My Lady Chef { La Vita Series } - Volume 2

Chapter 16: The Queen's Offer

Queen Bernadette's POV:

"Sh-she is not showing any pain at all! Is she okay?"

"Most new ladies cry or recoil the moment they took a sip of the dreaded red soup but now she is eating all that shrimp covered in that horrible spicy sauce!"

"Oh no no no....If she gets a stomach ache or die from it, the duke will kill us all."

Everywhere I hear the ladies around me whisper discreetly as they are their food sparringly while casting apprehensive glances at the young duchess, who seems to love the appetizer she was eating.

Lady Alaina.

She is a beauty with blonde hair so silvery that it bordered on ethereal. Her fair skin had that odd lavender hue when the light caresses her face and blue green eyes that looked like the finest sea gems.

The famous lady who has tamed the duke.

And she has a talent for food. It is not widely known whether she can actually cook if she is just that good at spotting talented cooks (I have heard wild rumors and nothing more) but then she already got on my nerve the moment she took away the duke as the best marriage prospect for my daughter.

My vain, stupid daughter who is out shopping right now.

And now she dares serve her food to the lower dregs of society before offering it to the royal family first?

My opinion of her was further validated by the news my daughter and Lady Lorax said about her.

However......

Seeing her like the dishes my people enjoyed made me question everything.

In Durellis, we share close trade links with Bastet and our island home cultivates tropical fruit and chillis.

We take pride how delicious our spicy dishes are.

As a child, I loved it.

But when I started living here.

No one liked it.

In fact, they hated it. Spiciness for them is akin to painful torture and no one can stand eating them.

To conform with society's rules on their diet, I stopped consuming them in public but once in a while....

I use spicy dishes to humiliate those who offend me.

And it has brought me a few laughs when a lady I hate starts crying, turning red in the face and starts clutching their throat in pain and agony.

But the duchess' blissful expression as she ate all the boiled shrimp tossed in Durellis' Stone Chilli Sauce made me curious.

There was no signs of pain, her pale face was slightly flushed and she would pause for a while but then she would nod her head and eat another.

I.....I have never seen anyone radiate such joy in consuming food from my homeland.

"Your Majesty. Perhaps we should take a break from teasing the duchess?" one of my closest advisors whispered.

"....Very well." I rang for the entree dishes to be brought in.

This time, the dish given to the duchess was the same like everyone else.

Every lady looked delighted at the crispy baked chicken stuffed with herbs and cream sauce.

As I ate a piece of mildly seasoned chicken, I saw everyone take dainty bites....

I blinked when she wore a brief look of...disappointment after sampling the food.