Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 187: Agreement

Chapter 187: Agreement

[Long Chapter.]

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Minutes later, after the Queen Mother of Chen had left the doomed palace, everyone was seated around the dining table, stuffing their mouths with whatever their hands touched.

It had been one hell of a day for Ave, so much that she couldn’t eat much of anything she had made, despite the fact that she missed modern dishes. She could only watch as the royals ate while she looked back on how everything had happened despite the shortage of time, all thanks to their teamwork.

After she had gone out to meet Aaron, the man had looked more than pleased that she was finally in need of his help. All sleep had wiped off his face as he stood to his feet and stretched his body. He had assured her with a smile,

"Do not worry, I will bring the queen mother here by all means. I will be right back," he had told her and then hurried away with his manservant, who had also been dozing off at the side.

By the time he was back with the royal carriage that carried the elder woman, Ave and the kitchen servants had set up a table and chair under the oak tree for the woman and placed each of the dishes she’d made on the table for her to taste and judge. Ave knew she was a complete mess after going around the kitchen, but she didn’t care as she played hostess to the queen mother, whose eyes had stayed glued to the dishes as she sat down. She stared at them with a frown and a look of wonderment as she read the names of each of the dishes written beside the serving plates.

"I have had many dishes that looked enticing but tasted terrible in the past years of my food discovery, Lady Selene, and I hope I don’t end up ruining my taste buds by eating these strange-looking things you made," said the elder woman as she looked from the dishes to Ave, who stood at the side, hands in front of her like a waitress waiting for the customer to tip her.

"I can’t assure you that you’d like them, but I am hoping you would, Your Highness. So how about you give them a try first?" she suggested as she walked forward and placed a slice of pizza on the woman’s plate.

Ave held her breath when the mother queen brought the slice of pizza to her lips. She first smelled it before she finally parted her mouth and took a bite. Ave watched as she took a hesitant chew with a frown on her face before the frown fell away and she chewed and swallowed it. The woman didn’t say a word and began to eat; she finished the slice of pizza and moved to another dish.

The woman put a piece of the well-seasoned venison Ave had made using an old recipe she had once learned from a friend of hers who was a seasoned chef, into her mouth. She chewed the meat for two seconds, and her eyes showed a strange expression.

Ave crossed her fingers hopefully.

"What is this piece of meat that melts in your mouth? It is so tender. And the flavor is different from anything I’ve ever tasted," the woman said, picking up another piece as if sampling it.

"It is the part of meat cut from a goat’s thigh, Your Highness. Every part of an animal tends to retain its own flavors, hence it is best to work with each part of the meat knowing the type of flavors suitable for it," Ave explained calmly.

The woman had a way of keeping her expression neutral. She stared at Ave as she explained, nodding in understanding. "I see."

She seemed to eat elegantly; however, anything she sampled, she tended to eat most of it or even cleared the plate with a calm expression in her eyes, but her tongue licked off every piece that fell into her mouth.

Ave noticed her lady servant at the side, craning her neck and swallowing. Even without having a taste, the aroma was enough to make one salivate.

The woman picked a piece of potato fries, looking at it in amazement.

"What is this strange-looking stick, Lady Selene?"

"That is fried potato, Your Highness."

Ave knew that potatoes were mainly boiled or roasted in this time, so having a taste of fries would certainly be something new for them.

"Fried?" the woman asked. "Explain to me what fried means, please. Is it a cooking technique you came up with?"

"No, Your Highness, I didn’t come up with it. Frying simply means cooking ingredients in hot oil."

The woman’s eyes lit up in understanding. "Ah! Oil cooking. It must have lost a lot of flavor then."

In the kingdom of Chen, their cooks had become more advanced than most kingdoms. Some of their higher royal cooks had discovered the technique of putting food in oils to cook them rather than the normal way of boiling like they usually did. However, they soon noticed that frying made most ingredients dry up and lose flavor; hence the oil cooking technique wasn’t used as much.

The woman bit into the potato fry and had a taste. She made a strange expression.

"How did you cook this with oil without it tasting dry and bland?" the woman asked.

"The key is salting the ingredients first before frying and maintaining timing and heat temperature so it doesn’t get too dry. You may dip the fries in this sauce here to make it even more flavorful."

