A new rule was created in the Duke’s mansion.

“What an impressive person.”

Demian, who headed alone to the kitchen of the Duke’s mansion, was quite displeased with the woman who hadn’t shown her face since the first day. What was he supposed to learn from a woman who couldn’t even keep a simple promise?

He had come out thinking it would be a hundred times better to practice alone and enter the competition. Demian slowly looked around the spacious kitchen and, confirming it was empty as he had been told beforehand, began to move comfortably.

Ariel, who had woken up after another nap, belatedly learned from Anna that the chef had arrived. Thinking she should keep her promise to practice starting today, she quietly headed to the kitchen.

As expected.

As anticipated, a large man was grilling steak in the kitchen. She approached quietly so as not to disturb him and observed his cooking method.

“Who are you?”

He asked without turning around, noticing her presence.

“I’m the person who will be preparing for the competition with you from today. I’m too late, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”

The voice sounds quite young? Thinking this, Demian turned his head slightly and almost dropped the pan. It was because the woman was quite beautiful.

Moreover, she looked young. It seemed she was likely someone to run errands for him. Demian had unconsciously thought the person to teach him cooking methods would be a middle-aged lady.

“Bring me a plate over there.”

Ariel, who had no idea where the plates were, began looking around. Fortunately, she quickly found one and brought it to his side.

“Can I try this?”

When Ariel asked as he was just transferring the steak to the plate, he nodded. Ariel brought the plate to the table in the kitchen, and as she looked around for utensils, Demian found and brought them to her.

She was quite a strange woman.

Only after finishing cooking did he observe her closely, and she didn’t look like someone to run errands. She was beautiful, with an inherent grace flowing through her. Yet, here she was, sitting gracefully in such a humble place, naturally having a meal?

“What’s your name?”

The thought that he hadn’t told her his name briefly crossed his mind, but thinking it wasn’t that important, Ariel readily answered.

“Ariel. And you?”

“Demian.”

“Nice to meet you, Demian. I’ll just finish eating this.”

The woman before him, whatever she was thinking, nodded to herself, tilted her head, and devoured all the steak he had grilled.

“That was delicious. Is it my turn now?”

“…”

“I mean, I’ll grill for you now. Shouldn’t we start by knowing each other’s skills?”

Seeing Demian staring at her, Ariel added an explanation.

“Don’t tell me, you’re the woman who’s supposed to teach me cooking methods?”

“That’s right. And please use formal speech.”

From Demian’s speech, Ariel noticed that he didn’t know her status. However, thinking there might be some reason, she couldn’t carelessly bring it up. Demian, surprised by the much younger-looking woman asking him to use formal speech, let out a hollow laugh. Leaving Demian as he was, Ariel looked for an apron to put on and a wooden box to use as a step.

“Come closer and watch. I’ll only show you once now.”

Thinking it would be faster to show directly than to explain verbally, she called him to her side. From tomorrow, she planned to teach only verbally while he cooked. That would be better for him to learn her cooking method in a short time. It wasn’t such a difficult process anyway.

After all, the key was the spices.

Meanwhile, Kaius, who had heard that Ariel had entered the kitchen, came down. As he approached quietly behind her, Demian bowed his head. Kaius nodded briefly and signaled to be quiet.

Kaius, with his arms folded leisurely, closely observed his small wife.

An ordinary dress, hair braided into a single plait, wearing an apron like maids do, standing on a footstool, in other words, a appearance that no one would take for a Duchess, made Kaius smile.

“Get out.”

At Emperor Hart’s cold command, the man with blood flowing from his forehead carefully backed out of the office. On one side, a crumpled newsletter and an ashtray lay scattered.

As Emperor Hart pointed to the newsletter and flicked his fingertip, Count Calvin picked it up, smoothed it out, and placed it on the desk. Right before his eyes was the article that had upset him.

With the title “The Wedding of the Century,” and below it, a beautiful image of two people holding hands.

“Damn it.”

Seeing that picture again, another curse slipped out. His shin, bruised blue, throbbed with pain.

Two people so beautiful one can’t take their eyes off them finally held their wedding ceremony, overcoming much gossip. Emperor Hart, the matchmaker of this marriage, personally attended to give his blessing.

…

Contrary to known facts, the man known as the princess’s lover turned out not to be in a romantic relationship. Having belatedly confirmed this, our paper expresses sincere apologies to the Duke and Duchess of Elbartan.

