"Excuse me."
Just as I twisted my mouth into a frown, the head butler entered.
He pushed a silver cart, served tea, placed the afternoon tea stand on the table, and then withdrew.
Come to think of it, I'm hungry.
On the tea stand's plates were small sandwiches, macarons, and scones.
There's butter, but is it the milk kind? I don't really like that, so I'll go for jam...
Ah.
In situations like this, should I offer to the lady first? It probably wouldn't be good if I just grabbed something and ate it myself.
It was just as I glanced at Miss Citoyen.
Vandel let out a sigh and leaned back into the sofa again.
"...Hey, Vandel."
I'm such a good-natured person, always worrying.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"Just tired."
He shrugged.
"Things have been hectic in the county lately. I've been pushing myself too hard."
The main source of income for the Count Cienne domain, leveraging its frontier location, is customs duties and the trade of imported goods with other countries.
While it's vibrant and bustling, it's also true that there are tax evaders, bandits, and swindlers.
I primarily patrol the mountainous and land borders on horseback during winter, but he's running around guarding borders all year, so he must need a lot of stamina.
"Bandits-related?"
I had assumed as much, but Vandel vaguely shook his head. "That's the end of this conversation," his face seemed to say.
"Um... if I may be so bold?"
Suddenly, a clear voice rose from beside me.
"Huh? Yes."
Vandel was even more surprised than I was.
He stared blankly at Miss Citoyen.
"Are you perhaps anemic? Have you been properly examined by a doctor?"
Miss Citoyen's delicate brows furrowed as she looked at Vandel sitting opposite her.
"An-emia," I murmured inadvertently.
For some reason, I associate it with women's illnesses.
The kind where you turn pale and then faint.
"Why do you think that?"
Vandel neither affirmed nor denied it.
He pinched the handle of his cup with his fingers and elegantly brought it to his lips.
"Your nails."
"Nails?"
Vandel and I spoke in unison.
"It's what's called 'spoon nails.' It's common with anemia."
Miss Citoyen was pointing at Vandel's finger, resting on the cup handle. Or rather, his fingernail.
"Huh. This?"
Vandel put his cup back on the saucer, then opened his hand, showing his palm with his nails facing up.
"Well... they are curved."
"Just like their owner, they're defiant, aren't they?"
I interjected with a tease, but Vandel ignored it.
"Do you take any medicine?"
Miss Citoyen tilted her head slightly and asked Vandel.
"Ah. The doctor told me to."
Vandel glanced at me.
Huh, is he really anemic?
But the moment our eyes met, he looked away.
He had a look as if he didn't want to be found out.
Embarrassed, or perhaps awkward.
Why would he make a face like that?
As I looked on, puzzled, Vandel began to mumble.
"I put old nails in wine... and drink it, but..."
"Ah, I see."
Miss Citoyen nodded a few times, then tilted her head again.
"How about your diet? Pig liver or chicken..."
Suddenly, Vandel's face contorted. I hastily cut in.
"Vandel is known by the epithet 'Count Vampire,' but he's always disliked meat..."
Apparently, his senses of taste and smell are sensitive, so he doesn't eat strong-smelling animal meat.
"You mentioned earlier that you're from a frontier region... What about fish, then?"
She nodded knowingly at me, then turned back to Vandel.
What's this? Miss Citoyen is talking so much!
"Fish... I eat it, but I wouldn't say I like it."
Perhaps he dislikes the strong smell, but I have an image of him eating bland white fish seasoned with herbs or salt.
But basically, he's always eaten only bread and vegetables, hasn't he? I feel like he occasionally eats sausages or ham.
"Bonito is good. It's just the right season now. That bloodline part has..."
Miss Citoyen continued. But...
"The bloodline part, you mean that part?"
Vandel's face twisted even more.
Well, I can understand that. It's the strongest-smelling part of the fish.
"If the smell bothers you, you can rinse it well with cold water and soak it for a while. If you coat it and mix dried herbs into the breadcrumbs, the smell will disappear even more. Then, fry it... And yes, if you sprinkle lemon juice on it when you eat, the absorption rate in your small intestine will increase."
"Absorption rate?"
I instinctively asked back. Miss Citoyen turned her violet eyes to me and nodded.
"It's not enough to just eat iron-rich or highly nutritious foods. There's a way to eat them. Unless it's anemia from an organ disorder, it's quite possible to improve it through diet."
"Iron... you eat iron?"
I asked, finding it strange, and Miss Citoyen tilted her head slightly.
"You don't eat iron itself. Iron is present in food."
Then, she turned her violet eyes to Vandel.
"What Lord Vandel just mentioned, drinking wine with nails in it, is one of the methods passed down from ancient times. The iron content dissolves into the wine, so the idea is to drink that to improve your condition."
Miss Citoyen's words were clear and articulate.
"However, enriching your daily meals is also important. Truthfully, pig, beef, and chicken livers are rich in iron and easily absorbed by the body, but eating things you dislike every time is only painful. There are other foods rich in iron."
Miss Citoyen continued speaking to Vandel.
