Life as a Tower Maid: Locked up with the Prince Chapter 38

Chapter 38

The menu I'll be cooking that I thought of was haemul sujebi.
(seafood noodle soup—the noodles are hand-torn)

Delicious and chewy noodles boiled in a clear, refreshing soup with lots of seafood! I eat a lot of it during cold winters.

As long as there's some kneaded noodles and some premade soup, it's a dish that you can live off of for a few days, and with the help of MSG, the soup that would get taken out of the fridge and heated up again would taste so delicious. I wonder if chewy sujebi would be okay.

It was one of the few moments that I overcame my laziness and started cooking in earnest.

Oh, I'm already drooling just thinking about it.

Would Albert react the same way? It's not going to be spicy, but I'm still not sure if sujebi's alright for a bedridden person to eat.

Well, I'll make it first and he can just see! If he can't eat it, then I'll just give him some soup and seafood.

When I got to the kitchen, it was already empty because dinner time had passed.

After being called back in a hurry because he heard that I'm here, the chef looked very surprised when I said I'll be cooking personally. With a serious look, I insisted on the chef's work-life balance.

“I won't interrupt your resting time. May I just know where the ingredients and the spices are?”

“Of course…”

Just like the attendant, the chef looked at me strangely as I was still holding the sleeping Blanc in my arms.

I think the people of this castle already have an impression of me being a strange woman, but maybe I'm just being overly sensitive.

It's bothering me quite a bit, but I decided to brush it off. We won't see each other after this anyway.

If I'm faced with people who I'll need to meet continuously in the future, then I would have cared more about my image and the rumors surrounding me, but the situation I'm in wasn't like that.

Behind me, Schubert was surprisingly quiet. Perhaps he's just observing right now. I washed my hands first before turning around to meet his eyes.

“I alsooo… like waterrr…”

Blanc jumped out of my arms and also soaked his paws with water. A slight splatter of water touched my face.

“Be careful, Blanc!”

I took Blanc's paws and helped him wash them. I also washed his little claws and the light pink beans of his. This is important since Blanc will also be in the kitchen with me.

Come to think of it, Schubert was with Blanc a while ago. As I suddenly remembered, I looked up at the baron and saw his face scrunched up in adoration, his eyes tearful as if he was thinking that Blanc was much too adorable to bear.

He might not have expected me to glance up, but because he slipped up and showed his expression, Schubert's face flushed bright red. Right now, he really looked like a young man of his age.

Schubert sharply turned away to hide his expression.

“I'm going out for some fresh air!”

The palpable awkwardness of his voice was like something out of a comedy sketch. As he turned his back on me, Schubert stomped out of the room. Probably because of his large, bulky physique, but his stomps echoed exceptionally well.

Since Blanc's true appearance couldn't be seen by others, this made it clear that Schubert adores cats.

I whispered towards Blanc, whose paws were sparkly clean.

“Blanc, did you play a lot with the baron earlier?”

“With that huuumann… I played a loooot…”

Blanc's contented tone gave me a rough idea of how I'd be able to win over Schubert.

“Would you like to play more with the baron while I'm cooking our food?”

An immediate cute pet attack!

“Are youu… okay noooww…?”

At the mention of food, the small dragon blinked his eyes slowly and asked with a shimmer in his eyes. His expression seemed to say that he couldn't resist answering to whatever I tell him now.

“I'm alright now. I'm sorry you were forced to go out like that a while ago.”

“It's okaaay… After allll… Rosé's spoouuse doesn't like meee…”

“Blanc, he's not my spouse.”

“Rosé is being shyyy…?”

Instead of being obedient and saying 'I understand' to what I said just now, Blanc only smiled and nodded. It seemed like in Blanc's mind, it's been cemented that Albert was my spouse.

At the brief recollection of Albert, I remembered the adult dragon that he mentioned. Maybe they're a dragon who Blanc personally knew?

“Ah, right. Blanc, I heard something about a white dragon.”

“White dragooon…?”

“His Highness said something about meeting an adult white dragon before. When he was eight years old.”

If only he could meet an adult dragon in the flesh, then they might be able to help Blanc a lot so that he wouldn't suffer when turning into an adult dragon himself.

After thinking about it more, I realized that I didn't ask Albert about how he came to meet that adult dragon.

Besides that, really, I knew very little about Albert except for what I had read in the novel.

All I knew was how handsome he was, how bright his smile was when he's happy, how great of a man he was. But other than that, I knew nothing about his past. I didn't know how his personality turned to what it was now, or about the things he hated and were afraid of.

“It feels like I'm always just the only one talking…”

I want to know Albert better. But at the same time, I shouldn't know more.

It would be selfish of me to do this when I'm the one setting boundaries, pushing him away and keeping him at arm's length.

Even so, I didn't want to know him just based on some kind of suppressed attraction. I want to know him more, from one person to another. Setting a line between people who were mutually attracted to each other was always going to be difficult.

Worrying about this, I realized that Blanc had also gone quiet. He's usually not like this.

“Blanc, are you feeling sick?”

“Adult dragooon…”

“Yeah.”

“The one who gave biiirth to meee…”

“…Huh?”

