章節 24: Side Chapter: The Royal Kitchen (I).
Side Chapter: The Royal Kitchen (I).
Two years ago...
The time of Victoria's employment.
A meal is served to the only heir of the royal family of the kingdom of snow.
"The princess needs to be served her breakfast! With haste!"
The head chef would yell every morning in the royal kitchen, where the other cooks would nod and follow through. They were considered the staff to have ever been recruited to be cooks inside the castle, following the traditional recipes of the royal family they have been able to recreate the taste every time.
A scheduled meal the princess has to eat and follow.
Lumps of unknown ingredients were mixed, flour, yeast, and a grey-looking paste that was known to serve some form of taste but it gave nothing.
The scarcity was making the whole kingdom panic for the worst. It seems that the nobility's side was fine but the commoners would have to live their lives eating the seeds and cacao fruits that would bear during the times of summer.
One would spit out the seeds once they were done sucking the flavor and then throwing its shell away, it would not be enough to satisfy one's appetite. The people of the country were furious at the nobles who would lavish and dine all that they wanted.
"The princess' breakfast is served." One cook rings up a maid who tidies up the presentation on the plate. It was a gray bread, with some mushroom soup on the side and warm milk boiled over the fire.
The maid covers the meal with a metal lid to conserve the heat not checking the quality. She holds it in her hand before walking in a rush to deliver it to the princess, who was only five years old at the time having to eat the palace's dishes every day.
Everyone was on edge that day, the former general has renounced her title and decided to become the princess' maid full-time.
Victoria Crumwell.
The emperor's right hand and the empress' loyal friend.
Princess Elizabeth Isoldein Neyemar.
The princess she swore to protect.
Hair of silver, smooth and long, everyone was reminded of winter every time they looked at her. Eyes of gray that would stare at you as if she was disassembling you apart. You would think her mind would never run out of endless possibilities to say about you.
She was ever so clever and observant, as expected from someone living the soul of her past life into a child vessel but how troublesome it was for her to take the form of a young one- with the title of a princess too.
Tap... tap... tap...
Her four fingers would tap in a synch, eyes wandering around the other servants waiting patiently as they stood. No one else was present to dine in with the princess, everyone was on their guard for service.
Squeak... clack.
The door opened, and everyone turned to see the one maid whose duty was to deliver the meal. She walks by the side of the table and lowers her head. "Your breakfast, your highness. We have bread freshly made by the baker, mushroom soup, and some warm milk."
She places the meal down in front of her, taking off the lid for her to see stale gray bread, mushroom soup to dip it in, and warm milk.
"..."
A standard meal for a healthy growing child by their terms but in her opinion what she was having was rather unappetizing with unbalanced nutrition.
Families who are unable to provide such foods would hunt for wild berries and mushrooms to feed one another.
Princess Elizabeth dared not to judge the blessings that were in front of her, she was thankful and thought that perhaps she was wrong to judge meals by their looks. "Hmm..."
She grabbed a hold of the bread freshly made, it was still warm and smelled like nothing. Her hands had a good grip on it and it didn't squish.
"?"
No matter how hard she pressed, it wouldn't soften. It was hard as a stone.
The princess would tilt her head in confusion, where they didn't check the quality of the food before serving it to her and then stares at the maid, raising the bread in the maid's face to see what kind of dish she has dared serve royalty.
"Look." (Princess Elizabeth) tells her and proceeds to slam the bread into the long wooden dining table they have.
Thud! Thud!
Two times she slammed that piece of hard brick bread, and everyone flinched each time she did it. The bread left a small dent on the table, and a few scratches but that was all.
The servants who were standing on the side began to sweat, fearing for the worst. The princess' temper was nothing bad but- if someone was served something horrendous such as brick bread...
Wouldn't anyone be mad?!
"This... is inedible." (Princess Elizabeth) places the bread gently down on the plate and tries the soup next. The table setting was organized, and the princess who had learned the basic etiquette of dining would follow and act according to the teachings.
"..."
The mushroom soup, its main ingredient found in the inner forests, the dish would be usually paired with cream and other herbs.
The mushrooms grow on the edges of wooded areas, especially around the oak, elm, ash, and aspen trees. Dead or dying trees are where commoners hunt when mushrooms spawn because morels tend to grow right around the base.
Hunting rare variant kinds, these are what children do to earn extra money. They sell it to people in the market, apothecaries, or provide restaurants with them. There are extremely rare ones that have magic embedded in them but... they are more dangerous to obtain. Ones that grow where magic beasts lie, their home not too far.
Princess Elizabeth expected better. They didn't use milk in the dish, or cream.
"This... lacks something." She spins her spoon around the bowl noticing the mushroom soup didn't have any mushrooms. "..."
Speechless...
She cursed in her mind of who would be sane enough to serve this to someone?! Bread that's hard as a brick and mushroom soup that doesn't have mushrooms in it. Are they delusional to think the princess would let this slide?
All the other past meals have been... alright but not enough to make her happy.
Princess Elizabeth, a former soul from earth, had her food standards a little bit higher than this. Her mood didn't look good.
"Tell me."
The maid at the side almost let go of the metal tray falling into the ground, she couldn't help but yelp and stutter a reply. "Yes, your highness? Is there anything I can do for you to help?"
Princess Elizabeth stares at her meal, wondering if she would have any time to fix the kitchen before the new personal maid that was assigned to her would take over her life and studies in a few hours.
"This... won't do." (Princess Elizabeth) mutters, taking off in her seat and walking slowly towards the maid with grace.
"E-Eh..."
"I need you to take me into the kitchen, I may have tolerated having you allowed to serve me this kind of meal but I'll be having a guest today so that won't do." (Princess Elizabeth) asks her to lead the way.
"Oh and please carry the meal, I'll be needing to present the evidence."
And into the royal kitchen, they went.
The maid didn't know what to do, she followed every order there was, whether it be to answer the questions about the kitchen's condition and who the current head chef was.
"Are the ingredients fresh?"
"I-I... think so, your highness."
The maid wasn't sure much about the conditions of the kitchen considering she was newly hired, only arriving a week ago from a countryside village.
...
"Would you say the working environment there is alright?"
"Y-Yes...?"
It was at that point the maid was beginning to think, has the princess been born smart and mature for her age? Asking all these questions a five-year-old would never usually do.
...
After the long silence and walk, finally, they arrived, at the doors to the royal kitchen they stood in front- they could smell the scent of meat cooking and she decided to go inside.
"Who is in charge of cooking and serving the food?"
Princess Elizabeth bolted in and held her head up high when she asked, to everyone inside the staff room they at first didn't care but soon when they double checked and saw who it was when they made sure their eyes weren't deceiving them they panic.
"Your highness-" They all stood still and stopped what they were doing. The head chef stopped checking the list of ingredients and cost, the chefs even left the burner, and some had to stop stirring their pot and focus on greeting the princess. "Good morning, your highness!"
They all chanted together before returning to their work.
The head chef loosens his collar, swallowing the lump in his throat before going off to talk to their princess who didn't look too happy with the way she looked.
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