The Cooking Princess - Chapter 44

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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 44

Chloe was currently in a very good mood.

The reason was nothing special. Her cooking, which had been a cottage industry until now, had expanded and was no longer a cottage industry.

‘Of course, the scope expanded when I made deals with the Magic Tower, but in the end, I was the only one discovering ingredients and running around on foot.’

But now she could automate that process.

As expected from people who worked in the kitchen, the maids and chef really worked hard to learn Chloe’s cooking methods and followed along well.

‘Now I can finally eat food that others have made for me. At last!’

Previously, she had to handle everything directly to establish the framework, but now there would be less need for that.

Emily took meticulous notes on whatever Chloe said and showed tremendous determination to somehow follow her teachings.

And Chef Russo had more talent and dedication for cooking than expected, and he knew drying methods and preservation techniques that Chloe wasn’t familiar with, which was helpful.

‘If I just develop pig breeds, can I now aim for things like jamón (*premium ham made from raw pork)? I’m so excited.’

Chloe shed tears of emotion inwardly as she savored the current situation.

Now her cooking was approaching semi-automation.

Since she thought they needed someone to process and transport the chickens they were raising on a small scale near the manor, she also posted job openings.

It might seem daunting if they didn’t know the methods for processing and transportation, but Chloe knew those methods, so now she just needed to find people who would learn and work.

People were happy to get jobs, and Chloe was truly satisfied with the current situation where high-quality ingredients were supplied infinitely without her having to do anything.

‘This is it. This is right.’

Though she might not have worldwide influence, Chloe was very moved just by the fact that garbage-tasting food no longer appeared on the Garnet Family’s dining table.

And surprisingly, commoners brought unusual and delicious ingredients better than noble connections. Chloe’s efforts to treat those around her kindly were paying off.

Not long after winning over Gardener John, he brought another ingredient to Chloe on his own!

“Miss, I brought this because the plant seemed to have an unusual fragrance.”

Chloe immediately smelled the plant. And she realized.

‘This is a green onion!’

Chloe’s eyes sparkled brightly.

The gardener had expertise with plants, so he seemed to have quickly realized that Chloe’s heart responded to plants that were ‘unusual’ by his standards.

Since it was an early form of green onion, its size wasn’t very large, so it would need some improvement, but still, this was something.

Looking at the situation, it seemed that green onions, like peppers, were only used to repel insects with their pungent scent, and no one used them for food.

People who only knew high-class cuisine didn’t pay much attention to the basic cooking ingredients.

A few rare types of spices were definitely difficult to cultivate and expensive, so they could be obtained from the Merchant Guild,

And items infused with magic could be brought from the Magic Tower where she had already established trade!

For undiscovered ingredients, she could offer bounties, get help from gardeners to obtain them, and pay compensation!

‘This is it. This is right. This is exactly it!’

Feeling like she was finally getting compensation for all the harassment from Claude and the Empress, Chloe became very happy.

“Thank you so much. I wasn’t wrong about you! I’ll definitely cook this plant deliciously.”

Gardener John’s face, which had been tense while waiting for Chloe’s reaction, finally relaxed.

“I’m happy to be of help to you, Miss.”

***

Even though auto-farming was possible, she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

The next day, Chloe pestered her father and decided to tour the unused parts of the Garnet Family’s estate.

Thinking there might be something useful, Chloe looked around every corner and spent a lot of time touring all the land of the vast Garnet Estate.

And the conclusion she reached was.

‘Hmm… Either there are monsters, or the land is too deep in the mountains.’

Among these, taking away monster habitats wouldn’t work. Because monsters were highly likely to be delicious.

Developing mountainous regions required a lot of time and money.

‘Thinking about it that way, that’s probably why the Garnet Estate just left them idle. The estate is basically large, so there’s no need to develop such remote areas.’

But aside from being high mountains, these lands had excellent soil fertility and were good lands in many ways.

There were trees scattered around, so it didn’t seem necessary to uproot trees.

Thinking it would be a waste to leave clearing-like places completely idle, Chloe found a method.

‘Ah. Highland farming!’

Leveling the land was successful by paying a lot of money and mobilizing several mages.

‘If I made Eshir do this kind of thing too, he’d find it annoying.’

And Chloe selected commoners who would live in dormitories in the mountainous region.

Since there were already poor people living difficultly by harvesting mountain crops, they competitively volunteered.

She had them plant large quantities of the deliciously improved potatoes in the mountainous region.

‘If the improved potatoes spread widely, the tasteless potatoes will disappear now, right?’

Since demand couldn’t keep up with supply for potato farming only on flat land other than mountainous regions, Chloe chose to develop even mountainous areas for highland potato farming.

And she eagerly anticipated the day when meals wouldn’t taste like dirt.

‘Ah~ How satisfying!’

Since she couldn’t handle the demand for sea fish alone, Chloe decided to automate that too.

She made time to teach commoners how to process fish, manage them, and preservation techniques.

As a result of Chloe diligently automating her achievements.

More people moved to the Garnet Estate, which was already a fertile and wealthy territory.

Grania Garnet, Count was very proud of his daughter for the achievements she made at only twelve years old.

She was happy that things went well, but felt even more relieved that there was no interference from Claude and the Empress.

After sending Claude away and going to the Imperial Palace, there really was no other paradise like this!

Chloe hummed a tune as she headed to the Imperial Palace the day right after teaching farming methods.

‘This is it. This is right. Nobody should give me more attention than necessary.’

With the excessive attention from Claude, the original villain, gone, it couldn’t be more comfortable.

Of course, there were always those who approached favorably after receiving evaluations that Chloe was a genius and devoted herself wholeheartedly to volunteer work, but none of them behaved as rudely as Claude or the Empress.

Everyone greeted her warmly, and Suel’s face at the Imperial Palace also looked much more comfortable.

‘I’m really glad the Empress isn’t just playing around.’

In the current situation where the Empress was dead, the Empress acted as regent.

As she had tremendous power, she also had duties.

So unlike Claude, she encountered her less, and that alone was heaven.

Chloe served chicken and pumpkin porridge to Suel with a light heart.

Suel, who opened his eyes wide and didn’t spare praise as soon as he took a bite of chicken, asked very happily after eating pumpkin porridge as a palate cleanser.

“So the Duchess has no thoughts of engagement right now?”

At those words, Chloe tilted her head and asked back.

“You mean engagement?”

“Yes. I heard that marriage proposals are pouring in for the Duchess.”

Though she wondered why Suel was curious about her engagement, Chloe didn’t think much of it.

‘He might be a bit curious about a friend’s future.’

So Chloe answered Suel with utmost honesty.

“I’m too busy right now to think about it much. If I’m going to inherit the count title, I should choose from men from families more humble than mine… I think it won’t be too late to choose after doing a bit more work.”

Perhaps it was her imagination, but as soon as Suel heard Chloe’s words, his complexion became poor.

He remained silent for a long while before finally opening his mouth to respond to her words.

“…I see. So you’re thinking of marrying a man from a family more humble than yours, Duchess.”

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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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