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Albert met Blanc's mother?

While blinking and with a puzzled face, Blanc turned to me.

“The one who left me all alooone…”

Blanc continued sullenly and buried his face in my arms. It was only then that I remembered—dragons wouldn't become a family just because they were related.

Blanc grew up entirely alone almost as soon as he was born. His eyes were quivering. As he hung his head, Blanc seemed to recall what he had experienced before we met.

“Weird…”

“What's weird?”

“It's been… so long since we last meeet… and left mee… but just thinking about it… my heart huurts…”

And when I saw the tears pooling at his eyes, I froze up in an instant.

Everything must have been Blanc's first time. Staying with someone for a long period, talking to someone else, living together and bonding together.

Through the time he had spent with me, Blanc might have realized just how lonely he was before.

Exactly like me, when I had been alone.

After my parents died, I still couldn't forget the emptiness that was digging so deep into me. I realized just how precious the time I had with other people, and it was all the more painful when I lost them.

Blanc seemed to be happy with me now, but was that really a good thing?

I promised to spend the rest of the year with Blanc. Getting closer to him like this and letting this child know how to feel more emotions… After this, will I really be able to let him go?

Even now, I was already sympathizing with him so much.

Blanc whined softly.

“I want to eat something yummyyy…”

When feeling depressed, it was natural to crave food. It was the same for me, too.

“I'll make some for you right away.”

I nodded quickly.

Here's one more reason why I should make this sujebi delicious.

But it's a little difficult to cook when Blanc was in my arms.

Just in time, Schubert came back to the kitchen. His previously beet red face turned back to his original complexion.

Great! Perfect timing! I walked up to Schubert with Blanc.

“I have to cook now, Baron, but I can't keep Blanc with me. I'm really sorry to impose, but would it be alright if I entrust Blanc with you for just a little while?”

“…Me?”

“He likes being in your arms. You played with him a bit earlier, but if you help me again this time, I won't forget your kindness.”

I spoke sincerely and slowly held out Blanc towards Schubert, who then cradled the baby dragon in his arms. At first, he was holding him awkwardly, but he soon hugged Blanc comfortably not even a few seconds later.

I heard that there's no such thing as a bad animal lover. I looked at Schubert again.

“Then, I'll get started!”

After washing my hands again, I took out a deep bowl and poured some flour into it. Pouring water into the bowl as well, I started kneading the dough hard.

I could feel the gaze on me while I was punching the dough. I looked up and met Schubert's eyes as he was staring blankly at me.

Observing my actions with a bit of curiosity, Blanc also looked up in the baron's tight embrace. Then, Schubert asked an earnest question.

“Is that really for His Highness? That lump of flour?”

“I'm not done cooking it yet. There's also some seafood to prepare.”

“This isn't part of a curse, is it? I've read in some old books that there's a way to curse someone though handmade dolls.”

Um. Cursed dolls and dough are kinda different.

“I've never heard of anything like cursing someone through food. How could you say such a cruel thing…!”

I widened my eyes and shook my head. It was a bonus effect to show a bit of shuddering. It's better to get rid of this misunderstanding first.

“Baron. Would it be possible if you reserve such imaginations after I've finished cooking? I'm afraid that my loyalty for His Highness is being distorted by you.”

“Loyalty…”

“I'm the one who makes His Highness' favorite food, so please trust me even for just a moment. If you don't trust me, then it means you don't trust the Prince.”

Schubert's tainted impression of me was worse than I thought, so I poked at his loyalty towards Albert instead. Maybe this was a good method, since Schubert became quiet and instead turned to Blanc.

Finally, silence ensued in the kitchen. I was absorbed in forming the dough.

It would be nice to let it sit more, but there's no time for that right now. I placed the lump of dough back into the bowl, washed my hands and immediately started making the broth.

I couldn't find any anchovies, so I decided to look for more vegetables. I added scallions, onions, garlic and some peppers to season into the pot and left it boiling over high heat. Then, I started prepping the seafood.

The pile of seafood available to me was pleasing to the eye.

A while ago, I followed the chef into the pantry and saw all the fresh ingredients being kept there. They were all so fresh that you'd think they'd just been plucked out of a beach a few minutes ago.

Liam seemed to be really serious about seafood.

I might incur Liam's ire if I cook this recklessly, but I did hear that it's not a big deal since the pantry was refilled almost every day.

I picked out some huge shrimp, squid and an octopus. There were some mussels, too, so I took some big ones! I never thought I'd be so elated just choosing ingredients to cook.

After washing all the seafood under running water, I stretched my neck for a bit. It felt stiff because of the way I was bowing down to make sure that the mussels were washed thoroughly.

Next, I removed the heads of the shrimp and I peeled off their skin. I got the hang of it as I did it more, so towards the end, my hands were fast. Then, after I finished preparing the shrimp, squid and octopus, I finally rose from my seat.

“Uugh…”

A pleasant scent permeated the air. I'm almost done cooking.

t/n: do you guys know the youtube channel 하루한끼 (one meal a day) where they go 'it's almost done' just 20 seconds into a three-minute video xD that's what i was reminded of with this chapter's last line lol

Chapter end