At dinner time, the long dining table in the hall was filled with people. The head of the Kyros, younger than expected, demonstrated excellent skills fitting for a large gathering, balancing politeness and casualness.
Rensley, as a guest from Cornia, took a seat, not attending as part of the grand party, so he sat at a different table than Gezell. Ivet also found a place near Rensley.
“I’ve visited Aldrant several times but meeting you in a private setting is a first. I hope our upper echelons can establish and maintain a good relationship.”
“I hope the same. After a long journey, please enjoy your meal comfortably.”
As Gezell raised a metal-crafted goblet, everyone followed suit, and the meal began. Despite appearing modest compared to other opulent feasts, the food at Roudken Castle, meticulously prepared like the castle itself, lacked any hastily made dishes. The head of Kyros praised, “Your Grace seems to have a skilled chef. I’ve attended many gatherings across the continent, but it’s been a while since I’ve had such traditional feast cuisine.”
Reyna, standing next to the table, smiled and explained the dishes, “Thank you for recognizing. It’s a special dish following the recipe of my mentor. The main dish is called ‘Forest Fish,’ looking like a fish dish but actually made of wild boar meat. It includes various spices such as grape juice, cinnamon, anise, and cloves, creating a delightful flavor. This pie, named ‘Enchanting Cage,’ is made to preserve the natural shape of pheasant meat as much as possible. Remove the feathers before eating.”
Understanding the hidden meaning behind “traditional feast cuisine,” Rensley awkwardly smiled. Indeed, for the head of Kyros, who traverses the continent, such outdated cuisine must be quite a rarity. Rensley cut the cheese with a feeling of resignation. Despite the abundance of food, there would still be only bread, cheese, sausages, and uncooked fruit worth eating today.
As Ivet spread butter on the bread, she skillfully cut the pie placed in front of her. Rensley quietly observed her eating.
Ivet cut a large piece of pie and took a bite, her eyes sparkling with anticipation widened in surprise. Covering her mouth with her hand, she chewed the food and then swallowed.
Without calling him over, Ivet naturally looked at Rensley. Her eyes, expression, and small gestures desperately conveyed a message.
‘It doesn’t taste good!’
‘I know. I’ll make you a separate snack later.’
Rensley replied with expressions, eye movements, and gestures.
Looking around at the upper-class individuals enjoying similar sentiments with their food, Rensley nodded while chewing on bread. A good idea came to mind. He could cook and treat Gezell, Ivet, and even Princess Frida. Since the princess seemed accustomed to Reyna’s amazing cooking, introducing her to Southern cuisine might earn some favor.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
No one found it strange for Rensley, who wasn’t the main figure of the dining place, to stand up in the middle of the meal. Only Gezell shot a curious gaze, asking for an explanation.
“I’ll go out first and return to my room.”
As Rensley approached and lowered his voice, Gezell’s expression showed surprise.
“What’s going on? Without talking during the meal with the princess.”
“I want to make some food for Ivet. She might miss her hometown cuisine… If it’s alright, would you and Princess Frida join us? What do you think?”
Gezell, hearing unexpected words, raised his eyebrows slightly. Whether it was because many people were present or for another reason, he didn’t show a smile or express admiration, but he seemed to like Rensley’s suggestion.
“If you’re not too bothered, it’s a good idea. I’ll tell the Princess.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. Please don’t eat too much and leave some room.”
Even without a warning, Rensley, when it wasn’t food he made, was always a light eater. Gezell smiled and nodded, as if to say it was a good idea. Leaving the lively dining table behind, Rensley headed alone to the greenhouse.
When he opened the glass door, the humid warmth greeted Rensley. The glass greenhouse, designed to maintain a warm temperature throughout the year, had not avoided the influence of the seasons. As spring approached, the harvest became increasingly abundant, and the refreshing scent hit his nose as soon as he opened the door.
What to make? While contemplating the menu, he harvested rows of fruits and freshly grown vegetables. Now familiar tomatoes, long zucchini, eggplants, spicy bell peppers, various leafy vegetables growing on the ground, and olive fruits, although not fully grown, had formed several fruits.
As Rensley filled the basket with crops, he remembered… precisely, he remembered the ingredients he had tried to forget. The snake with multiple heads.
‘It’s reluctant to call it a food ingredient, but I can’t just leave the gift that Frida brought for the Duchess in a corner of the warehouse forever. I received a gift, so I should at least pretend to eat it, right?’
In a gathering with several people, even pretending to take a few sips might satisfy Princess Frida. It seemed like the best choice. Nodding to himself, Rensley left the greenhouse.
He hadn’t dared to think about starting with hunting down the snake, but fortunately, the snake had already been neatly butchered by the skilled butchers and stored in the freezer.
“I came to get the gift that Princess Frida prepared. Finally, Her Grace the Duchess wants to try it.”
