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One day, I thought I would come face to face with a high noble.

Right now, I was in the royal castle, where nobles from all over the kingdom gathered for the upcoming festival. Given the crowd density, it would indeed be strange not to encounter one.

Was that why Catherine had warned me?

Perhaps it meant I should get used to not dragging people around like before.

And finally, Karem was about to meet the individual who ranked just below the duke across the entire kingdom.

Flap flap flap—

“Ahhhh!”

“Henry is looking forward to this, just like Alicia. The smell is incredibly fragrant; it’s hard to resist.”

The culprits behind the overcrowded average number of attendants in the private room permitted by Lumiere were none other than—

Surrounded by guards, Prince Henry, who sat next to Alicia with Poppins, was drooling and flapping his arms on the table.

Creak—

Belladonna Glaston. The knight leading the guards placed her hand on the breastplate, her impressive short haircut getting shorter at the back.

“I apologize for the sudden visit.”

“Oh please, no need for apologies. Spare me your words.”

“Had it been the usual your grace, you would have listened to my words well.”

Belladonna’s brown eyes turned towards the back of Alicia’s head.

“It seems your grace is quite taken with your first friend.”

“Offering condolences in advance for the hardships to come.”

“Baroness?”

At the sudden warning mixed with condolences, Belladonna blinked. Guards, knight-ladies, a baroness, a prince, and a princess—all of them.

With the population suddenly increased, William tapped Karem lightly on the side. Seeing Karem scoop the noodles, he quietly whispered.

“Did you anticipate this after stir-frying so many vegetables?”

“Me? I’m just an uninformed cook.”

“Then what’s this scene right now? Isn’t it like a prophecy or something?”

“I’m not a wizard, you know.”

Certainly, the situation was bewildering. However, it wasn’t inexplicable.

“Lady Alicia has a… cough… good sense of smell, doesn’t she?”

At those words, William went, “Ah,” then looked at Alicia with keen interest and nodded in understanding.

‘There’s no way Little Ogre Alicia wouldn’t notice this smell.’

The scent of frying meat was incredibly potent. From my experience, it seemed the room hadn’t been cast with directional magic.

“Alicia is curious about that brown sauce.”

“Aaaaahh! Eburrrhh—”

“Prince, you’re drooling.”

Belladonna and Poppins wiped away the saliva of the individual they served.

“Now it just needs to be transferred.”

“What kind of meat is in this?”

“It says wild boar, apparently.”

“Wild boar?”

“Yes, your highness should have a bowl too, right?”

At those words, William reflexively peered into the large pot on the cooking range. The brown sauce filled with onions and cabbage and meat felt viscous due to the addition of starch.

To be honest, it wasn’t particularly appetizing to look at. The smell was magnificent; yet, the eyes rejected the appetite.

“Prince, your highness, young master, princess. Ah, Sir Glaston. What shall we do with this?”

At the looks that clearly said they had to see it, Karem silently retrieved more bowls. Fortunately, there were plenty of noodles boiled, and the freshly stir-fried sauce was abundant as well.

“Wow. The smell is good, but it doesn’t look appetizing at all!”

“Um… the brown color is a bit concerning.”

Alicia’s comment about the small bowl on the tray and the large ones with the black bean sauce represented everyone in the room except Karem.

For just a moment, Belladonna’s face tightened at the sight of the contents in front of her.

Belladonna Glaston.

As her name suggests, she wasn’t from here. The daughter of a Servian noble artisan who had sought asylum in the kingdom.

There was considerable backlash against women becoming knights, and a foreign noblewoman was met with even more resistance both inside and outside.

However, in the end, she triumphed over all the opposition from her family and beyond through effort, skill, and luck and earned the honor of joining the royal guard.

But now, she had to eat this.

For the first time, Belladonna felt doubt about her glorious duty as the prince’s guard. She tilted the bowl slightly.

…Ssssss.

Look. Sauce? Paste? Something she had never seen in her life slowly dripped like slime. Indeed, it resembled slime. If anything, it was closest to slime.

Moreover, most of what was inside was vegetables. No matter how much she didn’t ravenously crave meat like a Seophone person, this was a bit too much.

Where did it all go wrong?

When the crown allowed the prince to frolic freely as much as possible? Or when they met the youngest daughter of the Duke of Iceland? Or was it—

But it was too late.

“Ababa—munch—yum.”

“Your grace, your grace?”

Henry was eating the black bean sauce with his bare hands.

*

*

*

Babies fundamentally lack patience.

And the baby prince, who didn’t yet understand the concept of time, experienced for the first time a feeling of time stopping.

What on earth is this?

Henry’s mind was filled with questions.

It hadn’t been long since Henry actually started eating real food. Before this, all he had eaten was bread porridge cooked in milk, meat porridge, and fruits.

The amount of solid food he had consumed could be counted on one hand.

So, Henry’s still developing little brain tried to gather all possible information, both known and unknown, to describe the taste of what he was currently eating.

It’s less sweet than the sweets I’ve had before.

This should definitely taste bad, but somehow it’s tasty? Why?

Crunchy, squishy, with meat being chewed.

What on earth does this taste like?

“Ahhh?”

“Henry… I said you should call me your grace, right? He’s asking what this is.”

“…He’s babbling, but how does Lady Alicia…”

“Hmm? It’s not much different from what Flora says.”

“Ahhhh!”

When will he finally answer?

Annoyed, Henry slammed the table.

