Chapter 18- Time to Bake

Back in the Cooking classroom, I brought all the ingredients to the station where Lady Sophia was waiting. The table was littered with bowls and other measuring tools.

“Shall we get started?” I asked.

“What am I supposed to do first?”

“Why don’t we start by measuring out the ingredients?”

Lady Sophia nodded and we started with the flour. Honestly, it would be easier with Alex here, since Alexandra was also good with cooking, but I wanted her to start conversing with Prince Leonhardt more. I still need her to win his favor so she can enter the castle and get the Eye of Pride. I know that won’t happen for a few months, but more people like Lady Alexis may appear. We both need the power of the Seven Witches.

“How do I measure this butter?” Lady Sophia asked.

“One stick is equal to half a cup,” I answered.

“I see. What am I mixing first?”

“Mix the eggs and the sugar first in one bowl,” I said.

I watched as Lady Sophia tried to crack an egg. It was funny to watch since she was awkwardly tapping the egg against the table. She also wasn’t using enough force, so the egg wasn’t actually cracking.”

“You need to use more force, Lady Sophia.”

Lady Sophia used more force, but this time too much force as the egg splattered everywhere. “Ummm…”

“Maybe with a little less force this time.”

“R-Right.”

“And please remember, we don’t have that many eggs to use, so be careful.”

Lady Sophia nodded and went back to gently tapping the egg against the table as I cleaned up her mess.

“Lady Sophia? Baking? Well, that’s a sight I never thought I’d see!”

I perked up at the high-pitched voice. I turned to the door to see the famous black curled hair of the noble. “Lady Claudia?”

“I thought I’d stop by to take a look, but I never expected to see Lady Sophia in an apron!” She let out a haughty laugh.

Lady Sophia had a smile on, but her eyes showed that she was quite annoyed. “My, Lady Claudia. Are you here because Prince Leonhardt kicked you out?”

Lady Claudia flinched at the claim. So she did get kicked out.

She crossed her arms and claimed, “Prince Leonhardt just wanted some alone time, that’s all.”

“Oh, so he kicked Lady Viola and Alex out too?” I questioned.

Lady Claudia clenched her teeth as she looked away. “He kicked both Lady Viola and me out, but Alexandra stayed behind. Prince Leonhardt said he wanted to patch her up.”

I smiled. Looks like my plan worked. As a male lead, there’s no way Prince Leonhardt would watch Alex get bullied in his very presence.

“That’s such a shame, Lady Claudia. Actually, since you're here, would you like to taste test our product?”

“Me? Taste test? Ha! Like I would eat something a cursed child like you made.”

“I see. Such a bummer. Prince Leonhardt and Prince Clovis both loved my baking and they sometimes personally come to my family’s bakery for our sweets.”

Lady Claudia gasped, “Prince Leonhardt personally went to your family’s bakery!?”

“Even though we are commoners, it seems many nobles like our products. It’s because of our sweets that the Bazanine family invested in our business and are willing to pay for my tuition to this academy.”

“Goodness, is that so? Maybe I should visit your family’s bakery sometimes. What’s the name of your bakery?” Lady Sophia asked.

I smiled, “It’s called Norman’s bakery. We will be happy if you come.”

Lady Claudia huffed, “If your baking skills are what you say, then I guess I could try what you’re making.”

I grinned, “I’d be honored to bake for you, Lady Claudia.” Now I’m fired up. I’ll make sure to have Lady Claudia say my baking is delicious.

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About an hour passed and I was looking at two trays of cookies made by Lady Sophia. Lady Claudia stared at the trays with stern eyes. She did not look pleased.

“What am I looking at?” she asked.

“They are cookies,” Lady Sophia answered.

“Really? Because they look like a chunk of coal to me.” Lady Claudia picked up a rocky burnt cookie covered in chocolate and looked at me. “Reiré, am I supposed to taste chocolate covered coal? Are you trying to poison me?”

I hesitantly chuckled, “You jest, Lady Claudia. You know I could never do you any harm. You know as well as I do that this was the first time Lady Sophia ever made something with her bare hands.”

