Chapter 10
Queen’s Struggle (1)
“Your Majesty the Queen, welcome!!”
The moment I stepped into the kitchen, all the cooks bowed their heads in unison, as if they had been informed in advance.
Well… they were all busy, so it felt bad to make them stop working. I returned a grateful smile.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you while you’re busy.”
As I replied, they all looked at me in surprise.
…There it is again.
For some reason, whenever I show up anywhere in the royal palace for the first time, people always react to me with shock.
When I once asked my personal maid Milena about it, she answered hesitantly.
“Lady Rupia, your homeland is the greatest power on the continent. Because of that, people naturally imagine the Queen as someone extremely high above them. So when you speak to us so casually, I believe everyone is simply surprised.”
Even so, most of the things I say are nothing more than polite, everyday conversation.
Which means… the image people have of me must be quite terrible if something so ordinary causes this much shock.
Maybe, without realizing it, I’ve been giving off an overly intimidating impression.
Thinking I should reflect on that, I turned to the head chef.
“I’ve studied your country’s cuisine in my homeland as well. I was thinking I might try making it myself while recalling what I learned. Would that be alright? If anything seems off, I would appreciate your guidance.”
“Y-Yes, of course! But just to confirm… does that mean you will be cooking personally, Your Majesty?”
“Yes.”
As I smiled and nodded, everyone’s eyes widened.
…What is going on?
I came here to learn cooking, and yet they’re surprised that I actually want to cook?
Tilting my head in confusion, I saw the head chef looking deeply apologetic.
“W-We are terribly sorry! Of course, it would be an honor beyond measure for Your Majesty to cook our nation’s cuisine. However, according to what we were told in advance, you were planning to make our traditional dish ‘Kufros,’ and we had prepared the ingredients accordingly. But this dish is quite labor-intensive…”
“Oh yes, it takes about three hours, doesn’t it? Would it be troublesome if I stayed in the kitchen the whole time?”
I asked, worried about causing inconvenience.
Kufros is a traditional dish of the Starling Kingdom.
It is made by mixing potatoes, butter, and milk with a family’s special sauce, adding chopped vegetables, wrapping everything in breadcrumbs, and frying it.
Normally it takes about an hour, but in the royal palace it is said to take three times as long because no effort is spared in preparation. My cooking master from my homeland told me that.
…Yes. Ever since I chose Lord Feliks when I was a child, I studied everything about the Starling Kingdom so I would not struggle after marrying into it. Cooking was one of those things.
Hearing my question, the head chef quickly waved both hands.
“N-No, not at all! Rather, if possible, we would be honored to assist with the preparation…”
Ah. This is the pattern where the cooks end up doing almost everything and I only do the tasting at the end.
Sensing the danger in advance, I smiled and declined.
“That’s very kind of you, but if possible, I would like to cook it myself.”
“Ehh!!?”
They were so shocked that I felt slightly embarrassed.
Maybe noble ladies who came to learn cooking usually only observed and didn’t actually cook.
If so, the chefs might not be used to watching someone actually work in the kitchen, which is why they were so worried.
Trying to reassure them, I added:
“I will be careful with knives and oil, of course. And even if I get injured, I promise it will not be your fault.”
“Y-Yes…”
Everyone, from the head chef down, looked completely bewildered.
It seemed I was behaving in a very un-queenlike manner.
Apparently, they had assumed I would simply observe, like other noble ladies who visited the kitchen. If they had known in advance I would actually cook, they might have stopped me.
In that case, I had to show them today that I could do it, or I might never be allowed beyond observation in the future.
That would be unacceptable. I had a dream—to one day serve Lord Feliks my homemade cooking.
Before anyone could stop me, I quickly grabbed a knife.
First, I needed to wash off the dirt.
I placed the prepared vegetables into a large basin and began washing them thoroughly.
Just that alone caused groans from the cooks.
“Aahhh… Her Majesty herself…”
No, no, if they were shocked by something like this, I couldn’t possibly cook properly.
While thinking that, I quickly peeled the vegetables after washing them, then chopped them according to their shapes.
Red vegetables into triangles, brown ones into circles, green ones into squares.
While I worked, the noisy kitchen gradually fell silent.
Before I realized it, everyone was staring intently at my hands.
When I finished cutting all the vegetables, the head chef spoke in a trembling voice.
“…Incredible. Perfect cuts.”
That triggered a wave of murmurs.
“W-We were worried she might not even be able to handle a knife, but this is beyond that level!”
“Wow… she’s a master chef. No, she’s mastered our traditional cuisine!”
“Exactly! I’ve worked in this palace for ten years, and I can’t cut vegetables this precisely!”
“What… what is that? She’s hollowing out the inside of the green vegetable…”
Their shock made sense.
What I was doing was the traditional, classical cooking method of the Starling Kingdom—one that had almost disappeared in ordinary households. They must be wondering where I learned it.
But I felt embarrassed explaining, so I stayed silent and moved on.
I placed mashed potatoes, butter, and milk into a large bowl and looked around.
Finding a comfortable-looking barrel, I casually sat on top of it.
“Y-Your Majesty!?”
Ignoring the shocked voices, I smiled.
“It takes me one hour to mix this. Standing would be tiring, so please allow it.”
“O-One hour of mixing!? That’s far too exhausting! Please, allow us to assist!!”
I shook my head lightly.
At that, they all slumped in disappointment.
“W-We are truly honored that Your Majesty is cooking our nation’s cuisine… but to see such meticulous preparation even beyond what we do ourselves… we are humbled!!”
Because this was the method I had been taught by my master.
I slowly mixed the contents, adding the secret sauce little by little.
Everyone was now watching in complete silence.
“There won’t be anything interesting to see for a while. It’s just mixing.”
I warned them, but they all replied at once:
“““It’s extremely interesting and educational!!”””
…Oh?
I tilted my head slightly, then remembered I had asked them to correct me if anything was wrong.
So I concluded they were simply doing their job.
And I continued cooking.
