Chapter 73

Unlike Enoch, who couldn’t fathom why his master wanted sauce recipes, Erin instantly grasped Grondil’s intent and sprinted toward her private workspace connected to the kitchen. A moment later, she returned with her arms full of various cookbooks.

“What are you doing, brother? Hurry up and find the recipes.”

“Why sauces…”

“Ah, seriously. I don’t understand how someone so smart can be this stupid sometimes. If we make it into a sauce, we don’t have to taste-test it!”

“Ah…!”

Finally understanding after Erin’s explanation, Enoch bolted out of the kitchen.

“Lord Castillion. You never actually intended to make us taste-test it in the first place, did you?”

“Why would I waste it by feeding it to you? Mine is exclusively for Lino’s consumption.”

“Of course. As it should be.”

I knew it. Erin shot a slight, sullen glare at Grondil for his unnecessary teasing and shook her head. He had always had this wicked, mean-spirited streak. Because he transformed into the sweetest man in the world whenever he was with Lino, she had temporarily forgotten.

Still, she was in a good mood after getting the chance to tease her brother for the first time in a while.

“By the way, Lord Castillion. Did you hear the news?”

Humming a cheerful tune while flipping through a cookbook, Erin spoke to Grondil without taking her eyes off the pages.

“He called me the exact second the pregnancy results came out.”

Grondil replied with a scoffing laugh, not even needing to ask what news she meant.

“I guess having an empty head means having a loose mouth, too. The rumors have already spread like wildfire across the entire Terne continent, haven’t they?”

“Let him enjoy his fleeting happiness.”

“How much did he blabber about?”

“Rather than ‘how much’, it would be more accurate to say ‘absolutely everything’.”

A few days ago, Grondil had received a phone call from the Emperor of the Cartia Empire. Right in the middle of Lino’s dinner—a highly critical time.

Hearing it was a call from the Emperor, Lino had panicked, urging Grondil to answer it immediately. Though Grondil had tried to shove the phone onto Enoch, Lino’s insistence forced him to take the call. As a result, Grondil couldn’t properly attend to Lino’s meal and was forced to endure two agonizing hours of the wretched Emperor’s worthless, self-aggrandizing bragging.

Watching Lino gag but force himself to swallow his food, Grondil mentally updated and reinforced his list of reasons why the Cartia Empire needed to be wiped off the map.

“Ah~ Goodness gracious.”

Erin let out a long, exaggerated sigh. While her mouth expressed pity, her eyes were crinkled in a smile, making it clear she was finding the situation highly entertaining.

“It seems the number of empires on the Terne continent will soon be reduced by one.”

“He was already getting on my nerves with his incessant meddling under the guise of being the Emperor. This worked out perfectly.”

On paper, Grondil had received his title of Grand King from the Cartia Emperor, but reality was entirely different. To begin with, Isberg wasn’t a mere principality, and it had absolutely zero ties to the Cartia Empire. The only reason Grondil had searched for a Letia at the Emperor’s request, was forced to answer unwanted phone calls, and had to listen to personal drivel he had zero interest in, was due to a slight mutual understanding that had formed between the two nations.

Isberg was famous as the only nation on the Terne continent to receive the grace of the god Aquila. What amplified this fame was the Blizzard Barrier surrounding Isberg’s entire territory.

Only those permitted by the god Aquila or the ruler of Isberg could pass through the barrier; anyone uninvited who approached was shredded to pieces, vanishing without a trace. As more and more people perished in the razor-sharp, ice-filled blizzard—oblivious to their impending doom—even Grondil, who couldn’t care less if others lived or died, found it increasingly annoying. Thus, he decided to utilize the Cartia Empire.

Because the Cartia Empire geographically blocked the primary route to Isberg, it significantly reduced the pointless sacrifices of curious, reckless humans trying to force their way in. As a token of gratitude for this buffer, Grondil maintained a loose mutual understanding, occasionally assisting the Cartia Emperor when he found himself in a bind.

“This current Emperor is fascinatingly stupid. The founding king was quite competent.”

“Even if the founding king was competent, if you keep mixing various bloodlines, the average intelligence is bound to drop, isn’t it? Well, I suppose the average physical beauty went up, considering he became the Emperor. But did he really spill his entire plan to attack Isberg to you, Your Highness?”

Erin asked, her eyes sparkling. The thought of a bloody storm soon sweeping across the Terne continent seemed to fill her with uncontrollable excitement.