The woman looked at the red sauce in fascination. She did as told, dipping the fry into the sauce.

Ave had learned that people from the Chen kingdom were fond of spice, but with the kind of food flavors used in ancient times, mixing spice and retaining flavor was very difficult. Hence, spicy food often took away the flavor of their meals.

Ave had ground some herbs herself and mixed them up in a way similar to modern-day seasonings. She combined sweetness and sourness, bringing a unique flavor together.

When the queen mother had a taste of the sauce, her face went blank at first before her eyes slowly rounded and lightened up.

She didn’t speak but picked up a cycle of taking a piece of fry, dipping it in the sauce, and eating it. She did that over and over again until the sauce was cleared off the small bowl.

"What did you call this thing again, Lady Selene?"

"That is a sauce, Your Highness."

"Sauce..." She repeated while her eyes eagerly looked at something else she could eat on the table. Her eyes landed on the cupcakes, and she looked at them in fascination.

"And this?"

"That is for dessert, Your Highness. After having your meal, it’s nice to have something sweet as a palate cleanser."

The woman had basically almost cleared off everything she was served at this point. She picked up the cupcake, taking it into her mouth. She bit off the cream along with the cake itself and chewed.

With every bite, her eyes seemed to round up bigger and bigger.

She didn’t say a word to Ave; her mouth was too full to speak anymore.

Ave stood in silence until the queen mother was done sampling the dishes and glanced at her in amazed disbelief. "You made all of this yourself?" she asked as if she couldn’t believe it was possible for her to come up with such unique food. When Ave replied, "I had some help with the cooking," the queen mother seemed to pause in thought.

"How did you learn to cook, Lady Selene? Such techniques... I’ve never heard of them before."

"I picked up a thing or two over the years. I love eating, so I always like to learn how to cook new things."

"Your flavors are unique. I’ve never tasted any of them before during my stay here in Pendragon. I’m assuming you didn’t learn your skills here."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Seeing that Ave didn’t seem to want to give away too much information, the woman decided not to probe. Regardless, she looked so amazed. It was one thing to know how to cook; it was another to come up with things like this. She was so talented at her age, while most of their talented cooks were seasoned older people who had learned their skills through years of experience.

If this girl wasn’t already taken by the Pendragons, she would steal her and wed her to one of her grandchildren. That way, she could get to eat more of the strange but delightful dishes she made.

"I am very intrigued to know how you made all this and the ingredients you used." The elder woman said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. When she first agreed to Ave’s bargain, she hadn’t expected her to have such talent up her sleeves, and she had been hoping to take the girl back with her to their kingdom if she failed her today. Their kingdom had lately fallen short of servants because of how often her son got rid of them.

"It will be my pleasure to share all that with you, Your Highness, but I also hope you haven’t forgotten my request in exchange for it?" Ave reminded her in a calm voice, with a smile on her face. She had gone through all this trouble for Lucian’s sake, and she wasn’t about to let her efforts go to waste by not getting what she wanted in return. It was just like a business transaction. Not to mention, she was so exhausted at this point that she would be really mad if the woman didn’t keep to her word.

It was only she, the queen mother and her lady servant under the oak tree, as the rest were still in the kitchen, including Aaron, who had left to give them a chance to talk alone.

Queen Lan Hui regarded Ave in thoughtful silence and couldn’t help but admire her intelligence and talent. It was one thing to know how to make such wonderful food and another to know how to state her intentions without being offensive or rude. She had her wits about her, and the queen couldn’t help but think she was nothing like the rumors going around the palace described her to be. She was everything the woman liked.

"You are an interesting young woman Lady Selene. And from our little exchange, I think I have an offer that might be of better interest to you."

Ave’s brows arched. "What could that be, Your Grace?"

"Come back with me to Chen, and I will give you any position of your choice in the palace, for as long as you share more of your recipes with our land." She informed her, her dark eyes looking into Ave’s as if expecting her to be over the moon happy with such an offer. If she couldn’t steal the girl and wed her to her kin, she could at least take her away and give her a high position. From the queen’s perspective, Ave should be happy, as she was nothing but a woman without a position in the imperial palace. But if she agreed to go back with her, she would gain a name and a title for herself.

Ave didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that offer. She didn’t want to go anywhere, especially now that she was still considering her life choices and whether to stay with the man her heart longed for or to leave and seek revenge on her family. Furthermore, everything that connected to her was here, including the answers she desperately needed.

