Sugar Apple Fairytale - Volume 4 - Chapter 4.2

“Mr. Powell. Please enjoy your stay. Now…if you’ll excuse us. Nadir. Let’s go.”

Nadir followed along after Valentine. Anne and Keith made room for them to pass, and the two of them bobbed their heads in thanks and went up the path.

“That was kind of strange, huh?” Anne muttered while watching the two of them go.

“There’s no helping it, though. To them, I’m a traitor,” Keith said regretfully.

“What do you mean by that, ‘a traitor’?”

“Anne. I’m sure you’ve noticed that compared with other main studios, the main studio of the Paige Workshop is lacking a bit of vitality.”

“More than a bit. It’s in a pretty precarious state.”

A strong gust of wind blew, carrying the fierce sound of rustling leaves from the forest. Yellow- and red-colored leaves rustled in the wind, and several of them danced up into the sky together.

Keith looked out into the distance, watching them go.

“The number of crafters at the Paige Workshop has been declining since the time when my father trained here. And the workshop’s popularity among the masses has been falling, too. The fact that the workshop was still getting orders, and that apprentices hoping to become candy crafters still gathered here in spite of all that, was because of my father, who became the Silver Sugar Viscount. Because this was the workshop the Silver Sugar Viscount came out of, you see. But then my father passed away, and I joined the Radcliffe Workshop. Rumors that the Powells had turned their backs on the Paige Workshop began to spread. And the apprentices and candy crafters became worried, so they all transferred to the Radcliffe Workshop or Mercury Workshop.”

That was the reason behind the lack of candy crafters and apprentices.

The final blow to the declining workshop must have been Keith’s decision to leave.

The sky was reflected in Keith’s eyes. They were such a deep blue that they looked purple.

“But I didn’t mean to turn my back on the Paige Workshop. I just didn’t want to live under my father’s influence anymore. I resisted following in his footsteps and did not join the workshop where he did his training. I held out when my father was alive. But I hated being known as Edward Powell’s son even after he had died. I am Keith. Not just Powell’s son. I have a name of my own.”

Keith’s voice was gentle, but he was also frowning slightly. He looked pained.

“Keith, it’s not your fault that the workshop has come to this. After all, didn’t Glen give you permission to leave? Maybe it’s just one of those things? If Glen thinks it was fine, then I’m sure the other candy crafters do as well. I’m sure their heads understand, but their hearts just haven’t caught up yet. They probably feel like they were abandoned. But once those feelings settle down, they won’t hold any ill will toward you. I know it.”

Hearing Anne’s words, Keith smiled gently, as he always did.

“Thank you, Anne.”

If she could manage to rebuild the Paige Workshop, that might ease Keith’s feelings of guilt. It might even dispel the ill feelings the candy crafters of the Paige Workshop harbored. If she could do that, she might be able to pay back just a little bit of the kindness that Keith had always shown her.

I have to revive this workshop. But…I wonder how I can do it?

Anne looked up at the pale autumn sky. A cloud, which looked like it had been painted overhead in a single stroke, stretched from north to south.

“Keith!”

It was Marcus’s voice. He was shouting from the direction of the main house.

“I guess we’re leaving already? Marcus is rather anxious, probably because we’re not done with our preparations for the Selection. But it’s understandable since there’s only a few weeks left to go, after all.”

Keith looked disappointed that their walk had been interrupted.

Then Anne suddenly realized something.

“The Selection… That’s it!”

“Huh, what?”

“The workshop that is chosen in the Selection becomes very popular, right? And if they deliver the candy for the First Holy Festival, they get ten thousand cress!”

“That’s true, but—”

“Right! In which case, that could be my chance! Thank you, Keith!”

Anne clutched both of Keith’s hands, and after giving her a puzzled look, he smiled.

“I don’t know what you’re thanking me for, but you’re welcome.”

Anne felt like she had finally figured out what she was supposed to be doing. Once Marcus and Keith had left, she headed straight for Glen’s room. Elliott was still there.

“Glen, I have a request,” Anne said.

He looked confused by her announcement.

“What is it?”

“I’d like the Paige Workshop to participate in this year’s Selection for the First Holy Festival.”

“That we cannot do. The Paige Workshop will not participate.”

Glen rejected the idea immediately.

“Why not?! I’m sure it’s our opportunity to revive the workshop.”

“We will not participate. My predecessor decided that.”

“Why did he decide such a thing? Especially when the other two factions always participate?”

“Originally, ever since the Millsland royal family united the kingdom, the candies for the First Holy Festival were always made by the Paige Workshop.”

