The Divorcée’s Dessert Cafe
Chapter 5

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As soon as Erin unpacked her things in the two-story house, she got to cleaning the shop. Thoroughly and carefully, she mopped the floors and cleaned the place. She continued until it was lunchtime. The entrance to the store opened, and Melly came inside. She had left her things in her room and quickly headed to a nearby shop for some daily necessities and food ingredients. She balked when she came into the shop and saw Erin mopping the floor.

“Lady Erin! You should leave such tasks to me!”

“It’s all right. I’m not even a duchess anymore.”

From now on, they needed to operate the shop together. Erin couldn’t just sit by and do nothing merely because she was a noble.

“But still. You must be tired. Please get some rest.”

“All right. Could you help me with cleaning up this spot, then?”

Erin left the rest to Melly, took the things she had bought, and headed to the house in the back. Warm afternoon sunlight seeped in through the living room window. The house had become quite livable now that it had been cleaned and the dust had been removed.

Erin left the things Melly had bought in the kitchen, then opened the backdoor. The backyard it opened to was very narrow, and right beyond the fence was where the dark green forest started. Erin approached the lemon trees near the fence. Its branches were full of lemons that protruded from its dark green leaves. Some had withered or rotted for lack of care, but some of them were still serviceable. She reached out and picked a few ripe ones. She’d only picked two, but the lemony scent filled the air. She returned to the kitchen, which was small but well-equipped. It had tools and an oven, too. On one side, she also had the ingredients Melly had just bought. She searched the kitchen for the utensils needed to bake a pie and prepared the ingredients.

First, she peeled the lemons and squeezed them for their juices to make lemon curd. Lemon curd was a sort of cream that tasted strongly of lemon thanks to the juice inside. After it was done, she placed it in the pie crust she’d baked while making the curd, then placed white, fluffy meringue on top. The meringue looked like a hill of white snow. Now, all she needed to do was to place the pie back in the oven until the top of the meringue yellowed slightly, and she would have a lemon meringue pie.

She opened the oven and removed the finished pie. Melly, who’d walked into the kitchen after smelling the sweet scent in the air, seemed surprised at the sight of the pie Erin had pulled out.

“Lady Erin... So you really do know how to cook. I thought it was just a rumor.”

“Yes. I made one because it’s already lunchtime. Oh, don’t tell me you hate lemons?” Erin asked, watching the dazed look on Melly’s face.

“Oh, no. I love all fruits.” Melly marveled at the pie. “I didn’t know you were so good at baking pies. I did hear a lot of rumors... but to be honest, I couldn’t believe them. I assumed that we’d have to hire a chef.”

It wasn’t surprising that she might have felt that way since Erin was the daughter of a marquess, even though her family had been too poor to afford servants.

“Then, I’ll do the baking. Please make the drinks and serve the food.”

“Yes! I’m confident in my skills when it comes to making drinks!”

The two of them sat at the small kitchen table, facing each other. Erin cut a slice of the pie and put it onto a plate for Melly.

“Here. Try it.”

Melly seemed incredulous as she looked down at the plate. The pie looked wonderful—beautiful, even. The soft-looking pie crust had been piled with white, snow-like meringue. It formed a large mound, and only the tip had turned slightly golden. Melly watched the slice for a while before carefully taking up her fork and eating a piece, seeming doubtful as she put it in her mouth.

As soon as she’d bitten down on it, the fragrant pie crust broke apart, leaking out sweet-and-sour lemon curd. The sweet cream, packed with the fresh flavor of the lemons, melted on her tongue. The taste of the lemons spread across her entire palate. To top it all off, the soft meringue added a sugary aftertaste. It was fantastic.

“Incredible. It’s lovely!”

Melly marveled over and over again, devouring the pie. She’d been in charge of the drinks in the palace, which meant she’d tried her fair share of tasty desserts. Erin’s pie, however, was the best pie she’d ever tasted in her life. She looked ecstatic as she closed her eyes, relishing every bite. Soon, the entire slice was gone.

Erin was relieved. It must taste all right. She hadn’t made one in a while, making her uncertain of the result, but apparently, it had been passable. Melly had lived in the palace for years, so her tastes could be trusted.

This was my favorite pie, after all. It was also one of the desserts she was best at making. Back when life had been hard due to debt, she had made several types of pies with her mother and sold them. Even then, her lemon meringue pie had been popular with the customers.

“Lady Erin, when did you learn to bake?”

“I learned over my mother’s shoulder.”

“The marchioness must have liked this pie as well.”

That made Erin recall a past memory. Gentle warmth had filled the house while sweet fragrances had pervaded the kitchen. Her mother—her long silver hair done up in a bun—had raised a tray out of the oven with thick mittens on.

“No. My mother hated lemons, actually. In the Erdan Mountains, lemons symbolize pain and suffering.”

“Interesting. I wonder why that is? It’s used often enough in the empire.”

Erin had wondered about this, too, and asked about it when she was younger.

“Why do lemons symbolize pain?”

Her mother had told her as if it was the most natural thing in the world, “They’re too sour.”

It had been an extremely simple reason. Erin had expected some mystical legend from the mountain people and had been somewhat disappointed.

“Still, she made me this pie from time to time since I liked it.”

Her mother had made her desserts filled with lemons, since she liked lemons so much. There had been lemon meringue pie filled with lemon curd, and lemon weekend cakes that smelled strongly of the fruit.

“She told me sweets always provided relief when she was having a hard time.”

The sour lemon had been mixed with sugar for a refreshing pie.

“This is a sweet dessert that overcomes pain, you see.”

Her mother had told her that once. That had been why she’d selected the pie out of the many desserts she could have made. The moment she left the palace, she’d wanted to make a dessert with lemon in it using one of her mother’s recipes.

“It’s lovely. We need to sell this at the cafe.”

Melly had finished all three slices while Erin watched proudly. As always, it was pleasant to make cute, sugary confections of this sort.

In the noble houses of the empire, desserts were treated as an afterthought, something chefs made after the meal. Most chefs weren’t capable of making good desserts unless they were extremely skilled. Most focused on making the main dishes taste good, thinking of desserts as simple palate cleansers to be eaten after the meal—or perhaps snacks to be served at tea times. Even this was a luxury that only rich houses with skillful chefs could enjoy.

City bakers would sell bread and snacks or make cakes for parties or weddings, but the items on the menu were always similar—a few types of bread and cookies, and an ordinary cream cake. As some coffee houses appeared, some became dessert cafes and sold desserts along with coffee. However, such establishments only provided cookies or simple muffins. The point of coffee houses was to drink coffee and talk. They considered the quality and taste of the coffee to be important, but not of the desserts.

I want to make a cafe that’s all about desserts. She wanted it to be a place where sweet confections could be consumed with good coffee and various teas. That had been the modest dream Erin had harbored in her heart since her childhood. And here, she believed she could achieve it.