You Should Become My Exclusive Chef—the Future Emperor
You Should Become My Exclusive Chef—the Future Emperor
Diana, riding in her carriage back to the Rose Palace, called out the window to Commander Luke, who was riding escort on horseback.
"Luke."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"From now on, dispatch the fastest riders in the knight order and find out exactly where Lady Camilla has been going recently. Every single move she's made. I want everything."
"Understood."
Andy, who was riding in the carriage with her, asked a question.
"Do you believe Lady Camilla is holding Lucas?"
"Yes. She clearly scouted him in secret."
"He was not a man who could be bought with money."
"No. He wasn't. Even among knights, he was notably unpretentious. But what if Camilla is keeping him there under duress?"
"......."
"Otherwise, there's no way he could have vanished this completely, without a single trace."
Princess Diana let out the deepest sigh she'd ever heaved.
"My palate remembers. That ramyun was unmistakably Lucas's cooking. Another's hands had touched it, but I could still taste his work."
She knew the phrasing left something to be desired.
But his flavor had lingered in that dish.
That was a fact she could not deny.
And on top of that.
"After eating that food, my headaches cleared up as if by divine intervention."
Princess Diana, who had been staring out the window, let out another sigh.
"The fact that the kimchi stew lost all its flavor once his personally prepared kimchi ran out, and that I started suffering from inexplicable headaches after that... Andy, you would know."
"Indeed."
"I need Lucas. More than the head of the Golden Wagon, who sees people as little more than objects for profit."
Diana, recalling the ramyun she had just eaten, licked her lips and tapped her fingers against the window frame.
"I acknowledge that I gave Lucas far too much work. When he returns, I intend to designate his department clearly."
"As head cook knight of the Princess's Knight Order?"
"No."
Princess Diana shook her head, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
"He'll have to be my personal chef once I'm emperor."
The emperor's personal chef—a dream for every cook in the empire.
She meant to give that position to Lucas.
As long as he didn't refuse, of course.
"If I may be so bold... what if, against all odds, Lucas does refuse the position?"
"I haven't thought about that. He'll accept it. No—he must."
Because she would make it so.
***
Camilla watched Diana's carriage recede into the distance and thought:
"That truly surprises me. She came all this way, not for political gain or funding, but simply to find Lucas...."
When Lucas had left the Princess's Knight Order, Princess Diana had reportedly let him go with a cool detachment.
So why was she searching for him now?
'She couldn't forget the taste.'
Camilla had known for a long time.
Lucas's skill as a cook.
And she had coveted that too.
His cooking.
"He's the sort of chef who whets an eater's appetite."
A man who made you want to eat only his food, and who left you unsatisfied with anything else.
A chef with the skill to make you consume dishes you'd never seen before without an ounce of hesitation.
And at the same time, someone who laid every step of his process out in the open, putting his diners at ease.
He inspired trust. He inspired faith.
Yes.
That was all.
'That's why my heart pounded when I looked at Lucas.'
Because he was a man with a culinary talent you couldn't find anywhere else.
That ability—so vanishingly rare—had simply caught her attention.
What I want is Lucas's 'cooking,' not the 'Lucas' who makes it.
She repeated this to herself, as if hypnotizing herself.
'Then why did my heart race that time?'
Camilla recalled the moment she had stood beside Lucas while he cooked.
Had her heart pounded like mad just because the simple act of cooking next to him was so unfamiliar?
'Maybe it was just the novelty.'
Look.
Even now, thinking of Lucas and the time they cooked together caused no pounding or fluttering, did it?
Of course, the reason she'd reacted so sharply to Diana's words was obvious.
"Yes! Because I don't want to lose my person!"
That's right.
That was the reason.
Personal feelings had nothing to do with it.
No—they couldn't.
As the head of the colossal Golden Wagon merchant house, far too many people depended on her.
This wasn't the time to act on private emotions.
Her interest in Lucas was purely for the future of the merchant house.
She had appraised the value inherent in the person called Lucas and rated him highly.
At least.
'Until the emperor's successor is firmly decided....'
She sank into thought, watching the back of Diana's carriage grow ever more distant.
So, what about after the emperor's successor was decided?
Did that mean she intended to pursue Lucas then?
'No. That's not what I meant....'
Camilla wrestled for a long while with a voice rising from deep inside her before she managed to calm herself.
