The Cooking Princess - Chapter 79

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Princess Who Cooks

Episode 79

“In the meantime, take out the sesame seeds and let’s grind them. Can you try cutting the peppers and cucumbers like I’m showing you?”

As she spoke, Chloe felt moved.

‘Before I started developing recipes, there really weren’t any ingredients at all, but it’s rewarding to see the gradual improvements.’

The cucumber was discovered by the gardener, and the sesame seeds were found when her request for people to bring ‘unusual’ things hit the mark.

While she was briefly lost in sentiment, Pierre nodded, and Chloe quickly fried eggs, let them cool slightly, then sliced them thinly to make egg garnish.

When she showed him how to cut the cucumbers and peppers into uniform sizes, Pierre followed along quite well.

“Wow, you’re doing great. You’re following along well, Pierre.”

“Th-thank you…”

Chloe glanced to check on the boiling chicken, then spoke to Pierre with a smiling face.

“Now let’s add a little water and grind the sesame seeds. As for how much we’ll grind… all these ingredients are going to go into the sesame base. We’ll need to grind quite a lot, right?”

Though Pierre got a bit confused in the middle, he followed Chloe’s instructions and successfully made imjasu-tang with cucumber, peppers, and egg garnish in a ground sesame base.

“Mmm.”

The duchess made an undignified sound after tasting it, but no one stopped her, and everyone took small portions to try, their eyes widening in amazement.

“The harmony of flavors is… amazing. The colors blend beautifully, making it pleasing to the eye too.”

Pierre said this while making another note in his notebook,

“Miss, you’re truly always amazing. To have people who don’t know much about cooking create such results.”

Emily seemed moved on her own, her face flushed with emotion.

And Chef Russo wore a shocked expression for a long while before saying:

“For the flavors of ingredients to blend together so shockingly well, it’s truly surprising!”

Chloe was about to have Russo make sinseollo but hesitated.

‘But don’t you need soy sauce to eat hot pot? Braised short ribs… that definitely needs soy sauce. Hmm.’

Having thought that far, Chloe’s concerns deepened.

‘Most recipes need soy sauce.’

The soy sauce she made before had fermented incorrectly and was all thrown away, so to use soy sauce in cooking, she’d need to make it anew.

‘I’ll have to make soy sauce first before giving Russo work to do.’

Chloe went down to the villa she was using to make meju.

This was to prevent the strong smell of meju and soy sauce from permeating the entire manor.

First, Chloe checked the condition of the meju she had made previously. Fortunately, it was in good condition.

She thoroughly scrubbed the meju clean with a brush.

She put the meju in a clean bowl, then added water and salt to dissolve.

Then she wrapped it in cloth and put it in a large container to ferment.

After some time passed, the soy sauce was also completed.

‘I’ll do the simple stuff myself, and now I should have the others do some of the difficult work~’

Chloe hummed while looking forward to the day of reckoning.

‘Still, I need to practice making fish dumplings myself.’

With that thought, Chloe concentrated wholeheartedly on filleting fish meat as thin as dumpling skin without tearing it.

***

A few days later, the day came when Chloe had to serve food to the imperial family.

First, Chloe had the attendants bring tarakjuk.

Unlike the fancy dishes Chloe usually brought, this looked rather plain, so Shuel tilted his head in puzzlement while spooning small amounts of the tarakjuk.

Seeing each member of the imperial family take a spoonful of tarakjuk, Chloe gently added an explanation about the dish.

“First is tarakjuk. It’s porridge made with milk that fills the stomach nicely.”

Chloe smiled slightly while explaining the food.

“Going so far as to explain each dish individually, such dedication, Duchess.”

Despite the Empress’s sarcasm, she maintained her smiling expression.

Next, she immediately brought out sinseollo.

Small hot pots were prepared for each person, and their appearance was quite interesting.

Their appearance seemed to catch the Emperor’s interest, as he, who had passed over the tarakjuk without expression, spoke to Chloe first.

“Ho, the duchess is truly overflowing with passion for cooking.”

“You flatter me, Your Majesty.”

His eyes sparkled as he looked at the sinseollo, seeming to have many questions.

‘But why has Shuel been so quiet since earlier?’

Shuel’s expression seemed to be growing paler somehow.

‘What’s wrong? He’s only eaten milk porridge so far. Does he have lactose intolerance?’

But if that were the case, Shuel had been eating foods with milk just fine until now.

Chloe looked at Shuel’s complexion with concern and tried to speak to him before explaining the sinseollo.

And it was right then.

Shuel, whose complexion had been poor ever since eating the milk porridge, collapsed onto the dining table with a pale face.

“Ugh… urgh.”

Only now did Chloe realize this situation was serious, and she stood up abruptly, forgetting etiquette.

“Shuel?”

Chloe, her face now pale, barely managed to call out to Shuel.

Then she quickly approached Shuel’s side and supported him.

“Shuel! Don’t lose consciousness!”

Chloe hurriedly examined Shuel’s complexion.

He was pale.

“Call a physician immediately!”

Chloe commanded the attendants hovering nearby, and the Empress spoke to the Emperor with an unconcerned expression.

“The food might be poisoned, Your Majesty. So it would be best to end today’s meal here.”

Even though her son had been poisoned, the Emperor’s expression only grew slightly colder, showing no other difference.

He glared at Chloe with a cold face and said:

“I was looking forward to the interesting food that came out… Duchess. How exactly did you manage the kitchen?”

Despite the Emperor’s interrogation, Chloe only looked at Shuel’s complexion.

“What on earth is this, Shuel. Shuel!”

She shook Shuel several times and called his name aloud to keep his consciousness from fading, but Shuel seemed to have lost consciousness completely.

Chloe’s complexion grew pale, and physicians rushed to the scene.

Unable to hide her ashen complexion, she was busy thinking about why Shuel had collapsed after eating the milk porridge.

‘What’s the problem? What could have been wrong? People don’t collapse like that from something like lactose intolerance.’

Though Chloe trembled while trying to think calmly, that wasn’t going to work well.

‘Then is it really… poison?’

With that thought, Chloe looked toward the Empress.

And seeing her maintaining an unnaturally expressionless face, she became certain.

‘The Empress is the culprit.’

If she had wanted to hide that she was the culprit, she should have shown signs of panic instead.

The Prince had nearly been poisoned, and she had eaten the same food, yet the Empress, who didn’t have a cold temperament like the Emperor, was so calm?

That was absolutely impossible. She had ulterior motives.

“Are you going to just keep standing there like that? Duchess.”

At the Emperor’s stern voice, Chloe finally brought her consciousness back to reality.

“Y-Your Majesty. I…”

“Since this accident happened while the duchess was serving a meal, you must take responsibility.”

The Emperor stroked his chin, pondered briefly with a “hmm,” then commanded his knights in a cold tone.

“Normally, given that the Prince collapsed after eating the duchess’s food, and that you dared attempt to poison the Empire’s only Prince, you should be imprisoned immediately.”

He paused once, then looked directly at Chloe’s still-pale face and added:

“Considering you are a high-ranking noble, I command you to be confined to your manor until judgment is rendered.”

The Emperor’s judgment was excessively swift and ruthless. Since Chloe herself had served the food, she was captured and confined to the Garnet Estate.

This scandal of the century set the social circles buzzing with excitement.

One surprising point was that Chloe’s reputation, who should have been treated as a traitor, didn’t worsen much.

This was because everyone was already convinced that Chloe was innocent.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————