The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 54

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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 54
Edwin was the same.
The two men stared at Luciel and Bael standing before them, their eyes wide open.
“I greet you, Uncle Debron. And you as well, Edwin.”
At least Bael looked fine.
His silver hair was neatly arranged as instructed the day before, and he wore a deep navy tunic with no particular ornamentation, yet his finely chiseled features naturally drew all eyes to him.
The problem was Luciel standing beside him.
Her clothes were neat enough.
Her bright golden hair was also tidily pinned up, and overall she cut a remarkably composed figure for her age.
Though a child, her small, delicate features were rather endearing.
But the problem was.
“……What on earth are those hands?”
Yes, the problem was her hands.
She wore a pair of Steel Gauntlets that looked as though they’d been salvaged from a blacksmith’s forge, with intricate Mana Circuits carved across the backs of her hands and mysterious levers and jewel-like protrusions jutting out from her wrists.
Being three times thicker than ordinary gloves, they were so weighted that her stance appeared unsteady.
She looked as though she’d been struck somewhere and her hands were swollen, or alternatively, as if she were preparing to punch someone at any moment.
“Answer Edwin’s question.”
Debron drew a deep breath as he spoke.
“What exactly are those ridiculous hands?”
“You said I should cook without any trouble. These are very precious Cooking tools.”
Debron furrowed his brow. No amount of looking again would change anything.
It was just ugly steel gauntlets with garbage heaped on top.
“Take them off at once. Do you plan to ride in the carriage with those things?”
At Edwin’s words, Luciel scratched her head with her gauntleted hand.
“They’re so heavy, I probably can’t ride with them on…….”
“That’s what I said.”
It seemed a moment of ordinary conversation might pass between her and Bael.
Click.
“Huh?”
Bael removed the gauntlets from Luciel’s hands and slipped them onto Edwin’s.
As if that weren’t enough, he also placed a cloth-wrapped bundle that had been sitting nearby into his hands.
“What are you doing? Take these back!”
“Hold them for me. It’s not far to the Imperial Palace.”
Bael shrugged as he spoke.
“Luciel and I need to pay our respects to His Majesty. And Luciel needs to conserve her strength for Cooking.”
Debron’s and Edwin’s pupils suddenly dilated.
A deep sense of dread swept through Debron’s mind, and he grasped one crucial truth.
The little thing standing before him had no intention of handling matters quietly.
Rather, she seemed determined to do something extraordinarily conspicuous.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Unaware of Debron’s anxiety, Luciel boarded the carriage with a bright expression.
…….
Debron squeezed his eyes shut and let out another sigh.
Forget the plan to gain the Emperor’s favor and secure his position through today’s events.
Just let the day end without incident, and let it be enough that Debron’s standing face no problems.
But unfortunately, his wish did not come to pass.
* * *
The Imperial Palace Private Chamber of the Esselred Empire.
“I pay my respects to the Sun of the Empire.”
As Debron offered his greeting, the 24th Emperor of the Esselred Empire, Caron Esselred IV, focused his previously drowsy eyes.
Before him now were the grandson of the Bellaon Duke and a cook, apparently.
According to rumor, the reason that ice-cold old man had been smiling lately was because of these two.
The Emperor had initially thought only one of the rumors could be true.
That his grandson—sickly, no less, and the heir the old man had lost and cherished terribly—had recovered was certainly cause to laugh in one’s sleep.
But he believed the second reason had to be fabrication.
A man who looked as if not a drop of blood would spill if you pricked him, smiling over something as trivial as a chocolate cake?
“And you call yourself my informant?”
At first, he had severely rebuked the one who brought him the rumor, even ordering him to find and punish whoever had spread such useless gossip.
Yet his informant returned not with the source of the rumor, but with another.
A dessert developed by the Duke’s cook was being sold at Melina Bellaon’s shop, and it was extraordinarily unique in flavor, they said, and remarkably good.
This time, the Emperor was on the verge of purging his intelligence network entirely, but instead decided to give the Black Sesame Blancmange the man brought a taste, if only to humor him.
“……!!”
And at that miraculous flavor, the Emperor fell momentarily silent.
The rich, deep fragrance unique to black sesame was fresh in how it coated the dessert.
But the taste that followed was unexpected. It seemed as though it would be bitter, yet it was not; it seemed as though it would be sweet, yet it was restrained.
The texture melted slowly on his tongue, smooth and gentle, and left a long, lingering aftertaste even after it had dissolved.
It resembled no dessert in the Empire.
After quickly sampling the Green Tea Souffle and Black Tea Crème Brûlée as well, he formulated a plan to bring the cook into the imperial household.
Upon learning that the stew this cook had made had produced a champion in the Bellaon Hunting Competition, thereby seizing the title of “Lucky Stew” from the original head chef, he moved even more quickly.
Beyond the fact that the food’s flavor was extraordinary, making him curious about its creator, he was thinking of the Queen Consort and the Crown Prince, whose palates were even more exacting than his own.
Especially on his mind was the Crown Prince.
He was endlessly seeking new stimulation, and when such things were lacking, he sought stimulation by destroying something in his vicinity.
The Emperor could only hope that this cook might provide the Crown Prince with the longest possible stimulation.
“Aren’t they just children, Your Majesty?”
The Queen Consort, sitting beside the Emperor, let out a sigh.
“This is hardly an occasion for the entire imperial family to gather.”
“All things have purpose.”
“If it’s for Serion…….”
The Queen Consort’s gaze flicked toward the Crown Prince.
“It will be meaningless. You know as well as I do that cooking holds no significance for the Crown Prince.”
…….
“Well, at least there’s some merit in seeing the Bellaon Duke’s grandson. Especially since he won the Hunting Competition. But bringing the cook was unnecessary.”
“……Both of you, raise your heads.”
Upon hearing the Queen Consort’s words, the Emperor spoke in a heavier voice.
The first to catch his eye was Bael.
The boy with notably striking eyes was not the sickly child described in the rumors.
“I pay my respects to the Sun of the Empire. I am Bael of the Bellaon Family.”
Tall and healthy-looking, with handsome features that were secondary considerations, his eyes shone with life.
‘One might say he stands out even among other Bellaons of the third generation.’
“So your grandfather’s recent joy was because of you.”
“……I am honored.”
The boy bowed his head as if unable to fully agree with the assertion.
The Emperor turned his gaze. Finally, it was the turn of the renowned cook.
“What is your na……re……?”
“I am Luciel.”
For several seconds after their eyes met, the Emperor blinked repeatedly.
Thump.
In that single moment of seeing Luciel’s face, his heart came to a standstill with shock.
Hair bright as the sun, golden.
Eyes like the new green of summer.
A gentle expression, as if always holding a secret smile in her gaze and lips.
“Riana.”
He breathed the name in a voice no one else could hear.
The name of his first love, kept only within his heart.
The Emperor’s heart thundered.
It was identical.
Save for being a few years younger, it was a face that bore an exact resemblance to his first love.
The Palace Maid who had shaken his heart like a tempest on the eve of his wedding, then vanished before his eyes after the ceremony as though all memories of her had been forgotten.
Crack.
Beside the frozen Emperor, the hand of Queen Consort Arabel, gripping the armrest of her chair, trembled without anyone’s knowledge.
……She looks like her.
The Queen Consort murmured inwardly.
Riana.
The man who had been a ray of light in that lonely palace life, to a girl with neither friends nor family, nor even her betrothed’s affection.
The face of the first love who had once made her consider breaking her engagement to the Emperor was now before her eyes.

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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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