The Cooking Princess - Chapter 39

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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 39

 

Before Grania Garnet, Count could even protect Chloe, the sword had already been drawn from her scabbard.

 

And.

 

Slash,

 

With the sound, a large chicken fell in one strike. Grania Garnet, Count praised her with a surprised expression at Chloe’s swordsmanship.

 

“You seem to have talent in swordsmanship, taking after me. Impressive.”

 

Even though it was said to be a weak type, it was still a monster of considerable size.

 

Ordinary young ladies Chloe’s age wouldn’t have been able to cut down that large flightless bird with a single sword strike.

 

Eshir also admired the cleanly cut cross-section.

 

“Wow. This is really ridiculous. You have talent in even the most useless things.”

 

At Eshir’s words that could be either an insult or praise, Chloe glared at Eshir for a moment before answering.

 

“Why does that sound like an insult?”

 

“It’s obviously a compliment.”

 

After cutting down one, the other chickens were making a racket, so Grania Garnet, Count protected Pierre while Chloe and Eshir began excitedly capturing the chickens.

 

After some time passed, Chloe finally succeeded in catching the target number of chickens somehow.

 

With an extremely proud expression, she sorted the dead chickens from the captured ones, then borrowed Eshir’s magic to return to the Northern Mansion.

 

As soon as they returned, Chloe rolled up her sleeves with sparkling eyes.

 

“You must all be hungry from catching them, right? I’ll make something delicious for you. No refusals needed, I’ll just accept your gratitude!”

 

With those words, Chloe took two chickens larger than herself with the help of the head chef and immediately shut herself in the kitchen.

 

Unlike the typical sized chickens distributed in the 21st century, these chickens were truly enormous, worthy of being called monsters. Preparing them was no ordinary task, but Chloe managed it somehow by taking her time bit by bit.

 

She cleaned the prepared and chopped chicken pieces with salt water to remove any gamey smell.

 

Then she made cuts and seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper before rolling it in breadcrumbs she had prepared beforehand.

 

And if she just put it in plenty of oil and fried it!

 

As the oil smell spread, the expressions of the three people excluding Chloe became subtle at that smell which couldn’t exactly be called pleasant.

 

‘Just wait a little, this is really delicious.’

 

She wanted to make spicy chicken stew to show them a fiery hot taste, but she’d save that for after finding peppers. Chloe sweated profusely as she diligently fried the chicken.

 

Looking at the chicken properly coated in batter, Chloe first tasted a bite herself with a proud expression.

 

‘It’s delicious!’

 

It wasn’t just delicious – it was moving.

 

She had regained her past life memories and was finally able to eat chicken again!

 

Feeling the rushing emotion, Chloe diligently fried the chicken and served the fried chicken on various plates.

 

The three who had been frowning at the strange oil smell coming from the kitchen looked momentarily dazed seeing the chicken come out coated in batter.

 

“Please eat!”

 

“How do we eat this? Do we peel off this yellow stuff?”

 

Only then did Chloe realize her mistake.

 

“I’ll demonstrate by eating first.”

 

The chicken was so large that even just the drumsticks filled the entire table. Being the most delicious part, no additional explanation was needed.

 

Chloe picked up a small fried piece with her fork, brought it to her mouth, blew on it and ate it. The crispy sound of the batter breaking was pleasant to hear.

 

The Count, as if entranced, was the first to follow Chloe and take a bite of chicken.

 

“This taste is…!”

 

Ignoring the Count’s unusual expression, Eshir bit into the chicken with an indifferent face.

 

“How delicious could it possibly be, oh.”

 

Eshir let out a brief exclamation then fell silent for a moment.

 

“Something that looks so strange tastes this good? That doesn’t make sense.”

 

He seemed incredulous that this large chicken, far more unusual than the flat-faced fish, could produce such flavor.

 

After that, Eshir became quiet. He was too busy frantically using his fork to have time to chatter.

 

Pierre, who had been carefully observing her actions, also hesitated a bit before putting a piece in his mouth, then opened his eyes wide in admiration at the crispy texture of the chicken.

