Chapter 8

“Well, Lucas. It’s very unusual for you to accept these kinds of invitations.”

“As for you, mother. When you were in the palace, you never showed any interest in these events, and now you’re opening up the palace garden to host these events.”

The gardens of the Kingdom of Luden boasted huge fountains, greenhouses, and perfectly shaped hedges.

Juliana welcomed her son with a smile in the corner of that vast square, where the knight’s parade was held on the feast day.

An iron-legged white table with an attendant holding up a huge sunshade umbrella, dressed in a wide-brimmed hat and gloves that would make him comfortable in the open air.

At first glance, it looked like a garden party for her son.

However, what was clearly different from the usual was the arrangement and the presence of the “gallery.”

Beside the fountain, there were two spaces on either side of the fountain, which were rectangularly arranged with stone paving, as if they were stages.

On the stone pavement, there was a wide, waist-high cooking table, a simple stove, and a huge jar filled with water that was placed symmetrically on top of the stone pavement.

Juliana was sitting in a sort of spectator position, just staring at it.

Besides, a rope was stretched around with her at the head of the line, and behind her, servants from all over the palace are crowded together.

The maidservants, the stable hands, the cooks, the laundresses, and the guards. At any rate, it could be said that they are all who could be available for the time.

They were all oozing with unconcealed excitement as they looked forward to the moment when the actors would appear on the 'stage.”

“The competition for the title of the best chef in the royal palace… What on earth happened this time, and how did it come to this……”

Lucas blurted out as he slumped down in the chair provided and crossed his long legs gracefully.

The head maid, who had been standing by Juliana’s side, heard the exasperated murmur and shrugged her shoulders as she bowed her head.

“I’m sorry. As you can imagine, I didn’t expect things to go this far…”

It all happened a day earlier.

It goes back to when Gelda encountered Chef Georges Ramadier standing in front of the Chamber of Maidservants.

He was about to charge into the girl’s dormitory, and he had something to complain about to the girl named Elma.

He wanted to demand an apology for stepping into the kitchen and violating his territory, even though she had no qualifications as a cook and was a woman.

The head maid hurriedly summoned Elma and had her bow down, but then she blurted out.

“So the idea that cooking should be done by people who can make good food, not by qualifications or gender, isn’t ‘normal’”

Georges was furious at the statement.

“Do you think you can do better than me?”

And so, the two of them decided to see who was the better cook.

Gelda said that even though Montaigne’s voice was nearly inaudible, his rage was so clear that it could be felt.

Georges put his prestige as a chef on the line, declaring that if his food was not to the nobility’s taste, he could quit as head chef.

But then, it would also involve the physical appearance of the First Prince Felix, who had drawn him in. If that’s the case, it would be better to have the prince himself make that decision, not the palace servants.

However, when Gerda proposed to him, Felix, who was reputed to be an ordinary and stupid prince, refused it, saying, “I don’t like it.”

The prince said that he didn’t want to eat the food prepared by his lowly maidservant ‘for such a trivial inconvenience’ during the busy period before his accession to the throne.

“Big brother…”

Lucas, who was listening to the story, couldn’t help but hold his head.

Because it was before his ascension, it was important to garner the support of the palace, even if it was a servant.

If they didn’t want to eat the maidservants’ cooking, they could have just admitted that Georges Ramadier was the head chef of the castle, without having to compete, and that would have been enough.

Anyway, if he had refused, there was no use.

Gelda was half relieved to suggest to Georges that he put an end to this conversation, but he was stubborn and replied: “That’s not good enough for me.”

That there will still be “noble people” in this castle, who are acquainted with you.

Gerda, who had known the former Consort Juliana for twenty years, reluctantly explained the circumstances to her there.

She was too cautious about getting involved in this kind of turmoil, and she had never tried to get involved in this kind of situation before.

‘I’m sure she would have been able to successfully refuse him, but…’

“Oh, that sounds interesting. I’d like to try Elma’s cooking, fresh from the oven.”

After the tea party with Elma, she seemed to have blown up a lot of things and said, “If you want, let’s get the other servants to eat as well.”, “Do you want me to call out to everyone in the palace?” and “Then let’s use the garden,” she said, expanding the conversation.

Before she knew it, she had to hold a huge “Cooking Show” with all the palace servants.

“Why do all these outlandish things happen when that girl is involved…”

Lucas, who had slipped out of the Knights’ preparations for the ceremony and rushed over well, he was allowed to skip the hassle in itself, frowned at his manly and fearless appearance as he remembered all the things that had happened.

“Well. You’ve been hitting on every single one of them as soon as you see them as girls, and you don’t think they’re going to like them? Aren’t lords attracted to women who are unexpected?”

