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When I knocked on the office door, Aleksei’s valet, Yvan, opened it—and his eyes went wide at the sight of me.

“My lady, carrying such a large basket yourself?”

He quickly took it from me. Unlike Mina, Yvan always had a pleasant smile, yet he was just as attentive. With his light brown hair, amber eyes, and tall, graceful build—nearly as tall as Aleksei himself—he was quite the handsome man.

“Thank you. Could you prepare tea for everyone, please?”
“It smells wonderful. What’s this?”
“Ufufu. I made it myself.”

I said it with a bright, proud smile—and Yvan’s expression turned to utter shock. No need to look *that* surprised!

“Your Grace, your sister has arrived,” Yvan announced once he recovered. Aleksei looked up from his desk.

“Ekaterina. What brings you here?”
“I brought you some lunch, Onii-sama.”
“Her Ladyship says she made it herself.”

Yvan added, holding up the basket, and Aleksei’s eyes widened. Not only his—the entire group of dukedom officials in the room turned their heads toward me in unison.
Excuse me, what’s with that reaction?
Well, whatever—perfect chance.

“Everyone, why not take a short break and have some lunch? It’s just a light meal, but I cooked it myself.”
“You *made* it… surely not—”
“Yes, Onii-sama. I borrowed the kitchen in the dining hall and prepared this myself. Well, I did have some help, so it shouldn’t be too alarming.”

Even as I spoke, the ever-so-capable Yvan had already laid out plates and begun serving the crepe-like wraps from the basket. Then I remembered something and handed him a neatly wrapped bundle.

“This one’s for you. I wrapped it to keep it warm. Please enjoy it after serving everyone else.”
“For me?”

Yvan looked surprised but pleased as he accepted it.

“…Delicious,” Aleksei murmured, a touch of astonishment in his voice after taking his first bite—and Ekaterina’s heart soared.

Yes! That wasn’t a polite lie—he said it *naturally*!
Onii-sama praised me!

“This is the sort of light meal commoners buy from food stalls. I used to eat this often as a student. How nostalgic… ah, the sausage with mustard is quite good,” said one of the younger men in the room—the head of the mines, a scholarly-looking man with glasses named Aaron Kail.

“It’s a homestyle dish from the Imperial Capital. We always fill them with sautéed onions and bacon in my hometown, but potatoes and bacon are fine as well,” said Boris Novak, Aleksei’s right-hand man, in his deep, calm voice. Despite the Novak family being a branch of the Jurnova line, Boris’ grandfather had actually been a minor bureaucrat in the capital, later elevated by Aleksei’s grandfather, Sergei, and married into the family.

“I’ve tried sweet ones with jam in the duchy before, but these savory fillings are nice, too. Similar dishes exist in other countries as well” remarked the trade and distribution chief, Khalil Talal, studying the food with keen interest. His brown skin made it clear he was a foreigner. Descended from the head of a great trading house with branches all over the world, Khalil was knowledgeable about foreign affairs and fluent in several languages.

Alongside them were also the heads of forestry and agriculture, finance, administration, the knight corps, and even the ducal legal adviser—all part of Aleksei’s circle of advisors. They came and went from this office throughout the day, submitting reports or requests for approval. Most of them were talents personally discovered by our grandfather, Sergei—each a leading expert in their field. They were, without a doubt, the greatest legacy Sergei had left his grandson. Thanks to them, Aleksei could manage both his studies and the vast responsibilities of a duke.

It was a rare sight to see those men, usually so serious, gathered around a humble, commoner-style meal and chatting cheerfully about things unrelated to work.

“I’ve never heard you speak of your family before, Novak. Whereabouts in the capital are they?”
“The lower districts, Your Grace—you wouldn’t know the place. I haven’t been back in nearly twenty years… It’s surely changed quite a bit. What about you, Aaron?”
“I haven’t visited my family in ages either. I’m the fifth son, after all. They’ve probably forgotten I even exist by now.”
“That’s nothing. I have ten brothers myself. My father has three wives.”
“Impressive, Khalil.”

The men laughed—then abruptly stopped when they remembered Ekaterina’s presence.

“Please, pay me no mind, gentlemen. I’m happy to see you all enjoying yourselves.”

Ekaterina smiled brightly. Please, I survived the full course of workplace harassment in my previous life—sexual harassment, power abuses, and everything in between—so talk of “three wives” wasn’t going to faze me in the slightest.

“It’s rare for everyone to talk so freely. We owe that to you, Ekaterina.”
“I’m delighted to hear that, Onii-sama.”

*Ufufufu*, Ekaterina beamed. A little break like this was good for everyone—an effective measure against overwork-induced death flags, so to speak.

“I’ll make something again tomorrow. Would you be willing to try it?”

At that, Aleksei frowned.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but you shouldn’t be cooking yourself. I’ll have the kitchen staff prepare things like this for you instead. What if you were injured?”
“But, Onii-sama, you only avoided using the kitchen staff because you didn’t want to seem demanding, correct? You were concerned that asking for special treatment at the Academy might reflect poorly on House Jurnova’s reputation—and that’s perfectly understandable.”
“Mm…”

Ah, thought so.
He didn’t really care much about food, but he clearly worried about appearances. Typical Aleksei—he’d once said he would bend grades for my sake, yet when it came to himself, he always held back.

“There’s a girl in my class who makes her own lunches. We cooked and talked together today—it was lovely. Please, allow me to keep doing it.”
“…If that’s what you truly want.”

Reluctantly, Aleksei finally nodded, and his retainers struggled not to laugh. I guess they found it amusing that the unrelenting duke was being so sweet to his sister.

.

After Aleksei and his advisors resumed their work, Ekaterina stayed behind to help with small tasks. When the lunch break neared its end and Aleksei finally wrapped up his duties, they both returned to their respective classrooms.
The officials, however, remained in the office. Following the policies decided during the break, they issued orders to their subordinates, drafted documents, and handled a mountain of other work—all of which had to be settled before Aleksei returned later that afternoon.

“I never imagined I’d have the honor of tasting the young lady’s own cooking. It was my first time meeting her, but Lady Ekaterina is as kind as she is beautiful. And so devoted to her brother! It moves me to see His Grace finally has family who truly cares for his wellbeing.”

Aaron said with a cheerful tone.

“I agree,” said Khalil, “but there’s more to her than that. Sir Novak—what do you make of this proposal? It’s Lady Ekaterina’s idea.”

“What is this—A wagon plan?” Novak asked, frowning at the document handed to him.

“It concerns the long-standing issue of revitalizing trade in the duchy. Lady Ekaterina saw it in the report for sir Aaron and suggested making use of the wagons that carry bullion from the mines to the capital. The wagons are empty on their return trip. Since they’re already guarded on the road back to the duchy either way, Lady Ekaterina suggested loading them with goods purchased in the capital on behalf of small local shops that can’t afford their own transport. That way, more shops in the duchy could sell goods from the capital, and commerce would flourish. My family’s trading company does something similar with our cargo ships—making sure they carry goods both ways. This is simply applying the same logic to wagons.”

“…” Novak read through the papers intently.

Aaron chimed in;

“Business is not my area of expertise… but this seems quite a brilliant idea for what might appear at first glance a casual suggestion. We administrators tend to think too vertically—it’s rare to find someone who can combine things so flexibly.”

“Indeed,” Khalik agreed. “Who would expect such an idea from a sheltered young noblewoman unfamiliar with the world? Truly the sister of His Grace, and granddaughter of the great Duke Sergei.”

If Ekaterina had heard that, she would have screamed internally: *”I just happen to be a thirty-something who once worked in logistics systems development! Sorry!”*

But this was only the beginning.