“He claimed that if the next Emperor is born from the womb of a Letia, it would be undeniable proof that they have received the grace of the god Aquila just as much as Isberg.”

“Just as much as Isberg. My, my. That sounds an awful lot like a declaration of war, claiming the future heir of the Empire will receive more of Lord Aquila’s favor than Your Highness. Even though they have no idea what’s going to pop out.”

Hahahaha. Erin clutched her stomach and cackled. What exactly would a slime and a chimera’s egg sac, fertilized by the seed of a foolish Emperor, create?

If a human with all their limbs intact came out, it would be the icing on the cake, but… what if only the limbs were intact?

To begin with, the probability of a human-shaped lifeform emerging converged on zero. A lifeform? Forget lifeform. It would be a miracle if it came out breathing at all.

“Erin, he wishes for you to come to the Empire.”

“Huh… Me? Surely you jest.”

“He requested you act as the attending physician until Yuneria gives birth. What are your thoughts?”

At Grondil’s question, Erin nodded without a second of hesitation.

“Of course I must go.”

Grondil reacted as if he had expected exactly that. Erin had been dying to go to the Empire with Yuneria, desperate to study the slime and chimera’s egg sac she had implanted in his body. With the Empire officially requesting her and Grondil asking for her opinion, there was no way she would miss this golden opportunity.

Still, perhaps feeling a bit self-conscious about her immediate, eager acceptance, Erin lowered her eyes slightly and added a condition.

“Of course, I will only go after Lord Letia has safely delivered and I have confirmed his complete recovery.”

“Good. Once you’re there, conduct yourself appropriately. It would be best if you returned as quickly as possible.”

“Worry not. Have I ever made even a minor mistake in such matters?”

“Tsk, I am telling you not to drop your guard.”

Yes, yes, of course. Giggling, Erin pushed the book she had been reading toward Grondil. Her eyes and hands had been moving busily throughout their conversation, and she had already folded the corners of every page featuring recipes that utilized sauces.

“By the way, Your Highness. If Lord Letia finds out what the sauce actually is… won’t he be repulsed?”

“Just feed it to him without telling him. He drinks it straight from the source perfectly fine; if it’s hidden in food, he won’t even notice—”

“Aaaah! Understood! I get it, so please save that dirty talk for Lord Letia, not me! Okay?!”

Watching Erin recoil in horror, Grondil let out a low chuckle. Both Enoch and Erin were the types who wouldn’t be satisfied until every last ant was exterminated when on a mission, yet in moments like this, they were so painfully sensible. Observing that sheer disconnect was highly entertaining.

‘Compared to them, my Letia is…’

Rather than being scared to kill an ant, Lino was more likely just too lazy to bother.

Grondil considered it an absolute stroke of luck that Lino’s inherent nature was optimistic and lethargic. Had he possessed even a slightly sensitive disposition, he would have been terrified the moment he saw Grondil’s true form, trembling in fear before running away.

‘It’s also fascinating that he can take all of this.’

Grondil glanced down at his thickly bulging crotch and stood up. His body was aching anyway. He needed to hurry, shift back into his true form, hold Lino in his arms, and get a good night’s sleep.

“Send the books to my office. I will begin cooking tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, sir. Ah, wait. Lord Castillion, just a moment.”

As Grondil turned to head back to the bedroom, Erin scrambled off somewhere and returned holding a dark brown reagent bottle.

“You can just collect it in here. I’ve placed a very strong preservation spell on it, so you can fill it all the way to the brim.”

“I shall do that.”

Grondil accepted the brown bottle, intending to feed Lino an appropriate amount directly and store the rest. Since his volume was so massive that a significant amount usually spilled anyway, filling a bottle this size was no concern.

“Do you perhaps have any intention of making things like ice cream or yogurt?”

“Why. Do you want to make them yourself?”

“Oh… I will sincerely decline that offer. There are many machines these days that make them automatically if you just put the ingredients in and press a button, so I highly recommend those.”

“Just buy whatever you think is necessary. I will be the one making it.”

“Understood.”

Excited by the prospect of buying all sorts of gadgets on Grondil’s dime, Erin offered a half-hearted bow to his retreating back and immediately grabbed her laptop. She already had a growing wishlist of items she wanted to buy ‘for cooking Lord Letia’s meals.’ I’m going to buy everything on this list right now.

***