The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 8

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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 8
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Cain led Lucciella, who carried the tray, toward a room tucked away in one corner of the mansion’s second floor.
As they walked along the lengthy corridor, Lucciella paused.
Despite the hour being midday, the hallway hung heavy with gloom, and light barely filtered through.
The worn carpet lining the floor was frayed and faded in places, and since the servants’ footsteps rarely fell here, the air hung thick with stale dust and a cutting chill.
Even the candelabras mounted on the walls had long since gone dark, as if one were walking through the house of a ghost.
It was almost strange that such a place—reeking of death itself—could exist within the heart of the Bellhaon Duke’s Mansion, that symbol of imperial glory.
“Is someone… living here?”
“Yes.”
Cain answered without breaking stride.
“The room’s owner is my nephew.”
……
“The current Duke’s direct grandson, in other words.”
Lucciella nodded in understanding.
She had already suspected who the nephew Cain spoke of might be.
‘He’s been living in conditions like this……?’
Just as she was about to step through the doorway, a woman in a white coat emerged from within.
“Cain? Your timing is impeccable as always.”
She spoke in a weary tone, as though fighting back waves of exhaustion.
Unlike the other servants in the mansion, who cowered and deferred to Cain’s every glance, her demeanor was distinctly different—equal and unguarded.
“Aila.”
“Yes?”
“Have you been up all night again? Isn’t it a problem if the physician can’t even manage her own health?”
“Ugh…… I’m dying of sleep, so spare me the lecture.”
Even as Cain spoke, Aila—the physician who bore that name—could not stop yawning.
As she brushed back her disheveled brown hair, a pallid face emerged, marked by dark circles beneath her eyes. She wore a frown as though bearing some private worry.
Though her features could be called beautiful, chronic exhaustion had etched itself upon them.
“And him?”
At Cain’s question, Aila exhaled a heavy sigh.
“Same as always. He’ll force down the medicine I give him, but his temperament hasn’t changed one bit. And of course he won’t hear a word about rest.”
Cain’s gaze shifted past the woman toward the bedroom beyond.
He stepped inside without hesitation, and I followed close behind, holding my breath.
The moment I crossed the threshold into the bedroom, a sharp, piercing killing intent raked across my entire body.
Cain came to a halt, his eyes fixed on a corner of the room. At the end of his gaze lay a boy resting upon the bed.
‘……Ah.’
My eyes widened without my meaning to.
The boy, who appeared to be my age, resembled a beautifully crafted doll.
His translucent silver hair held a jewel-like luster at each strand, and his flawless white skin appeared as if sculpted from porcelain. Beneath it lay eyes of such a vivid blue they seemed to contain an entire lake.
“Bael, have you nothing to say to your uncle?”
……
Silver hair, and eyes blue as a frozen lake.
A child who bore a subtle resemblance to Cain, yet possessed far grander, more magnificent features.
This child. This was the reason Cain had gone to such lengths to find me and bring me here.
And this was the being my mother had grieved over so deeply in the game.
“He had tremendous potential, but his body was so frail—such a waste. A brilliant flame that would be snuffed out before he could fully ignite.”
“Bael. Won’t you answer?”
“Must I answer you, Uncle?”
The boy turned to Cain with a twisted smile full of resentment.
“What useless thing have you brought this time?”
The fated genius who was said to die before reaching adulthood.
Bael Bellhaon—the son left behind by the late Duke Bellhaon’s eldest son.
My mother had said that in her time as a game player, the rebellion she attempted had failed because Bael, who should have become its driving force, kept dying.
‘Status Window.’
Lucciella murmured the words quietly.
If this child was the owner of the soup, then she needed to learn everything she could about him.
With a soft pop, a small Status Window materialized in the air.
[Subject: Bael Bellhaon]
Preferences: Chocolate, honey, sugar—sweet foods and beverages that stimulate the mind.
Aversions: Herb aftertaste, grassy notes of raw vegetables—anything with a bitter flavor.
Surprisingly, his tastes were entirely childlike.
Lucciella’s eyes narrowed as she read the window.
Unlike her mother, she could not see such grand information as the subject’s magical power levels, status, or rank. Instead, her Status Window displayed specialized details about the target’s palate and nutritional needs.
As she examined the detailed status that followed, Lucciella’s brow furrowed.
[Condition: Severe nutritional imbalance and vitality depletion]
Deficient nutrients: Vitamin D (insufficient sunlight exposure), essential amino acids and protein (prolonged dietary refusal).
