This time.
There was no mistaking it.
"It's burnt."
"Huh?"
"What's burnt?"
Before any of them could react.
"Clang-!"
Ryu pushed open the kitchen's carved wooden door from inside.
A thick wave of smoke rushed through the dining room.
No matter how good the mansion's ventilation system was.
There was simply no hiding that smell of charcoal that went straight to the top of their heads.
"Cough, cough..."
Hanabishi Warabi, who sat closest to the kitchen, took the brunt of it. She coughed twice, choking on the smoke, and covered her nose, her face filled with alarm.
"Wh-what?!!"
"Is there a fire?!!"
Under everyone's startled, uncertain gazes.
A dark green figure finally emerged from the cloud of smoke.
-Ryu Lion.
However.
At that moment.
Although she still wore her standard maid uniform, her back remained perfectly straight, and her expression was as cool and unsmiling as ever.
But.
If they looked closely.
They would notice.
Several black smudges now marked her once-white apron.
Her delicate lace headdress was also slightly askew.
Most importantly.
The enormous silver tray she held.
Was currently the source of that unsettling burnt smell.
"Sorry for the wait."
Ryu approached the dining table.
She did not even dare meet anyone's eyes.
"Here is today's breakfast."
"Special... toasted sandwiches."
Ryu set the tray in the center of the dining table.
"Please enjoy."
"..."
In an instant.
A deathly silence fell over the dining room.
Everyone widened their eyes and craned their necks to look at what was on the tray.
There.
More than a dozen black objects lay neatly arranged.
Had they not been told those were sandwiches.
Everyone would probably have thought someone had pulled those bricks of coal out of the fireplace.
What should have been soft white bread had now been completely carbonized, taking