Bon Appétit

Chapter 67: Harsh Reality

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One day, the world surrounding Ingrid changed. The kind and warm world became cold and scary, but she struggled to adapt due to the great hatred burning in her heart which made her broken. She then realized she couldn’t go back to herself and be happy.

She abandoned most of her dreams of being a princess and then chose to walk the path of revenge. She knew that there was something she had to endure to some extent in the process, and one of them was about her relationship with Cain.

‘When I was young, I thought I would marry someone I love.’

Ingrid smiled bitterly as she realized the reality was different. She fled from the emperor and sought her freedom, but that freedom was only for a while. Now, she has to marry Cain as someone who inherited royal blood to revive the kingdom.

‘Would you suffer if you knew that?’

Suddenly the face of the emperor flashed in her mind. That disgusting and hateful bastard. She hopes the bastard who took away her kingdom will be angry and suffer.

Knock knock-

There was a knock. After hearing the familiar voice, Ingridgot up from her seat.

“Princess.”

“Cain.”

He will soon become her spouse. He wasn’t a bad person and was highly knowledgeable, sincere, nice, and honest. If there was a problem, it was not about him but the people behind him. Most of the important people who defended the kingdom died at the hands of the empire. As a result, the people’s remains consisted of a few lucky people, and most of them had turned away from the kingdom.

The lucky ones were quite useful, but it’s not the same for those who didn’t. He was calculating the profit that would benefit him to survive the kingdom. But they’ll be people he would leave behind.

Besides, what he wanted was not smart royal. He needed a royal family that he could wield at will. It wasn’t long after she came here that she realized that. She figured out the situation late and tried to fix it, but it was already too late.

“What’s going on?”

When she asked Cain about his business, Luana suddenly appeared from behind. At first, Ingrid thought they would hate Luana, but she was glad Luana could adapt quickly. Recently, she seemed to be spending most of her time in the kitchen and gaining favors from others due to her cooking.

“I made some sweet snacks and brought some.”

“Snacks?”

“I just gave her some ingredients.”

Cain spoke in an apologetic tone. At first, he was suspicious of Luana more than anyone else, but now he is quite on her side. He thought it would be nice if Luana were more focused. Ingrid sighed a little in regret.

“It’s delicious. Would you like to try it?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Crisp-

Even though the quality of the ingredients must have been bad, the snacks she made were delicious. It was crispy and had a light savory taste. The after-taste was slightly sweet, and it felt like her fatigue went away.

‘I hope Luana won’t get hurt.’

That was all Ingrid had hoped. But the situation was getting worse. The more she showed her bright side, the greater his invincible malice grew.

***

Luana knew what Ingrid thought.

No, there’s no way she doesn’t know. When she first arrived here, Luana felt a strange atmosphere. The people here did not welcome her like the first people who joined the death squad. She didn’t want to be friendly to them and decided to lock herself in the kitchen.

She was going to wait for Legion while peeking at the opportunity to escape, but the problem was the effect that it brought. As she made some food in the kitchen, the people who ate it began showing interest in Luana.

‘Oh, we shouldn’t get too close.’

Even though she had that in mind, she is also a natural cook. She couldn’t turn a blind eye to people who liked her cooking. As a result, she suddenly became the head of the kitchen!

‘This is not right!’

She tried to deny it, but it was too late. In that situation, Luana began to understand the situation, and the first thing she learned was that Ingrid had given up on bringing her kingdom back to life.

“Why should you be with a guy like this?”

Luana clicked her tongue as she cooked, and Cain watched her.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Nothing.”

She sighed and mashed the potatoes. Luana couldn’t believe Ingrid would end up with another horrible man other than His Majesty. She knew Cain wasn’t a particularly bad person, but he was not a person she could rely on. From Luana’s point of view, Ingrid was still young. Was it because she was a grown-up that she had that thought? Compared to Legion, that man didn’t have much age difference, but Cain was just a disappointment.

