The Cooking Princess - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Princess Who Cooks

Episode 10

Chloe barely managed to appease the Empress and came out of the reception room.

‘Finally, I’m free.’

Just as Chloe was thinking this and about to take a step forward,

someone called out to stop her.

“Princess Chloe Garnet?”

“Yes, yes?”

At the sudden call, Chloe turned around with a bewildered expression.

The foreigner who had just been in the Empress’s reception room and the nobleman who served as interpreter were standing behind her.

The nobleman pretended not to notice Chloe’s surprised reaction and smiled warmly.

“It’s nothing major, but your cooking was very impressive, and this Merchant Prince here would like to invite you to dinner.”

“Me?”

“He says he has many things to discuss with the Princess. What do you think?”

“…I’ll go!”

Chloe was dumbfounded. She had been wondering throughout her time in the Empress’s reception room how she could strike up a conversation with that Merchant Prince, and now he was approaching her first.

Moreover, seeing how he followed her out almost immediately after she left, it seemed he had quickly wrapped up his conversation with the Empress to chase after her.

Chloe didn’t miss this golden opportunity and quickly made the appointment.

The conversation with the Merchant Prince was scheduled for dinner that very evening.

Chloe had to return to the Garnet Estate, and the Merchant Prince was busy every day during his diplomatic mission.

“This is Mayer from the Conpa Kingdom of the Southern Continent. He’s the Merchant Prince of the Panna Trading Company, the largest trading company in the Conpa Kingdom.”

The nobleman who came as interpreter was Count Blair, who despite his young age treated Chloe, the Duke’s heir, with proper respect.

He had shown exceptional talent for languages from a young age and could speak several foreign languages fluently, which is why he always served as interpreter when Imperial Court members went abroad or foreign delegations visited.

For such a person to offer to interpret between a Southern Continent Merchant Prince of lower status and rank than himself, and herself, a mere Princess without a title yet.

She didn’t know why he was going this far even without the Empress present, but it was something to be grateful for. Of course, since this was the Imperial Palace, he was probably being attentive to guests who came as a diplomatic mission.

‘If I want to import ingredients from foreign countries in the future, I’ll need someone like this too.’

Chloe realized the importance of studying foreign languages here as well.

“Please tell him I’m grateful.”

While greetings were exchanged, the meal prepared by the Merchant Prince was served.

The food placed before Chloe was quite different from that of the Empire.

“It might seem a bit unfamiliar… I’ve gotten used to it after eating it several times while serving as interpreter, and it tastes very good.”

However, to Chloe’s eyes, it wasn’t that unfamiliar.

‘…It’s rice!’

It wasn’t the sticky rice she mainly ate in Korea, but seemed like rice cooked with long-grain rice, but it was rice nonetheless. The rice that Chloe had so desperately wanted had appeared before her eyes.

She looked over the food on the table with a surprised expression.

Next to the freshly cooked rice with steam rising from it was a brown sauce with a familiar appearance.

‘This is definitely… curry.’

Chloe briefly doubted her eyes, wondering if her desperation for food was so extreme that she was seeing hallucinations.

But her eyes clearly saw large chunks of meat and carrots.

It looked like a strange mix of Indian curry and Korean-style curry rice from her previous life.

‘As expected, being a different continent, their way of cooking is completely different! Curry, no less.’

Chloe first picked up a spoon and took a bite of the curry.

And then fell silent for a moment.

‘Spices…’

The spices were really, truly too strong!

‘This would definitely divide opinions.’

But objectively speaking, it was much better than the truly terrible cuisine of this Luzhiere Empire.

Unlike the Empire that only knew how to grill, they seemed to know how to make sauces.

She gathered a large piece of meat from the curry with rice and took another bite.

Honestly, the meat quality wasn’t much different from the Empire’s. It was dry, tough, and had a strong gamey smell.

But the spice aroma covered all of that.

