The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 60
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 60
“Shin Geum, what’s wrong? Do you feel sorry for your granddaughter?”
“…What?”
“No, Grandmother just looked at me wistfully a moment ago.”
“Are you making fun of me right now, saying my eyes are dim and cloudy?”
Shin Geum’s eyes were about to narrow again.
I hurriedly waved my hands in denial.
“No way! Never mind then, why would you misunderstand so severely. Ugh, I’m hungry! I want to eat noodles!”
The best way to calm Grandmother down was for me to eat.
Indeed, as soon as food entered my mouth, the fierce energy passed by Grandmother.
“Child, you’ll get indigestion! Eat slowly!”
I slurped the noodles while watching Grandmother’s expression, and my throat got blocked.
Even though I just endured it without making a sound, Shin Geum noticed like a ghost and handed me water.
Gulp gulp.
“Wow, even the water tastes good at our shop.”
“Seolha.”
“Yeah?”
I chewed on dumplings instead of noodles while gazing at Grandmother.
“You… don’t you want to see your mother?”
“Why bring up mother all of a sudden?”
I heard that the biological mother of the body I possessed passed away while giving birth to me.
If it were the original owner of this body, she might have longed for such a mother.
But I was a possessor, and having been born and raised as an orphan, I never knew affection for a mother in the first place.
For me now, Grandmother was everything.
As long as I have Shin Geum, everything is okay.
“Today is really strange. You’re asking things you never asked before. Grandmother, are you going through menopause?”
“What, child?”
“Ah, right. Menopause passed long ago. Then what is it? What made our Shin Geum become so sentimental?”
If she took an MBTI test, our Grandmother would be the type to get an extreme T.
“Are you feeling down after attending the funeral?”
“When you were little, you used to ask about your mom and dad sometimes. But why don’t you ask anymore these days?”
Ah, was that it?
Since I couldn’t become an ungrateful child who doesn’t appreciate the parents who gave birth to me, I added a bit of acting.
“That’s because talking about it only makes us sad. Now it’s just Grandmother and me in this world. I’ve decided to only think about Grandmother and myself from now on. That’s probably what my deceased parents would want too.”
“…Have you ever thought about having other family?”
“Other family who?”
“…Like siblings or something.”
“Uh, no.”
I picked up another dumpling and answered firmly.
Even before possessing this body, I was comfortable being alone.
“Really?”
“Why would I lie?”
As soon as I put the dumpling in my mouth, it melted smoothly – the taste was truly art.
Why doesn’t it taste like this at the castle?
There are several cooking masters at Jami-gwan, yet they can’t even imitate this.
Eok I-geon would go crazy for this taste.
Ah!
“Grandmother! Can you pack some dumplings for me?”
“Who are you giving them to?”
“Prince Lee. I’ve received tremendous help from him.”
Winning the martial arts tournament was entirely thanks to Eok I-geon.
If he hadn’t selected the Palggang candidates and trained me accordingly, I would have struggled quite a bit.
Maybe I would have been eliminated in Palggang and thrown a tantrum saying I’d rather drown face-first in dishwater.
After all, there’s an old saying about giving even mean people an extra rice cake.
Since Eok I-geon enjoys eating dumplings as a late-night snack, Grandmother’s dumplings would be perfect as a thank-you gift.
“When did you complain about him being difficult to please, and now you’re offering dumplings?”
“He’s still difficult to please. But he goes crazy for food. His appetite is tremendous.”
“How many do you need?”
“Um, about a hundred?”
“What?”
“No wait. That might not be enough.”
The tastier something was, the more the quantity tended to increase.
“Should I add fifty more?”
“Does that guy have a black hole in his stomach? Why does he eat so much?”
“I find it amazing too. I had to tempt Prince Lee with food to survive around him. Then I even became Cheonma’s disciple, so I endured pretty well, right? Right?”
“Are you that happy about becoming a disciple?”
“Of course I’m happy. Now Grandmother’s hardships are over too! Having a granddaughter who did well, you can live comfortably in your later years!”
“Talking nonsense about living comfortably. Making 150 dumplings at this hour – is that living comfortably, child!”
Grandmother shouted and went into the kitchen.
Shortly after, she came out with dumpling filling and wrapper ingredients.