As she learned about their relationship, she learned other things as well. For example, many of those supporting the death squad hide their identities. It seemed what they wanted was a puppet king.  But, if it were Cain, Ingrid was not worthy of becoming a puppet.

‘Sister is amazing.’

Ingrid ran here and there, getting more support and trying to bring the death squad together. She even tried to eliminate those who betrayed the kingdom in the process. She had no choice but to be hated by some people. Recently, when Cain was away, someone who looked like a traitor came to talk to her.

“Isn’t it unfair that you were abandoned?”

With those words, the man who opened his mouth cleverly tried to dig up Luana’s wound. Perhaps if she really thought of the king as her parent, she might have been greatly hurt.

“If you want to be our master, you’ll be able to take the highest position.”

“What high position?”

Then the man smiled meaningfully and whispered.

“You will become a queen.”

If she wants to be a queen, she needs to marry Cain, right? For a moment, Luana’s expression was strangely distorted. She knows he’s not a bad guy, but that and marriage were two separate matters. Besides, doesn’t Luana have someone she likes now? She won’t know what the other person would think of her, but he seemed to have a feeling toward her, so she thought she would seduce him by cooking him some good food for the rest of her life.

Can she do that diligently? She used to doubt herself, but people always had their own selfish plans. Not only that, but she also gets to feed him delicious food for the rest of her life. Luana convinced herself that she’d be okay. That personality, that taste, or who’s going to live with her, no matter how hard she thinks about it, there was no other suitable person.

‘I can’t help it. I have to live with you.’

Luana chuckled.

Under these circumstances, Luana has no interest in the queen’s position. But Luana is not a fool, and she didn’t say no right away. She knows no one here who would protect her, and she needs to protect herself. That way, she would be able to meet Legion safely.

“Oh, yes. You’re talking about the queen.”

Luana answered in a kindly, sincere way as she sliced the onion. She thought it’d be over, but the man began to narrate how splendid the queen’s life was.

“If you become a queen, you don’t have to cook like this.”

‘I’m doing it because I like it. How could I do something I don’t like tenaciously?’

He looked like a traitor, but he didn’t seem to have a clue.

“You just need to stay still, and the world’s best dishes will be served in front of you.”

Luana believed the world’s best dishes couldn’t have been better than her own food. She became at a completely unreachable level after learning how to use magic.

“You’re going to have a lot of jewelry.”

Rather than jewelry, she preferred to use fresh ingredients to her heart’s content. There were some ingredients she couldn’t buy at the market last time. She should have bought them all then. And like out of habit, she remembered the Jangdokdae that she had left at the duke’s residence.

‘My soy sauce, my red pepper paste, my soybean paste.’

Luana was sure everyone was safe. She hopes Way takes good care of them. While her mind wandered elsewhere, she responded lightly to what the man said.

By then, Cain had returned, and the man naturally left the kitchen.

“But why do you keep coming here, Sir Cain? Do you have nothing to do?”

“I was worried something might go wrong with my meal.”

“What’s that now?”

Luana grinned and gave Cain some onion.

“If you have nothing to do, peel the onions.”

Cain took the onion with a puzzled look and sat quietly to do the job Luana asked. He then began to peel the onions with his clumsy hands, and after a while, his eyes turned red, and he started to shed tears. Out of embarrassment, he raises his hand and wipes his eyes.

“Ah!”

Before Luana stopped him, his tears began to fall like a waterfall.

“My, my eyes! What the hell have you done?!”

“You’re the one who did something!”

‘How can you rub your eyes with your hands that peeled onions?’

Luana clicked her tongue and wiped his eyes with water. But still, his tears didn’t stop quickly, so Cain cried for a long time.

“You’re the first person who made me cry.”

“It’s not me. It’s the onion. Onions are spicy, so you’ll shed tears if you don’t do it right.”

“Onions?”

“Yes, surprisingly so. It wasn’t me who made Sir Cain cry. It was the onion.”

It was a little embarrassing, so Cain stopped talking. Then after he calmed down, he began to peel the onions more carefully. After that, everyone who came in to help was surprised to see Cain, but he did not stop working.