchman who was only here to broker the transaction had called Penelope by her name as though they were equals.
Three.
The money offered in exchange for withdrawal was a paltry five times the entry fee.
Taking all of this together……
It meant the other party viewed Penelope as utterly beneath contempt.
Then again, she had until recently been treated with disdain even in the Northern Social Circles.
Even in the North, it seemed she was at least regarded with wariness now, thanks to building the Cola business and rumors of her connection to the Gray Council……
But in the eyes of the esteemed Capital nobles, Penelope was still the 'useless flower' receiving treatment no better than a collateral branch of the Rosemore family.
"Think about it coolly. Rather than staking everything on an uncertain Royal Warrant, you'd be securing a definite gain. 250 Crowns in cash is by no means a small sum."
The henchman, apparently having not anticipated Penelope's sharp reaction at all, grew flustered — and even had the audacity to lecture her.
It had been a while since she'd been treated this way, which made her anger flare all the more.
Penelope opened her purse and withdrew a chequebook stamped with the Devon Trust Bank mark.
"I have a proposition of my own."
She scrawled a number across it with the pen nib, then held it up and waved it in front of the henchman.
"Before trying to buy me off with that pittance, shouldn't you have done your research properly?"
The man's eyes went wide.
The number written on the cheque was 500.
Twice the amount the henchman had proposed.
"Wh-, what is the meaning of this all of a sudden……"
"Tell your master this. If they want to withdraw from the competition, I'll give them double that pittance. On one condition — they come before me in person to collect it."
"……Ignoring a goodwill gesture out of greed beyond your station. I guarantee you will regret this."
"Will I? That's too little money to regret over."
His face flushed crimson, the man left having gotten nothing at all for his troubles.
"Haaa……"
Even after delivering that clean, sharp rebuke, all that remained was a gritty unease.
Because neither the henchman's words, nor the gaze of the unknown person his words represented —
Were particularly wrong.
Y&P had climbed onto a trajectory of growth.
An achievement forged together by Jurgen, Penelope, and Serena.
Throughout that process, Penelope had played her part well enough.
She'd fought alongside them through the grueling effort to find Cola's golden ratio, and during the process of turning Cola into a business, Penelope — who moved freely through Social Circles — had been indispensable.
She'd played an active role in the financial statements and management side of things as well, after that.
But that was back when Y&P Trading Company was still a hole-in-the-wall operation.
Now the financial statements had grown too complex for Penelope to handle alone.
Branch Manager Belheim had introduced talent to her, and they were in the process of assembling a professional accounting team.
The mechanical engineering technology was still handled by Serena's Renoir Workshop.
She was a capable and industrious engineer who could bring the fresh-from-the-oven ideas Jurgen conceived into reality.
The core ideas, recipes, and concepts of the business came from Jurgen's head.
The letters sent to her family home still received not even a reply.
An implicit refusal — this much is not enough for recognition.
Even so, the reason Penelope had never lost her sense of pride was that she had a 'palate' that could render an impartial verdict on his flavors.
It had been the same when making Cola, and when drawing up the improvement plan for Seasoned Chicken — Penelope had been of great help.
But……
'Hmm~~, should I say it touches on primal pleasure? The flavor is intuitive and direct, isn't it. A taste anyone, regardless of age or gender, can't help but enjoy! Ah, I see now! Jurgen, this is cuisine aimed at the 'masses'!'
'By my standards, the balance feels slightly tilted toward stimulation. An intense, overwhelming pleasure is wonderful too, but I find depth that one can contemplate more interesting, personally.'
An overwhelming superior substitute by the name of Brigitte had appeared.
If she were to join Y&P Trading Company as Jurgen wished — what would there be left for Penelope to do?
Perhaps to Y&P, Penelope had only ever been a booster fuel tank — used to launch the airship into the sky, then discarded.
"……"
Only now did she understand the true nature of the sense of crisis she'd felt each time Jurgen showed interest in Brigitte.
The time had come to answer one question.
Even if Penelope were no longer needed by Y&P Trading Company —
Would Penelope still be a 'partner' to Jurgen?