“If we want to finish by today, you need to help too.”
“…Should we just not do it?”
“Can you handle Prince Lee’s reaction?”
“No.”
“Then stop complaining and knead the dough.”
“Yes.”
Isn’t it overkill to prepare late-night snacks when I’m not even his personal maid anymore?
Still, I won the championship thanks to Eok I-geon, so I can do this much.
But what if he falls for Grandmother’s dumplings and keeps coming for them?
‘Ugh, what a horrible thought!’
Training is over, so there won’t be much reason to see each other often.
Let’s end it with this one time.
A clean, definitive finish.
I wasn’t confident with dumpling filling, but I was almost master-level at making dumpling wrappers from doing it so often.
While making 150 wrappers, I kept thinking.
With these dumplings, I would have a ‘safe farewell’ with Eok I-geon.
At that time, I was naive enough to firmly believe that would be possible.
Making dumplings until late at night, I had a long-overdue chat with Grandmother.
When I said I’d be able to visit home more often from now on, Grandmother beamed with joy.
“I should invite you to Yeong-eun Hall soon too.”
My steps toward Headquarters were lighter than usual, carrying dumplings in both hands.
“Are you just arriving now?”
Sook ended up taking over as the dedicated maid for Yeong-eun Hall.
Seeing Sook bow politely as soon as she saw me, I quickly approached and took her hands.
“Sook, when it’s just the two of us, you can treat me like before.”
“But how could this lowly one dare to treat First Miss…”
“Enough with that First Miss talk! Just call me Seolha. I’m more comfortable with that.”
“…Is that really okay?”
“Of course! Do you know what I brought?”
Sook also loved Grandmother’s homemade dumplings.
“Ta-da, look at this!”
When I unwrapped the bundle to show the contents, Sook’s face lit up with delight.
“It looks delicious!”
“Right? Take some of these with you.”
I was glad I had deliberately made plenty.
“And take all the rest to Yeo-ri. Tell her it’s for Prince Lee’s late-night snack.”
Yeo-ri was Eok I-geon’s new dedicated maid. She had been frantically busy lately learning the manual I had written about Eok I-geon.
She would surely be delighted that I had taken care of his late-night snack, especially with dumplings.
I planned to help Yeo-ri out like this from time to time.
“All of this?”
“You know Prince Lee’s appetite.”
“Right. He’s quite the big eater.”
Sook shook her head, saying it was strange since he wasn’t like that before.
“More importantly, what is everyone saying about me?”
If Headquarters was buzzing about Cheonma taking on a disciple, there must have been tons of talk among the maids about me being that protagonist.
They had only heard rumors about me becoming some high-ranking person’s concubine at most, so when they heard I had become Cheonma’s disciple, some didn’t believe it.
“They’re all envious and making a fuss. Some are even wondering if they ever wronged you in the past.”
“Tell those girls they don’t need to be nervous when they see me. I’m not that petty.”
“Are you forgiving Doe Senior’s group too?”
“Were they really scared?”
“They were crying! Asking what they should do now. I think they saw you fighting at the martial arts tournament. They completely lost it.”
Sook giggled, saying she was dying of satisfaction.
The day I was lured to a secluded place by Ga-ye Senior’s manipulation, if I had been an ordinary person who knew nothing about martial arts, I could have been seriously hurt.
I had no intention of seeking revenge now, but those seniors definitely needed a proper attitude adjustment.
Let them learn what happens when you bully someone weaker than you through this opportunity.
Should I show up and greet them whenever they think they’ve forgotten?
I’m curious how they’ll react.
I was giggling with Sook while sharing our wicked plans.
“What’s so amusing?”
A voice that was all too familiar, yet had no reason to appear at Yeong-eun Hall anymore, reached my ears along my spine.
“What brings Prince Lee here…!”
Startled, I bowed deeply to Eok I-geon just as Sook had done to me.
Even though I had become Cheonma’s disciple, I still had the ingrained habits of a maid.
“I came because I have something to give you.”
“To me?”
This early in the morning?
As I looked puzzled, he extended his hand and said.
“Take it.”
…This is?
What Eok I-geon handed me was a sweet pastry.
One that looked exactly like what I had lost yesterday.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————