Chloe’s home cooking.

“Good morning, Chaco, Shin.”

Reflected in the mirror screen was Locke descending from the stairs. He had stayed over yesterday.? The delivery for today was entrusted to a different person so Locke himself was here as just another lodging customer.? After greeting them, Lock had shown them a map that he made on his own.

“This is the map of that dungeon. As of now, I was only able to clear around this part. Looks like I gotta prepare well and gather some people to reach the places where magic crystals are. By the way, the structure of the areas of that dungeon transforms after clearing it. If I gotta describe it, it sorta feels like you’re in the stomach of some sort of monster.”

“I know I’m the one who asked you to but, I’m truly sorry for having you go to such a dangerous place.”

“It’s fine. I want to repay my debt to the boss anyway. Besides, it’s my thanks for telling me about Momo’s circumstances.”

“Uhm, I made you something. You can have it for lunch if you want.”

Chloe handed him a wrapping as she said that leaving Locke in awe. Shin flustered, rushed towards the counter as he saw her do that.

“So that’s what you’ve been doing so early in the morning, Chaco! But your cooking is a little..”

“T-The mistress watched over as I cooked, and she had tested the taste too! Brother, if you’re so worried about it, why don’t you try it as well, here and now!”

Chloe took out a plate of sandwich apart from the wrapped lunch box that she handed to Locke. Bacon and Egg seasoned with pepper can be seen peeking between the two bulky bread slices. The lettuce that they got from the farm, laced with sauce, also rests at its center. As Shin stared at the sandwiches with hesitation, another hand quickly reaches for them.

“Hey, can I take it? They were going to be my lunch anyway, so there shouldn’t be a problem if I eat it now, right?”

“Huh?”

Leaving Shin, who was too late to react, Locke ate the sandwich in the blink of an eye. Chloe could only stare at him, astounded.

“Yeah, it’s great. You gotta be pretty great in cooking if this was your first try.”

“I-Is that true...? Chaco is poor at baking sweets, though.”

“Everyone has something they are bad at. At the very least, this is not so different from the ones I had that Momo cooked. Guess, I gotta look forward to the lunch box too.”

“T-Thanks, Locke.”

Chloe blushingly smiled back as Locke smiled broadly. However, the scene had only made the gentlemen on the other side of the mirror restless.

“I-I can’t believe it.... Chloe can prepare food? This is only the third day since she started working in the kitchen!”

“Still, what a rude fellow. He had been lucky enough to eat Lady Momo’s cooking in the past. There was no need to compare it to something like Chloe’s cooking.”

“Maybe his taste buds were a total bust? Or maybe.. it’s really delicious.”

“Like hell!”

The gentlemen in the room all fell silent at the sudden yell of the prince. The one most surprised amongst them were in fact, him. He was supposed to laugh at having the cooking of Chloe and Momo compared but, he inadvertently raised his voice more than he had intended to. Nevertheless, he somewhat managed to regain his composure after a moment.

“T-That man called Locke is a mere adventurer. He must have acquired sufficient skills in cajouling women. Chloe is just easily deceived by such flatteries because he is not used to men.? He may be her childhood friend, but we truly cannot afford to let him approach Momo.”

The irritated prince knew that he sounded like he was making an excuse, but he couldn’t stop himself. Fortunately, his retainers were all nodding in agreement to everything he said and went back to insulting Chloe and Locke afterward.

The only one to pour a cold water on the situation was his younger brother, Prince Keith.

“Still, what about the plan about having sister-in.. Lady Chloe fall in love with Shin?? If I were to say it, Lady Chloe seems to be getting along well with Locke instead.”

The group of gentlemen who were riled up immediately fell silent.