“You sure you didn’t replace the cookies with coal, Lady Sophia? I know we aren’t on the best of terms, but this is just plain rude. Serving me coal.”

Lady Sophia’s left eye twitched as she voiced, “I assure you that what I present are cookies.”

“I don’t think so,” Lady Claudia countered.

“I do wonder how they turned to coal though,” I wondered. “We made a second batch in case the first one failed, but I never thought the second batch would fail too. I even helped with the second attempt.”

Lady Sophia sighed, “This is quite displeasing, I can’t serve Prince Clovis this.”

“Of course not,” claimed Lady Claudia. “Unless you plan to poison him with your baking.”

Lady Sophia frowned, “I don’t see you baking, now do I?”

“I can confidently say that I can at least make proper cookies and not coal.”

“They are cookies!” Lady Sophia claimed. “They are just slightly burnt!”

I groaned as the two nobles glared at each other. “Calm down you two. Lady Sophia, we can remake the batter and try again. As they say, third time's the charm.”

Lady Sophia, “Alright. My baking skills can’t be that bad. I’m perfect in everything. I’m a marriage candidate to the royal family, I can’t fail!”

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Another hour passed and it was sunset. This time, the cookies didn’t look like coal, which was good, but they looked like rocks. Lady Claudia picked a chunk up and banged it against the table.

“These are rocks,” she bluntly stated.

“These are cookies, Lady Claudia,” Lady Sophia politely corrected, even though she looked annoyed.

“If I eat this, my teeth will break. I’m not here to taste rocks.”

“Reiré, tell our 'taste tester,' that these are 'cookies,'” Lady Sophia ordered.

“I did watch her make the whole thing, so I can safely say that those roc- I mean, cookies are really cookies, Lady Claudia,” I said.

“See,” Lady Sophia voiced.

“I don’t believe you.”

Lady Sophia looked like she wanted to flip the entire table at Lady Claudia’s face. I never thought that Lady Sophia would be this bad at baking. I was even watching her and making sure she didn’t make a mistake. I was even the one that preheated the oven. I would never over bake sweets or I would be putting my family name to shame.

I sighed, “Maybe it’s best if we try again tomorrow, Lady Sophia.”

Suddenly the door to the room slammed open, causing me to flinch. Who is that rude person to just slam a door open?

“Hey, Reiré! I heard from my brother that you were making cookies for me, so I came!”

Oh. Why if it isn’t Prince Clovis.

“Greetings, Prince Clovis,” said Lady Claudia and Lady Sophia as they bowed.

Prince Clovis shrunk at the sight of Lady Sophia. “Oh… Lady Sophia, I didn’t know you were here either.”

“Ah, yes.” Lady Sophia glanced away as she shamefully voiced, “I was just helping Reir-”

“Perfect timing, Prince Clovis. Come over here and tell me what these are,” Lady Claudia voiced.

Lady Sophia sent Lady Claudia a death glare. I only sighed. Lady Claudia was trying to embarrass Lady Sophia in front of the second Prince. I mean, why wouldn’t she? Lady Sophia and Lady Claudia are both marriage candidates competing for the title of future Queen after all. Except Lady Sophia doesn’t want that title because she wants to be with Prince Clovis instead.

“Hmm?” The young prince walked over to Lady Claudia and looked at the tray that was Lady Sophia’s homemade cookies. “Are these... rocks?”

“Ha! Even Prince Clovis agrees with me! These are not cookies, but rocks!”

I groaned as I slapped my forehead. “Why did you do that, Lady Claudia?”

Lady Sophia bit her lower lip as she quivered with rage. If Lady Claudia was not gonna die at the hands of the heroine. She will die at the hands of Lady Sophia instead.

“Did Reiré make these?” asked Prince Clovis.

Lady Sophia sighed, “No. I did, your Highness. Reiré was trying to teach me how to bake.”

Prince Clovis tilted his head in confusion. “You’re trying to learn how to bake?”

