Kashar really followed me into the kitchen.

The people in the kitchen brightened when they saw me, then one by one looked surprised when they saw Kashar.

The chef Babito was the same.

“Young lady, you’re here… Master?”

“She said she wanted to learn how to cook.”

“You too, Master?”

There was a reason Babito asked like this.

This was Mihail’s main habitat.

Just then, Mihail, who had finished washing dishes, came out and greeted us happily.

“Elder brother, elder sister!”

Mihail was wearing bright pink rubber gloves on both hands.

The rubber gloves were something I had brought for the kitchen staff, and had now become an essential item.

Mihail had adapted quickly to the ducal mansion.

‘He’s patched in so well it’s almost troubling.’

That face with pink rubber gloves.

Mihail himself might like it, but from the perspective of having to look at it, it was still confusing.

“Oh my, Your Highness!”

A servant in the kitchen who noticed the rubber gloves on the prince’s hands rushed over in surprise.

“That’s our job to do.”

“No. As someone learning, I should do it too. And I’m good at washing dishes now.”

“Still…”

When the servant tried to take off the rubber gloves, Mihail stepped back.

I remembered Babito boasting that although he broke quite a few dishes at first, nowadays his speed and cleanliness were at the highest level in the kitchen.

‘Dishwashing champion Mihail the nanny.’

It might look bad to the world, but Mihail was proud of himself for this.

“What brings you both here?”

“I’m going to prepare snacks for the children today. Kashar said he’d help too.”

I felt bad for not paying as much attention to the children lately because Kashar had been sticking so close.

At my words, Mihail looked blank for a moment before his eyes reddened.

“What’s wrong?”

I wondered if someone was cutting onions, but that wasn’t it.

“…Cooking together with family. It’s so wonderful.”

Perhaps due to his unfortunate past.

Mihail seemed to long for family love.

‘But I’m not married yet.’

Before I could say this, Mihail wiped away his tears and stood up straight.

“I’m sorry. I’m very emotional.”

“That can happen.”

Still, he seemed to have become much more mature than when we first met.

As if to prove that true, Mihail quickly regained his composure and his blue eyes shone.

“What are you planning to cook?”

“I’m going to make tteokbokki. Not just regular tteokbokki, but rose tteokbokki.”

Rose tteokbokki, with its soft cream mixed with spicy gochujang seasoning creating harmony with chewy rice cakes, was a mysterious charm and the leader of the K-snack trend.

“Elder sister’s cooking is always mysterious. Rose tteokbokki. My heart is pounding with excitement to see what kind of food it will be. May I help too?”

“Of course. Could you chop the green onions and onions?”

“Leave it to me!”

An excited Mihail headed towards where the cutting board was.

As I was about to turn around to prepare the ingredients, I saw Kashar standing next to the burner.

‘Does it… suit him?’

Seeing him standing with the kitchen as a backdrop gave me a new feeling.

I thought he might look good as a man who cooks well, but the spacious kitchen seemed to shrink when he entered.

“It’d be better to make some adjustments.”

He seemed to have the same thought as me, as his movements came to a halt.

“Just a moment.”

I rolled up his shirt sleeves for him.

“There. Now wash your hands first.”

“Alright.”

At my words, Kashar went to the sink and washed his hands.

Then I tied an apron around his waist after he finished washing his hands.

‘What’s this, he’s quite obedient.’

Is this what it feels like to take the lead?

Always being swayed before, it felt strange to give something like an order.

He quickly washed his hands and returned, asking:

“What should I do?”

“Just a moment, um. Could you come here for a bit?”

I entered the pantry attached to the kitchen with him.

Inside, it was filled with ingredients for foods from this world that I had brought.

‘Magic is really convenient, isn’t it.’

The preservation magic that Frigia had cast was even better than a freezer.

I started sorting out the ingredients needed to make tteokbokki one by one.