“Oh, really? Wait, but the Selection—”

“There was no such thing. But the previous monarch, King Edmond I, changed course and started choosing from among the three factions. That was a slight against the Paige Workshop, which the Millsland family had employed since before the unification. What’s more, after the Selection was instituted, the Paige Workshop was never chosen even once. Unable to endure the humiliation, our previous maestro, my father, stopped participating in the Selection altogether. It was my father’s way of standing up to the royal family and the state church, which had insulted the Paige Workshop. I cannot change it now.”

“You were never selected?”

As far as Anne could tell, the skills of the candy crafters currently affiliated with the Paige Workshop seemed to compare favorably to those of the other workshops. If anything, Orlando and King had considerable talent. Despite dwindling to only five candy crafters, the workshop employed one Silver Sugar Master, as well as two other artisans with incredible skill. The crafters at the Paige Workshop were still top-notch.

So why had the sugar candy from such a workshop never once been chosen at the Selection?

And why had the king introduced the new system in the first place?

Both the monarch and the church demanded the best. They were the ones who desired good fortune above all. Which meant that as a way of finding the best candy, they had introduced the Selection. Then they had stopped choosing the Paige Workshop.

“There’s got to be a reason; I’m sure of it,” Anne said. “There’s something that the Paige Workshop needs in order to be selected by the king, the church, and the masses. If I don’t know what that is, I can’t revive the workshop. That’s why I think it’s necessary for us to participate, so that I can figure it out.”

“I cannot change my father’s policy,” Glen repeated. “The same way that I can’t change three hundred years of tradition. I cannot change the things that I inherited from my predecessors. That’s a rule that I must uphold in order to continue protecting our traditions.”

“But what would you do if one of your predecessors made the wrong decision? If the maestro a hundred years ago or two hundred years ago made a mistake, what would you do?”

“A mistake? Are you suggesting that the decisions of our previous maestros were wrong?” Glen responded with obvious displeasure. “That’s very rude, Anne.”

“But the previous maestros, from two hundred years ago or a hundred years ago or your immediate predecessor—they were all human, right? Mistakes happen, don’t they? Being wrong isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Because if you know you made a wrong call, you can fix it.”

“Are you in your right mind, Anne? What you’ve said is an insult to our workshop. You’re basically saying we’ve been making a string of mistakes. That our traditions are wrong.”

Our workshop? Insult?

His tone was gentle, but Glen was clearly angry.

Anne, however, felt herself getting angry at Glen’s words, too.

“But, Glen, you also just insulted me.”

“What?”

“Right now, I am the head candy crafter for the Paige Workshop. But you said, ‘our workshop.’ That makes it sound like I’m not a part of the Paige Workshop, even though I’m the head candy crafter. You insulted me.”

“But you don’t really belong to the Paige Workshop.”

“I am a candy crafter belonging to the Paige Workshop,” Anne insisted. “You decided to hire me, and you said you were expecting great things from me. Those were your words. You told me it was my duty as a Silver Sugar Master. I was given this assignment because I won the royal medal, so if I don’t fulfill my responsibilities, that would be shameful. That’s why I agreed to join the Paige Workshop! And I’m the head candy crafter, so I want to get the workshop back on its feet! Because it’s my job!”

Glen seemed taken aback by her words.

“That’s…”

Glen was about to say something, but he couldn’t seem to find the right words. He did not continue.

Elliott, who had been silently listening to their exchange, burst out laughing. Glen frowned and looked uneasily over at Elliott as he cackled.

“Elliott…”

“S-sorry. No, no, I’m sorry,” he said after laughing for a while, as he wiped away the tears that had welled up in his eyes from laughing too much. “For now, I’m going to take Anne out of here. If you talk anymore, Glen might have a seizure.”

“But, Mr. Collins—”

“Now, now, let’s go. Let’s go, okay?”

Elliott pushed Anne firmly on the back, guiding her toward the door. They left the room together. Even as she was being pushed along, Anne stole a glance back at Glen.

Glen deeply furrowed his brow and was glaring at the wall in front of him.

Once Anne had been pushed along as far as the dining room, Elliott started laughing again. Holding his stomach, he collapsed into a chair from exhaustion, stretched his legs out, and kept chuckling.

Anne was annoyed as she looked at Elliott.

“I’m serious, you know.”

“It’s funny because you said something like that so seriously.”

Elliott’s laughter had finally died down, and he was able to properly give her a reply.

“What do you mean, ‘something like that’? Did I say something funny?”

“When Glen said that you didn’t belong to the Paige Workshop, and you insisted that you were. That was brilliant. Glen lost that round. The rest of us could never even imagine defying him like that.”

“If something Glen is saying seems off, shouldn’t you give your opinion?”

