The Cooking Princess - Chapter 17

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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 17

In the Duke’s eyes, Chloe now looked like a newborn baby about to pick up an earthworm from the ground and devour it. If only it were an earthworm—but a monster!

“I wanted to stop you when you said you’d eat monsters. But now I have to watch with my own eyes as you eat them raw without even cooking them!”

While Eshir and the Duke were jumping up and down, Chloe remained calm. It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected such an intense reaction.

“Eshir detoxified it, so it should be safe. If the poison is gone, then naturally there shouldn’t be any parasites either, right?”

At the question directed at him, Eshir sighed and answered.

“That may be true, but… why are you trying to eat it raw in the first place? Everyone cooks even regular fish.”

“That’s because those fish taste even worse when not cooked.”

Chloe frowned as she recalled the common fish of this place. Not only were they fishy and unpleasant in taste, but they also had a mushy and dry texture.

Her attempt to slice and eat what was supposedly fresh fish as sashimi had been one of the most horrific experiences spanning both her past and current lives.

‘That was also the moment I resolved anew that I absolutely must find flounder…’

Because Chloe was desperate in her own way, she cheerfully added despite knowing the two were worried.

“I won’t die from eating it thanks to you. I have a feeling it’ll taste good raw!”

Chloe insisted it was just a feeling and put the monster’s flesh in her mouth.

While she spoke confidently in front of the two, Chloe was actually quite nervous inside.

Just because it looked similar didn’t mean it would taste exactly like the flounder she had eaten in her past life.

Moreover, no matter how much it was detoxified by magic, it was still a creature that had poison. She didn’t know how it would taste, and there was even a possibility it could be dangerous.

As the Duke and Eshir watched her with tense eyes, Chloe carefully chewed the flesh.

And then…

Her eyes lit up!

“…It’s delicious!”

It wasn’t just similar in appearance. Rather, being called a monster, it was larger and more menacing than flounder, but the taste was almost identical to the flounder she had eaten in her past life.

Overjoyed, Chloe also cut flesh from other monsters that resembled salmon and tuna. After receiving purification magic from Eshir, the monsters she tasted indeed had flavors similar to the fish from her past life.

To discover not only flounder but also salmon and tuna all at once was certainly a great harvest, but.

“Monsters can actually be eaten? And the food quality is like this?”

Chloe couldn’t hide her displeased expression.

Because she simply couldn’t accept it.

“Are these really monsters in the first place? They couldn’t even resist Eshir’s magic and just flopped around after being caught.”

“There are docile monsters too. Weak ones as well. The monsters you wanted might have coincidentally been that type.”

Hearing her father’s explanation, her suspicion that all animals unfamiliar to humans were being lumped together and persecuted as monsters wouldn’t go away.

‘Maybe they just treat sea fish as monsters because many of them look bizarre, unlike freshwater fish?’

Since this was a world where monsters actually existed, it seemed they regarded animals with unusual appearances not as animals but as docile monsters.

If this were true, it would be nothing short of comedy.

If they had been treating perfectly good fish as monsters and not eating them, it also made sense why the people here hadn’t utilized these delicious ingredients.

Now Chloe had to think about how to cook these ‘delicious’ monsters that people not only didn’t consider food but despised and rejected, so they could be served on people’s tables without resistance.

She took another bite of flounder while muttering with a serious expression.

“Really? They reject something this delicious by calling it a monster?”

It was flounder, no less.

The taste and texture were similar to the flounder from her past life. She couldn’t be certain since she hadn’t properly filleted it yet, but judging by the fish’s size and plump flesh, the yield would probably be similar too.

This meant that fish guaranteed in both taste and cost-effectiveness were scattered all around nearby.

Of course, it wasn’t completely identical to 21st-century flounder.

“It might have poison lethal to humans, but it’s delicious anyway.”

At Chloe’s words, Eshir replied in a truly exasperated tone.

“Princess, I think you just explained with your own mouth all the reasons why people don’t use monsters as ingredients.”

Chloe completely ignored Eshir’s exasperated retort and once again without warning…

“Open your mouth, fish coming in!”

She shoved the monster into his mouth.

Eshir’s delicate brow furrowed, and his pretty face became tremendously fierce.

“Ugh, no, this crazy princess is now shoving monsters into my mouth, mmph.”

Forced to eat the monster, Eshir had a momentarily enlightened expression.

“A monster raw in my mouth… Ha. This is annoyingly delicious.”

At those words, Chloe’s eyes sparkled as she said.

“Right? Right! Totally delicious, isn’t it?”

“Yes, well. I don’t want to admit it, but.”

His expression clearly showed the question ‘Why the hell is this thing delicious?’ but he did say it was delicious anyway.

At least this picky apprentice mage had similar taste to Chloe!

He avoided Chloe’s burdensome sparkling gaze attack and casually spoke.

“That said, you can’t go around shoving monsters into other people’s mouths. If you did that in high society, you’d be straight onto the blacklist.”

Though he grumbled, he still watched Chloe’s reaction. He seemed to be careful not to upset her.

Just as Chloe was about to open her mouth to retort about that subtle attitude, she suddenly realized something.

‘Wait, hold on.’

Eshir had just tolerated Chloe suddenly shoving what was essentially a cockroach into his mouth, to put it in perspective.

Of course, the monster position in this world wasn’t really cockroach-level.

But both monsters and cockroaches had terrible reputations, and in that ordinary people found monsters disgusting, they were somewhat similar.

‘Now that I list it out, I’m totally like an abusive boss, aren’t I?’

Suddenly feeling in her heart why Eshir was so rude, Chloe made a deep resolution.

To triple Eshir’s salary.

Since ancient times, the best treatment was said to be financial treatment. And Chloe’s ducal family had plenty of money.

‘It would be troublesome if he ran away saying he couldn’t do it.’

Moreover, Eshir seemed to have mild mysophobia, often reluctant to have physical contact with others.

In such a situation, for an abusive boss to drag him to a remote place, force him to touch cockroaches, and even shove them in his mouth, yet he was speaking relatively nicely…

‘The brat. Even though his attitude is grumpy, he’s surprisingly very kind.’

From that, Chloe developed just a little bit of fondness for Eshir.

Eshir flinched when Chloe’s gaze toward him suddenly became gentle, but he didn’t stop what he was saying.

“Anyway, don’t put things in my mouth. It feels unpleasant.”

Chloe cheerfully nodded and obediently apologized to Eshir.

“Yeah, sorry! But it tasted good, right? I specially gave you a delicious part.”

Eshir glared at her as if incredulous at those words, but Chloe was confident.

What she had put in Eshir’s mouth was none other than engawa, the fin part of the flounder.

True to being a part that was considered precious and delicious in any country in her past life, it seemed to suit Eshir’s taste as well, and he didn’t particularly object to Chloe’s words.

At that, Chloe excitedly pulled out the seasoning she had secretly hidden in her pocket, her eyes shining.

“Look! It tastes even better when eaten with this!”

What she brought out was none other than ‘carpaccio sauce.’

‘Sashimi should be eaten with soy sauce and wasabi, or dipped in vinegar sauce for the best taste, but…’

To make fermented sauces, she would have to start with fermenting soybean paste. Fortunately, she had found beans similar to soybeans in this place, but fermenting soybean paste and making fermented sauces, which Chloe had never done even in her past life, was still a big challenge.

‘I definitely have to make that too.’

But for now, she had to utilize available ingredients, so she had prepared carpaccio sauce in advance using ingredients that could be obtained in this place.

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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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