“With all due respect, Mother, I have my own preferences. And the unexpectedness that men like to see in a woman’s life is the unexpected beauty when she takes off her glasses or the fact that a stout woman has a weakness for alcohol, and that’s about it. That thing about her is not unexpected. It’s just annoying and unpredictable, like a mine that could explode at any moment and in any way.”

Lucas retorted with a chuckle.

Many people criticize him for being ‘unconventional’ or ‘out of the ordinary,’ and Lucas himself accepted that. Still, now he saw a girl that dismissed the word ‘ordinary’ with all her might, and now he thought that he would be considered a normal man.

Now, after seeing the girl who had dismissed the word “normal” with all her might, he thinks that she is an entirely sensible person.

When he took off his glasses, next to him, Gerda glanced at Lucas’s face, but the prince, who was staring at the stage with a sullen look on his face, didn’t notice it.

“Ever since she came to the palace, I’ve been cleaning up after her.”

Other than that, Elma’s skills are just too amazing for anything else; if she bakes a plate, you’ll get a national treasure, if you let her fiddle with the dirt, she’ll dig up fossils of ancient creatures, and so on.

It was Gerda and Lucas who brought her into the palace, but since there are so many things happening that were beyond the control of the head maid, Lucas was forced to take care of these things.

However, if the dishes were sold secretly, the city would buzz, saying, “A rare ceramic artist has appeared!”, And if you secretly donated fossils to the academy, the research team would have rushed to the royal palace, saying, “History was made at that time!” He hasn’t had time to relax lately

“Oh, dear. But you came hurriedly to this place while saying such things. You like her as much as I do, don’t you?”

“Well, she’s a good cook. Besides, I was also curious about the new head chef.”

Lucas lifted a corner of his lips and shrugged.

The newly hired head chef from Montaigne was doing a good job, but Lucas was concerned about his isolation in the palace.

He had avoided contact with him in front of his half-brother, but if his brother had thrown him out of the picture for good this time, this might be a good opportunity to deepen his friendship with him.

Being friends with someone who holds the safety of his food was very beneficial to the second prince, who was at risk of poisoning.

Lucas was now a man who paid careful attention to relationships.

“Oops, here he comes,”

At that moment, the gallery buzzed, and he knew that Georges had arrived.

He wore a tall chef’s hat, that was beginning to become popular in Luden, and around his neck was a red handkerchief, signifying his position as head chef.

He has short hair on his strong arms.

Like Montaigne, his emotions are rugged, but his sharp eyes and taut spine showed him to have a sense of pride in his work.

‘It’s not a bad look,’ Lucas thought.

“I would like to thank Her Royal Highness, Princess Juliana, and Prince Lucas for the privilege of deliberating on this matter. I want to thank you for the honor of your consideration. I hope that you will appreciate the exquisite craftsmanship that has gone into these products.”

Georges took off his hat and bowed.

As a proud Montaignean, he still speaks his native tongue, even in front of royalty, but the way he speaks out was rather graceful.

“Permission granted. I look forward to your loyalty and skill.”

“I’m looking forward to it too.”

Following his mother, Lucas replies straightforwardly.

Juliana is the host here. He must not interfere with her progress.

Juliana nodded with satisfaction, then flipped her fan open and said.

“Georg – no, Georges Ramadier. If you win this confrontation, I will look after you and promise you a place in court with my son Lucas and His Highness Felix.”

So she promised protection not only from the foolish Prince Felix but also from the well-liked Second Prince and his mother.

This would ensure Georges a certain amount of power in the palace, even if he was abandoned by Felix, or conversely, even if he abandoned Felix. It was a perfect reward.

Georges, as expected, oozed with excitement and bowed deeply.

Eventually, he seems to have changed his mindset and started to prepare with great speed.

As if to say that he had made the most of the world’s luxuries, he brought in a variety of foodstuffs that one could hardly believe to be for just two people and began to heat up the hearth.

On the other hand, in the kitchen on the left, the maidservant who should have been challenged has yet to show up.

A confrontation with a superior figure, the head chef, and that too in the presence of royalty was so disloyal.

The suspicious servants gradually began whispering to each other.

However.

Zawa!

Buzzing spread with the momentum capable of pushing them away. Lucas looked up.

Then his eyes widened slightly as he understood the scene beyond their line of sight.

The person, who was slowly pushing the trolley with a low rumble, was a sloppy, petite maid with thick glasses.

The way she stared straight ahead, bathed in the early summer sunshine just before noon, was like an actor walking along a flowery path, but more than that, there was an object that boasted a strange presence that made everyone around her stare at it.

Large cooking utensils on a cart and a lot of flour.

I know this.

Likewise, tons of cabbage and seasoning.

I can see this too.

A lot of bread that looks hard.

It’s a little rough, but I can understand that.

A huge tuna.

“–?”

Lucas involuntarily rose to his feet.

“You, where did you get such a thing–!”