🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter: 24
Chloe immediately brought not only flatfish sashimi but also salmon and tuna sashimi.
While she had been preparing the sashimi, Cloud had already finished the potato salad, so she refilled his plate with another generous serving.
In that short span of time, Cloud was happily eating the salmon and tuna sashimi with a satisfied expression.
“How is it?”
At Chloe’s question, Cloud hesitated for a moment, unable to bring himself to say it tasted bad.
“It’s not bad.”
Even with his grumpy expression, Chloe smiled contentedly.
Annoyed by her reaction, Cloud snapped.
“What’s with that look?”
“No, it’s just that I’m pleased because you seem to like it.”
If he weren’t destined to be the villainous secondary male lead of the original story, she would have gladly made him her restaurant companion. It was a shame.
Of course, now that it was obvious the Empress was trying to tie them together through an engagement, she really shouldn’t get any more involved with him.
‘Still, he sincerely taught me swordsmanship.’
Whether his intention had been to mess with her or not, it had undeniably helped Chloe.
Though he had a hot temper and acted however he pleased, he was still only a twelve-year-old child.
‘It feels wrong to reject a kid just because he’s a villain in the original story.’
After all, Chloe herself had originally been the story’s villainess.
Even if the influence of her previous life had helped, Chloe—who had once been arrogant and self-centered—had changed considerably. Cloud could change too.
She shouldn’t judge him through preconceived notions.
Thinking that, Chloe cheerfully added,
“Isn’t it incredibly delicious? It’s such a waste that people want to kill all of these creatures simply because they’re monsters.”
Cloud hesitated slightly before nodding.
“Since when do you make sense? So when are you planning to sell this?”
“Huh?”
Seeing Chloe’s puzzled expression, Cloud took another bite of flatfish, chewed, swallowed, and continued.
“If you’ve developed a dish, you should be thinking about releasing it to the public.”
Even after he said that, Chloe still looked confused, causing Cloud to glare at her with an irritated expression.
“Don’t tell me you were planning to keep it all to yourself?”
“No, of course not.”
‘But aren’t monsters viewed about the same way as cockroaches?’
Perhaps sensing her doubtful expression, Cloud ate a piece of fatty tuna, his eyes lighting up as he added,
“Then what’s the problem? Hurry up and put it on the market.”
Then, as if something had just occurred to him, he added,
“Or are you not ready yet?”
“It’s not that I’m not ready. The problem is whether people can accept monster-based food without feeling disgusted.”
At Chloe’s honest answer, Cloud replied indifferently.
“Oh, I see. Then how do you make this? Do you just catch any monster and slice it up?”
“As if. These monsters were all carefully tested by mages from our family to make sure they were safe to eat.”
After that, Chloe roughly explained how sashimi was prepared.
When she mentioned that preparing sashimi required skill and that the knife techniques were somewhat different from ordinary swordsmanship, Cloud seemed to fall into thought.
“I’ll grant you the rights to supply ingredients for the Grand Duke’s household meals.”
The abrupt declaration, which sounded more like an order than a suggestion, made Chloe’s eyes widen.
“What?”
“I’m telling you to take responsibility for my meals.”
‘Wait a second. Doesn’t that basically make the engagement a certainty?’
Since there was no way Cloud didn’t understand that implication, Chloe unconsciously asked in a horrified voice,
“Are you proposing to me?”
“A proposal? Who the hell is proposing?”
As expected, the moment she mentioned marriage, Cloud practically exploded.
Chloe deliberately teased him.
“I am pretty cute, after all.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Pretty? Did all the beauties in the world freeze to death?”
Whether his reddened face was from anger or embarrassment, Chloe couldn’t tell. But feeling oddly competitive, she retorted sulkily.
“Then why is your face red?”
“Did it never occur to you that I’m angry?”
“Tch.”
What a prickly personality.
If Cloud openly ate Chloe’s “monster cuisine,” people would naturally begin to associate it with high-quality ingredients. It was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity.
The problem was—
‘The Empress, who’s trying to pair me with Cloud, would absolutely love this.’
It was too good an opportunity to pass up, but it came with troublesome implications.
In the end, Chloe told Cloud she wanted a little more time to think about it. Surprisingly, the boy who seemed likely to throw a fit over being refused merely nodded obediently and returned to his territory.
Exactly thirty minutes after Cloud left, Prince Shuel arrived at House Garnet.
“I’m truly sorry for dropping by so suddenly, Lady Chloe.”
Speaking in an exceptionally gentle manner, Shuel handed Chloe a small package.
“I thought you might be startled since I came without notice, so I prepared a gift.”
He treated Chloe with impeccable courtesy.
“I hope you’ll accept it without feeling burdened.”
“Thank you very much, Your Highness.”
His behavior was completely different from that of his half-brother, who had barged in at dawn and immediately started hurling insults.
After setting the gift aside, Chloe focused on what Shuel had come to discuss.
Seeing that she was ready to listen, he smiled and continued.
“Given the Grand Duke’s personality, I doubted he treated you kindly, so I hurried over. There was also something I wished to discuss.”
Chloe was a little surprised by his words.
He was right.
Cloud had made no effort to hide his hostility during their first meeting, and this time he had shown up at dawn under the pretext of teaching her swordsmanship only to mock her.
Unsure how to respond, Chloe rolled her eyes awkwardly, and Shuel continued in the same gentle tone.
“The head chef of the Imperial Palace plans to retire due to a chronic illness. I’d like to recommend either you or someone from your family to take charge of the imperial meals.”
“What?”
Being entrusted with the Imperial Family’s meals?
Without question, this was a far better offer than Cloud’s proposal.
‘This is perfect!’
She could promote flatfish as a luxury ingredient without rumors spreading about her becoming engaged to Cloud.
Still, the retirement of a single chef wasn’t something that should require a prince to visit a ducal house in person.
Perhaps noticing her confusion, Shuel added in a warm voice,
“You said something like that before, didn’t you? That if it hadn’t been for me, you would have needed much longer to prove your talent.”
Then he met her gaze directly with his shining golden eyes and said,
“Everyone else is too busy watching the Empress’s reactions. It’s difficult for me to keep trustworthy people around me.”
In other words, he wanted her to become one of his closest allies while providing meals.
There was absolutely no reason to refuse.
‘What I was worried about was Shuel treating me like a villainess, just like in the original story… Maybe becoming one of his closest confidants is actually better than keeping an awkward distance!’
But before anything else, she needed to tell him about Cloud’s proposal.
After a moment of hesitation, Chloe explained that she had served monster cuisine to Cloud, that she intended to continue cooking with monster ingredients, and that she wanted to popularize those ingredients.
‘It would be a problem if I fed a royal monster meat without informing him and ended up accused of insulting the imperial family.’
“So some of the dishes I make from now on will use monster ingredients. Wouldn’t that be difficult for you to accept?”
Unlike with Cloud, she spoke more cautiously.
Chloe wanted to maintain as smooth a relationship as possible with the future male protagonist—someone who might eventually kill her.
The revelation seemed unexpected even to Shuel. Tilting his head, he asked,
“Monster ingredients?”
He repeated the word, appearing to consider it for a moment before finally speaking.
“But your judgment can’t possibly be wrong, Lady Chloe. Take your time preparing it.”
As Shuel looked at her with a smile as warm as sunlight, Chloe responded with an equally bright smile.
“Yes! I won’t disappoint you.”
