Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 35

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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 35
* * *
Shulkan stepped into the bedroom after finishing his bath.
For some reason, Loreliana’s breakfast spread from the first-floor dining room had been carried up to his chamber in its entirety.
Several new dishes had appeared as well, each one a meat preparation Shulkan favored: lamb roasted slowly on the bone, thick-cut beef seared to a golden brown, stew simmered in rich broth until tender.
Shulkan placed food in his mouth without much thought, then raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Did you hire a new cook?”
He asked the maid standing at his side.
“No, Your Highness. We haven’t taken on any new staff.”
“The taste is quite different.”
“The Grand Duchess changed the feed for the chickens.”
He looked toward Loreliana.
“My lady seems to have talents in everything. Do princesses cultivate such skills?”
“I developed these on my own.”
Loreliana looked at Shulkan and smiled with unmistakable satisfaction, though her pleased expression didn’t last long—he continued to gaze at her face with shameless persistence.
Loreliana soon furrowed her brow and returned to her meal with renewed focus. The slight flicker of her eyebrows suggested she found his observation of her eating uncomfortable.
I should look away.
That was what I meant to do, but—
Shulkan continued to observe Loreliana’s face with quiet attention.
To be honest, it wasn’t merely her striking appearance that captivated people’s gaze with her every gesture and movement.
A fish is beautiful in water, a bird is beautiful in the sky.
Yet Loreliana was beautiful in countless places.
Among all the things in this world deemed beautiful, she was singularly so.
Even the high priestess had been no exception.
Surrounded by sacred radiance with a young priestess at her side, she still lost herself countless times in Loreliana’s presence.
Indeed.
It was harder to see that platinum hair as anything other than a blessing from the divine.
Each strand caught the light, and even at rest it shimmered with a subtle, flowing luminescence.
Tap.
As Shulkan’s distant gaze snapped back into focus, Loreliana rose from her seat.
She picked up the serving tongs and placed a generous piece of meat on his plate.
It was seared on the outside to seal in the juices, and even a light touch of the knife would release clear liquid from its pink interior.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Then she heaped on softly mashed potatoes, fragrant gravy sauce, and a generous tangle of pasta dressed in cheese.
By any measure, it was an abnormally generous portion.
Shulkan rested one cheek on the back of his hand, while his other hand held the fork, tapping it lightly against his fingertips.
“Did you fill my plate completely? How generous of you.”
“Children need to eat well to grow tall, after all.”
Loreliana wiped her fingertips with a damp cloth and smiled with perfect composure.
“So please eat plenty, Your Highness.”
With that, she paid him no further mind and continued her own meal with graceful poise.
Shulkan watched Loreliana for a moment, then lowered his head to look at his plate.
At the sight of the food she had piled high, he felt laughter welling up unbidden.
Shulkan ate every last bite without leaving anything behind.
It was the meal he’d most enjoyed since arriving at Gonet Castle.
* * *
“Grand Duchess, His Highness says you should dine early this evening.”
“Understood.”
I glanced to the side and asked, “Has something come up?”
“Has there been some trouble?”
The maid smiled wryly.
“The usual sort of thing. Creditors have arrived.”
“They didn’t show their faces once while I was away?”
I straightened my posture and spoke with haughty composure.
“It seems I’m a more frightening presence than the Grand Duke himself.”
“Indeed you are!”
I finished my meal exchanging light banter with the maids, then bathed and retired to my bedroom.
“Has Ratku gone to the Spirit Realm already?”
There had been one just this afternoon.
Ratku’s comings and goings from the Spirit Realm followed no set schedule.
Yet the time he spent with me far outweighed any absence.
‘Hmm.’
A question occurred to me.
Could I use the Reproduction Command even when Ratku wasn’t here?
I decided to test it, opening my mouth experimentally.
“Ratku? Ratku?”
Still in the Spirit Realm, it seemed.
I rose from the bed and turned my gaze to the flower pot sitting directly beside it—a simple arrangement holding a few white dahlias.
I fixed my attention on the pot and quietly invoked the Reproduction Command.
“Wow.”
The white dahlia, its petals layered like a lotus blossom, suddenly burst into sumptuous bloom.
Each petal seemed to push open in succession, and the flower head that had fit in my palm swelled to twice its size before my eyes.
‘So I don’t need Ratku?’
The white bloom stood out luminous against the dim bedroom, alone and radiant.
After touching the petals, I stood and walked to the window, easing it open a crack.
Since candles cost money, Gonet Castle fell into absolute darkness once night fell—save for a handful of lit spaces.
Which meant, conversely, that any light burning stood out with striking clarity.
“Still in conference, I see.”
I leaned my chin on my hand and looked down.
The creditors, rushing to greet their lord the moment he returned home.
The sight struck me as truly pathetic.
I began revising my plans in my head.
“Chicks first, then hens…. Though I still don’t know how much money eggs will bring in….”
If I poured the Reproduction Command into hatching eggs in three seconds, raised chicks to maturity in one minute, and made hens lay five thousand eggs at once.
‘I’d be wealthy in an instant….’
It was a fantasy.
Doing that would drain me of all strength and kill me in a day, no question.
‘But this won’t do either.’
Money, it was said, came far more abundantly from secondary processing than primary goods.
Three sweet mangoes sold for ten thousand won—but turn those same mangoes into shaved ice and you could sell it for two hundred thousand.
There was some exaggeration in that, but the point stood: cooked food vastly outpriced raw produce.
Fortunately, I had something I could rely on.
‘Thank goodness I spent all day watching those Return to Farming and cooking videos.’
Lying bedridden, unable to cook anything myself, I’d spent countless hours watching food boiling, browning, and rising on the screen.
Of course, there was a world of difference between seeing something and doing it with your own hands, but still.
My mind held layer upon layer of culinary secrets that had captivated modern humanity’s palate.
Moreover, eggs from hens raised on the Reproduction Command had an exceptional flavor; if all these elements combined, what an extraordinary cheat code that would be?
‘Of course, I can’t sell cooked food right now.’
To serve dishes worthy of nobility, I’d need to purchase a large building, and such places were ruinously expensive.
In my current state, I couldn’t afford to buy—let alone rent—anything.
So for now….
‘What if I made some food to boost the work efficiency of those around me?’

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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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