"My bread is too hard!"
In a small bakery called 'Wheat Tail' in the royal capital, former Sixth Princess Pavoria Reine is walking a new path in life. But her peaceful bakery is suddenly overrun by a cast of eccentrics. There's a wizard from the next town trying to save on food expenses, a former hero who can't read the menu despite legendary swordsmanship, and the castle's head maid who somehow gets mistaken for a customer. Every time someone asks Reine for softer bread, her kneading hands get
Pavoria Reine's Tomorrow: Which Way? - Hard Bread and Resolve Atop a Stepladder
Morning.
The cobblestones of Craftsman Street were dyed in the blue light before dawn.
In front of the shop stood a stepladder.
And on it, Reine stood.
Her golden braid swayed faintly against her back.
The ribbon of her apron was, today as always, tied neatly into a bow.
Her hands remained on the signboard.
Motionless.
The painting of the "Cat with a Wheat Stalk in its Mouth."
The signboard Petro had made for her.
(*I'm taking it down.*)
She had decided that.
Yet her fingers would not let go of the wooden frame.
Traces of last night's tears still lingered on her cheeks.
Close the shop. She had made that decision, and brought out her tools.
And yet—
On the shelf, the small hammer.
The one Petro had silently left for her every day.
It glinted faintly in the dim interior of the shop.
Reine bit her lip.
That was when it happened.
——BANG!!
The door burst open with tremendous force.
To be precise.
Rather than "opened"—
"……Huh."
Huge.
An overwhelmingly huge man stood stuck, his shoulders caught against the door frame.
Short, blazing red hair.
Golden eyes peered through the gaps in his bangs.
A long, narrow scar ran from his right temple down to his cheek.
He stood easily close to 190 centimeters tall.
"[annoyed]……Too narrow."
The man muttered under his breath and twisted his body by force.
*Creak.*
The door frame let out a shriek.
Even so, he pushed through with sheer strength.
"[surprised]Wh-whaaat!?"
Reine froze atop the stepladder.
The man—Gran Blade—headed straight for the counter as if nothing had happened.
Every time his massive frame lumbered through the shop, the floorboards groaned.
And then.
He stood before the counter and stared intently at the menu board.
"……Hm."
A low growl.
"Can't read it."
He said it bluntly.
"[confused]……Excuse me?"
"Your recommendation. Give it to me."
Gran looked up at Reine on the stepladder.
His golden eyes were unfocused.
His expression was half-asleep.
"[nervous]U-um…… I'm, right now—"
"Hungry."
A single word that brooked no argument.
Gran rested his elbows on the counter and waited patiently.
His face was so utterly serious.
Somehow, it started to feel wrong to refuse him.
"[flustered]……Honestly!……Just wait a moment, please."
Reine sighed and climbed down from the stepladder.
Her resolve to take down the signboard had flown off somewhere.
Resigned, she headed for the shelf.
"[sad]……There's only one left."
In the back of the showcase.
A single hard loaf of bread, baked yesterday, remained.
She took it out and placed it on the counter.
"[simple]……This'll do."
Gran accepted the bread and stared at it fixedly.
"Is it hard?"
"[shy]Y-yes…… well."
"Mind if I test it?"
"[confused]Test it?"
Without waiting for an answer, Gran drew the sword at his hip.
*Shing.*
A dull gleam raced through the workshop.
The legendary hero's sword.
The blade that had felled the Demon Lord.
"[scared]W-wait a minute!?"
He placed the bread on the counter—.
And swung down.
*CLANG!!*
Sparks flew.
The sword had been spectacularly deflected by the surface of the bread.
"……Whoops."
Gran let out a small sound and examined his sword.
No chips in the blade.
But the bread was unscathed.
"[excited]One more time."
"[scared]W-wait—"
The second time.
*CLANG!!*
Deflected again.
The metallic sound echoed throughout the workshop.
Reine covered her ears.
"[serious]……Incredible."
"[crying]My bread…… is being treated like a weapon……"
The third time.
This time, he didn't swing. He pressed the blade down slowly.
With an unpleasant *screech*, the bread finally split in half.
Gran peered at the cross-section with keen interest.
"[excited]Amazing. It's dense all the way through."
Without further ado, he bit fiercely into one half.
*CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!!*
A tremendous chewing sound.
And then.
His golden eyes opened wide.
"[excited]Delicious."
"[surprised]……Huh?"
"When you're camping out, there's no bread that keeps you full and holds together like this. Perfect for a long expedition."
Gran declared it with a dead-serious face.
"I've thought it so many times on the battlefield. That I wanted bread like this. You're a genius."
"[embarrassed]A g-genius……?"
Reine's mouth hung open.
No one had ever praised her hard bread before.
The craftsmen said it tired out their jaws.
Sein had laughed that he couldn't get his teeth through it.
And yet.
This man.
"[simple]Delicious. Give me another."
"[flustered]Th-there isn't any more! I was planning to close up today anyway!"
"I see. That's a shame."
With a genuinely disappointed look, he tossed the remaining half into his mouth.
That was when it happened.
*Jingle jingle.*
Gran, eating his bread at a seat in the back.
"[calm]I just happened to be passing through this street."
Dorothea, dressed in her casual clothes, was standing at the entrance before anyone had noticed.
Her chestnut hair was pulled back neatly.
Calm, grey eyes.
A small silver watch at her breast.
