While personally guiding Livia in cooking, Allen finally understood firsthand why head chef Robert had a mental breakdown, huddling in a corner questioning his life.
This Feng Aotian noble lady’s learning attitude was impeccable.
She was obedient, learning whatever was taught with a seriousness like a top student aiming for a perfect score.
But the moment he let go and let her practice on her own, she began uncontrollably unleashing her uniquely gifted destructive power.
“Livia, you need to cut this beef against the grain, otherwise it’ll be tough.” Allen held her hand, patiently guiding the knife.
“I understand.” Livia nodded earnestly.
The next second, Allen watched as she attempted to cut that steak into a perfect golden rectangle with the focus of a sculptor creating art.
A vein twitched at Allen’s temple.
“…We’re cooking here, not solving a geometry problem!”
“But, wouldn’t a more perfect shape lead to a better texture?” Livia asked with pure intellectual curiosity.
Allen felt his stomach begin to ache again.
He finally understood. Livia’s problem wasn’t just her catastrophic sense of taste; it was her bone-deep obsession with “correctness.”
She perfectly replicated the extreme calculations of timing, angle, and force from combat into the kitchen, resulting in a catastrophe.
By the way, a small figure had appeared in the kitchen at some point.
Anna, who had been missing from the dining room earlier, was now squatting by the stove, looking up with eager eyes like a puppy waiting to be fed, drool almost dripping onto the floor.
This natural airhead nun with a keen sense of smell had probably sensed the horror of Livia’s earlier dinner through beast-like intuition.
If she had actually eaten that stuff, she probably would have been poisoned on the spot, like a dog eating chocolate.
Allen only now realized that the moment he didn’t see Anna in the dining room upon returning in the evening, he should have guessed tonight’s meal was definitely problematic.
However, Allen was, after all, an all-rounder.
Even if there were ten more Livia’s, it would be nothing more than a slightly dirty shirt corner for him.
Allen had long been accustomed to hell. So when he saw Livia throw freshly blanched pork ribs directly into cold water, attempting a “physical cooling” operation straight out of a nightmare, he didn’t even blink.
Expressionlessly, he fished out that pot of “waste,” re-processed it, and even considerately corrected the weird flavor back to normal with a few spices.
His smooth, effortless, turning-rotten-into-miraculous culinary skills made Anna’s eyes shine, her soft “wows” never stopping.
And Livia’s reason gradually gained the upper hand, suppressing her instinctive obsession with absolute “correctness.”
She stopped obsessing over the precision of every step and began to enjoy the act of creation itself.
When she successfully pan-fried a steak that was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and fragrant, a smile of novelty and achievement she had never shown before appeared on her face.
Her entire demeanor changed as well. It was no longer that deliberately performed gentleness, but reverted to her usual heroic Knight Princess bearing, though with a touch of softness brought by the warmth of hearth and home.
‘That’s more like it!’
Allen nodded silently in his heart.
Livia was never some gentle, submissive Yamato Nadeshiko. This serious, powerful woman, flustered in an unfamiliar field, occasionally revealing a hint of girlish, clueless charm—that was her true appeal!
Of course, besides the gradually improving Livia, there was another persistently hindering presence in the kitchen.
For example, a certain yandere maid, as if she had suddenly overturned a jar of aged vinegar, silently pressed tightly against his back from behind, her arms wrapping around his waist, her chin resting on his shoulder, like a cat declaring territorial sovereignty.
‘What are you stirring up now?’
“Head Maid, could you trouble yourself to actually help instead of hindering my work here?” Allen retorted with annoyance.
Marian pouted, blowing warm air into his ear. “It’s too crowded in the kitchen with so many people. Like this, I can’t help you.”
“If you can’t help, why aren’t you waiting outside?”
“What if you say something harsh to Livia like you did before? For the sake of my dearest friend, I must supervise you properly.”
Livia turned her head, looking at Marian who peeked out from behind Allen.
“It’s alright, Marian, I don’t mind.”
