Chapter 649: Lyra’s Cake
After saying goodbye to Theresa, Astrid went to the palace council hall as planned. Count Tristian, the main representative of the Velmont family, had asked to discuss further cooperation details between the crown and the great mercantile house, and had been waiting there for some time.
As the son of Cedric Velmont, Tristian had clearly inherited his father’s talent for business. In one evening he’d already worked out where the gains lay.
With Amalia pushing through the reform of magical devices, beyond the shortage of skilled hands there will certainly be shortages of funds and materials.
For a great noble family that had done business in those areas for years, Velmont had every reason to take a slice of the pie.
And speed mattered. Tristian had seen Astrid’s methods before; the sooner the details were locked down, the more each party could maximize their interests.
Even if it wasn’t about securing a foothold in a brand-new industry, selling goods to the Valeria royal family and pocketing a fat profit for the next couple of years was not a bad plan, useful short-term and long-term, with no obvious downside.
Astrid and Tristian understood’s purpose. After a few casual pleasantries she steered the conversation to materials for building information transmitters and the underground conduits in Capital City. Amalia will draft the bill and steer the empire in broad strokes; These logistical considerations were better left to the Regent, the skilled negotiator.
Compared with the slightly warm, friendly tone she’d used with Theresa, Astrid was much sharper and more businesslike with Tristian. Or rather, she was simply more suited to negotiations that set aside feelings and focused on mutual benefit.
In just over an hour they finalized the contracts: Astrid will buy the needed materials from the Velmont house at a low price, and Velmont will enjoy reduced commercial taxes for the next two years.
Exchanging cash up front for long-term returns would ease the Valeria royal household’s recent fiscal strain and, with some of that cash flow, bridge the gap as magical devices were being made but not yet sold. Both sides came away satisfied.
Other small details, the Velmonts’ complimentary elemental crystal stones, the royal subsidy price on internal magical devices, were just another layer over the same mutually beneficial exchange.
Having helped Amalia with the immediate crisis, all that remained was to wait for work to begin. While Tristian departed, Astrid finished her tea and silently considered her next moves.
With the Velmont family acting as a bank, the empire’s finances wouldn’t collapse overnight.
She could avoid scraping the populace dry and provoking mass unrest, although, riding the momentum of Amalia’s victory over external enemies and raising the banner of expanded armaments, it would be possible to modestly increase basic agricultural taxes as a wartime measure. Astrid, however, would only take that step if absolutely necessary.
First, a sudden tax increase right after a new emperor’s accession will clash with Amalia’s initial image and damage royal prestige.
Second, an imperial decree is not executed perfectly just by issuing a law. It passes through so many mouths that there are millions of places to skim a bit. A single added levy at the top might become three or more layers by the time it reaches local nobles.
After all, the Valeria Empire’s political system wasn’t as centralized as the ancient regimes Astrid remembered from her previous life; it still carried the crust of the old Lorraine Empire, with established interests grown over decades. Many things could not be changed overnight.
Thinking this through, Astrid crossed her legs and let herself relax a little in this private space.
The contracts were signed and there wouldn’t be immediate trouble, but the heavy outflow of cash would significantly reduce imperial income for a time, putting the treasury into a low deficit. Without a more advanced industrial pillar to provide high profits and tax revenue, problems would only accumulate.
The only way out was to have magical devices quickly extract money from the nobles’ pockets and create a positive cycle.
A full treasury was the foundation for further reform.
As she pondered how to cut costs and increase efficiency, she heard the door open softly. She lifted her eyes to see Lyra in a blue-and-white ensemble.
"I heard from Elise that you finished your meeting, Astrid..." the pink-haired girl murmured, holding a tray with what looked like very soft white little cakes.
"I hope I didn’t interrupt you?" Lyra’s voice was gentle. Astrid nodded in response and answered with a soft "hm."
Thoughts could wait; spending time with her maid was equally important.
With Astrid’s reply, Lyra smiled and quickly took the seat beside her lover.
"I noticed you barely ate this morning, so I made some little cakes," she said.
Astrid was negotiating; she couldn’t follow every step. With the time, Lyra might as well do something and reward the tired Regent when it was over.
Astrid glanced at Lyra in her pretty pleated skirt and pure white thigh-high stockings, looking even sweeter than the cake, and let her lips curve in a lazy smile.
"Thank you. You even went to the pastry room."
Pastry was famous for being delicious but difficult; there were many preparatory steps, and even patient nobles preferred to have servants do the work.
Astrid was about to pick up a spoon Lyra had placed by the plate when Lyra shifted the tray to the right and hummed softly.
"I’ll feed you, Astrid."
Her tone held a coquettish sweetness typical of a little girlfriend. Astrid narrowed her eyes slightly but did not refuse the offer.
The smile in Lyra’s blue eyes deepened. She adjusted the blue ribbon on her wrist to avoid getting cream on it, scooped a large dollop of cream from the top of the cake with a silver spoon.
"Ah... open your mouth..."
Before she spoke, the feeder instinctively parted her own lips; her pink lips looked like flower petals in the light and provoked an appetite all their own.
Astrid didn’t obey at once; instead she watched Lyra until the girl flushed and her hand froze midair.