Trrrrring!
At that moment, her communication crystal orb rang.
It was Lilyan.
***
After the ambush by Bellosa's knights, we pushed our horses as hard as we could for Lilyan.
We'd heard reports that some holy knights were still scattered and on the run from pursuers, and that others, taken prisoner, were still breathing.
To save them, we needed to hurry at all costs.
'And there's no telling when Bellosa's pursuit squad might catch up.'
So we rode hard from the early hours of dawn.
The prisoners rode on horseback as well.
"Don't worsen your crimes by trying something stupid like running. If you want to live, just surrender to us. No pointless heroics."
Not that this would lighten whatever punishment the Order handed down.
The surviving knights numbered four, including the human garbage pile.
Stripped of their armor and weapons, they posed no threat even if they tried something.
Even if they had turned their horses and fled, Andrea could have caught them with a single elven step, so leaving them mounted was a calculated risk.
"Nnngh...."
The waste of food, his face a ruin, seemed to have abandoned resistance, riding alongside us in silence.
Perhaps the shame of being knocked unconscious by a wok twice had numbed him into compliance. He rode in a daze for a long stretch.
Thanks to the knights' remarkably cooperative demeanor, we reached Lilyan very quickly.
"Boss, it's Lilyan!"
"Sir Lucas, no pursuit squadron!"
We rushed straight to the Golden Wagon's branch in Lilyan and immediately attempted to contact Camilla for her aid.
"Please put us through to Lady Camilla. It's an urgent matter."
"I'm sorry, but our head merchant isn't someone who can be reached directly. My apologies, but...."
"This is Roman Lucas. Tell her it's Lucas, who runs a knight restaurant in Viscount Britten's territory. She'll know who that is."
"Ah! The one who runs that restaurant! Ah, I'll connect you at once!"
The moment the clerk at the counter heard my name, she jumped in surprise and hurriedly relayed a call to the main headquarters in the imperial capital. Before long, a portal linked to the capital opened.
"What's this about? You came all the way here yourself? The man who swore he'd never set foot here? Have you finally decided to become a cook for our merchant house?"
"No, that's not it."
"Not it?"
Had she been working in the capital?
Camilla, stepping out through the portal, was dressed in a women's business suit of the kind she wore for official work.
I'd seen her in that getup a few times during my days in the knight order.
'Back when I'd just started following my father into business, a lot of people would flat-out refuse to deal with me if I showed up in a dress. These days, no client would dare, but I still wear it now and then.'
Wearing a white shirt, a black velvet vest, and black tailored trousers that subtly hinted at her figure, she held a folding fan in one hand.
Even in a suit, Camilla's voluptuous figure exuded an undeniable allure.
"It's been a while since I've seen you dressed like that."
"Ah, hahaha. I was in the middle of work when the call came. It's a little embarrassing, really."
Ahem!
After a dry cough, she spoke to me.
"But if you didn't come because you want to be our cook, then what's the matter? If it's about the soup powder, it's going well. Talk about the product will reach the nobles soon enough. Then we can start aggressively marketing it to the nobility and...."
"This isn't about business."
"Th-then? What is it?"
Flustered at hearing it wasn't that either, Camilla bit her lip.
Her plump lower lip vanished into her mouth.
"I've brought the Saintess with me."
"......What?"
I introduced Saint Amelia, who had been hiding behind me, her hair covered.
"Hello, Lady Camilla."
"S-Saintess? You really are the Saintess. I'd heard you'd gone missing during your pilgrimage. How in the world did...."
"She was attacked by Lord Bellosa."
"Excuse me? Bellosa, that mad pig? No one in their right mind would ever...."
"It's a long story. I'll give you the details on our way back to the capital. There's no time. We need to get her back to the Order's main headquarters immediately."
"Lilyan has an Order chapter too, so why didn't you go to them first instead of coming here?"
Camilla turned to me and asked.
"Because, Lady Camilla, you are the most trustworthy person in this city."
"H-hee! R-really?"
What was that? I could have sworn I heard the sound of air escaping.
"Well, if you put it that way, I'll have to help."
I'd trusted she would step in without hesitation.
She was a woman with an exceptional eye for reading the flow of things, after all.
No doubt, Camilla was already tallying up in her head the gains to be made from rescuing the Saintess.
