The Cooking Princess - Chapter 32

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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 32

Peaceful days followed after that.

Shuel regularly visited the Garnet Estate to build his friendship with Chloe, and even protected her from various rumors.

No matter how great the Empress’s influence was, the will of Shuel, the legitimate prince, took priority.

‘It was strange that the Empress could scold the Prince so freely before.’

This was how it should have been originally.

Thinking this, Chloe relaxed a little, but not long after…

All sorts of malicious rumors began circulating around Chloe.

There were many of them.

Really many.

Most of them said that Princess Chloe didn’t know her place and was very arrogant, finding fault with how she had been secluding herself, only cooking or taking swordsmanship lessons.

Chloe felt a bit wronged. She was getting along well with her (only two) friends, Lady Peppermint and Lady Sherbet!

Most importantly, she hadn’t even properly had her debutante ball yet, so what kind of nonsense was this?

Her mother, who learned of the rumors first, tried to step forward despite her poor health, but Chloe stopped her.

“Why are you stopping me! We need to take action right now.”

“The Empress is behind this. And the Empress is thoroughly angry that her son was forcibly sent to the front lines.”

The Duchess, with her weak constitution, had little power in high society.

In high society, status was important of course, but one needed to wield real power through relationships with people to exert influence.

The Empress, who held the highest position among women while actively engaging in social activities, inevitably had strong influence.

Even if the Duchess had complete control over high society, the Empress would use her position to isolate Chloe somehow.

She would think that her son’s suffering at the front lines was all because of Chloe.

In the end, it would all be for nothing.

Understanding Chloe’s words, the Duchess’s voice lost its strength.

“Still, we can’t just take this lying down.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it well. I’m thinking of a plan. Really.”

She hugged her mother tightly to reassure her, who was still worried about her, then thought.

‘They made the first mistake, yet they’re persistently seeking revenge?’

Chloe’s mind worked busily.

Not long after, Chloe looked at the ‘Empress’s invitation’ that had arrived for her with a sour expression, pondering whether to go or not.

Why was she considering whether to accept the invitation from the Empress who was clearly trying to torment her, instead of holding a tea party at her own home?

‘You can only hold a tea party if people agree to come!’

Because the rumors about Chloe had spread much worse than expected, not only young ladies her age but even mature noblewomen were reluctant to attend Chloe’s parties.

Even Lady Peppermint and Lady Sherbet had sent apologetic letters saying they would ‘find it difficult to meet for a while.’

She couldn’t even feel disappointed. It was obvious that their families were pressuring them not to associate with Chloe.

No one wanted to come to the party of Chloe, who had crossed the formidable Empress.

It was the same when they held simple tea parties, so after the rumors intensified, only one invitation had come for Chloe.

That invitation was from the very Empress who was the culprit behind this situation.

‘There’s only a week left until the party.’

It wasn’t enough time to devise any countermeasures.

To be honest, Chloe didn’t want to go to the House of the Duke’s party.

‘It’s obvious they’re calling me to openly humiliate me.’

But at this rate, Chloe’s reputation in high society would become irreparably damaged.

‘What should I do.’

She had to show her resilience and prove as quickly as possible that the rumors were wrong.

But since people were watching the Empress’s reactions and not inviting Chloe to their parties, there was no way.

Couldn’t the Garnet Family hold a party directly?

‘Who would come to that party? It’s obvious no one would come for fear of being marked by the Empress.’

If they held a party and it became known that only flies attended, the rumors would become uncontrollable.

So even though the scheme was obvious, she had no choice but to consider accepting the House of the Duke’s invitation.

She would have to somehow clear things up there.

‘The Empress wouldn’t have bothered to send an invitation for my benefit.’

She probably planned to gather only nobles hostile to the Garnet Family and pressure Chloe in a place where she had no allies.

Then wouldn’t attending this party only inflate more bad rumors about Chloe?

With such concerns, she couldn’t figure out what to do.

‘I need to have more friends. Having only two friends becomes a problem at times like this.’

When living an ordinary life in 21st century Korea, she could get by without paying much attention to connections, but here it was different.

Having only one or two close friends could put even those friends in danger.

She needed to build broad, shallow relationships to respond to other people’s schemes.

Chloe racked her brains hard, and suddenly her eyes widened at a thought that flashed through her mind.

‘…Ah!’

Shuel, the male protagonist of the original story, wasn’t the only good person.

The female protagonist of the original story was also kind!

Moreover, though she was fake, she was kind-hearted enough to pretend to be a saint, and because of that, she even regressed after dying once.

‘I don’t know if this is before or after Shurya’s regression.’

But if she connected Shurya and Shuel faster than in the ‘original story’!

Chloe could secure the position of the friend who brought their love together.

Fortunately, she was already maintaining a decent relationship with Shuel. She planned to find Shurya first before Shuel and arrange for the two to meet.

‘For that, I need to go to the temple.’

Right now, Shurya had already been established as a fake saint in the temple, but being still young, she was focusing more on helping with internal temple affairs and receiving education rather than external activities.

Many people wanted to meet the saint, but the temple tried to minimize her exposure to outsiders under the pretext of protecting the saint.

‘It’s probably because Shurya is too young to skillfully hide her lack of divine power from outsiders.’

As such, even though she was a high-ranking noble, from the temple’s perspective, Chloe was just an ordinary believer, and not particularly known for deep faith, so it would be difficult for her to meet Shurya immediately upon visiting the temple.

Still, she needed to go to the temple to at least find clues about where she might see Shurya.

In that case, since she was going to the temple anyway, she wanted to solve the problem all at once.

‘Finding Shurya, and resolving my rumors.’

One week until the House of the Duke’s party.

In the meantime, she planned to go to the temple to find at least traces of Shurya and put an end to these false rumors.

Also, the temple was an excellent card to use against the Empress.

Because it was the place within the Empire where it was most difficult for royalty to exert influence.

Of course, the religion itself was internally corrupt and declining due to not producing saints, but since the temple was an area exclusive to priests, neither royalty nor high-ranking nobles could wield power there as they did outside.

‘So at the temple, I should be able to restore my reputation.’

And before visiting the temple, she needed to do some groundwork.

Chloe sent an invitation to Shuel.

The content was that she had ‘prepared delicious food and had something to ask of him, so please visit.’

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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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