“Let’s see. Rice cakes, fish cakes, sausages… We’ll need garlic too. Glass noodles, gochujang, sugar, dashida…”

As I took out various ingredients and placed them on Kashar’s arms, they quickly piled up.

Putting them on the wooden table like that, the cooking began.

As I soaked the glass noodles in water, Mihail came with the prepared vegetables.

“I’ve chopped the onions and green onions.”

“Thank you. Then the sausages… Ah, would you like to cut them, Kashar?”

He came all the way here saying he wanted to learn, so it felt wrong not to give him anything to do.

Before Kashar could answer, Mihail presented a kitchen knife in front of him.

“Elder brother, here’s the knife.”

The way he offered it with both hands was extremely polite.

He took the knife and looked at me.

I demonstrated by making cuts in the sausages and slicing the fish cakes.

“You do it like this.”

“Hmm.”

He alternately looked at the ingredients spread on the cutting board and the kitchen knife.

‘It might be cute if he’s not good at cooking.’

While I was waiting with anticipation, Kashar picked up a small Vienna sausage and brought the knife to it.

‘It doesn’t suit him, but his face makes up for it.’

I don’t even know what I’m saying, but I could understand when I looked at him.

While I was engrossed in admiring him, he finished his task.

“Here.”

The Vienna sausages had perfect diamond-shaped cuts in them.

Seeing that the fish cakes and bacon were also neatly cut into squares, his knife skills seemed quite proficient.

“Oh? You did well.”

This was a different development from what I had thought.

‘I didn’t even teach him?’

As I was surprised that he seemed to be doing it more neatly than me, Mihail clapped beside us.

“As expected, elder brother is amazing.”

While Mihail was admiring him, the cooking had to continue.

‘First, put cooking oil in the frying pan and stir-fry the green onions and onions.’

When the aroma rises, fry the bacon, Vienna sausages, and square-shaped fish cakes. When they turn slightly brown, that’s when you add the milk and cream.

‘The key is to make it without water.’

As it started to boil properly, Mihail sniffed.

“There’s a savory smell. Is this a stew?”

“It’s closer to a stir-fry with a lot of sauce than a stew.”

But even if it’s a stir-fry, the sauce shouldn’t be too little.

‘That would be really disappointing.’

It’s the unwritten rule to dip toasted bread in it and mix glass noodles with it too.

‘Now let’s add the sauce.’

The sauce was simple.

I poured the pre-mixed gochujang, sugar, red pepper powder, a little dashida, and ketchup into the boiling frying pan.

Mihail couldn’t take his eyes off the changing color of the sauce.

“It turned red.”

“It’s not as spicy as it looks. And the spiciness goes well with the cream. Look, see? It’s turned orange now.”

“So it has. It’s like watching magic.”

Mihail quickly pulled out a pen and notebook as if he had come to his senses.

He seemed to have been taking notes on the process from earlier, showing great enthusiasm for learning cooking.

‘Although these ingredients aren’t available outside, they’re abundant in the ducal mansion.’

I decided to leave him be since he might be able to practice later.

While I was thinking this, it was time to add the boiled glass noodles.

‘When the glass noodles have absorbed enough sauce…’

The cooking is done when the previously transparent glass noodles have moistly absorbed the rose sauce.

I moved the pan to the table where a trivet was placed.

“Rose tteokbokki is complete!”

It was the moment when the masterpiece of street food, with plenty of rice cakes and Vienna sausages in a spicy and creamy-looking sauce, saw the light of day.

“Mihail, please escort the young princes to the dining room!”

“I’ll be right back!”

While Mihail was gone, I transferred the rose tteokbokki to plates.

Kashar was watching me.

He briefly turned his gaze and focused on the plastic plates and plastic bags that had contained the ingredients.

“Where did you get these?”

“Oh, those.”

They were all things that didn’t exist in this world.

This was the first time Kashar had directly asked about the items I possessed.

“Through Miss Frigia! I heard a lot of unusual things are developed in the magic tower.”