The sharp-witted her instantly understood—her dearest friend was throwing a tantrum.
Belatedly, Livia subtly increased the distance between herself and Allen.
In the cramped kitchen, hands-on teaching inevitably involved physical contact. Allen, fully focused on correcting Livia’s “mistakes,” hadn’t paid it any mind.
Livia, immersed in the joy of learning a new skill, hadn’t thought much of it either.
But Marian’s gaze, which had almost become tangible, ultimately made Livia the first to sense the impropriety.
‘She seems… to be finding it increasingly difficult to grasp that subtle social distance.’
Although Allen acted like a block of wood about it. His attitude towards intimate contact with a peerless beauty like Livia could only be described as tragic.
He seemed genuinely intent on becoming sworn buddies with Livia, and his heart remained utterly unmoved.
If that were the case, Livia would be happy to accept it and might not be troubled by it.
However, Marian’s existence tangled this simple relationship into a messy knot.
What she herself thought wasn’t important; what mattered was what Marian would think.
Marian had been with Allen for a long time. She, as a latecomer, suddenly having such a good relationship with Allen would naturally make this usually possessive friend jealous.
Moreover, Marian liked Allen so much, while she herself had once been intent on killing him.
This guilt towards her dearest friend forced Livia to begin examining her own vague, unclear feelings.
The more she displayed a maidenly confusion about emotions, the more she unconsciously exuded a charm even she was unaware of, which, in turn, further distressed Marian.
And so, the three of them inexplicably fell into a subtle, delicate atmosphere.
“Livia, be careful, don’t let the young master take advantage of you.”
Sensing the change in atmosphere, Marian unconsciously brought up old grievances, trying to dispel this ambiguity by attacking Allen.
“Allen is a pervert who likes girls’ stockings, you know. You have to be careful. Before, he even roughly took off my stockings.”
Allen had surprisingly little to refute about his appreciation for girls’ beautiful legs. A gentleman’s hobby, could it be called perversion?
But, when had he ever roughly taken off this girl’s stockings?
He initially wanted to righteously refute Marian’s shameless slander against him, but upon second thought… it seemed… there really was such an incident?
At the very beginning of this cycle, to check if the pseudo-mark on her body had deactivated, he did indeed take off her thigh-highs…
But the way she said it now gave it a strangely suggestive feel! What nonsense!
“Eh…” Livia’s gaze towards Allen also shifted slightly.
But… she silently noted down this piece of information.
She silently remembered this fact, then looked down at the pair of white lace-trimmed garter stockings Allen had personally prepared for her, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
‘So… this is the style he likes…’
Even Anna, hearing this, tilted her little head in confusion.
This truly natural nun didn’t understand strange attributes like foot fetishism, but she also looked down at the maid’s white socks on her own feet… ‘I don’t really get it?’
Finding his reputation suddenly tarnished, Allen glared at the instigator with exasperation.
“Hey, hey, hey, you, are you deliberately causing trouble?”
His eyes were full of helplessness.
Seeing Allen look at her, Marian immediately put on an aggrieved expression of “you think about where you went wrong,” turned her head away, her cheeks puffed out.
This standard pose of a jealous girlfriend, however, made Allen laugh in frustration.
‘What’s with this familiar yandere feeling?!’
He instantly realized Marian wasn’t just causing trouble; she was genuinely, simply jealous.
Had the switch for her yandere tendencies become increasingly sensitive lately? Exploding at the slightest touch?
If it were anyone else being this intimate with Allen, she would absolutely instantly transform into a murderous fiend. But偏偏 the object was her dearest friend, so she could only express her small protest in this childish way.
‘No way! You can get jealous over this too?’
Allen almost wanted to crack open her little head to see what was inside.
‘You, what did you so confidently say before?’
‘”If you and Livia end up together, I won’t be jealous.”‘
‘Hmph, women.’
‘I knew nothing good would come of you two forgetting your character settings.’
