The Lady is a Stalker

Chapter 2

“Hey! You’re in the way!”

I was angry at his disregard for me, but I endured it and calmly said, “Yea, I was.”

“I see you’re a noble lady. Are you the one who keeps on chasing after the Commander?”

I was going to introduce myself, but it seems he already knew who I was. He doesn’t seem to be an ordinary soldier nor one of those who are openly hostile to me. Technically, I’ve never chased after him, but since what he said wasn’t entirely wrong I nodded my head. His face suddenly distorted and his tone of voice softened.

“What are you doing standing there? You’re going to get run into again. Unless you’re chasing after the Commander?”

“I was looking for work to do.”

“Work?”

The man looked at me strangely.

I nodded and exclaimed, “If there is an area with shortage of hands, I want to help!”

The man observed me and then said, “I have a good idea. Follow me.”

I followed after him. I don’t know who he is, but there is one thing I can be sure of. This man is thinking of giving me something difficult. He must not have a high opinion of Celebi and my reasoning is even though Celebi is a noble, he doesn’t treat her that way. I don’t know what his rank is, but he treats me like another one of his men.

In the military, even if rank has a higher priority, it’s completely different for a girl with status. The soldiers of the Distinian army all harbor some resentment for Celebi. They trained hard whereas she relaxed during teatime. She also mocked them during their training and would pretend to fall to look weak in front of their boss.

The man stopped at the kitchen. Hmm, right. It was a amazing how he was able to come up with a place in such short notice.

“The kitchen is always short-handed. There are rarely any soldiers here that want to cook.”

Being a chef is one of the hardest occupations in the empire because they have yet to develop the technology to make cooking, especially the slaughtering of animals, easy. Also, because the chefs have to clean up after all the soldiers finish eating, not many want to work here. Not to mention nobles have lived their lives far away from the kitchen so many of them have never set foot in one. That doesn’t include me though.

“This is good, cooking is my specialty.”

I cooly rolled my sleeves up and went inside the kitchen. I almost felt embarrassed for the man who brought me here to discourage me.

Oh, the tools here are pretty good. I’ll have a good time cooking here.

The man came up to me and said, “How boring, you’re not as weak as I thought.”

“Today is pretty… luxurious.” Prince Raven said with a slightly perplexed face while looking at the table.

All the chefs that used to work for the army quit because of the overwhelming appetite the soldiers had. In the end, the soldiers had to fend for themselves. There are only a few people who choose cooking as a career, so it seems that they’re able to eat well after a long time.

Raven satisfyingly asked the man standing next to him a question. “Did you choose the new chef?”

“No, actually Commander…”

The Prince was going to praise him if he was the one who found the new chef, but he seems reluctant to speak. The person who delivered Raven’s food soured their face.

“That crazy woman couldn’t have made such food. I’m sure it’s poisoned-”

“A crazy woman… you’re being a bit too blunt.”

Raven turned his head to the familiar, yet unfamiliar voice. His childhood friend, a catastrophic pervert and parasite, stood emotionless. For a person who usually watched others do the work, her appearance was dishevelled. She was sweaty, her perfect makeup was gone, and her immaculate dress that she would wear to tackle him was stained.

Yet Celebi looked just fine.

She stared at Raven with her piercing luscious eyes. “I cooked all the food here. It sure was tough cooking for everyone.”

“Tough? You’re ridiculous. This amount is nothing.”

“…Are you saying I’m weak?” Celebi tilted her head as if she didn’t have a clue.

Raven clicked his tongue after seeing that. ‘Ha! She probably did some dirty trick. I won’t be fooled by her.’ He barely managed to hold his temper.