“Maybe, if we thought something was off. But it doesn’t seem that way to us. Because everything that Glen is saying and all the traditions he’s been protecting seem right. That’s why I didn’t know how to react.”

Elliott cocked his head and looked up at Anne.

“Everyone who’s still here feels a deep sense of obligation to Glen. We all respect him from the bottom of our hearts. If we didn’t, we would have already transferred to a different faction. He’s not even paying us a proper wage, you know?”

“Huh?!”

She was surprised, of course.

“Many people moved to Mercury or Radcliffe because they felt anxious about the future of the Paige Workshop. Even so, there were some who stayed because they idolized Glen. But when they stopped receiving a proper wage, they couldn’t survive. Those with families reluctantly transferred to other factions. Even some of the bachelors and those on an allowance left. In the end, the single people who didn’t need to send their families any money, and who idolized Glen from the bottom of their hearts, remained. In my case, I had an invitation from Killean, the proxy maestro at the Mercury Workshop, asking if I would join them. But I chose to be with Glen. Everyone else is in the same boat. We are here because Glen is here.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes, everyone.”

At that point, Elliott directed his gaze toward the kitchen, as if remembering something fondly.

“You know, my mother worked in this house as a cook. She raised me and my older sister by herself. But she got sick and couldn’t work anymore. Normally, she wouldn’t have had any choice but to sell my sister to a brothel. But Glen… I was about seven years old when he hired me as an apprentice, despite being a useless boy. People don’t usually pay their apprentices a wage, but he paid me. We agreed that once I became a proper candy crafter, he could deduct all the wages from my days as an apprentice. Because of his kindness, my sister and I had a decent life. And I was able to get my mother the proper medical care she needed until she died. And ever since I became a candy crafter, I really had him deduct the wage I received as an apprentice from my salary every month.”

Glen had extended a helping hand to Elliott’s family. But he had only provided help in a way that benefited him.

What a strict person.

Anne had sensed the same thing when she saw how Glen behaved toward Bridget. The feeling grew even stronger when she heard Elliott’s story.

If someone worked hard, Glen would help them. He didn’t simply hand over money because he felt bad for someone. Expecting a seven-year-old child to exert himself to support his family was cruel. But in doing what he did, he had preserved the pride of the family, which might have been lost if he had simply given them the money.

Elliott turned his gaze toward the workroom, which was visible out the window.

“Orlando’s father was a Paige Workshop candy crafter. His father was good friends with Glen. But he passed away early, and Orlando was taken in and raised here. According to his father’s dying wish and based on Glen’s judgment, he wasn’t taken in as an adopted son but simply as an apprentice. Glen has always interacted with Orlando as the maestro, but at the same time, I’m sure he views him affectionately, the same as any parent would. And Orlando has probably always sensed that. While he respects Glen as a maestro, he also looks up to him as a father. This place is like his home. That clean freak is even growing his hair out as part of a prayer that Glen’s illness will get better.”

When Anne heard that, she could almost see Orlando as a surly little kid, sullenly walking around the grounds surrounding the main house. She finally understood why he wouldn’t cut his hair, even though it always seemed to be in his way, no matter how much it bothered him.

“King has really mellowed out now, but he used to be a wild little punk. His name is weird, right? Well, he was the leader of a gang of hoodlums. That’s where he got the name King. And no one would want to hire a guy with that kind of nickname, and who was also the biggest delinquent in Millsfield, right? But Glen hired him.”

Sure enough, King’s appearance and manners were both very brazen. Now that she knew he was once the boss of a group of hoodlums, she understood the scar on his forehead was probably a souvenir from those days.

“Valentine went to school in Lewiston. He took the exam and entered parochial school, and there were rumors around Millsfield that he might become a great mathematician. But both of his parents died, and when he could no longer pay tuition, he dropped out. He’s a smart guy, and he got job offers from all sorts of merchants, but for some reason, he came here. He said it’s because he would be able to do what he wanted to do at this workshop. And then when he started making sugar candy, he really would not make anything other than precise, regular shapes. In a way, it was like he was stubbornly refusing to deviate. Even so, Glen told him that was fine. ‘It’s your style,’ he said. Since then, only occasionally, Valentine has been known to make other shapes as well.”

Valentine certainly seemed clever. But when his path in life was blocked, he became obstinate and only made geometric shapes. As gentle as he was, Anne imagined he must have been carrying some gloomy thoughts.

At a time like that, he had probably needed someone to tell him that was okay. Anne had a feeling that it must have been incredibly comforting to hear someone say those words, rather than cheer up or move forward.

“Nadir came here with his parents from a kingdom on the mainland. He loved sugar candy and wanted to become a candy crafter, so he was looking for somewhere he could work as an apprentice. But no studio would accept him because of a popular belief that proper sugar candy only exists in the Kingdom of Highland and that making it is a Highland trade, you see. All the studios balked at teaching a foreigner those skills. The only one who accepted Nadir was Glen.”

