Chapter 5: 5

As soon as she finished unpacking inside the two-story house, she cleaned up the shop immediately.

The dirty shop was swept, wiped and cleaned. The floor was also mopped thoroughly. Erin cleaned the shop until lunchtime.

The shop door opened and Melly walked in. She left her luggage in her room and went to the stores nearby to buy daily supplies and ingredients.

When she entered the shop, she was surprised to see Erin mopping the floor.

“Lady Erin, let me do that!”

“It’s okay, I’m not even a Duchess anymore.”

The two of them would have to run the shop together now. She couldn’t sit idly by just because she was a noble.

“You must be tired though, get some rest.”

“Okay then, can you help me clean this place up?”

Erin left Melly to clean up the mess in the shop and headed for the two-story house behind with the things Melly had bought.

The warm afternoon sunlight streamed through the glass windows of the living room.

With a little dusting and polishing, the two-story house was finally livable.

Erin stocked the kitchen with all the necessities and ingredients and opened the back door of the kitchen.

The backyard outside the kitchen was very narrow, and just beyond the fence was the forest, and that dark forest stretches out from over it.

Erin approached the lemon tree near the fence. It was full of yellow lemons among the dark leaves. Some had withered or dried up from the lack of maintenance, but some of them were still usable.

Erin raised her hand and picked up a ripe lemon.

Although she had only picked up two, the sour lemon scent was quite strong. Erin carried the lemons into the kitchen.

It may be small, but it had everything she needed. There were utensils and an oven. To one side were the ingredients Mellie had just picked up. She rummaged through the cabinets, and found the tools to make a pie and gathered the appropriate ingredients.

First, she squeezed the zest from the peeled lemons with a strong scent, and used the juice to make lemon curd.

Lemon curd is a lemon custard cream that has a rich, sweet and sour flavor due to the abundance of lemon juice.

The finished lemon curd was served in a golden brown pre-baked pie shell and topped with a fluffy white-sweetened meringue.

The white meringue looked like a hill piled up with white snow.

As it is, the lemon meringue pie is ready for a quick bake until the meringue emits a golden luster along the edges. She opened the oven and took out the finished pie.

Melly walked into the kitchen, while smelling the sweet scent, and was surprised to see Erin’s pie.

“Wow, Ms. Erin… you really knew how to cook? I thought it was just a rumor.”

“Yep. I already made this for lunch. Oh, and do you happen to hate lemons?”

Erin asked, after seeing Melly’s blank expression.

“Oh, no. I like all fruits.”

Melly looked at the pie Erin had brought out and admired it.

“I didn’t realize you were so good at baking pies, Ms. Erin. I’ve heard a lot of rumors… but I didn’t really believe them. I thought you’d have to hire someone else to bake for you.”

She was right to not believe that she knew how to cook. Erin was still the daughter of a marquis, albeit a poor one who didn’t even have servants.

“Then I’ll do all the cooking. You take care of the drinks and serving.”

“Yes. I’m sure I can handle the drinks!”

The two sat across from each other at the small table in the kitchen. Erin cut a slice of lemon meringue pie, put it on a plate, and offered it to Melly.

“Here, try it.”

Melly stared at the plate in front of her in disbelief. The pie in front of her was a strange and beautiful shape. It had a snowy white meringue layered on top of the flaky pie crust. The mounds of the meringue were unassuming, with only the spiky tops tinged with a slight golden luster.

She stared at the pie for a while, then cautiously picked up her fork and took a piece of pie. She half-heartedly took a bite of it. As soon as she put the slice in her mouth, the lemon curd leaked through the flaky crust, filling her mouth with lemon scent.

The sweet cream melted smoothly with the fresh, tart flavor of the lemon, and a refreshing flavor spread throughout her mouth.

And at the top, was a smooth white meringue that adds a hint of sugary sweetness.

It was a fantastic flavor.

“Wow, this is really good!”

Melly exclaimed, after devouring a piece of pie in front of her.

She was a beverage maid, so she’d had her fair share of delicious desserts in the palace. But Erin’s pie was the best she’d ever tasted so far. She closed her eyes in utter ecstasy, while savoring each bite as she picked it up, and the piece quickly disappeared in front of her.

Erin watched her gobble up her pie and was finally relieved.

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‘I guess it’s okay.’

It’s been a long time since she had made one, so she wondered what it would taste like, but it seems to be a success. Even Melly, who had lived inside the palace for years, is impressed.

“This was my favorite pie ever.”

‘And it was also one of my favorite desserts to make.’

When Erin’s family was drowning in debt and struggling to make ends meet, she and her mother would bake a few pies to sell.

Even then, Erin’s lemon meringue pie was a favorite amongst the customers.

“Ms. Erin, when did you learn to bake?”

“I learned by watching my mom make it.”

“The Marqioness must have liked this pie, too.”

The words brought back memories for Erin.

A pleasant, soft, and warm house. A kitchen full of sweet and savory aroma. Her mother, with her long silvery hair in a bun, holding an oven tray with a baked pie in each hand, while wearing thick gloves.

“No. Actually, my mother hated lemons. In the Erdan Mountains, they symbolize pain and trials.”

“Interesting. Why would that be? It’s a common fruit in the Empire.”

Erin had wondered that too, and had asked about it when she was younger.

‘Why is a lemon a symbol of pain?’

Her mother replied as if it were obvious.

‘It’s too sour.’

‘…….’

It was a very simple reason…

She was actually expecting some kind of lemon legend from a mysterious mountain people, so Erin was inwardly disappointed.

“But she still made this pie sometimes because I liked it.”

A mother would make a dessert with lots of lemon for her lemon-loving daughter. Lemon meringue pies filled with lemon curd. Lemon Week-end Cake, with strong a sweet, lemon scent…

“My mom always said that in times of trouble, having something sweet will be comforting.”

She would always make refreshing lemon pies with tart lemon flavor and a touch of sweetness.

‘So it’s a sweet dessert to get you through the pain.’

That’s what her mother said to her one day.

‘…….’

That’s why Erin chose this dessert out of the many she could have made at this moment.

As soon as she left the palace, the first thing Erin wanted to make was a dessert made of lemon. The same recipe her mother used to make.

“This pie is so good, you should sell it in the store.”

Melly already ate three slices of pie.

Erin watched in amusement.

As expected, it felt good to make something sweet and pretty.

In the Empire, desserts are treated as a follow-up dish to be served by a chef in a noble household.

Only the most skilled chef could make a good dessert.

Most chefs are only concerned with making their staple foods delicious and just consider dessers as a simple casual add-on to the meal, or they treat it as a snack to be served during teatime.

The only people who can afford such a luxury are wealthy families with a chef of that caliber in their household.

There are bakers with shops in town who make breads and sweets to sell or make cakes for weddings and parties, but the menu there, is always pretty much the same.

A few breads and cookies. A plain old whipped cream cake, etc…

As a few coffee houses sprang up, so did dessert cafes that served dessert with coffee, but the desserts they served were cookies and simple muffins. A coffee house is a place where the emphasis is on spending time drinking coffee. Their focus were mainly on the flavor and quality of the coffee served, not the desserts.

“I want to create a place where desserts are the centerpiece.”

I wanted to create a place where sweet treats could be paired with great coffee and a variety of teas.

It was a small dream that Erin had harbored since childhood.

And here, she thought, it might be possible to fulfill it.

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