"What... is it?" Lyra asked. "Just eat the cake, why are you staring at me?"
Astrid paused a few seconds, then parted her lips. Seeing the empire’s most beautiful woman so defenseless and expectant made Lyra’s body temperature climb; the fingers holding the spoon whitened a little.
The cream was placed in Astrid’s mouth; unseen by Lyra, Astrid’s tongue lightly licked the cream.
"..."
So sweet. Was it because there was no cake base?
Astrid’s red irises reflected Lyra’s face; without words, a single look made Lyra understand.
She wanted more.
This time Lyra seemed to know feeding only cream could be cloying. Her sword-practiced hands were dexterous; she scooped a bit of cake base along with more cream, then fed it to Astrid.
Astrid bit gently with her teeth and chewed the soft, moist cake, the sweet flavor spreading in her mouth. Her earlier guess turned out correct: it was a bit too sweet, but pleasant; the milky taste was strong. Amalia would probably love it.
"How is it?" Lyra asked.
"Very good. Especially the icing," Astrid said.
The sugary cream pushes the sweetness up another notch without overpowering everything.
Lyra’s smile grew sweeter; her slender legs, wrapped in smooth white stockings, rubbed lightly under the table.
"Did you taste any other flavors?" she asked.
Was this a test of Astrid’s palate and scent recognition?
Sensing a challenge to a strength of hers, Astrid frowned slightly and savored the melting sweetness in her mouth. After half a minute she answered, "Besides egg, milk, butter and sugar, there’s rosemary and mint?"
No wonder it was so sweet yet not cloying; there was a faint freshness to balance it.
Lyra tilted her head in surprise. She knew Astrid’s nose was keen but hadn’t expected her tongue to be so deft, in every sense.
"Yes, I added those two..." Lyra said.
There was another crucial ingredient Astrid hadn’t mentioned. If it were only those, Astrid would reveal the small surprise herself.
Noting Lyra’s subtle emotional shift, Astrid’s mouth lifted; her wet tongue peeked out to moisten her lips, giving her an almost languid, seductive air.
"Looks like... something’s still missing?"
When Lyra nodded obediently, Astrid smiled and revealed the answer.
"A bit of rosemary with sugar, lime juice, powdered mint, and the most important..."
She paused for effect, breathing like scented air.
"...a little love."
Lyra’s pupils dilated slightly. Astrid smoothed her skirt, her voice was soft.
"Is that better?"
"..."
Completely caught off guard.
Lyra opened her mouth and, after a few seconds, replied in a small voice, "You could guess all that?"
If it had been her, she could at least pick out a hint of mint.
"They’re obvious flavors..."
After that, Lyra fed her another bite. The cloying cream and the soft cake base, even if a touch too sugary, were faultless together.
"Won’t you try some, Lyra?" Astrid asked.
Lyra shook her head. "I tasted a little while I was making it."
She wasn’t a pastry master; she wanted to be sure before serving it to Astrid as a finished product.
Astrid replied softly, "There’s a subtle difference between a half-finished and a finished dish, especially once it’s plated."
Like the same cake displayed in a shop window versus presented on a fine restaurant plate, the feeling changes.
After another spoonful, Astrid suddenly leaned sideways and lowered her chest.
In the next second Lyra felt Astrid’s arm wrap around her waist; she drew her legs tightly together and instinctively raised an arm to keep the cake from spilling onto their skirts.
The warm, silky contact reveals the true flavor of the cake.
It was sweet, with mint’s freshness and lime’s tang, balanced by sugar, but overlaid on all that was the heat of a human body.
Feeling the flutter of long lashes nearly against her face, Lyra looked up into the wine-red eyes inches away and thought quietly: Astrid wasn’t entirely right.
This taste... wasn’t just a little love.
It was a whole lot.
Long moments later their lips parted. Astrid’s breathing stumbled suddenly; a faint blush warmed her pale cheeks.
"Well? Lyra?" she asked.
"..."
Wonderful.
But decorum kept Lyra from saying it outright. She looked back at the tray, picked up the silver spoon again, and fed Astrid another bite. With her mouth shut, she reasoned, the mischievous woman couldn’t tease her so freely.
Seeing Lyra shy, Astrid didn’t press advantage. She continued eating small mouthfuls.
"Though... this cake" is quite good, the sweetness is a little much."
"If I take in too much sugar I’ll gain weight."
There would be lunch and a caloric afternoon tea; This medieval empire relied on modern skim-milk technology. Just a few glasses of milk tea a day would demand a couple hours of exercise, Astrid thought wryly.
She couldn’t rely solely on nightly activities with her lover to control her weight, though from experience, that alone was extremely energy-consuming.
"You’re not eating this much dessert every day," Lyra said softly, forgetting how self-conscious she’d been about her looks before they were a couple. Back then, seeing the stockings pressing into her thighs had made her worry she would become unattractive, a worry that faded after Astrid reassured her thigh-highs marking her flesh was healthy and beautiful.
To prove Astrid’s unnecessary worry, Lyra lowered her gaze and let her eyes travel to Astrid’s thighs clad in smooth black stockings.
She gasped softly. "Eh?!"