The Kingdom of Highland is an island nation. Accordingly, it is very insular and harsh toward outsiders. Nadir had probably received similar treatment to Anne, who had not been acknowledged because of her gender. And Glen had been the only one to accept him without complaint.

There probably wasn’t a crafter alive who wasn’t shaken when they heard the rumors that’d gone around after Keith’s decision to leave. Thinking about one’s own life, transferring to a different studio, and holding a position as a candy crafter in another faction would secure future employment.

That was the smart decision.

Even so, the people who remained here each had their own reasons for staying. They all adored the maestro Glen Paige, and it was exactly that admiration that led them to polish their skills.

And it was precisely because they admired him so much that they couldn’t see his other traits.

Anne envied them for having someone they could look up to like that.

Her mother, whom she had similarly adored, was no longer with her.

“If everyone idolizes Glen so much, then shouldn’t they do something to help the Paige Workshop, which he wants to save?”

“You’re certainly right about that.”

Elliott looked up at the ceiling. If there was something they could do, they probably would have done it a long time ago.

Glen was by no means an unreasonable or obstinate person.

But he seemed to be letting his history and his pride warp his judgment.

History and pride were both important things. But they had warped him. Anne wondered why the important things were so often at odds with each other.

She had these thoughts as she headed toward the workroom, when she suddenly had an intense desire to touch silver sugar.

She went to her own wagon, which was parked in the stable, and from the storage compartment, she carried out one barrel of her own silver sugar. She rolled the heavy barrel into the workroom.

The workday was already underway, and Orlando and King were making progress on their sugar candy sculptures. Mithril seemed to have decided that he was in charge of cleaning, and he was diligently sweeping with a tiny broom in his hands.

But as usual, Nadir and Valentine did not have anything to do.

The five people in the workroom looked confused when Anne showed up rolling a barrel of silver sugar.

“Sorry I’m late. Orlando and King, please continue your work. Nadir and Valentine, you don’t have anything lined up today, right?”

“We don’t, but…this is your silver sugar, right, Anne? What are you doing with it?”

Nadir approached Anne, looking at her quizzically.

“I brought it because I also want to get my hands into some silver sugar. While I’m at it, I want you to try and make something with me. I want you to show me your skills.”

“But, Anne, this is your silver sugar, right? Is it okay for us to use it?”

“I am the head candy crafter for the Paige Workshop, so there’s no such thing as my silver sugar or the workshop’s silver sugar.”

Anne shrugged as she lifted the lid.

“I’m sure you’ve checked the silver sugar that we have in storage here. So you’ll notice that the quality of our silver sugar is higher than the one that I brought with me from the Radcliffe Workshop. I want to see what you can do for my own satisfaction. We’re just playing around, so we can use my low-quality silver sugar.”

When he heard that, King gave a lighthearted whistle.

“Just what I would expect. She’s not a Silver Sugar Master for nothing. She really gets it.”

“Huh?”

Anne looked up and saw Valentine smirking.

“We told you that we took part in the refining work at one of the Radcliffe branch studios nearby, right? It was a studio without those huge pots and pans, so the four of us conspired to split up within the studio. We did our best to ensure the portions we were allotted had been made to our standards. Sometimes, their careless work got mixed up with ours, so the results weren’t entirely perfect. But even so, we obtained much higher-quality stuff than what the other folk took back with them.”

“Is that true?!”

That explained why Anne had been impressed by the high quality of their mass-produced sugar.

She remembered getting angry at the sloppy work that had taken place during the mass refining operation at the Radcliffe Workshop. So she was hopeful and happy to hear that there had been crafters who had gone their own way and only worked on their own portions.

“All right, let’s make something. Let’s make whatever we like.”

Anne gave them a nod, and Nadir and Valentine carried the barrel of silver sugar over to an open workbench.

As he scooped up some silver sugar, Nadir stuck out his tongue.

“Bleh, this really isn’t very good, huh?”

“You’re being too blunt!”

Valentine slapped the back of Nadir’s head hard.

“Ow! I could have bitten my tongue!”

“That is silver sugar that Anne went to the trouble of securing!”

Anne also scooped up some silver sugar and smiled.

“It’s fine. It really is poor-quality stuff.”

Certainly, the silver sugar was not great. The color was dull and a little gray, and it had a coarse texture. Long ago, when Anne still struggled at refining silver sugar, she had produced similar results, and her mother, Emma, would always look displeased whenever that happened.

Anne added cold water to the silver sugar and began kneading. Seeing that, Nadir and Valentine also did the same.

