Allie clasped her hands together as she felt anxious, staring at the ceiling while she lay on her bed. The day was pleasant, nothing bad happened, however the princess asked if she wanted to cook for her. Or to be specific, sothing to be served to the royal family.
That terrified her, but due to her desire of cooking and wanting to return to the path of her ambition, to the path of change, she blurted yes. The mont she said those words, the nervousness ca instantaneously.
In truth, there was a side of her that was not confident about this. It has been a long ti since she had last served the royal family. Not only that, she wasn’t confident anymore if the taste of her food would be on par with the dishes served to the royals.
In addition, she was still essentially a criminal, she was terrified of them. Add to it the issue that a prisoner would be serving food to the royal family, one that attempted to poison one royalty. Allie did bring up that issue, but the princess assured her that she had brought the matter to her family. Allie once again felt elated at the kind consideration of the princess.
There were two ways to handle this, the princess suggested.
The first one was to cook alone, however, the food would be tasted first, and she would be watched while she was cooking.
The second was to work once again with her old colleagues. This was the one she was reluctant to do. She would cook with them, a guard watching wouldn’t necessarily be needed. However, her forr colleagues would definitely taste-test all the food first. It was said that this option was preferred by the royal family.
The first one was ideal for Allie, but there was a problem. It was her lack of confidence. She might taste the food and think it was good, but in truth, it was actually terrible. And the testers would not even try to point that out, just to perhaps sha her — but if they do, what Allie cooked might not be served in the end. She didn’t want to waste her cooking and make the princess look bad for even suggesting for Allie to cook again for them.
Thus, she had to take the second option. It may be hard, but by building up courage, she could. With this, the royal family can be more at ease. And she wanted to make the best dishes she could. For that, she needed her forr colleagues.
Still, would they help her? Surely they would. But, they may not find her presence comfortable. Still, Allie wanted to give it a try, to see if she could rekindle old friendships.
She wanted to make a new beginning. Thus, she would try to work with her forr colleagues. Even if it would be hard, she will still try.
She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
***
Allie being led by ra, headed to the old kitchen where she once worked with her forr colleagues. Her heart pumped hard as they got closer and closer to their destination, subtly taking deep breaths. She imagined how she would first interact with them.
Should she be casual? Or be stiff about it? Formal?
She pondered hard and imagined, but even now, she still couldn’t think of the proper way to do this.
Before she knew it, even if she was yet to be ntally ready, they have arrived at the kitchen. Allie felt nostalgic just seeing the door she was ever so familiar with. Disregarding Allie’s inner turmoil, ra opened the door.
Upon stepping inside after a deep shaking breath, Allie pursed her lips the mont he saw two familiar faces. They stiffly stared at Allie, and they stole glances at each other, indirectly asking how they should respond to this. That said, they should have already been told this was happening, so they shouldn’t be that completely clueless about what to do.
Even so, Allie understood their feelings.
“She is here to cook with you, for the royal family’s breakfast,” said ra. “Treat her nicely. But as you already know the situation, I suggest you keep watch over her.”
With only those words, ra left, leaving the guard knight inside to watch things over.
Allie glanced at her forr colleagues, only to avert her eyes away. It was harder to look them in the eyes than she had expected, feeling shaful.
“Hello, Allie…” The first to speak was her forr teacher, Ceruos, the head chef.
Allie frantically shifted her gaze toward him. “Um, hi. Cerous.”
“It’s been a long ti. Are you doing alright?”
“Yes…”
“Good, good… We were surprised to hear that you would be working with us today, the announcent was very sudden. Didn’t expect you would co back here though.”
“... I also didn’t expect the princess would ask to…”
“The princess, huh…” Ceruos lightly scratched his head. “Well, as long as things are alright…” he then turned to look at the young man, Tenil, who was looking away with furrowed brows. “Hey, greet her.”
Tenil paused for a mont before sighing. “Hi, Allie…”
“H-Hi.”
Ceruos looked at the two of them with a wry smile, but Allie had imagined that Tenil would be this way. He was expected to give her the cold shoulder, but Allie wanted to fix it. She wanted to try to redy the consequences of her mistake. Yes… mistake.
Still, she didn’t know how to.
