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Chapter 06
“They said I should make friends besides Rodessa and Latier… It’s not unreasonable advice.”
The Duchess seriously worried about Chloe’s social skills, and the Duke emphasized how important connections were for Chloe, as the heir of the ducal family.
Before regaining her memories, Chloe must have had an exceptionally terrible personality, because despite being a young lady of high status, she had very little interaction with children her own age.
But the kids she met at the party were really just kids…!
At least with Rodessa and Latier, she had shared memories from the past, but she wasn’t particularly close with the others.
“Still, I wasn’t cold toward them, and they all said they wanted to come to the next party.”
The network her mother spoke of hadn’t turned out badly after all.
And more importantly, Shuel hadn’t even been present when everyone was greeting one another—so when exactly had he arrived?
Chloe hadn’t yet managed to sort through the confusion caused by their sudden encounter.
“No, seriously… They invited an imperial prince and didn’t even mention it to me. How does that make any sense?”
She silently resented her parents for inviting royalty without saying a word to her… before suddenly realizing something.
“Right. I did say I’d run away if someone from the imperial family came.”
Especially because getting involved with Shuel carried a far greater chance of bringing her harm rather than benefit, she had jokingly said before that if they invited royalty, she would flee.
“So they just… invited the prince without warning me at all.”
Still, she never imagined they would truly invite someone from the imperial family. It was impossible to predict that the Duke would invite a prince to a party held simply to show off his daughter’s cooking.
The prince watched Chloe, who was visibly overwhelmed by embarrassment and awkwardness, before speaking solemnly.
“Raise your head.”
His clear voice trying too hard to sound dignified was strangely adorable at his age, but Chloe kept that thought to herself and lifted her head.
And inwardly, she was startled once again by his beauty.
The heroine, Shuria, possessed only the title of saintess while coming from an insignificant background. For a commoner no one had ever heard of to suddenly appear and take a man like this away—
For Chloe, a noble young lady who had believed herself the most noble and exceptional person of all, it must have been unbearable humiliation.
If that saintess turned out to be a fake saintess without divine power, then the situation would have been even more absurd and infuriating. Her jealousy must have been enormous.
Even when Chloe believed Shuria was the real saintess, she had bullied her using her friends and wealth.
“Just looking at his face, I understand. Anyone could lose their mind over him.”
On top of that, Chloe had known Shuel long before the heroine Shuria did and had already interacted with him.
Blinded by unrequited love, she committed unforgivable acts—and in the end, because of those sins, the entire Garnet Ducal House was annihilated.
“Think. It would’ve been best if I’d never known the prince, but we’ve already met. If I want to survive this without losing out…”
She had to behave differently from the original story.
She wanted to live a long, comfortable life, enjoying delicious food and wealth.
So she needed to avoid connections with Shuel as much as possible. Ideally, they would never have met at all, but since that was impossible now, she hoped they wouldn’t become entangled in the future.
“I can’t get too involved with him… but I also can’t leave a bad impression.”
Just as Chloe was still struggling to decide how to treat Shuel—
“How are you feeling? I sent a letter, but when I heard the Duke’s daughter was ill, I was worried.”
Shuel spoke first.
Unlike the formal style of his letter, his tone was surprisingly friendly.
“Th-thank you.”
Courtly phrases such as I apologize for causing concern buzzed through her mind, but nothing came out properly. Chloe realized anew that she became terribly flustered whenever confronted with an unexpected situation.
She had only sent a formal reply to his letter and forgotten about it—yet he brought it up first.
Feeling somewhat awkward, Chloe changed the subject.
“By the way… when did you arrive? I didn’t see you earlier.”
“I came a little late. I greeted the Duke and Duchess, but you weren’t around.”
“Ah…”
She figured he must have arrived while she briefly stepped outside.
Then—
“That dish earlier… Did you make it?”
“Yes.”
“That hamburger steak? It was really delicious. Finely mincing the meat made it easier to chew and swallow.”
“…!”
Chloe was surprised by how detailed his comments on the flavor were.
His palate is unexpectedly refined? The original story never mentioned anything like this.
Then again, food was hardly discussed in the novel.
“And that dessert made from milk… Was it called bingsu?”
“Yes.”
“That was excellent too. It tasted better than any food I’ve eaten in the imperial palace.”
Chloe inhaled sharply.
“You flatter me.”
“No. If you weren’t a duke’s daughter, I would’ve wanted to hire you as my personal chef.”
“It’s an honor…”
“How did you come up with ideas like these?”
Receiving genuine feedback and praise from someone her own age for the first time made joy rise from deep within Chloe.
Everyone had enjoyed her food, but because they’d spent their whole lives accustomed to bland cooking, very few people could explain what, how, or why something tasted good.
Chloe lowered her head in gratitude while suppressing her urge to talk endlessly about food.
“We’ve already met, and as a noble, avoiding the prince forever was never realistic.”
Ideally, she should have remained forgettable—but he had already tasted her cooking, so that had failed too.
Still, there was a chance left.
“I think I just got lucky. I tried making other things afterward, but none of them turned out well.”
“Really?”
Chloe tried to ignore the slightly disappointed expression on Shuel’s face.
“Yes. I haven’t had any good ideas since then…”
She acted dejected, claiming she probably lacked talent. She hadn’t dared say such things in front of adults out of embarrassment.
Shuel awkwardly comforted her, and after exchanging a few more short words, he said he should be leaving and departed.
Watching him go, Chloe felt satisfied, believing she had handled her encounter with the male lead rather successfully.
However, Chloe—who had never made friends in this life—didn’t realize something.
When a twelve-year-old genius noble girl, capable of creating astonishing flavors no one had ever tasted before, revealed a vulnerable side of herself only to him—
To a prince with such a sensitive palate that even imperial cuisine failed to satisfy him—
She had no idea what kind of impression she had left on him.
***
After the party, Chloe’s daily life changed a little.
First, countless invitations poured in from nobles who had heard rumors about the event.
Replying to them became work in itself, to the point where she needed help from maids who could write.
“Chloe, it’s all thanks to you!”
“Huh?”
Even a long-standing problem plaguing the Garnet Duchy’s territory was solved in a completely unexpected way.
“The refrigerator?”
“That’s right! If this thing called a ‘refrigerator’ can be commercialized, not only our territory but the entire empire could be freed from illnesses caused by spoiled food!”
As interest in the milk bingsu grew, people became curious about how milk could be frozen like that.
Naturally, the existence of refrigerators and freezers became known.
“If ingredients or food are placed inside a refrigerator, they can be preserved much longer, can’t they?”
Thus, not only freezers but refrigerators also became the center of enormous attention.
“Everyone keeps insisting we sell them, saying they’ll pay any price.”
“Are you really going to sell them?”
“Haha, of course! At this scale, even the Magic Tower will cooperate.”
Hearing that the Magic Tower—known for refusing involvement in anything except combat magic—would assist in commercializing refrigerators made Chloe realize the matter was far bigger than she had imagined.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to her.
“Father… Then, could you distribute refrigerators for free to orphanages and clinics?”
“To orphanages and clinics?”
“Yes. Even if many are produced and sold, they’ll definitely be expensive because they use magic. I think the people who need refrigerators the most may end up unable to afford them.”