While she was chilling her hands and kneading the sugar dough, Anne thought about what she would make.

The image that arose in her mind was something she had seen that morning: Bridget’s green eyes damp with tears.

Challe had been snatched away from her. She might even still be crying over it. When Anne thought about that, she felt guilty. Bridget was probably feeling lost, having been separated from Challe like that.

Her green eyes, shedding tears of love for him, were quite striking and beautiful. Anne felt a little pained, thinking about them.

She couldn’t forgive Bridget for taking Challe’s wing and shutting him up in her chambers. But to do something like that, even if it had to be through force, Bridget must have been desperate to be by his side. Because she loved him.

She loved him, so she wanted to be by his side, even if she had to be forceful. Anne didn’t approve of Bridget’s methods or principles, but she could understand Bridget’s heart and the love she felt. After all, Anne had also come all the way to Millsfield.

And if Bridget was crying, Anne wanted to do something about it.

But since Anne was the one who had hurt her, she couldn’t approach her unprepared.

She felt like Bridget needed a little bit of good fortune.

The maestro’s daughter was beautiful and had lovely golden hair. It was entirely possible that Challe, who could not forget about Liz, had been charmed by her blond tresses.

If only Bridget’s heart was a little softer, she might have better luck.

As she was thinking that, Anne searched for the right colored powder to use. There were many vials of colored powders lined up on the shelves that were built into the wall of the workroom. Anne approached them and took down five vials of powder in different shades of green.

She mixed a little bit from each vial into the silver sugar as she kneaded, creating a translucent green hue. She continued kneading the palm-sized piece of colored sugar.

Good fortune. I’ll give some to Bridget with this.

The candy sitting in Anne’s palm was in the shape of a small jade-colored bird. She thought Bridget’s eyes would look even prettier if they were focused on something graceful and charming. So she wanted to make something like that for her. Anne had a feeling that her wish for Bridget would come true if the color of Bridget’s eyes were reflected in the candy they were looking at.

It was sugar candy to bring about good fortune.

“The color of jade, huh? A little bird?”

There was a voice over her head, which startled Anne.

Orlando was peeking over Anne’s shoulder at her hands. And it wasn’t just Orlando; King was there, too.

“That’s great work,” King mumbled.

“Thank you.”

Anne was a little bit embarrassed. Flustered, she tried to change the subject. “Anyway, um, what about Nadir and Valentine?”

When she looked around the workroom, she saw that Valentine had several perfect cubes lined up in front of him. She was stunned by how precise they were.

Valentine’s cubes were composed of six faces that were all different translucent colors.

What was incredible about them was that the edges and corners were perfectly aligned. Both were so sharp, they looked like they had been cut by a knife. The edges between the faces were so beautifully done and so clean that the seams were practically invisible, and only the change in color distinguished them. The simple cubes were identical, differing only in color, and he had made several of them. Anne was taken aback by how stunning they were.

And she was even more surprised when she looked at what was in Nadir’s hands.

Nadir practically had his face down against the workbench, holding a needle with the tips of his fingers as he frantically worked at making something. Lined up next to him were tiny flowers, each one about the size of a grain of barley. Nadir was currently crafting a house about the size of his palm. He hadn’t made anything but the bricks yet, but the color and shape of the bricks that were piling up on his workbench were just like the real thing, down to the coarse texture. He was using the tip of his needle to create that texture, to achieve something so detailed that it wasn’t visible to the eye.

The two were paying absolutely no attention to their surroundings as they fervently worked away.

King saw Anne’s expression and laughed.

“Orlando and I are more or less normal candy crafters. But Valentine and Nadir are a little special. Those things Valentine is making are his favorite shape. According to him, it’s ‘math.’ And Nadir likes to create small, detailed pieces. The smaller it is, the more he seems to like it. Some customers have even come specifically to request that sort of work.”

“Indeed. It really is something.”

Anne felt like she could probably work with this.

If she could cleverly combine the skills of these unique crafters, they might be able to make something that had never been seen before, something that would be impossible for her to make on her own.

Since the day that Challe’s wing had been handed over to Glen, Bridget had not taken a single step out of her room.

She had the curtains drawn and had shut herself away. Danna brought her meals to her room, but apparently, she hardly touched them.

Anne didn’t know how to pass the little jade-colored bird she had made to Bridget, so it was still sitting in her room by the window. Somehow, the undelivered piece of candy looked lonesome.

Now that she knew what Nadir and Valentine were capable of, Anne thought she could probably manage something, but it wouldn’t mean anything if the workshop didn’t participate in the Selection. Time was slipping by as she thought about how she should persuade Glen.

It was the morning of the third day since Marcus and Keith had visited.

