Chapter 9
Darkness Under the Lamp
“I will take a short break from the meeting. I am tired.”
With those final words from His Majesty, the heavy doors shut with a thud. I hastily followed the chief chamberlain alongside Asel toward the royal kitchen.
Eventually, we arrived at the end of a corridor before a massive set of double doors reaching all the way to the ceiling, beautifully embroidered with gold patterns of various food ingredients. My heart fluttered with a surge of hope, thinking I could finally inspect Princess Elise’s diet and perhaps find a clue to returning home.
However, as if mocking my expectations, what greeted us upon stepping into the royal kitchen was not a warm welcome, but blatant hostility.
“Where do you think you’re stepping? Forget Her Highness’s diet, we have no reason to reveal even the servants’ meals to the likes of you!”
A chef dressed in silk blocked my path. Beneath his feet lay fresh vegetables, crushed into a pulp with green juice pooling across the floor.
“You claim you have His Majesty’s permission? Don’t make me laugh. The ingredients in this kitchen are carefully selected and presented by our noble families. How dare a girl of unknown origins touch our ingredients?”
The chef sneered viciously and kicked the last remaining box nearby. The crate shattered, sending fruits rolling across the floor. He then stomped on those very fruits with his boots and mocked me.
“Well now, there are no ingredients left to cook with! What will you do now, Saintess?”
The kitchen assistants snickered in agreement. Asel reached for the hilt of his sword and stepped forward, but I caught his arm and shook my head. The kitchen was effectively blockaded.
“There must be a separate ingredient storeroom,” Asel remarked, turning around.
Indeed, if it was the pantry, we might still find an answer. Following him deeper inside, we found a room with its door half-open. The two of us rushed in.
Inside, soldiers stood with their arms crossed, laughing at me. Behind them, led by the noble who had called me a wench earlier, three men were pouring dirt over the remaining ingredients and trampling them underfoot.
“Ha, what will you do now, Saintess, when there is nothing left to use here either?”
Satisfied that nothing remained intact, they laughed among themselves, dusted off their boots, glared at Asel and me, and departed.
I had to endure this. I had to hold back. Even Asel didn’t dare draw his sword against them, so who was I to punish nobles? Since things had turned out like this, I had to do what I could right now.
I thoroughly searched through the trampled food inside the pantry, but nothing maintained its original shape. Fortunately, deep inside a shattered, dirt-covered box, a single uncrushed lemon sparkled miraculously. I snatched it up immediately.
Aside from this lemon, there was literally nothing left. It felt as though I had been thrown directly into a boss fight without a tutorial.
“Ah, seriously… shouldn’t there be a tutorial before starting the real game?!”
When I shouted into the empty air, Asel stared at me as if I had lost my mind. However, before my eyes, a blue window flashedāvisible only to me.
[System Guide Activated] [Quest: Prepare a ‘Detox Stew’ for the starving Princess.] [Hint: The darkest place is under the lamp. Search the royal palace’s courtyard.]
I took my bundle from Asel, pulled out the unbleached linen cloth, and carefully wiped the lemon. Once the dirt was cleaned off, it looked as fresh as a clean face. Right, even if you fall into a tiger’s den, as long as you keep your wits about you, you can survive.
“Asel, grab the bundle.”
“Pardon? But all the ingredients are ruined…”
“The ingredients are scattered somewhere else.”
I swung the kitchen back door open roughly. Beyond lay the raw, unadorned side of the grand palaceāa courtyard overgrown with weeds where ruined ingredients were discarded.
The moment I stepped into the yard, my nose reacted sensitively. The air was filled with a fresh scent of grass. If the status window was correct, there was definitely something here.
I bent down and thoroughly searched the surroundings, grass brushing against my fingers.
“Among these weeds, something usable…”
“Ian-nim, going too far is dangerous. Even if this is the royal palace, demonic beasts can still appear…”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
Did demonic beasts matter right now? If I failed this time, my head would literally roll off my shoulders. I answered half-heartedly and moved further back. There were no usable plants near the doorway.
“Ian-nim…”
Holding my bundle with a tearful expression, Asel followed me anxiously.
“Hey, I said I’m not going far.”
I gave a sly smile. Seeing my brazen expression, Asel gave in and kept following. After searching for quite a while, I finally managed to find a plant worth using.
It was dandelion.
There were many young specimens whose flower buds hadn’t even matured yet. What a relief. I reached out and plucked the tender young dandelion leaves.
Normally, only young dandelion leaves are used for seasoned side dishes. It was a fantastic ingredient for detoxification. But a side dish? The only useful ingredient in my bundle was a single handful of salt.
“Still, this is better than nothing. Though making a dish out of just dandelions will be tough.”
“Are you going to eat that? That’s just a weed.”
Asel touched the dandelion leaf dangling in my hand and asked.
“Asel, these dandelion leaves are an excellent ingredient. Where I used to live, we removed the toxicity and used them for food.”
Of course, dandelions on the roadside soaked in car exhaust wouldn’t do, but there weren’t any cars here, right?
“Is there any ingredient we could eat together with this?”
Asel shook his head. It was a painfully disappointing answer. I looked down at the dandelion leaves in my hand in utter despair. At that moment, a thought struck me like a flash. I shoved the dandelion leaves into my pocket and asked Asel.
“Asel, you said demonic beasts appear here, right?”
“Yes. Since it’s the royal palace, only low-tier demonic beasts appear, but…”
“Are they edible?”
Asel’s face grew increasingly bewildered. Facing his silence, I spoke with even greater firmness.
“Are they edible or not? Just tell me that.”
If the status window was telling the truth, demonic beasts were definitely edible as well.
“Saintessāno, Ian-nim! Eating a demonic beast! That is completely unheard of by the common sense of this world!”
Asel was horrified. But contrary to Asel’s appalled expression, the status window was telling a different story.
[The low-tier demonic beast ‘Toggle’ is low in fat and rich in protein. When cooked properly, it becomes a fantastic detoxifying ingredient. Cook only the legs!]
Since I found the dandelion leaves just as the status window indicated, there was no way it was lying now. Deciding to trust the status window once more, I grabbed Asel’s arm tightly.
“Asel, listen closely. That jelly the princess is eating right now is ‘refined trash.’ To beat that, she needs real protein to remove toxins from her body and build muscle. A freshly caught demonic beast could be a hundred times better than the pantry ingredients those nobles ruined with mud.”
I pointed toward the sword buckled at Asel’s waist.
“You trust me, right? I’m the nutritionist who saved a person with a bowl of mixed-grain rice. They say a demonic beast called a Toggle lives around here. Catch me one that looks clean with clear eyes. The equipment in my bundle will take care of the rest.”
Asel stood there dazed for a long time. However, remembering his comrades whose swollen ankles healed after a single bowl of mixed-grain rice, and seeing the crazed conviction burning in my eyes, he finally let out a sigh and drew his sword.
“…Understood. If it is the Saintess’s command, I will follow it even if it means cooking a demonic beast. In return, please do not move away from this spot under any circumstances.”