As Rensley visited the ingredient storage, the warehouse keeper showed a reaction. They got along well because they both loved cooking.
“Oh, really? Well thought out. There’s nothing better for replenishing energy. If you feed it to kids, they’ll grow tall.”
“Is that so? Are people in the north all tall, then?”
“Unlikely. It’s not something common; not just anyone can eat it. It’s probably something Princess prepared as a gift with great effort.”
At those words, Rensley felt a sense of resignation. The idea of eating snake venom remained bizarre, but it seemed unquestionable that Frida had sincerely prepared it as a gift.
Inside the freezer, the encounter with the snake venom was significantly different from the first time he saw it.
“This processing makes it look like chunks of fish.”
“That’s right. While it looked strange when it was alive, once you taste it, the flavor is more similar to fish than meat. It tastes like a large, white-fleshed fish. In fact, the flavor is even better than fish. Boil it well, and it tastes good for both the palate and the body.”
Upon hearing this, Rensley’s expression became serious. Trying to deceive Princess Frida by serving meat that tastes like fish… Could it be that the princess was not accustomed to eating meat? In Cornia, where abundant seafood from the nearby sea was readily available, Rensley was quite familiar with various fish recipes. He carefully collected the large chunks of meat, bones, and supplemented it with fresh mussels, clams, bacon, sausages, garlic, onions, and other ingredients.
Back in his room, Rensley prepared the shellfish while filling a copper pot with clear water. He placed the pot on the hearth, making sure the fire wasn’t too strong, and waited for the water to boil while starting to prepare the ingredients.
The meat from the snake, which supposedly tasted like fish, fresh seafood, and freshly picked vegetables – now that the ingredients were ready, there was no need to ponder the menu. Once the water boiled, Rensley poured all the snake bones into the pot. To extract the proper soup flavor, it needed to simmer for an hour or two. Until then, he could simply prepare the other ingredients to be ready for immediate use.
‘But this alone won’t be enough.’
This was merely a dish to showcase to Princess Frida. The actual food for Ivet and himself was yet to be made. Rensley took several glass jars from the shelf. Initially, the tomatoes that quickly disappeared and saddened Gezell were now in abundance. Recently, he had made a lot of jarred preserves by blanching them in boiling water.
After finely chopping the just-picked vegetables, this time, Rensley placed a small, flat iron pot on the oven. He poured oil and waited for the pot to heat up before adding the vegetables. With just that, the room began to fill with a savory aroma. Taking in the delightful scent, his stomach rumbled.
“Come to think of it, I only had a piece of bread and came out.”
He should have at least solved the hunger problem. Grumbling to himself, Rensley picked up a fresh tomato and chewed it thoughtfully. As the tangy juice spread in his mouth, his appetite surprisingly became livelier.
He tasted the various vegetables, sausages, and bacon mixed together intermittently while sipping from the bottle of grape wine he had set aside.
Feeling better and better, Rensley hummed a tune while adding tomato preserves to the roasted ingredients. He sprinkled salt, pepper, and paprika powder. He simmered it until the red and thick bubbles rose above the thin tomato sauce, then he took the pot off the stove.
Before placing it on the table, he adjusted the seasoning and added several eggs and cheese. One more boil and it would be complete. To be precise, it wasn’t a Cornian dish but a cooking method learned from foreigners who frequented the port area. However, Ivet really liked it.
Meanwhile, the pot hanging on the hearth was also boiling vigorously. Rensley removed the bones and strained the soup. Worried that the taste might be different from his expectations, he cautiously tasted it with a spoon.
“Mmm…! It’s really delicious?”
Certainly, it had a flavor similar to fish broth but with a distinct taste. Grilling the snake meat in a new pan with vegetables, and then pouring in white grape wine, caused the flames to soar as if reaching for the pan. It had been a while since he used fire for cooking in earnest.
Smiling, Rensley poured the broth over the roasted snake venom meat and vegetables, bringing it to a rolling boil. Cornian-style fish stew. Well, precisely, it was snake stew. It was perfect. Looking down at the two prepared dishes just before completion, Rensley felt a sense of pride as if he had become a great chef preparing a grand feast.
“When will the downstairs banquet end?”
Having hurriedly prepared the food, it seemed that there was still a long time left for the banquet upstairs. The music echoing from below indicated that the festivities were still going strong.
After focusing on cooking for an extended period, he felt a bit tired. Standing in front of the fire for so long had caused him to sweat slightly. Rensley quickly washed and changed into fresh clothes. Afterward, feeling a bit sluggish, he didn’t really have the urge to return to the banquet hall.
“Let’s take a short break.”
Rensley lay on the bed without even covering himself with a blanket. The music playing from the banquet hall below was as soothing as a lullaby.
Thank you!
Why is he getting tired so easily? 😶🌫️