The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 176

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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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Chapter 176

When I followed Leopold to the kitchen, kitchen maids were diligently peeling garlic in one corner of the kitchen.

Isabela, who had once been a kitchen maid, let out a deep sigh.

“What a truly sad sight…”

I immediately looked for the head chef among them.

“Where’s the head chef?”

The head chef came running right away.

“Yes, here I am!”

He looked bewildered and flustered. It was natural since the Grand Duke and nobles of similar status had suddenly swarmed in.

I said immediately.

“I’ll teach you a recipe. It’s not too difficult, so try making it now.”

“A, a recipe?”

“Yeah. I don’t know the detailed ratios or anything like that, so you, as the expert, will have to figure that out.”

Since I wasn’t a cook, I couldn’t remember the detailed cooking methods.

But I could simply explain that it could be eaten this way, at least that much.

“Uh, um… It really is a new recipe…”

The head chef blinked his eyes as if troubled after hearing my explanation about the new garlic dish.

Leaving Leopold and Isabela behind with similarly bewildered expressions, I solemnly requested.

“Though it’s a difficult situation, do your best in the task entrusted to you. The Empire’s future depends on the tip of your knife.”

The detailed ratios and precise cooking methods now had to be standardized by this head chef.

The head chef held the garlic and blinked his eyes.

“The, the, the Empire’s future…”

I lifted my chin and spoke loftily.

“The future created by the development of garlic food culture will surely return as glory.”

Eventually, the head chef who received my order picked up his knife while trembling.

“Yes, Young Lady! Leave it to me! I’ll do my best!”

Soon, the relentless blade began crushing the garlic.

* * *

Hilberry glared at Valerie with his arms crossed.

“Do we really have to go this far?”

Valerie sat in her wheelchair in silence.

“They’re obviously children who came to thank you. Must you feed even those children garlic to be satisfied?”

At Hilberry’s reproach, Valerie’s golden eyes flashed.

She slowly opened her mouth.

“You don’t know.”

Her voice was close to a wheezing sound due to her lack of energy.

“You don’t know the horror of a perfectly normal person… turning into a winged monster.”

What was there not to know? Leopold was already turning into a tailed monster right now.

“And that person who was always by my side…”

Valerie gasped for breath. Then she trembled once.

“I’m scared, Hilberry. I’m really scared.”

Hilberry swallowed a sigh.

He too had seen the reality of the monster. So he didn’t think Valerie was pathetic.

However, thinking that this would soon happen across the continent made him uneasy.

Really, days were coming when everyone on the continent would have to gather once a day to eat garlic under others’ surveillance.

That’s when it happened.

Along with a knock, Leopold’s voice was heard.

“The guests have arrived.”

Valerie answered with trembling hands.

“I see. The garlic came too, right?”

Hilberry secretly shrugged his shoulders.

Honestly, it was terrible treatment for guests, but he wasn’t entirely without anticipation.

He was curious whether Leopold could elegantly eat garlic in front of Brisa.

It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to grimace in front of the girl he liked, so it would be quite an entertaining spectacle.

Soon the door opened, and Brisa and Isabela entered following Leopold.

They each exchanged a few words of greeting according to etiquette. Despite hearing the news from the Magic Tower, Hilberry asked anyway.

“So, how is Marquis Sears doing?”

“They say his life isn’t in danger. But his right arm is the problem…”

He already knew that the right arm would need to be amputated.

Since Hilberry was someone who wore a prosthetic leg and eye patch himself, he could comfort Brisa more sincerely than anyone else.

“It’s nothing compared to his life. It’s fortunate it’s only that much.”

However, knowing that Alpheus was naturally gifted at using his body rather than his brain, he was worried. The Empire had lost tremendous military power for future wars.

“Of course, it will be very inconvenient at first… but people manage to live. Trust my words.”

The girl choked up slightly but held back her tears and answered.

“Yes. For now, I’m trying not to give up easily.”

Hilberry was slightly surprised.

What was there for Brisa not to give up on in this situation?

“I’m going to… somehow do my absolute best.”

Was she still in the denial stage?

That was possible. When his own leg was first cut off, his wife, who was still alive then, had said she would do her best.

Hilberry’s wife, who kept searching for various methods until the end, passed away long before he did.

Even then, she worried about his prosthetic leg. Saying there seemed to be a way to get a better prosthetic leg…

“I see.”

Knowing that feeling well, Hilberry nodded.

“I wish you luck.”

Really, it would be an impossible situation to resolve without luck.

As the greeting ended, Valerie, as if she had been holding back, asked somewhat anxiously.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t trust you… Would you eat some garlic?”

She spoke with a trembling voice.

“Actually, I’m so tired that I think I need to go in soon, so quickly before that…”

Then Brisa calmly nodded.

“Yes.”

Hilberry was amazed by that bold appearance. The sight of a thirteen-year-old child not frowning even once in front of raw garlic was magnificent.

When Leopold gestured, a maid pushed in a tray from behind.

But Hilberry’s eyes narrowed as he checked the plate on the tray.

“Hmm?”

Valerie was the same, stretching her neck long.

What was placed on the tray wasn’t garlic but baguette. But…

“It’s garlic bread.”

Brisa said as she picked up a piece of baguette.

“I ground garlic and mixed it with butter and sugar, spread it on bread, sprinkled parsley powder, and baked it.”

Garlic on bread?

It was literally a strange combination.

Actually, grinding and spreading garlic felt like bizarre food to Hilberry. However…

“The butter and sugar make it flavorful. When you bake and eat it, it’s not pungent either. This is the cooled version, but even when it’s not hot, it’s crispy and good.”

Valerie received the garlic bread and smelled it first. It was definitely garlic.

But perhaps because of the sugar and butter, it looked quite delicious. Leopold proudly picked up a piece of garlic bread and ate it.

“…It’s delicious.”

The teenager who used to run away at the sight of raw garlic spoke nonchalantly.

“You saw, didn’t you, great-aunt? I ate garlic.”

In the meantime, Isabela also quickly grabbed one and ate it.

“Actually, I couldn’t resist trying one in the kitchen, and it was delicious. I’ll have another one. I wanted to try it cold too.”

Brisa also ate a piece of garlic bread in front of Valerie. Then she continued speaking seriously.

“Eating bread before meals is a normal food culture, right? Just by changing this to garlic bread, it would help identify monsters. Garlic bread goes well with soup too.”

Hilberry found himself picking up a piece of garlic bread without realizing it. Looking at it up close, it looked quite appetizing.

“Even if an unknown traveler knocks on the door in the evening, if they’re not a monster, we can tell them to eat garlic bread. Because we can make a lot at once and store it cold.”

Garlic bread was certainly good to keep as stock at home at all times.

The cooking method was simple, it didn’t require using fire every time, and above all, it was a hundred times better than chewing raw garlic.

“We need to quickly spread this as a new food culture. Before the monsters start invading in earnest.”

Hilberry took a bite of the garlic bread. The crispy bread infused with the combined flavors of garlic and butter filled his mouth with a taste he’d never experienced before.

He let out a deep sigh.

“Hah…”

For the first time in a long while, a curse came out naturally.

“I ate raw garlic earlier… If I had known this would happen, I would have held out until Miss Brisa came.”

Leopold, who had successfully held out, laughed triumphantly.

Hilberry looked at his grandson’s face with annoyance and put the remaining garlic bread in his mouth.

One thing was certain.

This food culture seemed like it could spread quickly. Above all, because it was delicious.

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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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