Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 30
* * *
The servants dismissed from the kitchen were frowning deeply.
“What on earth did the Duchess suddenly take a fancy to?”
“Looking at the ingredients, it seems like some kind of pudding……”
“Pudding? What’s that?”
“I’ve only heard about it, but they say it’s the finest dessert you can find only in the capital of the fallen realm of Pasa. It’s supposedly very soft and moist, sweet as honey……”
“Really? Wow, I’d love to taste it!”
“But it’s terribly expensive, and the recipe is incredibly difficult. Pudding chefs are praised as spirits of fire, that’s how skilled they need to be.”
“We’ll never get to try it in our lifetime.”
The servants who worked in the kitchen knew well how demanding fire control was. It wasn’t a technique—it was instinct. It was talent.
And regrettably, this castle no longer had any talented cooks. Such gifted people had left long ago for places that paid better wages.
In truth, the servants had all been delighted today. It was the first time so many wagons of supplies had entered the castle intact.
In the old days, creditors would have seized everything before the gates even closed, leaving nothing behind.
Word had it that they had plenty of fabric and food now, enough that they needn’t worry about getting through the winter at least.
They could chop firewood diligently, and collect far more eggs than before.
The servants of Gonet Castle were very industrious. Whether on rest days or work days, whenever they went out, they always carried baskets on their arms, collecting dandelions wherever they spotted them to bring to the Poultry Yard.
The servants peered at the Duchess through the distant kitchen doorway. At first they watched with concern, but soon found themselves unable to look away.
“She looks absolutely radiant.”
“She really does……”
She was beautiful in a way that defied explanation.
Was it not strange?
Ordinarily, a hearth was merely a tool for cooking, never something beautiful. Thus those who stood before it all looked much the same. Death and life made no difference.
Living or dead, if it was meat, it merely reflected the firelight in ruddy tones.
The only difference between the two was whether the shadows flickered gently with breath or remained still. Nothing more.
But now it was different.
The rough firelight did not look harsh at all. Like the shadow of water, it fell softly across Loreliana’s neat brow and lips.
It was a beauty beyond all description.
Like a sculpture a god had labored a hundred days to carve, then breathed into so reluctantly he could not bear to hide it.
* * *
I returned to my bed on the second floor still unable to wipe away my happy smile.
“Leli. Leli. Ratku doing good?”
Ratku tumbled about at my side, then asked.
“Does Leli want to eat this every single day?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s eat it tomorrow too! Ratku do it every day for you!”
I could almost hear the servants collapsing somewhere below. I laughed quietly and spoke.
“That’s not possible. Sugar and things like that are really expensive. I’ve also set strict limits on how many eggs can be eaten in a day.”
Of course, later I’d be able to eat plenty, but for now I had to tighten my belt. Yet Ratku tilted his head.
“Why?”
“Why, you ask?”
Ratku pressed further.
“Leli not gonna use Reproduction Order?”
“Reproduction Order?”
“Yeah. Use it, plenty grow.”
Having just learned about the power of the Reproduction Order earlier, I asked something else first.
It was a question I was absolutely desperate to know the answer to.
“By the way, Ratku. Why is your name that way?”
“Reproduction Order?”
“Yes. Reproduction Order. Why that name? When I saw it make flowers bloom instantly, it seemed like ‘growth’ would suit it better than ‘reproduction’……. Ah. Did maybe your previous contractor give it that name?”
“No way? Leli named it.”
“Me? When? When did I ever do something like that? I just found out what this is!”
“Well, wasn’t it when Leli was thinking about how to reproduce with Leli’s husband? That word got stamped into my soul, so I got this name……. Oops!”
I clamped my hand over Ratku’s mouth. My pupils shook violently.
“What on earth are you saying!”
Ratku thrashed and squirmed under my palm. Even with my hand covering his mouth, sound leaked through.
“Mmmph! Uh-uh-uh!”
“Ra, Ratku.”
I opened my mouth with a trembling voice.
“You can’t go around saying things like that. Understood? Promise me. Never do it again. Do you understand?”
“Ratku only shows up to Loreliana anyway!”
“Still, what if something goes wrong?”
“What could possibly go wrong?”
“I’m right here!”
I played with Ratku for a while longer, laughing until I grew tired and flopped backward onto the bed.
“Ratku. Can I never change the name ‘Reproduction Order’? No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”
“Can’t change it!”
…….
Ratku bounded around the room, striking the mattress repeatedly with its tail.
“Bweeding order! Bweeding order! Bweeding order!”
Ratku’s pronunciation was a problem too…….
That the word “breeding” was somehow my fault felt deeply unfair.
‘Of course……!’
When Sherkan’s lips met mine, a thought had flashed through my mind.
It wasn’t that I was being scheming. It was just that entering the Imperial Palace after so long had stirred up old knowledge, and my thoughts had somehow wandered in that direction.
Was it my fault? I’d simply received every conceivable education about reproductive techniques to prepare myself to become a concubine!
“Loreliana, Loreliana.”
Ratku rolled across the bed and came to rest precisely on the back of my hand.
“You angry?”
“……No.”
“Ratku sorry?”
“No, you’re not.”
‘It’s not your fault. My own unconscious mind did this.’
I pressed my palm to my forehead.
I was mortified…….
“Ratku.”
“Ratku!”
Ratku answered with a swish of its tail. Faced with such overwhelming cuteness, my heart softened a little despite myself.
I thought through the meaning of Reproduction Order once more.
First: it makes anything reproduce.
Second: it ensures any reproduction succeeds.
Third: you’ll understand once you use it.
That third point bothered me a bit…….
Honestly, the first two abilities seemed absurdly overpowered.
To guarantee successful reproduction every time.
Rare fish that cost a fortune to obtain, difficult plants to cultivate—they’d all grow abundantly, wouldn’t they?
Grow abundantly…….
A memory of a hospital from my past life suddenly surfaced. It was a general hospital with many young patients.
“Isn’t raising sick children to health using the same principle?”
Was that too much of a stretch?
But it seemed worth trying!
“I could become a legendary physician and get rich!”
Was this the moment my story genre shifted to ‘talented doctor’? As I stared with sparkling eyes, Ratku suddenly let out a sharp cry.
“Not that! Not humans!”
“Huh?”
“Haven’t experienced the third yet, so looking like that!”
“……?”
I came to understand Ratku’s meaning all too keenly the very next day.
* * *
Early morning.
Before the Poultry Yard.
I stood quietly, observing the chickens.
My hair was in complete disarray. Ratku had spent the entire night chewing, tugging, and pulling at it relentlessly.
“Let’s go see the chickens!”
“If you go to the poultry yard in the middle of the night, word will spread that the Grand Duchess has lost her mind. You have to go in the morning.”
“Hmph…….”
The moment the sun rose, I hurried down to the Poultry Yard.
I felt oddly nervous about testing Reproduction Order on the chickens.
“The sunlight’s pooling on just the chickens like in a dream sequence. I wonder if people are already gossiping about how favored by spirits I am…….”
As I spoke with growing confidence, Ratku—who had been hanging limply like a baby moments before—suddenly grew serious.
“Ratku is a fool?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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