Isekai Grimoire System

Chapter I: The Sudden Oddity (V)

Everyone's gazes looked strange as if they were smiling at themselves. Layla standing beside him, could only lower her head in shame at what Archie had just said.

The laughter from Zachary stopped, but his face seemed satisfied with the words he had just heard.

"So that's it. It's natural that you two dared to go alone before us," Zachary replied. “You must be tired after the travel. Please rest first. Heather!”

A maid stepped forward and nodded in acceptance of her master's order.

“Follow me, Young Master,” requested the maid, Heather.

When Heather leads the way, Archie feels familiar with everything in the house. It seemed like his body still remembered everything well.

"Please, Young Master." Heather opened a door and let Archie in.

“EH?!” Layla was surprised and accidentally made quite a loud voice. "He’s in my room?"

"Needless to say, Mr. Zachary ordered me to do so,” Heather replied, hiding a chuckle after seeing Layla's reaction.

Archie thought he would receive a private room as a guest and felt that even the humblest room would not refuse. If there are any gestures of rejection from Layla, Archie already has many options in his head.

"Then—then, please come in, Archie."

Heather stood smiling by the door, watching the couple enter the room.

“Young Master, I will prepare some snacks. Then, I'll make sure I knock on the door first, so there's no need to hold back.”

“Heather!” snapped Layla, whose face was blushing.

As a man, Archie just follows the existing developments. Not leaning too much toward anyone. After all, he enjoyed Layla's coy expression; that was cute.

Although he had previously set foot in the women's room, this experience was undoubtedly different from usual.

As he expected, Layla's room was much more classy than his private room, much like a typical ladies' room. Out of all the sights and anything he could see when he walked into the room, Archie was more curious about something else.

“Wow. You have all this in your room?”

He already thought Layla was a bibliophile, but having four bookshelves in her room made Archie wholeheartedly praise Layla. "Impressive. May I go read some?"

“Oh?! Yeah, yeah. With pleasure." Layla walked between the bookshelves, "what kind of book do you prefer?"

“Hmm… maybe the light one. Like something basic about magic, dungeons, or magic items,” he answered.

After thinking for a moment, that was the quickest and safest sentence he could say. There were many reasons he could use if Layla asked him why he wanted to read such a book. But it seems that such efforts are unnecessary.

Layla happily walked down the shelves and checked the book’s titles one by one. She seemed to have memorized the book’s placement on the shelf.

"How about this?"

Archie received a brown book, medium size and relatively light. “Mausoleum Spells?”

He didn't need to be afraid of being unable to read the letters. On the contrary, he could read all the writings in the book as if they were already in his hippocampus.

“Mmm, this is a good series of books. You can read and study the types of spells, magic, and magic items in general and in detail.”

Layla briefly explained the book she had suggested, but the other person didn't respond. “Umm?! Archie?” Layla tried to get near Archie’s view, who was reading while standing.

“Uh?! What? Sorry sorry."

"You can read it there." Layla pointed her finger at the reading area in the corner. But the same thing happened again; Archie was reading while walking and not listening to what she was saying.

"Um, I'll get a drink," Layla said before slowly opening the door.

It was her first moment to bring a boy into her room. She didn't know what to do and instead became unhandy.

"What's wrong, Miss Layla?" a chef greeted their upper, who came with a flushed face. "The snacks will be ready in a moment."

"Okay, thanks. Just let me take them."

Layla reached for a glass that was on the cupboard. Then open the drawers one by one, and examine the glass bottles. “I think we have those ingredients, right?”

"What do you want to make, Miss Layla?"

"Archie likes Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea," she muttered.

Even though she knew it would take quite some time to make the drink, she was sure she could serve it well while waiting for Archie to read his book. Her hands move gracefully to light the stove, cut the lemon, and so on.

“Is that so? You know a lot about Young Master Archie, do you?”

“Um, yeah. When we get married, I want to serve him as best I can. So, when I visited yesterday, I asked Mrs. Emeline a few things," Layla replied usually.

The chefs, who had been moving their hands and feet while preparing the dishes, stopped when they heard their upper's words.

"Sorry if I am presumptuous. But we are sure Young Master will not hate you if you do not accept the matchmaking," the chef added.

Layla understands her family situation. She has been betrothed to Archie since childhood. It wasn't an arranged marriage based on their feelings, it might sound cliche, but it wouldn't be wrong to say it was coercion.

"No, I guess…if it's Archie, I feel grateful," she grumbled.

The chefs who heard that let out their smiles proudly.

“Eh? Ano, I mean, it's not like that." Layla tried to cover her face when she realized what she had just said.

"Whatever it is, as long as your decision makes you happy, we will never regret it," said the chef. His colleagues responded with nods of approval.

“Hey, stop talking and get back to work.”

Someone comes inside the kitchen and scolds everyone.

“Can you take all of them, Miss Layla? Or do you need my hand?" asked Heather, who had just entered the kitchen.

"It's okay, thank you. I can carry it myself.”

"You have time until an hour before dinner. We are not going anywhere near the Miss's room," Heather retorted teasingly.

“Mou, Heather. Stop it."

After preparing the ingredients, Layla brought a teapot on a tray with some warm cookies. "Then I'll go now."

“Be careful, Young Miss. And please remember, try not to give Mr. Zachary his grandson too early.”

The chefs chuckled at Heather's seductive words.

"No, we didn't—probably."