She'd thought she'd fully become part of the Duke's household. But Hazel suddenly realized it had all just been her own wishful thinking.
Because after giving him the gift, she'd walked back to her room in high spirits. On the way, she caught a faint delicious aroma drifting out from the kitchen. She suddenly remembered something the head chef once said: using the exact same ingredients and yet somehow producing wildly different results in flavor. She wondered to herself, could this be some kind of special power unique to witches? But thinking back on the time she'd spent bonding with everyone, sharing the food she made really had brought her a lot of joy. If only I could just keep working here forever. Everyone here is so easy to get along with, too.
Meanwhile, over in the kitchen, everyone had gathered around to scrutinize Hazel's dish, worried it might contain something harmful. But the knight couldn't detect the faintest trace of magic in it. If anything, the dish gave off a warm, nostalgic feeling. In short, he judged it to be perfectly safe. Still, the other servants in the kitchen remained on edge. What if eating it cursed them with magic and turned them into frogs?
The knight thought to himself, as if that could really happen, and casually pushed open the kitchen door to step out. To his surprise, Hazel was standing right outside the door. Tears were even streaming down her face.
Mortified at being caught, Hazel reflexively blurted out apologies and spun around to flee. The servants immediately started whispering anxiously among themselves. Luckily, the head chef quickly shouted for everyone to stop.
As for Hazel, she ran straight back to her room, feeling utterly wretched. It turned out everyone had only been friendly toward her because they trusted the Grand Duke. And in truth, even he didn't fully trust her either. She thought bitterly to herself, why did my fate have to be so unlucky as to land me in the role of a villainess?
Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. She opened it, and standing there was the head chef, who without any hesitation bowed deeply and offered a sincere apology. "I honestly couldn't stand admitting I was less skilled than Miss Hazel. So I deliberately went looking for faults and gave you a hard time. You even complimented my cooking before, and yet I went and pulled such a low, petty stunt."
With that, he carefully brought out a gift for Hazel. And to her surprise, it turned out to be a rare, precious ingredient. "This is an extremely rare cooking ingredient I spent years hunting down in my younger days. A hundred-year treasure, hard to come by at all."
Hazel was stunned, unable to believe she'd received such a priceless gift. So she cheerfully invited the head chef to cook together with her in the kitchen the next day. Hazel's little heart, which had ached just moments ago, now suddenly warmed with an unfamiliar kind of comfort. Perhaps, taking things one slow step at a time like this, there would come a day when she'd earn everyone's genuine care and affection.
The next morning, the time had come for the Grand Duke to set off on his campaign. The two children had gotten up early to see their brother off. The Grand Duke felt both surprised and light with happiness. His two siblings looked nothing like their usual selves today. Little Luna kept chattering, insisting he bring back a gift when he returned, while little Luca just hoped he'd come back soon so they could play together again.
The Grand Duke smiled with contentment, and the moment he looked up, he caught Hazel's eyes, full of quiet anticipation. He took Luna's small hand and told her, "While I'm away, you're the head of this household. Understood?"
It turned out that about an hour earlier, Hazel had quietly asked the Grand Duke to grant Luna the title and authority of acting head of the household. Even amid the ruthless struggles for power, women were forbidden from inheriting titles. But little Luna absolutely loved acting mature like a grown-up. While his highness was away, she'd surely become even more well behaved and dignified.
Sure enough, once her brother handed her that responsibility, Luna practically glowed with pride. She thumped her chest and declared boldly that no matter what scheming or plotting went on out there, she'd play the part of head of household properly and defend this estate with everything she had. Hearing such a grand declaration from Luna's tiny mouth, the Grand Duke was momentarily speechless. Not knowing what to say, he tenderly kissed each child's forehead, then turned to prepare for his departure. Deep down, he vowed that this time, once he returned in triumph, he'd make sure to spend more time making it up to them. Just as Hazel had advised, the children needed to genuinely feel loved.
As for Luna, once she had the power of head of household firmly in her grasp, she spun around dramatically and lifted her chin haughtily. "Hmph. I am now the head of this household, you know. Absolutely no more running around carelessly or acting rashly."
Still, act mature as she might, the little lady certainly hadn't forgotten to demand her chocolate. Seeing this, Hazel quickly quoted a rule from the previous head of household. The head of the household must never use their power to indulge personal cravings.
To everyone's surprise, sly little Luna had already planned ahead. "Ah, well then, in honor of my official appointment as head of household, I hereby decree that everyone in this estate shall be rewarded with a bar of chocolate." This way, it wasn't just the staff who benefited. She got to eat chocolate too, and so did little Luca, fair and square.
What's more, under Luna's newly authoritative rule, poor Luca became her hapless victim, scrutinized down to the smallest detail at every meal, never able to lift or set down his fork in peace. Still, thanks to this new house rule, everyone got the chance to gather together happily for meals at the cottage.
Even so, this liveliness was only ever going to last until the Grand Duke came home.