"For example, komatsuna, spinach, and hijiki seaweed. As for legumes, soybeans. However, the iron contained in these plants is difficult for the human small intestine to absorb. So, even if you eat a lot, it won't be absorbed like animal liver. However, by combining foods, you can increase that absorption rate."
"Food combinations? Do you mean eating something together?"
Vandel leaned forward and asked.
"The effect increases when taken with Vitamin C and citric acid."
"Vitamin C and citric acid?"
Vandel and I spoke in unison again. What on earth are those? First of all, what language is that?
As I looked on, puzzled, Miss Citoyen became flustered.
"Um... well. Fruits and vinegar, you see. It's good to eat them together with such things... I think you can be creative with cooking methods. Like marinades or drinking orange juice with your meal."
"Ohhh."
Vandel and I spoke in unison like idiots, then looked at each other's faces.
He suddenly averted his gaze again, and I wondered why, only to see him pout like a child.
"Anemia... You thought it was a woman's disease, didn't you?"
I almost said "Yes," but I stopped myself just in time. I felt like it would probably hurt some kind of pride he held.
That's why he didn't want to tell me. That he was unwell with a sickness.
He's still as vain as ever.
He's an idiot. Besides, there's no point in trying to look cool in front of me.
"Sickness has no gender," I said instead.
"That's right. There's no gender difference in the hardship caused by illness. Everyone suffers equally."
Miss Citoyen smiled brightly beside me.
"Once your anemia improves, you'll feel surprisingly better. You'll think, 'Wow. Was breathing this easy for everyone else? That's unfair!"
So, Miss Citoyen brought her fists together on her lap.
"Let's work hard on getting proper nutrition."
"... You sound like a doctor," I said, thinking what I was thinking.
Miss Citoyen literally jumped slightly from the sofa. I really felt like she floated a few centimeters.
"N-no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"
Halfway through, it was hard to tell if she was saying "no, no" or "yay, yay."
She kept repeating it, shaking her head sideways at the same time, until finally, she must have gotten dizzy and flopped against me. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she said, moving all the way to the edge of the sofa. What is this cute creature? What do I do?
"No, kidding aside," Vandel's low voice smoothed through the room.
The air suddenly tensed.
"Do you possess medical knowledge? The Kingdom of Tania, as I understand, is an inland mountainous region. My apologies, but my county has no dealings with it... Is your father, Lord Barrymore, a royal physician or something?"
"No, um..."
Just a moment ago, she was bright red, but now Miss Citoyen was pale and stammering.
Her reaction made me a little anxious, wondering if it involved some state secret.
"Um... did you learn medical knowledge somewhere?"
I interjected, glancing at Vandel.
Miss Citoyen looked at me with an awkward, upward glance.
But she remained silent.
"Um... I mean no offense, but are your words correct? Will that way of eating really cure anemia?"
I changed my phrasing from Vandel's. I thought it might be too harsh, but Miss Citoyen nodded with relief.
"There are individual differences, but what I have told you just now should be correct. As long as it's not due to an internal organ disorder, this should improve anemia. Lord Vandel's nails, not only are they spoon-shaped, but they also have horizontal ridges. That indicates a state of malnutrition when the nail was formed. I suspect your diet is fundamentally lacking."
"You're a Count's son, and your diet is lacking? What's going on with you?"
I was dumbfounded.
In our student days, he was forced to eat in the mess hall, but as soon as he returned home, he did whatever he wanted.
"So, you're not a doctor?" Vandel pressed. He's quite persistent. I thought it didn't matter.
"I am not... a doctor. However, please believe me. This knowledge should not be incorrect. If you continue the diet as I have suggested, Lord Vandel's condition will recover, and it will corroborate my words."
Miss Citoyen clenched her fists and spoke with conviction.
Well, that's true enough.
"I see... Not a doctor, but possesses medical knowledge, then."
"Hm?"
At Vandel's murmur, I looked at him.
"This... might be useful."
When our eyes met, he suddenly blurted that out.
"Hey, Salu."
"... What?"
He stared straight at me, making me flinch.
"When can you bring this young lady to my territory? What's the earliest date?"
"Huh?"
A bizarrely shrill voice escaped me.
He grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and pulled me close.
The table legs rattled, and the rich scent of butter and sugar wafted up from below.
"I'll submit the request to His Majesty under my father's name. When? When can you come to my country?"
He asked from a distance where our noses almost touched. He's as impatient as ever.
"Um... I have work too, you know..."
When he's this close, I really do think his skin color is sickly. His face. Eat a lot and get better.
"How many days will it take to finish your work?"
"... Five days, maybe."
"Then, for travel... a maximum of seven days... Good. I'll tell my father too."
As soon as he said that, he smacked another kiss on my cheek.
"Stop it!"
I pushed him away with a thud, and he smoothly stood up and bowed courteously to Miss Citoyen.
"Then, I await you in my father's domain, mysterious young lady."
He exited with his usual dazzling smile.
And so.
The trip to the Count Cienne domain for Miss Citoyen and me was decided.