Under the Oak Tree

Chapter 87 –Trying Her Best (2)

Max shook her head hurriedly when she saw him frowning.

Max’s half-sister didn’t bat an eyelash even after receiving a pile of jewels. It would be strange from Riftan and the others to see that the Duke’s favorite daughter would shrivel at this. Max kept her face indifferent and recalled Rosetta’s haughty demeanor.

“N-no. I l-like.. it.” Max answered simply. Riftan looked relieved at her answer and gestured at one of the servants to open the boxes near them.

Max tried to stay reserved like all those wealthy princesses in stories. However, she couldn’t stop her mouth from opening like a fool each time a new gift was unboxed.

As another box was opened, Riftan approached it and took out an emerald hairpin from a jewelry box and carefully inserted it over her ear and completed her look by adorning her neck with a sparkling diamond necklace.

Max looked down at the extravagant jewelry resting on her collarbones and found herself be lost for words. Riftan pressed his lips on her cheek with a pleased face, he seemed to be liking what he was seeing.

“It suits you well just as I thought.” He told Max proudly.

“T-thank you…” Max answered.

She muttered these words with a flushed face. Max then gently ran her fingers through her hair in order to feel the ornament that was stuck between her curls. She glanced slightly at the mirror that hung on the corner wall and looked at her reflection. For a moment, she was struck with awkwardness seeing herself being adorned by so much jewelry.

Riftan was treating her as if she were the most precious royal daughter in the world. It was both pleasant and uncomfortable. To be honest, Max felt like a clown wearing a mask that didn’t fit her.

“Why such a face? You don’t like it?” Riftan asked her after noticing her somber expression.

Max hurriedly straightened her face.

“N-no. It’s really pretty. Y-you must have been busy… When d-did you find the time to buy a-all these presents?” She asked Riftan and the latter shook his head dismissively at her worries.

“You left all the jewelry and clothes you used in Croix Castle because of me. Of course, I have to make time to make it up for you.” He answered with a grin and Max hurriedly hid her blushing face. But the inside of her chest hurt as if there was a thorn in it.

“T-thank you for y-your consideration.” She told Riftan sincerely.

Riftan seemed happy with her reaction and told the servants to organize the presents now that she had seen them all.

As he busied with the servants, Max stood behind Riftan trying to erase the strange feeling of guilt from her mind. Especially since she didn’t tell a lie, but even with these thoughts she could not erase the uncomfortable feeling inside of her.

Riftan, after confirming that all the gifts were complete and secured immediately went out to check the state of the prisoners.

After he left, Max began to fill out an unfinished textile order she wasn’t able to complete due to the disturbance yesterday. After careful consultation with the maids, she decided to head down to the kitchen in order to make sure that preservation of the winter meals was going well.

Any castle is bound to be busiest during the times of late fall to early winter. As these were the occasions when temperatures began to drop rapidly, and when it will become more difficult to get fresh vegetables.

The price of meat was bound to double or more during this season as well, therefore the kitchen servants had to work without a break in order to prepare long-lasting dried meats, pickled fruits, smoked sausages, and large amounts of flour from the mill, and other stocks in order to prepare food for livestock.

Max went to search for Rudis in order to get an update on how the preparations were going. Rudis then began discussing to her what they have been doing.

“In winter, it becomes difficult to find grass for the livestocks, so we slaughter most of them and only keep alive those we could feed. We take the slaughtered cows and pigs from the butcher’s shop, drain the blood, trim the guts and send it to the castle, the meat in the kitchen is smoked and stored, and the intestines are washed clean and used to make sausages.” Rudis told her as they walked along the kitchens to check on the preparations.

Max listened to Rudis’s explanation and looked all around her, she could smell the heavy scent of oil around them. She was used to the kitchen being full of bustle and busy staff, but for the last few days it almost looked like a battlefield.

On a large table set up on the corner wall, three or four servants were making sausages with large basins and plates surrounding them, while on the other side a large chunk of meat was being cut into small pieces using a saw and a pool of blood was flowing from it.

The smoky smell of fire stung the tip of her nose. Max turned her head away from the direction of its source, and pinched the tip of her nose bridge. Outside the wide-open door, she saw four temporary fire pots made of stones. Five or six servants were putting a large wire net on it and smoking a chunk of meat over it. She felt exhausted seeing the enormous amount of meat.

“I have ne-never seen so much meat be-before.” She told Rudis.

“We’ve prepared enough food to last us for a while. However, we can’t keep the smoked meat for too long, so most of the neat things we have are going to be made of dried. Beef jerky is also very useful for the knights when going out on a three or four days expedition.” Rudis informed her.

“I-is this all g-going to be made into d-dried meat?” Max asked Rudis, eyeing the large pile of freshly slaughtered meat.

Max looked curiously at the meat hanging on the wall. In the record sheet given by Rudis, the weight of food stored each year and the weight of food to be stored this year were meticulously written.

“As the knights return from the expedition, we need to prepare twice as much as we did last year. Actually, I should have prepared it before the temperature dropped..”

“D-does it t-take a lot of time?”

“The meat should be salted and drained for several days, then sliced thinly and dried in the shade for another few days. It takes a lot of work.” Rudis replied and Max felt suddenly embarrassed because it seemed that the preparations for winter had been delayed because of the castle decorations she had been doing.

Rudis seemed to have sensed Max’ guilt expression and hurriedly added, “But with more hands, we’ll be ready before the temperature drops further.”

“I-it is good t-then!” Max then glanced around the kitchen staff and noticed that they indeed needed to hire more people.

The sight of the sweaty working servants filled her with worry. It was the role of the hostess to supervise the household of the castle, and based on what she had seen, she knows that the workload of the servants has been enormous.

Perhaps she should ask Riftan if he could hire more servants, for in addition to making food, the servants of the castle were already working so hard all day long, making winter clothes for soldiers, taking care of livestock, sweeping and polishing the castle that they may not complete their winter preparations.

“T-tomorrow I will a-ask Aderon i-if he can a-arrange the w-workers…” Max began to tell Rudis, but before she could finish her sentence she heard that there was someone calling out to her.

“Madam!”