While preparing meals for the children, I suddenly had this idea.

“By the way, Stella.”

“Yes, Senior Conrad.”

“If me and Xian hadn’t come to the nursery school today, how were you really planning to cook today?”

“uh… What do you mean? Are you asking about the menu for the dinner you planned?”

“It’s a little more fundamental than that. Even you, Stella, couldn’t have prepared 200 meals all by yourself. Even if you could just serve the bread already baked, it must have been quite difficult to prepare 200 servings of stew and side dishes.”

Aside from the quality of Stella’s cooking, first of all, the food for 200 people was not at a level that could be prepared alone.

If you simply convert labor into cooking skills, Stella should be able to do it alone.

For Stella, who lost her mind the moment she stood in front of the fire with ingredients, a meal for 200 people would not have been a unit she could handle alone.

“Actually, I was thinking of asking Bell and Chris for help with the cooking process myself.”

“There are still people who can help… uh?”

Wait, Bell? and Chris?

“… By any chance Belle and Chris mean someone from the nursery school?”

“Uh, how did you know?”

“It’s not about how you know it, but those children have been with me at Cherryfield Nursery School for almost a month. If I forget, I will feel sorry for them too.”

Even though nearly two years had passed since that day, there was no way I could have forgotten the children at Cherryfield Nursery School in that amount of time.

On top of that, Bell, who was directly involved in the kidnapping case of the Dark Church, could not be forgotten at all.

I could see that the reason I decided to visit this nursery school was to meet her.

“I didn’t know that senior Konrad would remember it too. The children will be very happy to know.”

“I can’t remember everything. Only the children who left a deep impression on me remember it to some extent. The reason why I came to this nursery school in the first place was because that bell had a business.”

“Yeah? What about Bell?”

Stella’s head tilted as if she hadn’t expected that the reason I had visited the nursery school was because of that child.

“Who is that Belle? Could it be Conrad’s hidden daughter?”

“… Could it possibly be?”

Regardless of whether or not he had a hidden daughter, he had to somehow prevent the disgrace of being a father who left his daughter at an orphanage and came to see him after several years.

“To explain everything would be too long, so I’ll try to summarize it as best I can.”

“Yes, yes.”

“This is one of the children I got to know when I visited the Cherryfield Nursery School in the past for dispatch practice. By the way, Cherryfield Nursery School is not a place near here, but a nursery school in Wadell Village, an eastern remote village… .”

“Miss Stella, are you here?”

While trying to explain the memories of the past to Xian, the door to the kitchen opened, and a boy with orange hair appeared beyond the door.

Compared to when we met two years ago, he had grown considerably taller, showing that he was slowly growing from a boy to a young man.

“chris?”

“… Mr. Conrad?”

Fortunately, as if I didn’t misrecognize, Chris recognized my face as soon as I called my name.

“You find out. It’s been so long, I thought I forgot.”

“yes! Because it’s Mr. Conrad!”

“You grew up a lot while I couldn’t see you. I’m glad you seem to be doing well.”

“Miss Conrad too!”

As soon as Chris recognized me, Chris came over and greeted me as if he was happy to see me.

A beat late, I pointed to Xian who was peeling vegetables next to me and asked.

“… Who is this? Are you my teacher’s girlfriend?”

“Kuhup!”

“cook!”

Two women flinched simultaneously at Chris’ innocent question.

Even so, I don’t know why Stella is surprised because it’s Xian.

“Chris, it’s rude to say that to anyone.”

“Um… . sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. hehehehe, Conrad and I are lovers, it’s nice that the children’s eyes are honest.”

I don’t know why, but it was Xian’s appearance that suddenly made me feel happy.

“I am Xian Rudflicka. Call me Mr. Xian.”

“Yes, Mr. Xian!”

“Anyway, from your point of view, Conrad and I still looked like lovers?”

“yes. Because Mr. Xian had a very similar atmosphere to Mr. Stella.”

“… … What do you mean?”

Feeling something strange, Xian immediately asked Chris what he had said.

“The look in Miss Stella’s eyes when she looked at Miss Conrad was similar to the look in her eyes when Miss Xian looked at Miss Conrad! But Miss Stella is Miss Conrad’s girlfriend… . Then, Mr. Xian is also Mr. Conrad’s girlfriend!”

“Wow! evil! Aww!!”

“… … .”

Between Stella, who suddenly made a fuss and rushed to stop Chris, and Cyan, who suddenly had a hard expression and no words, Chris innocently looked away as if he didn’t know why.

“Chris, you just said that was rude.”

“uh? But Miss Stella… .”

“Hey, Chris! More than that, why did Stella-sensei go looking for you, uh, why don’t you tell me that first?!”

“Oh right.”

Chris continued, as if he finally remembered after Stella hurriedly pressed him.

“It looks like there won’t be enough people to prepare the meal today, so Miss Nemia told me to help Miss Stella. But earlier, Ms. Stella said she was going to greet guests and didn’t come back, so I went looking for her.”

“I-I’m sorry, Chris… . I forgot because Mr. Conrad and Mr. Xian were visiting… .”

“no it’s okay. I didn’t wait long.”

Having said that, Chris naturally moved the ladle toward the pot containing the stew without even asking.

“Is this the stew Stella-sensei made?”

“Miss Stella only prepared the ingredients, and I did the boiling and making.”

“Somehow, it seemed to smell delicious. It’s fortunate that it’s a dish made by Mr. Conrad.”

