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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 2

As soon as Neptune placed the parkin on the table, Elizabeth’s thin and slender arms reached out towards it almost immediately.

「Nnn~~~!! Yes, this is it! That hits the spot! I knew it! This is truly the best!」

Once she placed a piece of parkin inside of her mouth and she started to chew on it, the flavor was so exquisite that Elizabeth could not stop herself from touching both of her cheeks in apparent delight.

In fact, the flavor of the treat must have been so good that Elizabeth started to flutter her legs back and forth while they were hanging down from the sofa, and seeing just how delighted and in a good mood Elizabeth was, Neptune could not help it but to smile inside of her mind.

—— Yes, that’s right. For quite some time now, Neptune was making extra sure that Elizabeth would get to enjoy the various sweets of her making every single day. It was something that she began doing ever since spring came into full swing.

And that was exactly what Neptune’s “certain strategy” was all about.

For a prolonged period of time, she was going to feed Elizabeth more and more exquisite sweets little by little every single day.

By doing so, Neptune was sure that Her Majesty would grow so fond of her confections that she would recommend her for the position of the waitress during the annual tea party without any problems or objections.

As for the name of that strategy, Neptune chose to name it: “The Great Her Majesty’s Stomach Pole Fishing Strategy”.

「Fufufu…… Looks like the plan is going along rather well.」

Grinning and smiling in a slightly devilish way, Neptune whispered ever so softly so that she would be the only one who could hear those words.

In fact, she could already see it very clearly: how Queen Elizabeth’s eyes and heart were both being captivated by her arrangements of colorful sweets.

At first, she was really worried about the calories and did not want to carelessly feed her something that would negatively impact Her Majesty’s waistline, but her worries turned out to be completely baseless, as Elizabeth was already reaching out towards another piece of sweet confection after having just devoured that parkin. As for her weight, no matter how many sweets Elizabeth would eat, she seemed to not even gain weight from that..

「I must say, this is the first time ever that I have had a carrot cake, and it’s pretty good too.」

Neptune watched as Elizabeth was gorging herself on the carrot cake and chewing in a hurry, and when she saw something she brought her finger closer to Elizabeth’s face.

「Ufufu~. There’s some cream in the corner of your mouth, Your Majesty.」

「Uuuhhh. I-I know, you don’t have to tell me!」

Seeing Elizabeth shyly wiping her mouth with a napkin in a hurry made Neptune giggle in admiration. At the end of it all, it was well worth having Elizabeth being fed all those sweets, even if Neptuyne’s only payoff was supposed to be that sight she was witnessing just now.

「Oh yes, which reminds me, Neptune.」

As if she just happened to remember something, Elizabeth suddenly put her fork back on top of her plate.

「Sweets are fine and all, but you cannot have sweets without the thing, you know?」

Elizabeth then pointed her finger at her throat, which in turn made Neptune let out a small chuckle.

「Would you like something to drink to all those sweets, Your Majesty?」

「Yes, that’s it, that’s exactly right. I can see that you know your stuff quite well, Neptune!」

「In that case, I have something at the ready here, that I think you will find very much to your liking, Your Majesty.」

Taking a step back from the excited Elizabeth, Neptune laid out the bottles of various shapes and sizes on top of the serving cart.

「What kind of weird bottles are those? What’s inside of them?」

Neptune confidently answers Elizabeth’s question while she was gazing at the bottles and their contents in puzzlement..

「Those, Your Majesty…… are the finest brands of whiskey that I was able to procure.」

「……Huh?」

「And you can believe me when I say this, none of them were easy or cheap to obtain. And as for this……」

Next on the list of items that Neptune took out on top of the serving cart were cans of different shapes and sizes that were all unfamiliar to Elizabeth.

「And this is……?」

「This is the highest quality coffee that I was able to procure, Your Majesty. As for the scent and taste, I was very picky about it and chose it with your specific tastes in mind. For starters, let me explain them one by one ——」

Saying that, Neptune took out the coffee grinder from the serving cart, and was about to start explaining every single kind of the coffee beans, when she finally noticed that Elizabeth had been stuck on the spot for a while now.

「Is there something wrong, Your Majesty?」

「Don’t you have some tea on you? That’s what was on my mind when I suggested something to drink to all of those sweets.」

Huh? Where did the smile that was on Her Majesty’s face just a moment ago go? Right about now, Elisabeth had the same kind of expression on her face as she did when she was surrounded by that mountain load of paperwork.

Neptune then decided to ask while tilting her head slightly.

「Don’t you like what I had prepared, Your Majesty?」

Elizabeth picked up the fork again and pricked at the strawberries on top of the shortcake.

「No, I really liked it, but you know, it’s just that…… when it comes to sweets, you really need to serve them together with tea.」

And just like that, after she said that, Elizabeth opened her mouth and threw the strawberry from the very top of the shortcake inside and started to chew on it dispassionately.

「It’s just that…… I must say, it’s a little bit disappointing, that is all.」

Right after she said that, perhaps feeling a sour taste of the strawberry in her mouth, Elisabeth’s lips distorted like wavy lines as she closed her mouth while groaning out loud. She looked like she could really use a cup of tea right about now.

She searched inside of the serving cart to see if there was something in there that she could serve to Her Majesty, but Neptune’s luck seemingly ran out, for the only thing she was able to find was a lone box of bagged tea.

But it was not the normal can of tea leaves, but rather a normal bagged tea that Neptune would sometimes brew for herself. It was certainly not something that would be worth being brewed to Her Majesty..

「Unfortunately, I only have bagged berry tea.」

Elizabeth chuckled as Neptune showed her the tea box.

「Yes, well, I’m afraid that berry tea would not go quite well with the sweets that you have served to me just now.」

Neptune then put the box of the tea back into the serving cart, thinking that Elizabeth surely must have been right about that.

When it comes to black tea, Neptune did not know much about it to begin with.

She liked the scent and how easy it was to brew a fruity bagged tea, but it was not something that was meant to be served at a high-class tea party. In the first place, Elizabeth herself did not seem to want such a plain thing to go with her sweets, so Neptune seemed to be out of options.

And just as she thought she would have to go back to the kitchen and consult someone from the Maid Corps……

She heard a knock on the office door coming from the corridor.

「Yes? Who is it?」

Elizabeth turned to face the door and asked the question.

Then she heard a calm voice from the other side of the door.

「You said that you wanted to see me, Your Majesty, so I have come just as you desired.」

Neptune stared at the door unintentionally upon hearing those words.

「Oh my, so it’s already been that time, huh?」

Elizabeth responded with a loud voice, still holding the cake plate in her hands.

「Oh well, it’s alright! You can come in no problem!」

「Well then, please excuse me.」

Then the door to the office slowly opened.

The one who appeared in the room just now was a woman dressed in an apron dress, just like Neptune was.

And she, like Neptune, walks into the room while pushing a serving cart.

She had thin, straight silver hair that swayed gently.

Her skin was pure white and almost translucent, like the snow that just fell on a certain winter morning.