The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 77

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

Chapter 77
“……Break it open?”
Serion reached for the Silver Spoon resting beside the pomegranate.
Something like keen anticipation twisted his lips upward.
Serion positioned the end of the Silver Spoon and brought it down hard at the pomegranate’s center.
Ting—
The sharp fracture of smooth glass sang out, needle-keen.
In the same instant, the firm ruby walls of hardened sugar shattered without mercy, and dozens upon dozens—perhaps hundreds—of deep crimson beads came cascading down in a torrent.
Serion gazed as though spellbound at those luminous pearls, poignant in their beauty and evoking fresh pomegranate seeds, scattering across the fractured sugar shards.
An artwork hideously beautiful.
The maddening euphoria of shattering it in such splendor.
Between the cold and crystalline ruins, an alluring fruit’s perfume bloomed outward.
“Is that mulberry?”
“It’s ice cream. I thought it would be a shame to make it only once.”
Serion’s expression clouded slightly.
What grated more was the fact that someone had experienced this before him.
He swiftly scooped the pearls full with the spoon.
He had destroyed the dazzling beauty that Luciel had created; now it was time to devour what remained.
“By the way, there’s poison in it.”
“……!”
Serion’s motion froze mid-air.
His golden eyes snapped toward Luciel.
“What are you saying?”
“I intend to assassinate you.”
“What……?”
Serion doubted his own ears.
Assassinate? Me?
Here and now? By this girl, alone?
“You spat blood after eating the food I made.”
Luciel spoke with perfect composure.
“I’m going to be caught anyway, so what’s the difference in poisoning you one more time? Or at least this time I won’t feel wronged. Because I’m the one giving you the poison.”
“……Are you expressing a desire to die in some roundabout way?”
“No.”
She shook her head with a light smile.
“I’m saying you should imagine how angry you’d be if I died.”
“What?”
“I won’t treat you if you accuse me of attempted regicide. If you insist, I’ll gladly present evidence and be taken away.”
“…….”
“Then I’d probably die. Even if you forgive me, the Emperor wouldn’t be able to let me live, would you? There’s evidence right here in the food.”
Luciel, who spoke such dangerous words, appeared utterly unmoved.
She’s mad.
For her to say such things to me, she’d have to be at least somewhat mad.
“But you wouldn’t like it. If I died.”
At Luciel’s words, Serion wavered.
“You hate losing your prey more than death itself.”
“…….”
It was true.
That Luciel might simply die.
Even to imagine it was terrible.
He hadn’t yet seized that ‘Space’ she possessed.
He hadn’t yet tasted the infinite flavors her hands could create.
He’d been thrilled at the thought of holding her in his grip, making her weep at his will and stopping her, then making her weep again.
“Your tone suggests you want something.”
Serion’s words came sharp.
‘He’s wavering.’
Luciel studied his eyes and thought to herself.
She had combed through her mother’s diary, cross-referenced it with Bael’s observations of Serion, and woven together all the rumors Celine had heard.
Now it was clear.
What captured Serion’s interest, and when he wavered.
In this very moment, his weakness was Luciel herself.
“The Emperor will come for you directly. When he does, say nothing of poison or assassination—just leave quietly.”
Luciel laid bare what she wanted with clean precision.
“Is this ‘do as I say or I’ll kill myself’?”
“Yes. A self-harm threat isn’t something only you can make.”
As she smiled lightly, Serion’s eyes narrowed further.
With barely concealed contempt.
And utter disbelief.
“You’re not someone who has ever harmed yourself.”
He spoke quietly.
“You don’t look like the type to abandon your own life so easily. You’re not someone capable of giving it up.”
“Am I?”
Luciel met his relentless golden gaze and reached out, snatching the Silver Spoon from his hand.
“What are you—ugh!”
Serion didn’t finish his words.
The crimson beads flooded into his mouth.
“Then eat.”
“Ugh, hack!”
Serion’s face went deathly pale in an instant.
“Hack, ptui!”
Watching him spit out the beads in frantic succession, Luciel smiled lightly once more.
“It seems you lack the conviction to die.”
“You—you’ve done it now……!”
He thrust his fingers into his mouth, glaring at her.
“Bring the antidote at once!”
He cried out urgently.
“If it’s too late, even if I survive, you will die……!”
“Don’t worry. There’s no poison. Am I mad?”
“……!”
Serion slowly withdrew his fingers from his mouth.
His golden eyes, fixed on Luciel, gleamed with lethal fury.
She had foreseen this too.
Serion enjoyed toying with others’ lives, yet he had never once in his existence had his own life threatened.
‘……Though he nearly was kidnapped as an infant.’
In any case, he was someone who had never experienced, even for a moment, the thought that his life rested in another’s hands.
It was only natural that he felt fear when Luciel pushed the spoon of ice cream past his lips.
‘……Though I didn’t expect him to fear his own death so much.’
In any case, it meant she already held the advantage.
“You……impudent girl.”
“Be careful. Next time there might really be poison in it.”
She spoke while meeting his hostile gaze.
“You might die, or I might. But either way, you wouldn’t want that, would you?”
“…….”
“When you make a threat, be prepared for the consequences.”
She spoke with earnest conviction.
A crown prince who pursued consequences-free, ever chasing whatever caught his eye.
Such a nature had brought tragedy more than once within the game.
To prevent this, how much effort had her mother needed since possessing her?
“My offer stands. If you want us both to live, follow my words.”
With that, Luciel turned away from his relentless gaze and vanished beyond the chamber door.
“Haah.”
She could be certain of one thing.
Serion would not allow Luciel to die.
His self-harm threat had failed utterly.
* * *
Snap.
In the silence of the chamber, Serion scooped ice cream fully into his mouth.
The sensation on his tongue was cold, the taste tart-sweet, the aftertaste bitter.
Overall, it was monstrously delicious.
“Impudent girl.”
Serion muttered under his breath.
He had lost.
He had to admit it.
She seemed to see straight through him, and in each moment she threatened him.
That she would die, and that she would kill.
Crunch.
Serion filled his mouth with ice cream once more.
He couldn’t recall the last time his heart beat like this.
When he shattered the pomegranate Luciel had created, he’d felt thrilled. When he thought she might die, his chest had plummeted. When she forced the ice cream into his mouth, he’d been seized by terror—for his own life and for hers too.
Cold fear.
For his own life, and for Luciel’s as well.
What came after was fury.
It was the first time in his life he’d experienced so many emotions in so short a span.
And so Serion could not endure it.
The fact that this exhilaration lay beyond his control.
Click.
It was then that the bedchamber door opened again.

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