The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10
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Luciela lifted her heavy eyelids.
An ivory ceiling and a small chandelier came into view. Her body lay wrapped in a soft, warm blanket.
……Did I die?
Her consciousness returned as the unfamiliar luxury registered, and she slowly pushed herself upright.
“You should rest a bit longer.”
A young woman’s voice reached her ears.
Turning her head, Luciela realized that Aila and Cain were seated beside her bed.
From the look of it, they had been watching over her for quite some time — dark circles hung heavy beneath both their eyes.
“Eat first. We can talk after.”
Aila stirred the plate she held once, then lifted a spoonful of its contents to Luciela’s lips.
It was a soup, milky white and rich in texture.
The moment it touched her tongue, the elegant aroma of mushroom flooded her nasal passages.
“White Pine Mushroom……?”
As the thinly sliced mushroom crumbled between her teeth and the cream burst forth, it was clear this was cuisine of considerable refinement.
“Yes. Jerome made quite a fuss about it when he heard you’d collapsed.”
Cain answered.
“I asked whether it was his fault for making you take that pointless test……but that doesn’t seem to be the issue.”
He lowered his gaze, his brow knitted deeply.
Like a man wracked with self-reproach.
“Would you like some, sir?”
Unable to think of another way to comfort him, Luciela extended the spoon toward Cain.
“You eat it all.”
“But it’s truly delicious. I made it with Olive Trading Company stock mixed in just right. Did you watch what I did?”
She brought the spoon back to her own mouth while pressing her case, trying to persuade him further.
It seemed the sort of relationship where sharing recipes wouldn’t be unreasonable.
She felt quietly pleased, thinking it must mean Jerome no longer harbored contempt for Luciela.
Cain sighed again.
“Why are you like that?”
“Because I……”
As Cain lifted his head, Luciela regarded him with a blank, empty stare.
If he’s going to refuse food, why does his face look like that?
“Because I’m trash.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I saw you collapse, yet I relied solely on what the physician at Nor Lord’s Castle said and wouldn’t let you rest properly……According to Aila, it wasn’t just exhaustion — your fingers bore wounds from the Toxic Spine Fish, and there were problems with your Mana Circuits as well.”
Cain finished speaking and released another deep sigh.
Ah.
He was blaming himself because of me?
Luciela stared at Cain blankly, a strange awkwardness settling over her.
She had grown up enveloped in her mother’s overflowing affection, yet she had always drifted from place to place.
During the stretches apart from her mother, she’d grown somewhat accustomed to fending for herself, to surviving on her own terms.
When ill, she’d rough it out and recover, and fainting from depleted Mana was hardly a matter of consequence to her.
Especially not after living for so long serving a terrible master at Lord’s Castle.
Yet here was an adult’s gaze of genuine worry, simply because she had collapsed.
Discomfited by this unfamiliar warmth, Luciela glanced sidelong toward Aila, as if seeking help.
I’m uncomfortable with this, so let a close friend comfort me instead.
That’s what her look meant.
“Right. You deserve heavenly punishment, Baron.”
Against Luciela’s hopes, Aila drove her point home with a cold voice.
“When you came to the Duke’s Residence like that, you should have shown yourself to me first.”
She turned briefly toward Luciela, then smiled warmly, as if becoming a different person entirely.
“I extracted all the toxin from your fingers. Since you handle it frequently, you’ve built up resistance, so recovery was quick……and I supplemented your stamina and Mana with medicine.”
At Aila’s explanation, Luciela examined her hand.
Not even the faintest trace of a wound remained, and her body felt lighter than usual.
With the buffs applied and having touched the Toxic Spine Fish, how could she possibly be this unharmed?
“What did you say your name was……?”
Perhaps sensing the suspicion in Luciela’s eyes, Aila smiled again and extended her hand.
“Call me Aila. Others know me as Doctor Ruan, though.”
Doctor Ruan.
A flash of memory struck Luciela’s mind.
“Your mother, she was so curious about why Bael kept dying that she tried various things in the game……”
“……What else did she do?”
“Well, you were a game user back then. Anyway, she went through and killed everyone around him one by one to see if any of them were the problem.”
“……How cruel.”
“But the moment she killed his personal physician, Doctor Ruan, Bael couldn’t even last three days. That’s when I thought, wow, this character really is a genius.”
So this was her.
It was Aila who had been keeping his life thread intact all these two years.
“Oh yes, I heard you drew your blade in the kitchen — what were you planning to do if the child got frightened and fainted?”
Aila, unaware of Luciela’s small revelation, turned to Cain with harsh words.
“Do you even think? Is only Bael precious, and everyone else is worthless?”
It was a barrage of insult far too bold for a subordinate to hurl at her noble master, yet Cain bowed his head even deeper in acquiescence.
“I was trying to ask a favor……”
“It’s just words calling it a favor, but your eyes say otherwise. When you speak with that blunt tone and those sharp eyes, the other person hears it as a threat, not a request — didn’t I tell you that? Look at yourself right now — is this the face of someone asking for help? I told you not to open your eyes like that.”
“……”
Luciela sat awkwardly, watching the scalding personal attack pour from Aila.
After the scolding continued for ten more minutes, and she witnessed Cain accepting every word meekly, she could be certain of one thing.
Cain hadn’t meant to threaten her at all — he had genuinely been asking for a favor.
It was simply that his innate coldness and blunt manner of speech made every plea sound like a threat to end someone’s life.
“But I say again: you owe me no obligation whatsoever, child. If anything, I am the one in your debt.”
Once Aila’s scolding had ended, Cain spoke.
“The dish you made for Bael must have been truly exceptional. In fact, even his leg muscles twitched faintly. That alone is enough.”
Cain slowly raised his head to meet Luciela’s gaze.
Deep anguish and regret lay within his pupils.
“Ten years ago, when I hung between life and death, I don’t remember everything your mother said at my side. But seeing you collapse, one thing came back to me.”
He spoke.
“You said then that you were in pain. Because you’d made that bread — Castella.”
“……”
“When you make dishes that restore stamina and Mana instantly, your body suffers side effects afterward, doesn’t it?”
Luciela pressed her lips firmly shut instead of answering, and Cain accepted her silence as confirmation.
“I will never demand such things of you again.”
He declared quietly.
“I swear it by the name of Bellaon. And I will keep your ability secret. Should anyone learn of it and attempt to exploit you, I — the one who brought you here — will stop them with all my strength.”
Luciela looked at him for a long moment before meeting his blue eyes.
He was still a frightening person. His massive frame, his cold demeanor, the overwhelming presence — none of that had changed.
Yet the worried gaze he sent now somehow eased her mind.
Less like a threat, more like a shield.
The fact that Aila beside her had unleashed such vicious words on her own master for Luciela’s sake also gave her a strange sense of security.
Enough that this Duke’s Residence felt more comfortable than the Lord’s Castle where she had spent two years.
“Save your apologies for later.”
Aila cleared away the now-empty soup bowl as she spoke.
“If you don’t mind, may I ask about something you said just before you fainted?”
She met Luciela’s eyes directly as she asked.
“You said Bael’s condition couldn’t be solved by food — that toxin was the problem.”
“……”
The moment before I fainted came flooding back.
Along with what the Status Window had shown me about Bael’s condition.
[Condition: Toxin flowing through the entire body.]
If the source of the poison wasn’t eliminated, death was absolutely — unconditionally — certain.

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