The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 11

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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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Episode 11
“The toxin in his body… that’s actually something Aila has been saying all along.”
Cain spoke slowly.
“At first I suspected poisoning. Then I thought perhaps Bael’s body was having an abnormal reaction to something. But I couldn’t find the cause.”
Aila nodded with a darkened expression.
“I replaced the bedding, tableware, and books that Bael used, along with even the servants. I wondered if the location itself was the problem, so I had him sent to Cain’s villa… and later, I grew suspicious of myself as his physician and didn’t see him in person for months.”
‘There’s someone here more thorough than my mother.’
Luciel asked the question even though she already knew the answer.
“It didn’t help?”
“We couldn’t find the source of the problem. We’ve merely been managing with herbal remedies that have general detoxifying effects… As a physician, it’s a failure on my part.”
She bit her lip hard and hung her head.
Cain’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“Don’t say such pointless things. Without you, that child would already be dead.”
“…Even with my presence, if I can’t protect Bael, then I’ve failed as a physician.”
A deep sigh escaped her lips.
Luciel said nothing and simply watched Aila.
Behind her figure, her mother’s image seemed to overlap in a peculiar way.
The image of her mother, who had tried dozens of times before possession but failed to save Bael in the game.
Her mother had ultimately failed to discover the source of Bael’s poison either.
* * *
Bael Belloan.
Luciel first heard his name when she was three years old.
He appeared in many different forms within the stories her mother told her before bedtime.
He was the character her mother loved most in the Original Work, and a character who might have saved the empire had he survived.
She had never given up hope until the very end and struggled endlessly to save him, but ultimately failed.
A tragic genius who lost both parents in childhood, was praised as the most promising boy in the empire until age twelve, contracted a mysterious illness, and died before reaching adulthood.
That was the unchanging scenario given to him.
“Why not just play with a different character? Why were you so attached to Bael?”
When Luciel asked, her mother answered with an animated face.
“Mom just wanted to pick the strongest character and finish the game quickly. Your grandparents wouldn’t give me allowance, so I had way too many part-time jobs…….”
“You mentioned that last time. Dad always says you squeezed money out of them anyway.”
“That’s just because I kept running into corrupt bosses. Surprisingly, after I graduated college and got hired as a food engineering researcher at a major corporation, things went well.”
“I know, Mom. You’re legendary.”
She answered with a sullen face.
Having grown up hearing stories about South Korea from childhood, her mother’s work anecdotes weren’t a novel topic to her.
“Did you tell me about how your supervisor, Park, was caught between a junior director and a new hire?”
“Huh? That guy was also hitting on the client’s representative! Tell me that story first!”
“I’ll tell you the scandalous stuff next time. Anyway, Bael Belloan was something special because his potential was insane.”
“….”
“Combat power, intelligence, magic, and physical ability—every single stat was flawless. His appearance score was two hundred million points? Players would all try to clear the game with Bael and fail.”
Naturally, Luciel was equally familiar with the rules of both worlds.
Words like “points” or “user” that came from her mother’s mouth didn’t sound strange to her.
“But here’s the interesting part—Bael’s stats kept growing all the way until his death. It was just set that way… or rather, it seems he was just born that way.”
Meeting him in person, her mother’s words proved slightly inaccurate.
More precisely, the truth hidden behind the “setting” became visible.
He hadn’t simply been born with potential.
Right up until his death, he refused to give up on standing on his own strength.
If he couldn’t use his legs, he used his arms; if his arms failed him, he would squeeze out magic to compensate for the lacking strength.
It was because of that kind of will that the power she saw in his room had come forth.
“I spoke carelessly. In front of a child, no less.”
Aila looked at Luciel and managed a smile.
“As you can see, finding a solution to Bael’s illness is difficult for me. Since he seems to react to your cooking, and since you seem to recognize toxins, I broached the subject hoping you might know something else… but….”
She trailed off. Her voice trembled slightly.
Cain said nothing, but his expression was no different from Aila’s.
Both of them were clearly swallowing their anguish.
Luciel couldn’t bring herself to say that Bael would die.
It felt different from simply hearing the Original Work’s story from her mother. Luciel had witnessed that child’s desperation and pain with her own eyes.
She had felt the warmth when he ate food, and faced the expression of panic on his face when Luciel collapsed.
That child was young. A young child who wanted to live.
“…Does Bael not eat food?”
After a silence, Luciel asked, and Cain shook his head.
“No matter how delicious it is, he won’t touch it. Going days without eating is routine for him.”
“….”
It must mean that the toxin in his body was affecting that child’s appetite as well.
If symptoms persisted even after days of fasting, the poison probably wasn’t entering through food.
Luciel summoned the Status Window in her mind.
‘Status Window, what’s the identity of the toxin in Bael’s body?’
[Unable to answer: Insufficient analysis authority.]
‘Is the source of the poison in that child’s room?’
[Unable to answer: Information beyond search range.]
Frustration surged up.
Her mother’s Status Window was omnipotent, but this mini Status Window was incredibly finicky.
Luciel pouted her lips and asked one last time.
‘If I find and eliminate the cause, can you tell me when it’s been eliminated?’
[Notification: This request can be executed. Upon detection of status change, a message will be output immediately.]
Petty thing. Still, it was better than having no method at all.
Luciel took a small deep breath and her eyes brightened. She had no choice but to confront it directly and find out.
“Please let me observe Bael for a few more days.”
“What?”
Cain and Aila lifted their heads simultaneously and looked at Luciel.
There was a flicker of hope in their eyes, however reluctant their disbelief.
“If you’re thinking of making another dangerous dish….”
I shook my head at Cain’s words.
“I won’t. I’ll cook plain dishes to conserve energy, but otherwise I’ll just observe.”
I had to attempt it.
Bael Belloan was a child her mother had struggled to protect, and a child who might save the empire.
Luciel loved the Eshelred Empire.
I had thought that if the Crown Prince ever ascended to the throne, I’d have to flee into exile, as her mother said, but that wasn’t what she wanted.
If Bael could save this country, Luciel’s homeland, then I had to do my utmost to keep him alive.
Above all, Luciel saw a certain possibility in Bael.
‘Because I witnessed him struggling fiercely to live.’
Even if life were hollow, even if meaning hadn’t been found yet, he had no intention of letting go.
A powerful will for something provides tremendous help in actually obtaining it.
This was a belief her mother had emphasized to Luciel many times.
That’s why her mother never gave up.
Even knowing the empire was marching toward ruin, she refused to surrender until the very end and struggled to change the outcome.
Endlessly searching for Dad trapped in the gap between dimensions.
That was the way of living her mother had taught her.
“I’ll give you the answer to whether I know anything more later.”
And hadn’t her mother said so?
“Our daughter! You’ve summoned a mini Status Window! Even before possession, Mom actually wanted that.”
“Mom was a food engineer but couldn’t really cook. I never expected such a talented daughter like our Luciel to be born.”
Her mother hadn’t managed things her mother couldn’t do; Luciel often succeeded.
So she had no choice but to try.
‘So that I can save that child.’
And perhaps, so that child can truly save the empire.

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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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