Ceruos began speaking to break the ice. “So let’s start cooking? We can’t waste ti.”
Allie nodded, but Tenil rely went straight ahead to his desk and began preparing his ingredients. And so, Allie began working on her own, but working alongside the head chef. Tenil would often glance at her, and mostly at her work, and often begin to frown.
With her wooden spatula, Allie mixed the dish around on the pan, then added so seasoning. It slled good. But then, Ceruos ca in to inhale the perating sll.
“Is it just or does this sll different than the last ones you made?”
He was referring to the cooking done by Allie a long ti ago with this recipe. This one here was one of Allie’s usual dishes, one she commonly serve when she wanted to give sothing good. Of course, Ceruos was well familiar with this.
“I-Is it? It slls good to .”
Ceruos seed to be puzzled. Then Tenil chid in.
“You didn’t put enough seasoning.”
“I-Is that s-so?”
Allie scooped a little with a spoon and tasted it.
“I-It’s fine.”
“Really?” Tenil grabbed a spoon and tasted it himself. “No, the flavor’s not enough.”
“...”
“Let ,” Cerous used a spoon of his own to have a taste. “Hm, yes, Tenil is right. Not the flavor you always make.”
Allie pursed her lips, she had nothing to say.
“Are you just purposely saying it’s enough despite being otherwise?” Tenil narrowed his eyes while sternly looking at her.
“N-No…”
“Huh? Are you sure? Or are you trying to sabotage our cooking?!”
Allie recoiled in shock at his loud voice. “N-No! No I’m not!”
“How are we sure you’re telling the truth? You could be lying as you have always done.”
“W-What…? No, that’s not…”
That’s not how it was. All of their ti, their monts together in this kitchen, was genuine to her. She valued those monts in her heart.
“That’s enough, Tenil,” intervened Ceruos. “You have said enough.”
“Tch!” Tenil clicked his tongue, looking away in annoyance.
Ceruos returned his gaze to Allie. “Just add a little more seasoning.”
“Y-Yes. I’m sorry. It was my mistake.”
Gently, Allie did what the chef said.
“Allie, have you forgotten how your food tastes like…?” Ceruos warily asked.
“... I, no… It’s just… Everything better tastes delicious now…”
“Better? What do you an…?”
“I—”
“No, you have no need to answer that question. I now… understand…”
Allie faintly nodded, while Tenil glanced at her while working.
Ti passed, and they had done cooking all the dishes. Two of them were Allie’s, which she had to have Ceruos’s guidance to make. After which he had to taste test when done cooking, for the reason of checking the flavor, and most of all, checking for poison.
But of course Allie couldn’t do anything bad now, she was in the clear. Although she was a bit nervous about how the royal family would take her cooking.
ra and the other servants arrived to carry and bring the dishes to the royal family for their breakfast. Allie sighed in relief.
Ceruos casually patted her on the shoulder. “Good work.”
“...” she was speechless for a mont, surprised. “U-Uh, yes… thank you.”
Ceruos glanced at Tenil. “Shouldn’t you say sothing? An apology would be nice.”
Tenil frowned then scratched the back of his head before hesitantly speaking. “... Sorry, I just lost it. I’m just… I just felt irritated. We’ve been through a lot together, it just… it just so bizarre and terrible to hear that you were a traitor.”
Allie lowered her head, ashad. She couldn’t bla him if he was annoyed and irritated by her presence.
Then he continued. “In truth, I didn’t want to see you again…” after saying so, he walked down the back of the room, leaving Ceruos and Allie behind.
Ceruos sighed while shaking his head. “Give him ti. He just didn’t take the news about your betrayal very well.”
“... Why, why are you treating well?”
Ceruos slightly raised an eyebrow. “You were still my student, it wouldn’t be good if I just shun you. I’m no child like Tenil.”
“... Aren’t you curious about my reason? My reason may cause you to hate truly.”
“I am curious. But I would rather not poke my nose into it. I got an idea that you are involved with sothing very dangerous, I don’t want anything to do with it.”
“...”
“Now then, seeing that we have nothing else to do… what about we cook a bit more, you’re losing your edge. We got to eat breakfast anyway.”
Allie slightly smiled as she gazed into Ceruos’s eyes. “Okay.”
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