"I have no particular business…… I merely wanted to check on the shop, just a little."
"[surprised]Dorothe—!"
The moment Reine called her name.
"A customer, huh. Please, go ahead."
Gran pulled out the chair next to him.
"[surprised]……Eh."
Dorothea froze.
"[surprised]Thank you very much."
She thanked him reflexively and sat down.
A pause.
"[excited]What would you like to order!?"
Reine leaned forward eagerly.
"[flustered]N-no, I'm not a customer—"
"Freshly baked—"
"As I said, that's—"
"We have hard bread too, you know!?"
"[flustered]……Ah."
Dorothea took a deep breath.
"[serious]……Very well. One hard bread, please."
She had lost.
The perfectionist head maid had been overwhelmed.
Silence fell over the shop.
Gran stopped his hand mid-bite, Reine froze holding the menu, and Dorothea stared up at the ceiling.
*Pfft.*
Gran burst out laughing.
"[laughing]……Weren't you 'not a customer'?"
That single remark snapped the thread of tension.
"[embarrassed]……I couldn't bear to just watch, so I came."
Dorothea dropped her shoulders as if giving up.
"Lady Reine. I apologize. I told a lie. I did not happen to pass by. I have been watching the shop from outside ever since this morning."
"[surprised]Ever since this morning!?"
"Yes. Well…… you were frozen on top of the stepladder, so I was wondering when to call out to you."
"[embarrassed]Honestly! You were watching!?"
Reine's face turned bright red.
"[sad]……How did you know about this place?"
"[gentle]I received a message from Chairman Golda."
Dorothea's voice grew quiet.
"'That girl is trying to close her shop. I can't leave her be,' he said."
Reine could say nothing.
"[serious]Lady Reine."
Dorothea looked straight at Reine.
"Would you listen to a story from when you were a princess?"
The kitchen of White Ear Castle.
Winter, two years ago.
"It was when Sein stood alone in the kitchen."
Dorothea began to speak.
"That man picked up a loaf of bread you had baked, Lady Reine, and said this:"
—This girl's strength is the real thing.
"[surprised]……What."
Reine's shoulders twitched.
"'Instead of trying to make it soft, she should have pushed this hardness further.' He muttered it as if talking to himself. Thinking no one was there. I happened to overhear it from behind some cover."
"[whispers]Master…… said something like that……"
Her voice trembled.
"[crying]He…… acknowledged my bread……?"
It had always been her complex.
A princess who could only bake hard bread.
Unable to make it soft.
Recognized by no one.
And yet.
The master whose acknowledgment she wanted more than anyone else's.
Had secretly acknowledged her.
"[serious]……Sein understood your talent better than anyone. That is precisely why he took that approach…… ironically, challenging you head-on."
"[simple]Isn't that hardness your strength?"
Gran said it, still holding his half-eaten bread.
His golden eyes were more serious than usual.
"Bread you eat while camping falls apart right away if it's soft. Hard bread keeps you full, and if you soak it in water, it softens up. This stuff has saved my life more times than I can count."
"[gentle]That's right."
Dorothea gave a small nod.
A warmth welled up deep behind Reine's eyes.
—Hard bread.
—The shape of her own desire to support people.
"[crying]……Ah."
Tears spilled over.
She wanted to support people.
She wanted to fill their stomachs and make them smile.
That was all it had ever been.
Before she knew it, she had.
Always, been baking bread that way.
"[crying]My…… my bread is……!"
Her voice turned into sobs.
Dorothea quietly stood up.
She placed a hand on Reine's shoulder.
"[gentle]Lady Reine. Your bread does support people. Just like this gentleman here."
She looked at Gran.
He was already silently eating his second hard loaf.
"[simple]Delicious."
He said just that one word and bit in again.
"[laughing]……Hehe."
Wiping her tears, Reine laughed.
"[excited]I won't take the signboard down."
She looked up at the stepladder.
The cat with a wheat stalk in its mouth.
"[serious]I will enter the competition with this hard bread."
"The competition is tomorrow. Will you make it in time?"
Dorothea immediately began working out the logistics.
"I'll check the ingredients. Flour?"
Reine checked the shelf.
"[worried]……Only one bag left."
"One bag!?"
"That's plenty, isn't it?"
"[serious]Yes, it is. With this one bag, I will bake the best bread."
Filled with resolve, she picked up the bag of flour.
"[worried]……But."
Reine gazed at the stone oven, its embers now dead.
"How to compete against Sein's super-soft bread with hard bread. I still don't have the answer to that."
"Wouldn't this do?"
Gran swallowed his last bite.
With a satisfied look on his face.
"[simple]It's delicious. Isn't that enough?"
"……Gran."
"[serious]If I may. Let us go to the market first thing tomorrow morning. We will procure additional ingredients. Then, we must check the prototypes—"
"[laughing]Dorothea, the shop is already closed, you know?"
"Then I shall open it."
"……Good grief."
Reine laughed.
Her usual smile.
A dimple showing on her left cheek.
She wouldn't take the signboard down.
"How to fight with my hardness."
In the workshop, with the veil of night descended, Reine sat alone before the dying embers.
In her palm, a fragment of hard bread.
"……Master."
She murmured.
"I will defeat you."
She still hadn't found the answer.
But.
"[gentle]This hardness is who I am, after all."
Outside the window.
The blue of pre-dawn had deepened just a little.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.