“Yes…”

“She was trying to make cookies for you apparently,” said Lady Claudia.

Prince Clovis’s eyes widened in shock. “F-For me?!”

Lady Sophia clenched her dress as she explained. “Yes. I made these for you, Prince Clovis. As you can see they didn’t turn out well. I thought that if I made you some of your favorite cookies, we could get along better.”

“You want… us to get along?”

Lady Sophia nodded. “I am your marriage candidate, no? It’s not good if I can’t even hold a proper conversation with you. You seemed to dislike me, but I like you very much…”

Prince Clovis blushed, but Lady Sophia didn’t seem to notice. “Y-You like me?”

“Yes, but it seems like it’s only one-sided. I am deeply sorry for making you uncomfortable all this time.” Lady Sophia bowed her head. “I shall ask my father to pull me out as a marriage candidate. I hope that will ease your anxiety a bit.”

Prince Clovis looked down at the tray and picked up a cookie. He took a deep breath and ate it. Lady Claudia and Lady Sophia were just as shocked as I was. With every crunch, we cringed, wondering if Prince Clovis’s teeth were alright.

Prince Clovis finally swallowed the cookie and said, “They are very dry and very hard to eat, Lady Sophia.”

“I am deeply sorry for trying to serve something so inedible.”

Prince Clovis smiled. “They have their flaws, but they were good.”

“What?!” Both Lady Claudia and Lady Sophia voiced.

“I said they were good. Because you made them for me.”

Lady Sophia gave him a confused and doubtful look. “Prince Clovis… I-I don’t understand? They must have been terrible…”

“Not at all. With some more practice, I’m sure you can be as good as Reiré. It made me happy to know that you tried to make cookies for me.” Prince Clovis chuckled as he fiddled with his fingers. “I for sure thought that you hated me, so I’m glad that’s not the case. I admire you, Lady Sophia. So I was really sad that whenever we encountered each other, you always glared or scowled at me.”

“T-That’s not true!” denied Lady Sophia. “I could never hate you, Prince Clovis. I was…” She blushed as she looked down embarrassingly. “I was just nervous…”

I swore I saw a Cupid’s arrow shoot through Prince Clovis’s chest just now. Huh… I for sure thought that it was gonna be over between Lady Sophia and Prince Clovis because of Lady Claudia, but instead she actually brought them together.

“Good job, Lady Claudia,” I praised.

“Excuse me? What is it that I did that’s good?” she questioned.

I only smiled, “Everything. Oh! I said I’d bake for you. Why don’t you give my cookies a try.”

“I hope you don’t mean coal or rocks,” Lady Claudia grumbled.

I chuckled, “Of course not. Here.” I pushed a plate of star and heart-shaped shortbread cookies topped with raspberry jam towards her.

Lady Claudia picked up a star-shaped cookie and took a bite. I watched how her eyes lit up like a child that just discovered a pile of presents under the Christmas tree. She took another bite and hummed in delight. It made me happy to know that she enjoyed it. I know for a fact that Lady Claudia enjoys raspberry jam so I decided to make a type of cookie that would go well with it. It seems I made the right choice.

“I take it you like it?”

Lady Claudia suddenly paused and glanced at me. She immediately frowned and stated, “No. This is not good. Not good in the slightest. My chefs back at home make better cookies than this. Your baking skills are terrible. This was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten.”

Even though she was insulting my cookies, it was ironic how she was still eating them. I wasn’t the least bit upset, I was quite amused by how she reached out for another cookie. This was actually a good time to…

I sighed and tried to look heartbroken. “I see that’s unfortunate…”

Lady Claudia ate her second cookie and was gonna reach for her third, but I quickly pulled the plate away.

“Hey!”

I could feel a grin coming, but I tried to keep it down. “It saddens me that you don’t enjoy my baking. I hope you can forgive me for serving such distasteful cookies to you. I shall throw these away.”

“What?! No! I mean…” Lady Claudia composed herself and voiced, “You are ah… forgiven. You are forgiven. It’s wasteful to throw out food even if they are disgusting.”