Anne figured she’d probably spend the whole day cleaning and looking after the tools again. With that expectation, she headed to the workroom as usual and was greeted with four crafters sitting with nothing to do.

Even Orlando and King were sitting on stools, looking bored.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“We don’t have any jobs,” Orlando answered sullenly.

King had his legs stretched out in front of him and added with a yawn, “The candy sculptures that Orlando and I made were both completed yesterday and delivered to the customers.”

“I see. And you told me that you only had the two orders, so…”

The orders for sugar candy coming into the workshop had finally dried up.

“This ship’s about to sink. Even the rats are running away.”

Mithril muttered that ominous warning as he diligently swept the dust from the hearth with his tiny broom.

“But it’s just a break in orders. Such things happen, surely?” Anne asked.

King shook his head. “Even when we’ve fallen on hard times, we were still the top studio in the kingdom. It’s never been like this before. Right, Orlando?”

When the question was thrown over to him, Orlando nodded.

“So then why?!” Anne shouted.

“The rumors that Glen’s life is in danger are having an effect. What really should have happened last year, when Glen’s health deteriorated, was for Elliott to have married Bridget and taken the Paige name. Either that or Glen should have adopted Elliott, given him the Paige name, and made him his successor. But there have been no signs of that, and the preparations for the wedding aren’t moving forward. If Glen passes away now with no one to become the new maestro, the workshop will have to close down. There’s no way the maestro hasn’t thought of that, so Glen Paige is probably preparing to start shutting things down. That’s what the rumors all say. Even at our own subsidiary studios, there seem to be plenty of people who are certain that’s the case. No matter how storied the main studio of the faction may be, I suppose no one wants to commission a studio that’s preparing to close. On top of that, there’s the thing with Powell, too.”

Orlando’s calm analysis made Anne want to put her head in her hands. Dejected, she put both hands down on a workbench.

“Have you told Glen any of this?”

This time, Nadir answered her.

“We have, and for a long time now, Elliott has been going around to various influential aristocrats and wealthy merchants, relying on old connections to try to get us jobs. So I’m sure he’s been reporting his progress to Glen. We all knew that if it didn’t go well for him, the workshop wouldn’t get any more orders.”

Anne pondered this sullenly.

“If that’s the situation, then Mr. Collins can’t marry Bridget anyway. If Glen has been informed of the circumstances, then for now, how about we try and suggest that he adopt Mr. Collins? If there’s someone who can become the next maestro, then maybe the weird rumors will stop?”

“Impossible, I think.”

Valentine spoke up hesitantly.

“I doubt Glen is going to adopt anyone as his heir. He was really bothered by what happened at the Mercury Workshop. He said he would never let such a thing happen here.”

In response to Valentine’s words, Nadir clapped his hands sharply.

“Oh, that? There was a lot of gossip about the faction having been taken over and so on, wasn’t there?”

“I’m sure Glen doesn’t want his precious daughter to be left with nothing. That’s parental love for you.”

Hearing Valentine’s words, Nadir chuckled cynically while fiddling with his earring.

“I guess my parents didn’t have any of that parental love, huh? It doesn’t make an ounce of sense to me. I think he should hurry up and adopt Elliott. I don’t care what happens to that little princess of his.”

“Nadir. Keep your mouth shut.”

“Um, guys?” Anne interrupted Valentine and Nadir’s conversation. “What happened at the Mercury Workshop? What takeover?” she asked.

“Five years ago,” Valentine answered, “the maestro of the Mercury Workshop changed. The current Silver Sugar Viscount, Hugh Mercury, became the maestro. And there was some trouble within the workshop at the time.”

King took over, continuing the story Valentine had started.

“Hugh Mercury’s original surname was Ackland. Even among the candy crafters of the Mercury Workshop, Hugh Ackland had a reputation for being amazingly skilled. And the previous maestro took Ackland in. On the other hand, the maestro’s own son was stupid, reckless with money, incompetent, and ill-behaved, so apparently, the maestro was fed up with him. Therefore, he adopted Ackland as his son, bestowed the Mercury name upon him, and designated him as his successor. When the old maestro passed away, Ackland, who was now using the Mercury surname, became the new maestro. And he expelled the son from the workshop.”

“Expelled?”

“Well, he was such a delinquent that it’s no wonder it happened, but the son didn’t stay quiet about it. He appealed to the Silver Sugar Viscount, but ultimately, the new maestro won out. No one knows the whereabouts of the previous maestro’s son.”

King explained everything while stretching and rolling his neck around and around.

As he gently pushed his glasses up his nose, Valentine opened his mouth to speak again.