I gave him the same excuse I had given to the servants.

‘Will it work?’

As I was watching his reaction, he smiled languidly.

“That’s how magic towers are. All the creatures in there are a bit crazy.”

“Right? That’s probably why they invent things like this.”

Did it somehow pass?

Kashar didn’t ask any further.

I smiled awkwardly and finished transferring the rose tteokbokki to the plates.

“It’s done. Let’s go out too.”

When I went out pulling the tray, the children had already arrived in the dining room.

“Eileen!”

“You’re here? Come, sit down and have your snack.”

“Did Eileen make this? I’m so happy.”

“These two gentlemen helped too.”

“It looks delicious!”

Louis filtered out my words with his own filter and grasped a fork.

The sharp fork first pierced a rice cake, then skewered a Vienna sausage to make a kebab.

“Aah-!”

Louis opened his mouth wide and put both in at once.

Inside his cheeks that moved as he chewed, the rice cake and sausage were dancing a soft and spicy tango to the music of rose sauce.

Eventually, a sigh of admiration flowed from Louis’s mouth as he cupped both his cheeks.

“Mmm, it’s chewy and soft-!”

Slurp. Louis’s face melted as he tasted the rose tteokbokki.

The exclamations continued one after another.

“It’s salty too, and also…”

In the brief pause, Evan asked.

“And?”

“Spicy-!”

Fire broke out in Louis’s mouth.

I handed him a cup of milk in surprise, but Louis shook his head.

“Huk, is it too spicy? Have some milk!”

“Nnng, it’s spicy! But I can’t stop!”

If it had just been spicy, he might have put down the fork altogether.

But with the soft and savory cream sauce rising with a sting of spiciness, it was impossible to stop.

Add to that the chewy, tender, soft texture party.

It was an unstoppable cycle.

“It’s like eating spicy cream soup.”

Compared to Louis, Evan seemed to handle spiciness better.

As proof, Evan was eating the sauce along with the rice cakes using a spoon.

“Spicy, so spicy-!”

“Why are you making goat noises over delicious food.”

“You’re spicy too!”

“I told you to call me elder brother.”

Evan was also spicy enough to breathe out roughly, hoo-hoo-.

But he couldn’t put down the spoon.

Rose tteokbokki was a powerful drug in itself.

The twins weren’t the only ones addicted to it.

“It’s spicy but I can’t stop. It hurts, it’s delicious, it hurts!”

Mihail, whose taste was exactly like Louis’s, was letting out happy screams.

This is how the snack time ended with everyone feasting.

‘I wonder if they’ll be able to eat dinner later.’

Looking at Louis, he ended up emptying a glass of milk and his stomach was bloated.

“Phew…”

He looked quite cute with his relaxed posture and sauce smeared around his mouth.

“Young Master Louis, come here. I’ll wipe your mouth.”

“…Eileen is the best.”

A limp Louis came into my arms.

Louis lifted his head and looked behind me. There, as always, was Kashar.

“I’m the one hugging now!”

“Y-Young Master Louis?”

Perhaps because Kashar had been taking up my time lately, Louis’s tantrums had increased.

Evan seemed the same, with eyes full of dissatisfaction.

To divert the children’s attention, I changed the direction of the conversation.

“What did you do in class today?”

“Class? Today was history, we learned about cavalry battles!”

“The horses were so cool. I want to ride one too.”

“Me too! I’ll take good care of it.”

The children, their attitudes quickly changed, chattered about what had happened today.

As royalty, they would raise a pedigree pony from a young age and keep it as a companion horse until adulthood.

But this didn’t apply to Louis and Evan.

‘They haven’t ridden horses yet, right.’

It would be nice if they could ride horses if the opportunity arose.

That’s how the snack time ended.

The next day.

“Wow!”

Louis let out an exclamation.

Two cute ponies with brown and black fur, and a sand-colored stallion were stepping into the ducal mansion’s garden.