“You are right, Lady Claudia.”

“Exactly, so I shall-”

I turned away from Lady Claudia to my other two companions. They seem to be in a world of their own and I feel bad to interrupt their conversation, but my teasing is more important. “Prince Clovis! Lady Sophia! Would you like to eat these shortbread cookies? I made them for Lady Claudia, but she said they were distasteful. Even though I put so much effort into making them.”

“What?! Reiré’s baking is the best! I love your baked sweets!” Prince Clovis voiced.

“They look so delightful! I understand that she wouldn’t like my cookies, but to think that Lady Claudia wouldn’t like such delicious looking cookies.” Lady Sophia took the heart-shaped cookie and took a bite. “Oh my! These are indeed delicious!”

“They also go well with tea. I made a lot of cookies thinking that Lady Claudia would like to take them back to her dorm, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Oh dear, I would gladly take them off your hands if Lady Claudia doesn’t want any,” said Lady Sophia. “I bet she just doesn’t have a sweet tooth.”

“I want to take some back for big brother,” voiced Prince Clovis.

I smiled, “Of course! I guess I can take some back for Lady Rium too. She also loves homemade cookies.”

“Now hold on a second!”

I grinned and glanced back at the angry-looking Lady Claudia. “What is it, Lady Claudia?”

“It’s not fair that everyone gets to take some home! You made them for me didn’t you?!”

“But you said you didn’t like them, no?” I countered. “You said that my baking skills were terrible and that my cookies were disgusting.”

Lady Claudia hesitated, “W-Well… they… they are…”

I smiled, “Then there is no need for you to eat something you don’t like. Now that I know you don’t like my baking, I’ll make sure to never bake anything for you again.”

“Ugh!” Lady Claudia gave in. “Alright! They were good! They were the most delicious cookies I’ve ever had in my life! They were better than a cookie from a five-star restaurant. You can pass as a professional baker, so please let me have another!”

I giggled, “Now was it that hard to admit that my baking was good?”

Lady Claudia blushed and grumbled, “Shut up.” She swiped another cookie off the plate and munched on it. “They’re good, happy?”

“I’m glad you enjoy them. I made them just for you after all.”

Prince Clovis pouted, “You never made sweets just for me before…”

“That’s because you already have other people making sweets just for you,” I voiced. “I can’t spoil you like everyone else does. If you want something from me, you’ll have to pay.”

“Boo! Reiré, you're so mean!”

I sighed, “Please don’t start sounding like Alex.”

“If you're alright with me, Prince Clovis, I don’t mind making cookies just for you…” Lady Sophia said with a blush on her face.

My god, I never thought Lady Sophia would have such a cute side. Damn these characters! I’m starting to love them more and more!

Prince Clovis beamed, “Really?! I’d be so happy! Especially since you're the one making it!”

“I-I’ll make sure to get better then.”

“I’ll help you!” he offered.

That caused me to turn pale. “Prince Clovis.” I patted his shoulder and begged, “Please… don’t go near the kitchen without an adult. If you love your people, just let the professionals cook for you.”

“Eh! But I can help! I’m no longer setting fire to the pans.”

Both Lady Claudia and Lady Sophia gave us a confused look. “Setting fire to the pans?”

“Then for the sake of this school, just be the taste tester, please,” I pleaded.

Prince Clovis pouted, “Fine…”

I let out a sigh of relief. I just saved the entire campus from future burnings. “Good…”

“I don’t want to ruin the fun, but we should probably leave soon, the sun is setting pretty quickly,” Lady Sophia mentioned as she was looking out the windows.

“Yeah. I should wrap some of these up for Lady Rium and Alex. You guys can take as many as you like,” I insisted.

Prince Clovis beamed. “Don’t mind if we do.”

Luckily, the cooking class had some small bags around for us to fill the cookies in. While Lady Sophia and Lady Claudia were filling bags with cookies, I had Prince Clovis help me clean the tabletops. Once the classroom was clean, we carried the bags of cookies in our arms and locked up the class.