The Saintess was, at present, Princess Diana's sole pillar of support.
The news of her disappearance would have already reached the capital and the Order.
Saving the messenger and living symbol of the Order and sending her back didn't just put Princess Diana in her debt.
'An act that indebts not only the princess but the Order itself.'
The payoff she stood to gain from this was enormous.
"I'll open a portal immediately. Not telling anyone else first was a wise choice. If word had gotten out elsewhere, the news would have already reached the capital, and it would have become troublesome for various reasons."
"Because Lord Bellosa wouldn't have dared to ambush the Saintess on his own."
"Exactly."
Camilla smiled with satisfaction.
I formally handed over Saint Amelia to Camilla.
"Then, I leave her in your capable hands."
"What. Lucas, why aren't you coming?"
"I told you already. I'm not going to the capital."
"......Are you saying that because you don't realize how enormous this is?"
"I realize it perfectly well."
"If you come to the capital right now, you'll be a national hero. A hero of the Order who saved the Saintess and brought her back safely, that's what you'd be!"
I know.
I'd become a hero of the Order and receive the highest decoration.
It's a deeply honorable thing—but right now, it's a medal I must not receive.
'My goal from the start was to keep the Saintess alive and get her back to the imperial capital.'
Place her under the Order's protection, and send her back alive through Camilla.
A worldline where Amelia survives.
A worldline where Princess Diana doesn't lose her ally.
That's the priority to establish.
Me not going to the capital to report to the Order doesn't erase the fact that the Saintess was saved.
Saint Amelia knows it, and Camilla knows it.
Andrea was there, and Ivan was there.
That's enough.
Whether other people know about it doesn't matter.
If they did, it would only bring trouble.
'As long as the people who really matter know, that's sufficient.'
The weight of a medal always drags a proportionate amount of hassle along with it.
And besides, nothing is certain yet, is it?
'I don't need to risk a trip to the capital when it's still unclear whether Diana won't become a tyrant even with the Saintess returning alive.'
I'd come down to the countryside to dodge the bloodbath.
I had no intention of walking straight into it of my own accord.
So I'll do only what I can from where I am.
"It would be better for you to take the credit, Lady Camilla."
"Why?"
"Well...."
I paused for a moment to think.
My reason for handing the credit over to Camilla.
"Because you, Lady Camilla, are someone I can trust."
A person who I felt wouldn't bring trouble even if given the credit.
A person who would never betray me.
When it came to profit-and-loss calculations, this woman was more dependable than anyone.
A merchant, but not a swindler.
"Someone you can trust...I see. Understood."
She wore a quiet smile.
"And who are those knights behind you?"
"Bellosa's knights. They'll serve as witnesses."
"The Saintess's word will itself be proof, but...just in case."
Camilla flicked her fingers, and her escorts took the bound knights away.
Amelia, still hiding her pink hair under a headscarf, approached and clasped my hand.
"Sir Lucas, thank you so much. I will never forget this kindness."
"Anyone would have done the same as me."
"......I'm alive thanks to you. Once everything is settled and the holy knights are all rescued, I'll come back to find you. I won't be on pilgrimage then, so, um, that...."
Blushing, Saint Amelia forced out the rest of her words.
"S-Sir Lucas, may I ask for your meat dishes?"
"Of course. Once everything's done, please come with a relaxed heart. You're plenty strong enough—you'll overcome any of this."
"Ah, yes. I will!"
Amelia nodded, wearing the most radiant smile I had ever seen from her.
Camilla, together with her soldiers, escorted Amelia through the portal and departed.
Now that I'd entrusted her to Camilla, I could set aside my worries.
Outside of the emperor himself, the place that boasted the mightiest knights in the capital was the Golden Wagon.
"Maybe I should have sent you two along as well."
"I'm absolutely not going anywhere without the boss!"
"I, likewise, still have much to learn from Sir Lucas, so I won't be heading to the capital."
The two stubbornly answered almost in perfect unison.
"......Fine. As if I could stop you."
After leaving the Golden Wagon's branch office, I took a look around the streets.
Unlike Britten Castle, this was a city brimming with people.
Night had already fallen, but the streets were still crowded.
"I came all the way to a city for the first time in ages...seems a shame to just turn around and leave."
Shall I do a bit of city sightseeing for the first time in a while?