Clap! Clap!

As cute as it was, Belladonna and the guards were taken aback. The usually gentle Prince Henry was throwing a tantrum?

No, more shocking was that a native Seophone prince would eat vegetables so deliciously?

Regardless of what the guards and Belladonna thought, Karem spoke slowly as if teaching a baby.

“Um. This is black bean sauce. We placed it over noodles to make jjajangmyeon.”

“Ja ja.”

“Jjajang.”

“Ja ja! Ja ja!”

“Your grace. You’re quite messy. First—”

“Jjaaa! Jjaa!!!”

Smack! Henry’s hands, covered in brown sauce, flung away Belladonna’s hand that held a napkin. That was not what mattered right now.

“Nou—”

With an expression of divine innocence, Henry brought the noodles stained brown towards his mouth with both hands.

Slurp, slurp, slurp!

Henry chewed a food he had never tasted before through his newly grown teeth, providing a texture he had never experienced.

“…Is it really that good?”

Belladonna, forgetting to observe the bowls, eagerly and slightly combatively watched Henry devour the jjajangmyeon and alternately looked at her own bowl with caution.

Slurp—slurp—

“…But I added so much cabbage and onion…”

William’s face, after swirling with a fork once, blatantly showed distrust.

“But you ate things like the Giant’s Rose or Ratatouille without issue.”

“No, but that had something else added to it. I watched the process of making it; how in the world does this taste like this?”

William tried to fork it again but briefly stared at the bowl.

“It doesn’t look appealing at all.”

“That’s because I had to use kongarum.”

“Kongarum, you say?”

Belladonna blinked.

“Kongarum… soybeans?”

She, as a descendant of the Palatino who loved garum since ancient times, should know how to make garum.

Even nobles knew a bit about it.

Garum is made from fatty fish.

But what about soybeans?

“How…”

William put down his fork and tapped Karem’s shoulder, who was gulping down the jjajangmyeon like Alicia, with the intent to devour the bowl as well.

“Here in Iceland, perhaps the most genius chef in Seophone Kingdom’s history Karem personally crafted a vision sauce.”

“Your highness. That’s quite embarrassing.”

“What? Why? Did I say something wrong?”

While not as much as Alicia, Godwin had seen Karem praying and bowing before some weird bricks made of straw.

“Made… from soybeans? You? Garum?”

“Of course, but I cannot enlighten you any further.”

“No… but…”

Belladonna found it hard to believe, frowning as she cautiously took a bite of the brown jjajangmyeon. And… surprisingly, it tasted fine.

“It lacks dignity to grace the table.”

“Dignity…? You mean?”

“It means there are too many vegetables.”

People born in the Seophone Kingdom love their meat.

Moreover, one of the symbols of Seophone nobility is eating a lot of meat.

Popins, a typical meat lover among the Seophone nobility, was expressing that meaning. There were too many vegetables.

“Certainly… for a noble gathering…”

Belladonna began to say something but turned her head away. Popins did the same. The guards straightened their posture.

Knock, knock, knock—

“The Grandmaster has arrived.”

“Are you talking about Sir Michael Jackson?”

“Yes.”

“…Just a moment.”

Thud thud. Creak—

Belladonna was right. Michael Jackson, a man even known as Bloodstained, was undeniably handsome enough to awe even the elite Swordmasters. The head of the royal guard. A reincarnated being.

“Oh God.”

And with that sudden line, everyone except Alicia and Henry, who were engrossed in the jjajang, was taken aback.

“I have come drawn by the holy scent.”

“No, Sir Jackson. To suddenly refer to yourself as a god—”

“No. You must certainly be my god. Excessive modesty can lead to arrogance.”

What on earth are they talking about? A crazy atheist, Bloodstained? The jjajang is delicious. What’s he up to now?

“…So, please, have a seat.”

Karem felt a myriad of questioning gazes piercing him, and first let Michael inside. At least, he was relieved he didn’t have to use formal speech in front of others. As he sat down, Karem quickly filled a bowl with jjajangmyeon and handed it over.

“Here. The jjajang you mentioned.”

“Oh. Ooooh. Oooooooh.”

Michael Jackson quietly wept. Seeing that, the men felt a mix of jealousy and bewilderment, while Belladonna’s heart raced at the completely different side he was showing.

“It’s neither black nor has the smell quite right, but… this is definitely…”

“Yes. It’s exactly what you mentioned.”

“Jjajang.”

“Yes. It’s jjajangmyeon.”

The noodles also weren’t those standard factory-made yellow noodles. They were thickly cut knife noodles.

And the color was not black but brown.

Yet Michael held the fork and skillfully twirled the unfamiliar dish, then cautiously ate.

Slurp—slurp!

Ignoring the proper etiquette for dining, the openly loud sound made Popins frown, but Michael savored the taste of his hometown, which he hadn’t enjoyed for so long.

Before he knew it, he had lifted the bowl to his mouth, stuffing the jjajangmyeon until his cheeks bulged, shedding silent tears.

‘Well, at least he’s enjoying it.’

It was a bit different in color, noodles, and taste and lacked a touch of umami, but the one craving it seemed profoundly satisfied enough not to care about the onlookers.

‘Now then, let’s see.’

Karem slowly twirled the jjajangmyeon with his fork and raised his gaze.

Everyone except the children was staring at him.

‘Where on earth do I start cleaning this mess up?’

Lady Catherine, this is beyond my control.

 

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