‘That’s why I’m telling you, I won’t end up with either of you. We are… family!’
‘You two hurry up and get together, don’t delay this young master’s revolutionary cause!’
Having figured out why this perfectly fine cooking session had turned as sticky and messy as a dish Livia would make, Allen sighed helplessly.
Without further ado, he reached back, grabbed Marian by the collar, and plucked this human koala off himself like a mischievous kitten, placing her on an empty spot nearby.
“Eek!” Marian exclaimed, but before she could protest, a cold kitchen knife was shoved into her hand.
“Chop the vegetables. Really, how much have you slacked off today? Don’t let Livia take over your head maid duties.” Allen put on a stern face, tapping the cutting board. “She’s our Valkyrie. There’s another tough battle coming soon; we need to conserve our energy.”
“Tough battle?”
Hearing these two words, Livia’s eyes, which had been somewhat distracted due to awkwardness, instantly focused.
Allen smiled inwardly.
‘Success.’
Having such a useful card as Livia and not using it against those ambitious Sword-Bearing Nobles would be a terrible waste.
“That’s right, Livia.” He turned, looking at her seriously. “This blade of yours cannot be allowed to dull. You’ve met with His Majesty the King privately before and reached some agreement, correct?”
Livia’s eyes flickered. As expected, the things she had hidden couldn’t escape his notice.
“I don’t care what plans the King has, but you understand as well. Our Laval House, as the public face of the reform faction now, is a thorn in the side of all conservatives. We… are not safe.”
Allen’s aura at this moment shifted back to that of the villain stirring up storms from behind the scenes.
“Do you understand, Livia? Why is His Majesty the King preparing a royally bestowed engagement? Because he originally intended for us to unite and handle the open and covert attacks for him. So, we’re not playing some lovey-dovey game of house. We are together to save this kingdom on the brink of collapse.”
“The three of us are family, comrades who entrust our lives to each other, and little Anna too.” Allen casually patted Anna’s head beside him, stuffing a freshly fried, still-steaming golden chicken leg into her hand. “We’re on the same rope. Any personal emotions will affect the greater picture. The future of humanity remains shrouded in darkness. We… will still have to sacrifice many things.”
Finally, he looked at Marian, his gaze softening yet carrying a trace of the authority of the head of the household. “Marian, my dear little sister, shouldn’t you return to being the most reliable Head Maid I remember?”
“…I was wrong, young master.”
Marian lowered her head and began chopping the meat seriously.
Thump, thump, thump—crisp sounds rang out on the cutting board, though the clean, sharp movements always made Allen feel she wasn’t chopping meat, but him.
She suddenly added, “I shouldn’t have pointed out your favorite thing. After all… you still have to play the gentleman.”
“…You.” Allen shook his head, too lazy to argue with her.
‘Forget it, this child is beyond saving.’
In any case, Allen’s combined offensive and defensive maneuvers successfully dispelled the糟糕 atmosphere in the kitchen.
The three of them, plus Robert who had snapped out of it and come over to help, finally got on track,默契 and efficiently completing dinner.
After a hard-fought battle, Allen finally got to eat dinner.
Although the taste could only be considered average, given Livia’s involvement, producing edible food was already a huge improvement.
Mr. Robert also sat at the table, using this hard-won dinner to repair his chef’s heart, which had been severely battered today.
Watching Livia and Marian at the table, tasting the cream meat soup that had finally returned to normal culinary standards, sharing a happy smile, Allen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
‘The lily world has been protected.’
‘But, why does my stomach hurt?’
Looking at the inseparable pair of dearest friends, and thinking about how they both now lived next door to him, an indescribable melancholy welled up in his heart.
‘My beautiful Lily Garden… what will you become in the future? (Sobs)’
Just as he was lost in emotion, the old butler, Jean Leclerc, hurried in, holding a letter sealed with gilded wax.
“Young master, the Academy Head of St. Nora Sigil Academy, Lord Gregoire, has sent you a letter.”