The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 97

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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 97
Thud!
“Gah!”
As the knight hurled a heavy fist forward, Teo’s body flew backward across the room.
“Once more.”
Serion, watching from his chair with an expression of boredom, gestured with one hand.
The knight stretched his massive frame upright, then strode toward Teo, grabbed him, and hauled him to his feet.
Smack!
“Ugh!”
This time it was a boot that came flying.
As Teo, kicked in the buttocks, whimpered and darted about the room, Serion raised one hand.
“Enough, Akto.”
He shook his head, his expression devoid of even the faintest smile.
“When he was younger, there was at least some amusement in it. Now he’s just pathetic.”
He gestured for his bodyguard, Akto, to step back for a moment.
“Your Highness, please—tell me what I’ve done wrong!”
Teo hurried to his knees and looked up at Serion.
Even amid the terror that flooded his face, anger flickered at the edges.
“Did you defy me?”
“No, it’s not that—”
Teo waved his hands defensively, but it was too late.
Akto’s fist was already hurtling toward the back of his head.
Thwack.
Teo cried out and belatedly threw both hands over his head for protection.
“Utterly disgraceful.”
Serion exhaled heavily.
“The Direct Line of the Duke of Bellaon, whimpering as his own guard beats him senseless.”
Silence.
“If the Duke saw this, he’d pound the earth in outrage—a pity he cannot.”
Teo, his body trembling, kept himself pinned to the floor but lifted his head once more.
“If my grandfather were to learn of this—”
Crack.
The knight called Akto, without waiting for Serion’s order this time, struck him across the cheek.
Teo tried to dodge but caught another blow and hung his head.
“Your grandfather will come looking for me, no doubt. He’ll be furious and confront the Emperor about it. The old man treasures his bloodline, after all.”
Serion explained coolly.
“But what good does it do? Your father doesn’t dare oppose me. How could your grandfather even learn of it?”
Silence.
“Of course, you’re just as powerless to resist as he is.”
Serion waved his hand once, and Akto retreated behind the chair.
“Teo Bellaon, you’re truly worthless.”
Serion nudged Teo with the tip of his boot.
Silence.
“You’ve got no real skill—mediocre at best—yet thanks to me you served as Vice-Commander of the 1st Knight Order. After that, common sense says you should obey orders.”
Silence.
“If I send you elsewhere, you should go. How dare you refuse me? What were you saying just now?”
Silence.
“Just send you back to the 1st Knight Order? When you can barely crack the top five in sparring matches, I’m supposed to keep you as Vice-Commander?”
Serion shook his head flatly.
“The 1st Knight Order won’t do. I need to maintain it with men of genuine ability, or I have nothing to say to the Emperor. That’s why I told you I’d give you something else, didn’t I?”
“But—”
Teo clutched at the cheek he’d just been struck and muttered under his breath.
It had been a long time since he’d taken a beating from Serion’s bodyguard, that monster Akto.
When Osborn first introduced him to Serion, Teo’s heart had brimmed with dreams and hope.
The Crown Prince’s closest friend.
The man everyone feared, standing nearest to the noble Crown Prince himself.
A glorious future—nothing like Bael, who’d been driven into exile in the Northern Region.
That expectation, Serion had shattered utterly the very next day.
“A new dog needs to be taught its manners.”
The monster at the Crown Prince’s side had beaten Teo savagely.
Perhaps it was more severe because Teo had cursed him as “base,” but the truth was Serion had planned it from the start.
When Osborn learned of it days later, he showed no particular reaction.
“To fully control Bellaon, the Crown Prince is necessary.”
It was his way of saying: either befriend that monster or push him out through rivalry. Survive however you can.
Teo had accepted the logic and continued following in Serion’s wake, but he had failed to dislodge that monster from the Crown Prince’s side.
Every time he stirred up trouble, he only got beaten for it.
And yet Teo remained at Serion’s side.
Beyond Osborn’s command, he could not relinquish the prestige that came from standing beside the Crown Prince himself.
As a result, many in society looked up to him.
When no one else was watching, he was treated like a dog—but over time, he’d grown used to it.
He’d even developed his own tricks for avoiding beatings.
Serion typically tormented Teo on days when Bael had accomplished something or when the Duke or Cain interfered with the Crown Prince’s plans.
It was as if he were venting all his rage at the entire Bellaon Family onto Teo alone.
Teo had thought he could survive if he simply avoided those days.
Whoosh—
Displeased with the back-talk, Serion gestured to Akto again.
Smack—
“Ow! That hurts!”
This time it was his head.
It hurt more in spirit than in body.
The urge to rise and fight back flashed through his mind for an instant, but Teo held himself back.
Akto possessed a strength he could never overcome.
“But? Did you just say ‘but’?”
“No, you know yourself. The 7th Knight Order is—”
Teo adopted a respectful posture in response to Serion’s question.
“Finish what you were saying.”
“How can I serve as Vice-Commander under that woman? I should be Commander—”
“The position was granted by the Emperor himself. You want me to strip it from him?”
“That’s not what I meant, but—”
Teo gnashed his teeth.
“She’s still just a retainer of our house. From childhood she did nothing but prepare meals for the family, and even now she—”
“She has also prepared meals for the Emperor. She receives far more of his affection than you ever will. And most of all, that woman has already taken command of the 7th Knight Order.”
Serion’s own teeth ground together visibly.
“I meant to keep those Southern Sea Region recruits under my thumb from the start. Do you know how rare skilled talent from that region is? They have such rough, free-spirited natures that they’re hard to control—”
His expression darkened for a moment.
“Yet that woman did it in a single day.”
“That can’t be true.”
Teo shook his head, disbelief written across his face.
“The 7th Knight Order is full of pride. They never would have accepted some common-born woman with nothing to her name as Commander—”
“And yet they did.”
Serion exhaled softly.
“Multiple people witnessed it. Apparently she made something called ‘chou’—pastries with cream filling.”
Teo’s face went ashen.
Was that the smell coming from the kitchens days ago?
If only he’d stormed in then and destroyed everything, he wouldn’t be taking a beating today.
“If you’d accepted the Vice-Commander position as I commanded, you might have been able to prevent that incident to some degree, wouldn’t you?”
“But serving under a woman who’s little more than a servant—”
“Useless pride. That’s why I beat you.”
Hup!
Teo braced himself for another punch from Akto, but this time it didn’t come.
Instead, Serion lifted Teo’s chin, forcing him to meet his gaze directly.
“Listen well, Teo Bellaon. A dog must know how to crawl. Or it must recognize its enemy and attack. Failing both, it’s worthless, yes?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“My brother Arnen is not like that, is he?”
Serion asked again.
“He knows how to crawl—which is why I haven’t killed him yet.”
He murmured the words.
His face was a complex mixture of satisfaction and something faintly unsettling.

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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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