"That is an interesting offer, Your Grace, but I would like to apologize for turning it down," she said, bowing her head. Her words took the woman aback but she recovered quickly.

"You can still think about it, my dear. We still have until the soldiers return from the war and the Pendragon princes’ marriages are over before I will return to Chen. But before that, tell me what you want in exchange for these recipes."

It was rare to find women as talented as this young lady, and if possible, Queen Lan Hui would do anything in her power to take her back with her. With such talent, it would only be a matter of time before all the dishes she knew how to make were known across all the other kingdoms, and the credit would go to the Chen lands if she were there as one of them.

Ave saw how the elder woman’s face turned calculating and somehow knew what she must be thinking. "I do not wish to leave this land, Your Grace, but as long as you agree to my request, I will write down every single dish I know how to cook, and the process for making them, for you. I will give you the credit, and your lands can have the right to own them." She bargained, as the last thing she needed was the woman meeting with the Emperor to make some agreement to take her with them.

Those words seemed to work, and the elder woman gave her permission to state her request.

Ave took a deep breath, "I would like you to sign the agreement to support the second prince when the time comes for him to take the throne. Your kingdom shall stand by him and be one of his backers."

Throughout the years, Chen had been neutral regarding who got to sit on the throne of the Empire. They hadn’t stepped forward to give their support to anyone, even when the current Emperor was still a prince, and if Ave’s words didn’t surprise the mother queen, it would be a lie.

She chuckled softly. "You want me to agree to stand by a prince who is said to be cursed and would ruin the empire further if he were to take the throne?" she snorted, displeased. "I don’t think you even know what you are asking of me, young woman. You have no right to request such a thing for a man who publicly discarded you." She reminded Ave, in case she had forgotten who she was to the second prince. Why would she try to help him when he had humiliated her?

"I know what I am requesting, Your Grace, and that is my only condition in exchange for the recipes. My recipes can give your kingdom a far greater advantage if they become widely known. You have nothing to lose by supporting the second prince, but you have much to lose by refusing." Ave said with a sweet smile, watching as the woman fell into thoughtful silence, considering the pros and cons.

She was silent for a long while before she said, "All right. Have all the lists of what you used to make everything ready by the time I depart, including detailed instructions of all your techniques. I will give you my answer by then." She stood up and used her cane as support, and Ave bowed to her. "Yes, Your Grace."

The Queen’s lady-in-waiting stepped forward to assist her, but before she entered her carriage, she turned to Ave, who had been walking behind them to escort them, and said, "You are lucky a man like Prince Aaron is backing you up, Lady Selene, or else you wouldn’t have gotten my attention, nor would I have come here to taste your cooking. It is because of him that I do all this; he is a good kid. However, what you have asked in exchange is something I will need to consider, and before that time, I hope you also consider my offer to bring you back with me."

Ave knew she was never going to consider the latter; however, she smiled and nodded, "Yes, Your Highness." She bade farewell to the elder woman and then went back into the kitchen to see the royals arguing and yelling at each other, as Celeste had refused them all permission to stand any closer to the food.

Her eyes fell on Aaron, who was admiring the display of food on the table, as it seemed Celeste had allowed only him to stand there while refusing the rest.

"Why is he allowed to stand there, Celeste? I am your brother, and I should be treated differently." Orion scoffed as he glared at his sister, who ignored them and blew on her fingers like they weren’t speaking to her.

"Prince Aaron is different; he isn’t drooling all over the place," she grumbled under her breath, but when she noticed Ave had returned, she sighed in relief.

"Good heavens, you are back!" she exclaimed. "Can we eat now? It’s a lot of work keeping everyone away."

Ave watched them all with a smile. If someone who didn’t know the royals were to walk in now, they wouldn’t recognize them. They were either covered in flour or had stains on their attire, and their eager expressions to taste what they had contributed to making were obvious on their faces.

"Sure, let’s take everything to the dining hall and eat together," she announced, and the servants stepped forward and began to transfer everything. When Aaron smiled at her and was about to leave, she acted impulsively and invited him to join them in the dining hall. She recalled what the queen mother had said and thought he also deserved to join them, despite the fact that Zane seemed to be against it.

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