The Cooking Princess - Chapter 25

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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 25

When Chloe accepted his proposal, Shuel smiled like a flower and rejoiced.

After sending him back to the Imperial Palace in his joy, Chloe opened the gift bundle the Prince had given her.

“It’s a rabbit doll.”

It was a fluffy, large, white rabbit doll that girls Chloe’s age would love.

After hugging it tightly once, Chloe soon fell into deep thought.

Since she had accepted Shuel’s proposal to ‘take charge of the Imperial Palace’s meals,’ she had to reject Claude’s proposal.

“Ugh…”

The problem was she wasn’t sure how the sub-male lead with his ruined personality would react.

But since there was no other choice, Chloe first conveyed this news to her parents.

Indeed, her parents looked proud that Chloe would be responsible for the Imperial Palace’s meals.

But they showed reluctance when she mentioned ‘rejecting Cloud, Duke’s proposal.’

“What should we do?”

However, the Garnet Count couple had no clever solution either.

They sent a letter rejecting Claude’s proposal as politely as possible,

and the very next day, a letter came from the Empress.

It was an order to come to the Imperial Palace immediately.

Upon confirming that letter, the Duchess’s complexion turned deathly pale.

“Th-then… Honey. What about our daughter?”

Worried about his daughter’s safety, Garnet, Count requested an audience several times but was firmly rejected.

The Empress persistently rejected Garnet, Count’s audience requests and summoned only Chloe to the Imperial Palace.

‘Wow. How petty.’

To pressure a young child so blatantly like this.

But all young Chloe, with her relatively low status, could do was obey.

“I’ll go.”

“Chloe! Don’t talk nonsense.”

“There’s no way to refuse. I’ll be fine.”

Her caring parents tried everything to avoid sending Chloe to the current Imperial Palace, which was no different from a tiger’s den.

‘Is there any choice but to go?’

And since it was Chloe who had rejected Claude’s proposal, she was the only one who could resolve this situation.

***

Chloe walked with heavy steps toward the Imperial Palace, and without even meeting the Empress, she encountered Cloud, Duke with a stern face in the Imperial Palace garden.

“I greet Cloud, Duke Your Grace—”

“Hey.”

With a cold expression, Claude approached Chloe before she could finish speaking and whispered.

“Try saying once more that I shouldn’t treat you carelessly since you came as Her Majesty the Empress’s guest this time too?”

Claude’s sarcasm made Chloe’s head spin.

‘I can’t use the same excuse as before. The Duke and the Empress called me here with the intention of tormenting me.’

Even knowing their intention to torment her, she couldn’t recklessly talk back.

In the original work, 【The Fake Saint Wants to Live】, the female protagonist Shurya had the position of saint, so Claude couldn’t dare treat her carelessly.

‘I seem to be completely easy prey right now.’

Even knowing she would be bullied, she couldn’t accept an engagement with Claude.

In the not-so-distant future, Claude would be unable to accept Shuel, the male protagonist, being crowned as Crown Prince and would start a rebellion, only to be suppressed and executed.

Knowing such a future clearly, how could she meekly accept an engagement?

‘Since it’s come to this, should I just make him completely dislike me? So he won’t even consider me as a fiancée candidate?’

When Claude tried to grab Chloe’s chin as she was trying to organize her thoughts, Chloe quickly created distance and avoided Claude’s touch.

“Avoiding me? You reject my proposal, accept the Prince’s proposal completely, and now you’re avoiding this?”

“Yes. I avoided it, didn’t I?”

At Chloe’s unfiltered words, Claude made a face as if to say ‘is she crazy?’

At that expression, Chloe smiled sweetly and spoke as if it were a mistake.

“Oh my. I unconsciously spoke to myself, I’m truly so sorry.”

Anyway, they were just as desperate as she was.

The Empress wanting to make Chloe Claude’s fiancée was

to give Claude, whose legitimacy was relatively weak, a strong ally in the powerful Garnet Family.

There was absolutely no need for her to unilaterally bow down and give in.

Even if there were reasons to do so, she didn’t want to grovel anymore to someone whose execution was confirmed in the original due to his terrible personality.

“Your Grace suddenly got too close to me, and frail me was so startled.”

At Chloe’s innocent answer, Claude snorted as if incredulous.

“Hey. You’re quite shameless? You must have something else to rely on.”

After saying that, he added with an openly mocking tone.

“Are you trusting that powerless Prince who’s only a Prince in name?”

In fact, it was absurd for Claude, a bastard, to openly insult Shuel, the Empress’s son.

‘If the Imperial Palace is this chaotic, shouldn’t I be allowed to live a bit chaotically too? Of course not, right?’

While thinking this, she was maintaining distance, not knowing what to do in case it became a problem, when

“What’s this commotion?”

The Prince with a somehow chilly voice appeared right behind Chloe.

She was startled by Shuel’s silent appearance and hurriedly bowed her head.

“Y-Your Highness the Prince, I greet you…”

“No need for formalities. There was a loud noise here, what’s going on?”

For now, the only lifeline she could grab here was the Prince.

“Th-there was a disagreement with Cloud, Duke Your Grace. I’m truly sorry.”

At Chloe’s honest words, Claude snorted and sneered.

“She immediately runs to tattle, what do you think that Prince can do for you?”

Whether Shuel could actually do anything or not, it was important to gain even one ally where there were none, so Chloe cleanly ignored Claude’s words and looked at Shuel earnestly.

“You raised your voice carelessly in the Imperial Palace over a disagreement? What kind of disagreement was it?”

At those chilly words, Chloe hesitantly confessed the truth.

“Um. I rejected His Grace the Duke’s proposal…”

Then Shuel’s golden eyes wavered, unable to overcome the confusion.

‘He must be shocked that the Imperial Palace’s discipline is more chaotic than he thought.’

In a normal Imperial Palace, they couldn’t detain a subordinate like this in the middle of the Imperial Palace just because a bastard’s proposal was rejected in favor of accepting a Prince’s proposal.

Why? Because when the same proposal comes, naturally the Prince’s command should take priority.

Shuel seemed to think about something for a moment, then commanded Claude.

“The Duke has no reason to be in the Imperial Palace at this time.”

Saying that, Shuel pressed his own forehead as if he had a headache, then continued speaking.

“Return to the Duke’s residence and think about the Imperial Palace’s hierarchy.”

Of course, Claude wouldn’t follow his words.

“Your Highness the Prince cannot send me away arbitrarily. Unfortunately, I came to the Imperial Palace at Her Majesty the Empress’s invitation.”

So it was a notification that he couldn’t take a single step out until he had the Empress’s approval.

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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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