“The measures that Hugh Mercury took in dealing with him were appropriate. But they were also dispassionate, yes? That said, if he wasn’t so levelheaded, he wouldn’t be able to manage a workshop. I think that’s why Glen is worried. If a clever person inherits the Paige Workshop, anyone who hampers the workshop could be driven out, even members of the founding family. Of course, if Elliott promises Glen, I’m sure he would not treat Bridget horribly, but she could lose her standing. Especially if Elliott were to find another wife, it would become even more difficult for her to remain here. So as a father, I guess he wants some insurance by making her the new maestro’s wife. Moreover, that would guarantee the line of the founding family of the Paige Workshop would continue.”

“So then as things are, we’re really… If we don’t do something, the workshop is going to end up closing!”

“What are you saying we should do? Walk around town, begging people to please give us jobs?” Orlando coldly responded to Anne’s anxiety.

“If push comes to shove, we might have to! I’ll set up a booth in town!”

“Ah, that sounds fun!” Nadir’s eyes sparkled.

“Don’t get excited. I’ve never heard of a faction’s main studio doing something like that.”

Orlando frowned. Behind him, the workroom door opened.

“Well, I don’t think we’re going to have to set up a roadside booth—not yet, at least.”

Elliott came in, suppressing an amused smile. Glen was with him, walking slowly and hanging on to Elliott’s shoulder. The candy crafters all rose from their seats in surprise.

“Glen, you should be in bed!” Nadir shouted as he jumped to his feet.

The maestro looked slowly around at all of them, said that he was all right, then sat on a nearby stool, steadying himself on Elliott’s arm. He took short breaths for a little while, as if trying to calm his pounding heart.

Elliott knelt beside Glen and asked sympathetically, “Are you in pain?”

Glen shook his head. He looked up and smiled slightly.

“No, I’m all right. It feels good to come to the workroom. The sweet fragrance of the silver sugar is nice. Orlando, King, Valentine, Nadir. And Anne. I’ve heard about our situation from Elliott. And I’ve come to give everyone instructions. As your maestro.”

The candy crafters’ expressions all changed. Tension filled the air.

“To date, our workshop has refused to participate in the Selection for the First Holy Festival. But this year, I’m thinking we should take part.”

All the crafters were surprised, but Anne was the most shocked of them all.

“It’s okay for us to participate?!” she asked to confirm.

Glen turned toward Anne and nodded.

“The main studio of the Paige Workshop is in danger. Just this once, let’s ignore the rules. But if we take part in the Selection and our work is not chosen, it will be piling shame on top of shame. We will never participate again. And, Anne, I will also ask you to stop calling yourself a Paige Workshop candy crafter. I will ask you to leave this place. And of course, that fairy will be mine to keep. I’m ignoring my own rules, because I recognize you as the head candy crafter. And because I’m recognizing you as such, you have commensurate responsibilities.”

Glen’s decision to ignore a rule that had been in place to protect three hundred years of tradition required Anne to also prepare herself for failure.

If their work wasn’t chosen at the Selection, she wouldn’t get Challe’s wing back.

She seemed to be at a disadvantage. Anne felt like her chances of success had been higher when she’d agreed to rebuild the workshop without any particular time limit. If she failed once, she could try another tactic, and another.

But as an opening move, participating in the Selection was the best option. By doing so, the whole world would know that the Paige Workshop was not in any way preparing to close down. Everyone will be able to see that they weren’t just a workshop clinging to tradition that had fallen on hard times, but that they also had the skills to make amazing works of sugar candy.

It’s sink or swim, huh? If I shy away from this, I’ll never get the workshop back on its feet. And I won’t be able to help Challe regain his freedom.

She was unwilling to assume that her first tactic might fail.

“I will take responsibility. As head candy crafter of the main studio of the Paige Workshop.”

The other candy crafters were surprised by her response. After staring intensely at Anne for a moment, Glen shifted his gaze over to the other crafters and solemnly gave them an order.

“Let’s participate in the Selection for the First Holy Festival. Listen to the instructions of your head candy crafter.”

It was dusk, and on the other side of the hill, the clouds were barely moving. The edges of the clouds were illuminated by the setting sun, and they shone with a brilliant light that wasn’t quite orange and wasn’t quite gold. The soft clouds were bathed in a faint light, in an array of seven pale colors like a rainbow. The clouds were a strange color.

Challe had seen clouds that color before, a long time ago. The season had been late autumn, the same as it was now.

That year, winter had come surprisingly fast, and it was the last winter that he’d spent with Liz.

It had been a long time since he’d thought about her. While he had been separated from Anne, he had been so busy worrying about her and nothing else that he hadn’t had time to think of Liz.

The past three days, he had been strangely calm. Challe’s wing was still in Glen’s hands.