“… … .”

Come to think of it, Chris was one of the victims who tasted Stella’s cooking at Cherryfield Orphanage.

Chris, who was genuinely happy, contrasted with Stella, who was a little depressed.

After checking Chris stirring the pot with a ladle he had pulled out to prevent the bottom of the stew from burning, the moment he was about to stand in front of the flame stove to prepare side dishes.

“Miss Stella, have you started preparing the meal yet?”

This time, a familiar girl with brown hair appeared through the door.

“Bell, right?”

“… Mr. Conrad?”

Bell, who, like Chris, had grown up to be about twelve in two years, recognized me and greeted me with a smile.

“Long time no see, Bell. You’ve grown quite a lot while I haven’t seen you.”

“How have you been?”

“Yeah, you’ve been fine. I’m glad that Bell is healthy too.”

“Thanks to Miss Stella and Miss Conrad.”

Once I had confirmed with my own eyes that Bell was still at the nursery school, the most important purpose of visiting the nursery school had been achieved to some degree.

“… That’s fortunate. I wondered if Ms. Stella had already started cooking without telling us, but if Ms. Conrad had been there, we wouldn’t have had to worry.”

“… … .”

To Bell, who said the same thing as Chris, Stella just replied with silence.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Nemia Frey, the director of Arwen Nursery School.

She was forced to leave due to her outside schedule and was returning to the nursery school in time for dinner.

It has been 20 years since Nemia took the position of head of the nursery school at Arwen Nursery School.

The number of children graduating from nursery school with her hand would have been hundreds of them.

If all of those kids did well after graduating from nursery school, sadly, that wasn’t the case.

There were children who saved up enough money to support themselves and opened a store right after graduation, and there were children who were thrown into society without a plan and then struggled to make ends meet by stealing.

There are children who enter the academy and try to raise their value a little more, while there are children who live on the streets in desperation and begging.

However, when she heard the news that a child who had been thrown out into society after graduating from an orphanage was living a life wandering around the back alleys, Nemia did not dwell too much on each such news.

It was her personality to not hold any regrets for the child who left her hands, even if she felt sorry for her for a moment.

She herself knew best that praying for all children’s lives to turn out to be full of greed.

Because the role she could play was just to make the children who flowed into the nursery school stand on the same starting line as others.

She knew for sure that providing the minimum amount of food, clothes, and a place to sleep was just her competence.

The life after that, she thought, was something that the child herself had to solve after graduating from a nursery school.

Of course, Nemia used to try to support the children’s future as much as possible, at least within her reach.

For the parents who come to the nursery school to adopt a child, we try to marry a child that fits their inclination as much as possible.

For children who show a passion for learning, we have them take an academy test to find out how to get tuition support.

In addition, in the case of children who show talent in a specific field, they looked for jobs that could make use of that talent as much as possible.

Even after going there, there was nothing more he could do for the children who had given up on their own future.

That’s why Nemia had no regrets for the children who left the orphanage. After all, she did the best she could for all the children.

Read at noblemtl.com

Just a person who knows how to be grateful when the children who graduated from the past come to the nursery school and express their gratitude from time to time, and to be happy when hearing good news about a child who has graduated from somewhere.

It was a person named Nemia Frey, the head of the Arwen Nursery School.

Two years ago, when the Arwen family girl suddenly brought more than a hundred children to the nursery school, she was embarrassed, but it was just a small incident in the past.

Now, the children who were handed over at that time have grown quite thick, and some have graduated from nursery school or left to find their own path.

In fact, Stella perfectly concealed her identity and pretended to be an ordinary academy student, thinking that she left the children to her, but Nemia already knew from the beginning that the girl who brought the children to Arwen Nursery was Stella Arwen.

It seemed that he did not want to reveal his identity to himself, so he only participated in hiding the secret.

It wasn’t long before I found out that the reason why the Arwen family girl was trying to hide her identity was to stop by the nursery school occasionally to see the children and help with the work. didn’t care much

In addition to that, she didn’t treat Stella particularly because she was a lady from the count’s family.

From Nemia’s point of view, Stella was a child no different from the children at the nursery school.

That’s why Nemia was half-forced to leave the children’s dinner to her this evening.

Although he was not familiar with the culture of nobles, he knew very well that a lady named Stella Arwen was ashamed of not being able to cook well.

Because I thought it was a good enough experience for Stella to overcome what she couldn’t do.

It was Nemia’s idea that if she was forced to cook for 200 people, she would be able to overcome it somehow because of the responsibility.

Of course, I couldn’t have starved the children by mistake, so I did get some children to help her.

Bell and Chris. These are the children who flowed into the nursery school with the other children two years ago that day, and the children who follow Stella well.

If you help those children knowingly or unknowingly, at least you won’t have to starve them.

Even if she really failed in a ridiculous way because her cooking skills were terrible, it was enough for her to show her skills again from then on.

As she approached the orphanage, the delicious smell of vegetable stew tickled her nostrils.

Look at that, you can do it too.

As soon as she returned home, she thought of bringing up such a story, but what she faced as soon as she entered the nursery school.

“Come on, boys. Follow the order in turn. No matter how wonderful Mr. Xian is, you can’t disrupt the order like that~.”

“… Ha, aren’t you guys really tired?”

It was a pretty young man wearing an apron from a nursery school and an elf girl he had never seen before.