 

“It’s really, really delicious, Duchess!”

 

Pierre’s cheeks flushed red.

 

Indeed, thinking that while Chloe might be a bit willful, her abilities were remarkable, he too began to savor the chicken.

 

They focused solely on the food and really diligently devoured the chicken.

 

It was a sight rarely seen in the Luzhiere Empire where food was tasteless.

 

The Count, perhaps a bit embarrassed about frantically devouring chicken, cleared his throat and praised Chloe.

 

“To create such flavor with ingredients no one else uses – truly remarkable.”

 

While Chloe’s actions had been surprising not just this time, it was true that no matter how many times he experienced it, it remained amazing, so the Count didn’t spare his praise.

 

“Truly remarkable.”

 

To the Count who kept repeating how remarkable it was in admiration, Chloe smiled brightly and answered.

 

“Thank you! Chicken can be cooked in ways other than frying, so we’ll be able to eat a lot more in the future.”

 

Chloe quickly organized in her mind the dishes that could be made with chicken besides fried chicken.

 

Spicy chicken stew, whole roasted chicken, chicken porridge, spicy chicken ribs, chicken skewers, and so on.

 

‘How long has it been since I ate, and my mouth is watering again.’

 

***

 

After returning from their trip to find chickens, Chloe and the people of the Garnet Estate tasted various chicken dishes until they were sick of them.

 

Chloe marveled at the size of the eggs the chickens laid.

 

‘Wow, since the chickens are this big, the eggs are like bowls too.’

 

While not as big as the ostrich eggs she had only seen in videos in her past life, these eggs were impressively large too.

 

‘If I crack one, I can make a huge fried egg. It’s cost-effective. Really great!’

 

Thinking that far, she rolled her eyes and had another thought.

 

‘I’d like to try some spicily seasoned chicken too.’

 

Eating only chicken without red pepper powder was starting to get greasy.

 

Chloe’s longing for the crop called peppers grew stronger and stronger, and she continued searching for crops similar to peppers.

 

But like with the chickens, people didn’t readily tell her where peppers might be hiding either.

 

One day while she was spending her time gloomily raising chickens.

 

Seeing that the eyes of the maid who served Chloe most closely were particularly red, Chloe asked.

 

“Did you cry? Are you okay?”

 

The maid’s eyes widened, not expecting her master to ask such a question.

 

“I didn’t cry. I’m fine.”

 

“But your eyes are red. I’m sorry if I upset you by asking carelessly.”

 

When the young Duchess apologized so naturally, the maid was startled and waved her hands.

 

“Not at all! Rather, I’m truly grateful that you’re concerned about me. It’s just that I harvested crops we grow at home to chase away bugs today, and my eyes hurt too much from that.”

 

But as Chloe remembered, the maid’s face hadn’t been bright for days, so she asked again.

 

“Your face has been dark for several days.”

 

“Ah…”

 

At Chloe’s words, the maid’s complexion darkened further.

 

“It’s okay. It’s just the two of us here anyway, so you can just tell me.”

 

Since indeed only she was attending to Chloe right now, the maid hesitated for a moment before answering.

 

“I have a sick younger sibling, but we don’t have enough money for treatment. But I won’t ask you for help, Duchess.”

 

Having been preempted before she could even offer to lend money, Chloe asked back.

 

“Why? I can lend you that kind of money. They need to get better quickly.”

 

The maid was surprised by the words that came without any hesitation, her eyes widening briefly before answering like this.

 

“You’re like a younger sibling to me, Duchess.”

 

So?

 

The maid looked gently at Chloe’s puzzled green eyes and continued.

 

“No matter how much money you have, I don’t want to carelessly borrow money from a young Duchess.”

 

At those words, Chloe’s eyes widened slightly.

 

‘Father must have thoroughly evaluated her character since she’s someone to be attached to me as a close aide.’

 

Indeed, it was rare to find someone who could maintain their principles without begging for help even when their family’s situation was urgent.

 

So Chloe came up with a scheme.

 

‘If her eyes got irritated from harvesting crops, that must mean they’re spicy crops.’

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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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