But he had left Bridget’s room and moved into Anne’s, and he was being permitted to move about freely.

No doubt, he felt uncomfortable that his life was in human hands. But just being with Anne mitigated it.

He couldn’t believe how difficult it was to be apart from her now.

He could no longer avoid admitting it. He needed Anne.

This was clearly different to how he had needed Liz. In Liz’s case, no matter where she went or what she did, as long as she was happy, Challe was glad.

But with Anne, he needed her by his side. Otherwise, he couldn’t bear it.

It was the first time he had ever felt this way. And he was afraid of those feelings. If Anne was so important to him, that had the potential to become a tremendous vulnerability.

He had been born from obsidian glass and lived over a hundred years. He was confident that he could kill almost any opponent. But Anne was his weakness, a chip in his hard, unbreakable exterior.

At last, he could understand Liz’s words: “You being in love and me being in love are two different things.” If the feelings that she had held toward Challe were the same as those that he felt for Anne, then Challe must have treated Liz horribly.

I’m sorry, Liz.

He looked up at the unmoving clouds and internally apologized. But even though he realized what he had done back then, he still didn’t hold the same feelings he felt for Anne toward Liz.

“Challe?”

As he was standing in the field of dry, withered grass, someone called his name from behind. He turned around and saw Anne, with Mithril riding on her shoulder. She had come out of the workroom and was walking toward him.

“Are you finished with your work?” he asked.

Anne nodded, but at the same time, she had on a slightly regretful expression.

“The Paige Workshop doesn’t have any more orders. Even if I wanted to work, I can’t. We are in a really tight spot. Glen just decided today that we are going to participate in the Selection for the First Holy Festival, so that we can revive the workshop. But…”

“What is it?”

“…if the Paige Workshop’s candy isn’t chosen at the Selection, I have to quit working here. And I won’t be able to get your wing back. But I said that was okay. Because I think we need to enter the Selection.”

“If you think it’s necessary, then that’s fine.”

Anne cocked her head at his answer.

“It is? If we’re not chosen, you will—”

“You told me to believe in you and wait. So I’m going to trust in everything you do, and wait.”

Anne nodded happily.

“Thank you. I’ll work hard so that our piece is selected. But even if we aren’t chosen and I get driven out of here, don’t worry. If that happens, I’ll return my royal medal to His Majesty, kneel in front of Hugh, and beg him to get your wing back. No matter what happens, I’m absolutely taking it back, Challe.”

“You’re ready to give up on being a candy crafter?”

“I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t know anything other than making sugar candy. Plus, I don’t know why, but I’m positive I will always want to make candy. I wouldn’t be able to call myself a Silver Sugar Master with a straight face, though. And if I’m not a Silver Sugar Master, it will be difficult to make it as a candy crafter, but I can depend on various people and probably scrape by.”

Anne couldn’t live any other way than as a candy crafter. She knew that about herself. If she failed, she would return her royal medal and choose a life where she lived by relying on other people. She was prepared to throw away her pride. There was no way she didn’t know how wretched a life that would be.

But because she believed in herself as a candy crafter, she was willing to gamble with that pride.

When he looked at her honest, vibrant smile, Challe felt a surge of love. He wanted to kiss her, on her lips, forehead, and cheeks. Over the past few days, he had noticed how often he had such feelings.

Challe turned his gaze away from Anne, suppressing the urge to reach out and touch her.

“I’m not worried.”

“Th-this is…! Wowee, isn’t this mood great?” muttered Mithril, who had been looking back and forth between the two and listening to their conversation.

Then he abruptly stood up, put his hands on his hips, and burst into a forced laugh. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry to leave so suddenly, but I just remembered I had some urgent business! I’ll go on ahead. You two stay and watch the sunset a little longer! It’s kind of romantic, isn’t it?! Right, it’s perfect weather for holding hands, embracing, and kissing, and so on! Which is to say, do your best, both of you! Especially Anne.”

As soon as he said that, he jumped down from Anne’s shoulders and went bouncing away across the field.

“M-Mithril Lid Pod?”

Anne called out after him in a panic, but Mithril didn’t turn around.

“Mithril Lid Pod, that little busybody…! I mean, I don’t really know what he was talking about, do you?! I didn’t understand a word!” Anne said as she turned back to look at Challe. Her face was twitching, and she sounded like she was trying to hide something.

Challe put his head in his hands. He was stunned by Mithril’s complete lack of subtlety.

Did I look like I wanted her that badly?

Even if Mithril had noticed, Challe didn’t want Anne to know, at the very least. In many ways, she was still naive. If she learned of his strange feelings, she might get flustered and run away. He resolved to do something about his emotions.