Notable: Taste sensitivity abnormally heightened.
Lucciella’s eyes moved rapidly across the text.
There was something written in small letters at the very end……
“How rude, Bael.”
“This time it’s a girl?”
As Bael’s cold gaze—which had been sparring with Cain—turned slowly toward me, the Status Window vanished with a pop.
His glass-like eyes fixed upon Lucciella for several seconds.
“……Some kind of seduction tactic?”
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“What?”
What?
Both Lucciella and Cain turned to stare at him with bewildered expressions.
“It makes sense. The calculation being that since she’s pretty, I’d like her.”
Bael’s lips twisted as he posed the accusation with a sneer.
Cain’s eyebrows twitched in confusion, and Lucciella found herself at a loss for words.
It was kind of nice to be told she was beautiful, even if true.
And she did think so herself.
But delivered with such guarded eyes, it didn’t feel like a simple compliment.
“What?”
“Now you’re resorting to these ridiculous tricks? Have you really become that desperate?”
“You fool.”
At Cain’s words, Bael’s brow darkened.
“She’s a chef. Eating food she prepares will restore your…… “.
“Ah.”
Only then did he seem to notice the soup Lucciella held, and his lips curved into a bitter smile.
“Restore my vitality? Or is it fuel for extending my lifespan?”
“……Bael.”
“I don’t need it. Take it away. I don’t want to force down something you’ve brought again.”
“Bael.”
“We made a promise, didn’t we? That if I obediently took Aila’s medicine, you wouldn’t force anything else on me. I’ve kept my end of the bargain, so take it away.”
“What if I refuse?”
……
Bael’s face turned cold as he extended his right hand into the empty air. In that instant, the atmosphere around him rippled and distorted like heat shimmer.
Pop—
A magical sigil appeared upon the back of the boy’s pale hand.
A sigil so intricate, refined, and vivid in silver that she had never seen its like in any book.
It was likely a sign that the total volume of magical power he commanded was overwhelming.
The air itself suddenly became heavy as stone.
Especially around Cain, where the air had sharpened like a blade, threatening him outright.
“……So you’ve already mastered Spatial Interference.”
Cain murmured softly.
‘Spatial Interference……?’
Lucciella’s eyes widened.
So that was it. The advanced technique she’d read about in books and heard her mother mention.
She had never seen it in person before.
So geniuses could wield such high-dimensional magical power even before reaching adulthood.
“Does it bother you so much that my legs have been like this for two years? Is that why you bring mages, Spirit Users, apothecaries, and now even a chef—why you’ll even resort to seduction tactics?”
“Bael.”
“I swallow nauseating medicine, perform meaningless training like some circus act…… Can’t you hear me saying I hate this?”
As the sigil on his hand blazed again, the air in the room grew so heavy it seemed to throttle breath itself.
“Bael Bellhaon!”
Cain’s voice rang out with authority as he took a step forward. Simultaneously, the sigil inscribed upon the nape of his neck—far more intricate and refined than Bael’s—flashed brilliantly.
Cain’s magical power surged outward, forcefully dispersing the Spatial Interference that Bael had fixed in place.
“Don’t waste your strength like this. Don’t you know your body can’t handle that level of output?”
“I wonder—if I can’t handle it, will I finally die?”
As Bael twisted his lips into another bitter smile, the furniture in the room began to tremble violently.
Screech—
A sharp, grating sound erupted as the spatial equilibrium fractured, piercing the eardrums, and from the strain of reckless magical discharge, blood vessels burst around Bael’s eyes, painting them red.
Yet still he did not yield his defiance toward his uncle.
Between the two of them, blue sparks crackled into being.
Watching them face off with such peril, Lucciella found herself torn between alarm and admiration.
‘……Geniuses truly are different.’
The oppressive presence of Cain, the hero of the Extermination War, was remarkable enough. But what truly astounded her was Bael.
If his lower body was indeed paralyzed as he claimed, then he had developed this level of skill using only half his body.
Whatever had caused this condition, one thing was clear: he had trained himself alone, even after the paralysis set in.
What must it feel like to cultivate oneself in darkness like this, in endless solitude and frustration, without even understanding the reason, pushing on regardless?
‘……Now I understand why Mother said it was such a waste.’
This wasn’t merely innate talent—it was a desperate, raw determination to survive, even while speaking of death with his whole body straining against it.
……Or rather.
Lucciella steeled her trembling legs and gathered her focus.
But that wasn’t what mattered now.
What mattered was the soup.

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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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