Also, the gift the princess gave to her relatives was an item with truly amazing effects. It was a peppermint-scented oil that immediately cleared the head with just one drop applied to the neck.

Usually, painkillers are used for severe headaches, but continued use leads to tolerance and loss of effectiveness. Therefore, most people suffering from headaches endured day by day by drinking chamomile tea. But now something with better effects has appeared. Judging by the peppermint scent, we can guess it’s an oil made from it, but as this type of oil is a first, we can’t be certain of anything yet, so we’ll summarize the content here.

From today, our paper plans to thoroughly investigate this oil and publish additional articles, so we hope those suffering from headaches will eagerly subscribe to our Cindy newsletter.

Lastly, we conclude this article wishing for a happy future for the Duke and Duchess of Elbartan.]

“Your Majesty. Perhaps this is for the best. If the Duke of Elbartan falls for his wife, he might not just stand by and watch the kingdom’s debt. Then we might be able to recover our bonds that are now no more than scraps of paper.”

Bonds? Right, there was that…

A failing kingdom, bonds, that country’s princess, and Kaius’s wife. Such an impertinent woman.

As that thought crossed his mind, once again, the pain throbbed in his bruised leg. It was then that a knock sounded on the office door. The unexpected visitor was his grandmother, Olivia von Klardeus.

“Hart, have you seen the newsletter?”

As Count Calvin served tea and quietly retreated, Olivia von Klardeus asked. Emperor Hart’s brow furrowed slightly as he greeted his grandmother from the sofa. He was already in a bad mood because of that incident.

“Yes.”

“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to meet the Duchess of Elbartan.”

Surprise crossed Emperor Hart’s face at the unexpected request.

“That’s not difficult, but why do you ask, Grandmother?”

“I’m very curious about the oil the Duchess gifted to her relatives.”

“Ah… It’s because of your headaches. But that’s just a speculative article, Grandmother.”

“I’ve been quite uncomfortable lately. Medicines don’t work well either.”

Emperor Hart, who had been quietly observing his grandmother, let out a shallow sigh as if he had no choice.

“I understand. I’ll arrange a separate meeting during your birthday banquet. Is that alright?”

Only then did his grandmother smile brightly, and Emperor Hart smiled back. His grandmother was the only person Emperor Hart truly loved. She had been the only one who had always been on his side in everything since he was young.

“It’s done.”

At last, the steak and vegetables were beautifully arranged on a large white plate.

Ariel, turning around with the plate in hand, was momentarily surprised to see Kaius, but soon passed by him and headed to the table in the center of the kitchen.

“Now, try it.”

As Demian strode over and sat down, Ariel sat opposite him. Kaius, walking leisurely, sat next to Ariel, crossing his legs.

Ariel watched Demian with some tension as he cut the steak into pieces and brought them to his mouth. Although she was quite confident in her spices and cooking method, she couldn’t help feeling nervous. He was, after all, a skilled chef.

Occasionally, when Demian raised his head and stared at her, Ariel met him with an appropriate smile. Kaius watched this scene silently.

Demian’s gaze, after clearing his plate, turned to Kaius.

“With this, victory is certain, Your Excellency. You must know well, having tasted it yourself.”

Kaius, about to nod habitually, turned his gaze to the empty plate. Of course, he had tasted what the chef from Letiana Palace had made. No, only that.

Suddenly struck by a thought, Kaius’s gaze slowly shifted to his wife. But Ariel’s eyes were already on Demian.

“You watched closely what I just did, right? Now do you want to try it yourself?”

“Sure. But what are those spices?”

“This is something I developed. You just need to know it’s a blend of various spices with salt. The rest is a secret.”

Perhaps due to their shared interest in cooking, the two continued their conversation naturally. To the point where they seemed quite close.

“Ariel, turning off the fire here and pouring oil is to cook the inside, right?”

Ariel?

“That’s right. If you keep the fire high, the inside won’t cook and the outside will become too hard.”

Kaius, who had been watching this scene intently, slowly narrowed his eyes. Only then did he recall Duvian’s words, and he stood close behind Ariel. It was then that Kaius’s hand came to rest on her shoulder.

“Continue.”

Kaius spoke tonelessly to Demian, who was watching with surprised eyes. Ariel tried to twist around to look, but his hand pressing on her shoulder was firm. Demian’s face, who had reflexively tried to stop this, showed something akin to fear. That was after he met Kaius’s eyes.