‘At least it’s somewhat better because they utilize spices.’

Chloe looked over the other food on the table.

Next to the curry was warm bean soup. However, it wasn’t the peas or kidney beans commonly seen in the Empire. They were smaller and somewhat flattened in shape.

‘Is this lentil soup?’

The overall reddish soup had a familiar aroma. Chloe scooped up a spoonful of soup and put it in her mouth.

And as expected, she secretly clenched her fist at the anticipated taste.

‘This is definitely tomato! The taste is completely similar!’

The lentil soup even had the scent of cilantro. It seemed they had garnished the soup with cilantro.

After figuring that out and being moved alone, Chloe called out to Count Blair.

“Really, it’s so delicious!”

When Chloe brightened up and welcomed the food, the Merchant Prince also spoke to Chloe with a pleased expression.

“He asks me to tell you that he’s happy the young lady is enjoying the food.”

Count Blair was busy interpreting between the two.

As the conversation continued, she could roughly understand the food culture of the Southern Continent.

“This sauce called curry is eaten with rice like this, and though it’s not on the table today, it’s also eaten on thin bread.”

“What’s the name of that bread?”

“It’s called ‘naan.'”

It seemed to be based on Indian cuisine but not completely Indian, roughly influenced by South Asian culture. Though not exactly.

“Could I know what this red thing in the soup is? And besides this, I’d like recommendations for Southern Continent spices from the Merchant Prince.”

Cilantro, cinnamon, cloves, lentils, and even tomatoes.

From the circumstances, it seemed the Southern Continent produced many spices and ‘unusual’ things that didn’t grow in the Luzhiere Empire. It would look strange if young Chloe showed she knew the names of such spices, so she appropriately mumbled her words while waiting for Count Blair’s interpretation with an excited face.

When Count Blair interpreted something, the Merchant Prince’s expression changed.

He explained something to Count Blair with a somewhat softened face.

“He says the Princess is the first person from the Luzhiere Empire to show interest in spices, and he hopes to have a deeper conversation.”

Hearing that, Chloe’s complexion brightened considerably.

Count Blair carefully conveyed the Merchant Prince’s words.

“And the red food the Princess inquired about is called tomato, which is a precious ingredient imported from the Eastern Continent. The Merchant Prince seems impressed by your eye for recognizing precious ingredients at once.”

At those words, Chloe’s face lit up with joy.

‘Then with this opportunity, it would be great if I could get spices and rice from the Southern Continent, and maybe even connect with the Eastern Continent!’

Though not certain, the Merchant Prince also seemed thoroughly fed up with the tasteless food of this Luzhiere Empire.

If he had come all the way to this distant foreign country, he might have tried the local food, but the fact that he deliberately brought all sorts of ingredients and spices to cook his homeland’s food made it obvious.

‘It’s probably like Koreans bringing cup noodles and gochujang when going abroad.’

The food from the Southern Continent’s Conpa Kingdom had such strong spice-specific aromas overall that it would divide opinions for first-time eaters.

So people from the Luzhiere Empire weren’t very interested in Conpa Kingdom’s food culture, and there were even fewer people interested in spices.

‘Still, it’s much better than our country that only has salt-grilled food.’

After recalling memories and tastes from her previous life, Chloe no longer wanted to eat dry meat, fish, and grilled potatoes without any accompanying sauce. She desperately wanted flavorful sauces and fresh vegetables. Grilled potatoes shouldn’t count as vegetables.

So she asked directly.

“Would the Merchant Prince perhaps be interested in maintaining a personal relationship with me? Not family or national-level trade, but just light transactions with me personally.”

After saying that, Chloe took a deep breath. From now on was important.

It had to appear as just a hobby of an individual Princess. Formal trade with foreign countries was basically monopolized by the Imperial Court, and noble families needed Imperial permission to proceed.

If it appeared to be formal trade, it could be treated as overstepping authority that challenged Imperial power.

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