The Cooking Princess - Chapter 58

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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 58

Among the nobles who heard the news, various speculations circulated in secret: wouldn’t the Imperial Kitchen chef win anyway, what was the point of holding a competition when the Imperial Kitchen chef would have been in charge regardless, perhaps the Empress just wanted to give the chef some kind of medal.

News also came that the competition winner would receive not only the position of food supervisor but also a substantial prize money, but most nobles probably had no intention of participating.

Cooking wasn’t originally the nobles’ domain anyway, and losing would only bring shame.

They had no need for money, and even if the prize money was tempting, it wasn’t worth enduring the humiliating penalty of elimination.

Even nobles who were interested were only considering sending their manor’s cooks instead.

Of course, nobles varied, and there was someone whose participation in this competition was considered a foregone conclusion.

“Won’t Chloe Garnet participate?”

“Of course she will. She has that level of skill and loves cooking herself. Where else would you find such an opportunity?”

“That Young Viscountess might even push the Imperial Kitchen chef out of first place. So it makes sense she’d participate.”

An atmosphere naturally formed where everyone expected Chloe to participate.

“Still, wouldn’t that Young Viscountess be hurt if she loses?”

“Oh, surely not. Prince Shuel loves that Young Viscountess’s food so much, and even His Majesty the Emperor praised it.”

“That’s right, at the last Imperial Palace and Magic Tower agreement ceremony, no one forced her but she made and served food herself, right? She’s truly an amazing Young Viscountess.”

“If that Young Viscountess who loves cooking so much and steps forward to cook everywhere doesn’t win, who would?”

Not only that, but it had reached a point where it would seem strange if Chloe didn’t win.

“This was the Empress’s scheme!”

Chloe, who realized this belatedly, smacked her forehead.

“There’s definitely a predetermined winner, or she’s definitely planning to use some method to make sure I absolutely can’t win.”

The Founding Festival was truly a major event. The ceremony was the highlight of that event.

Being in charge of the food for that ceremony was a great honor, but the risk was equally great.

With so many people paying attention, if she didn’t participate in this competition or didn’t win, there would definitely be gossip.

It wouldn’t just be simple gossip—there was a high possibility that Chloe’s reputation would be damaged.

Since the Empress was going to such lengths to bring Chloe down, if that happened, she would immediately seize the opportunity and do her best to tarnish Chloe’s name.

She made such a fuss about cooking but has no substance, all that talk about delicious food was just hot air, didn’t others help her while the Duchess just took credit, she actually has no skill but the Garnet Family was just showing off and this competition exposed the truth…

There were dozens of predictable scenarios.

Chloe racked her brains trying to figure out how to overcome this crisis.

Shurya had warned her in advance that the Empress was scheming, but she couldn’t ask for direct help.

Since the Imperial Palace was hosting this event’s food, it would be clear overreach for the Temple to interfere.

“I can’t not participate.”

Whatever scheme the Empress had devised, this was still a cooking competition.

In the Luzhiere Empire, a culinary wasteland, a cooking competition was finally being held, and she couldn’t back out just because political tricks were involved.

‘Whatever happens, I just need to compete with taste, right?’

Chloe steeled herself with the ambitious resolve to overcome whatever methods the Empress used with overwhelming flavor, and accepted the Empress’s challenge with determination.

***

The day of the cooking competition.

The competition was held at the Imperial Palace. The banquet hall was opened, and many nobles could visit freely.

‘Why go to such lengths?’

For a cooking competition, it would have been fine to have judges at the Imperial Palace taste and evaluate the food and be done with it, but the intention of deliberately making nobles into spectators was suspicious.

‘I guess they’re really determined to humiliate me.’

Her resolve to compete with taste hadn’t changed, but she was anxious now that the stakes had grown this large.

The Empress’s interference might come from somewhere she didn’t expect.

The nobles who came to observe the competition were scheduled to taste the winning contestant’s food after all judging was complete.

Everyone seemed tense, and the expressions of the participants gathered in the Imperial Kitchen were dark. They seemed uncomfortable with the unfamiliar Imperial Kitchen, looking like they had nowhere to rest their eyes.

Among them, two participants looked particularly comfortable.

‘The Imperial Kitchen chef and the Imperial Kitchen sous chef.’

She had expected the chef, but the sous chef’s appearance was unexpected.

It seemed there had been some unknown power struggle within the Imperial Kitchen.

‘Who is the Empress’s predetermined choice?’

The chef was the person who had helped Chloe make mulled wine when she had previously received orders from the Empress to prepare food.

He seemed to know the Empress well, so was he the predetermined winner after all?

‘I hope not.’

As Chloe looked at the chef with regret, remembering how kind he had been then, the chef seemed to sense her gaze and turned toward Chloe.

“…!”

The chef looked a bit surprised as if he hadn’t known Chloe was there, then bowed his head in acknowledgment.

Chloe also exchanged eye contact greetings and continued her thoughts.

‘Since he’s not hostile toward me, maybe he’s not the predetermined winner.’

Then was the sous chef the Empress’s chosen predetermined winner, and the chef participated on his own because he was displeased with that?

A power struggle drama set in the Imperial Kitchen quickly played out in Chloe’s mind.

“Now, welcome everyone. We will now begin the Cooking Competition for the Empress.”

Just then, as if cutting off Chloe’s idle thoughts, an attendant entered and announced the start of the competition.

“All ingredients are food materials supplied to the Imperial Palace. They will be distributed equally to all participants, and ingredients must never be lost or damaged. For a fair competition, ingredients will only be provided once, so please be very careful in handling your ingredients.”

The attendant earnestly reminded them while distributing ingredients. Chloe carefully held the box containing her ingredients.

“If there are any problems with the ingredients, please speak up now. If not now, you absolutely cannot exchange ingredients or receive new ones.”

The attendant continued explaining the competition rules.

“From now on, you must prepare three dishes. The time given is one hour per dish, with fifteen-minute breaks between dishes.”

So cooking would take 3 hours, breaks would be 30 minutes, for a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes until the competition ended.

“Time must be strictly observed. Being even 1 minute late per dish will result in elimination.”

Once each dish was finished, it had to be immediately submitted to the attendant, and during break time, ingredients absolutely could not be prepared or the next dish prepared.

Also, even if the first dish was finished early, the second dish could not be started ahead of time.

Overall, the rules were very strict about time.

“After each round ends, His Majesty the Emperor, Her Majesty the Empress, and the priests will each give scores for the food. After three rounds are complete, the participant with the highest total score will be the winner.”

Even after one round ended and judging was complete, intermediate scores would not be revealed until all rounds were finished.

“Now then. We will reveal the competition themes.”

The attendant unrolled a large parchment he had brought rolled up.

“The first theme is ‘food that stimulates appetite and gives energy when tired on a hot day.'”

It was health food.

‘Ah, samgyetang would be perfect for this.’

It was unfortunate that chicken couldn’t be used. Chloe licked her lips and listened carefully to the attendant’s words.

“The second theme is ‘food that goes well with wine.'”

It was a mundane theme, but that made it even more difficult.

“The final theme is ‘refreshments that can be eaten by everyone from children to the elderly.'”

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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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