Chapter 11

Chapter 11

New Crew

The main point wasn't particularly grand.

The purpose was to completely open the heart of this young lady that was already half-opened by my scam magic. That way I could draw out her worries, and decide what to do afterward.

The weapons I had were the status window that could partially read the other person's true feelings, and the point shop that could summon ingredients.

Since the point shop had already been used in the form of magic, the remaining thing was to utilize the status window to the fullest.

"By any chance, do you like fortune-telling?"

"Fortune-telling?"

"This is a secret, but I have a bit of talent in fortune-telling. Tarot cards, palm reading, coffee reading, numerology... even dream interpretation is possible, so showing one as a commemoration of meeting like this would be fine, right?"

An ice-breaking method I often used even in my previous life. The means didn't matter anyway. Since the other person's thoughts were partially revealed in the status window, I just needed to act according to the results.

For example, pretending to figure out through fortune-telling that the other person had some worry. Just repeating this a few times, the other person starts believing I really have divine power, and unknowingly spills even inner secrets or worries.

This young lady's case was relatively easy. I already knew the keyword 'conflict relationship', and the information that she was 'demanding' something by faking illness.

The problem was that I still didn't know exactly what she wanted. Did she want a cute pony (*Pony, pet horse)? Or a retriever? Or unrequited love for a poor artist?

I too had accumulated nearly forty years of life experience in my previous life. I was full of experience and old-fashioned force to advise on ordinary worries. Now what remained was cooking the best dish with the ingredients I had.

"Do you need any preparations? Should I bring something?"

"Tarot cards, or even playing cards are fine."

"I do have tarot cards... just read my palm."

She held out her hand without hesitation.

In fact, the first question was a simple psychological test. A method of presenting several options and guessing the tendency depending on what the other person chooses.

Sometimes even unconscious answers or tone of voice and accent reveal many clues about the psychological state. Whether rebellious, compliant, or altruistic.

London's upper-class women had to maintain strict etiquette and dignity, so holding out their hand to an outside man like this was a rare occurrence.

The personality of hers that I grasped with this question was...

�There's a slightly rebellious side. Faking illness is like that too, and words and actions are completely different. Should I call it spirited?�

For now, just assume that. It could have been that she really wanted her palm read.

Interestingly, in the early 20th century, present-day Britain was a time when upper society's interest in palm reading was endlessly rising.

Isn't palm reading just popular culture for fun?

In London it's different. From a modern person's sensibility it's hard to understand, but it was a major field to the point where various books on palmistry overflowed if you went to a bookstore.

The person who led the trend of palmistry was the Irish-born Count Louis Hamon.

He traveled to India in his youth, interacted with various mystics, and introduced the palmistry that was popular there to British society.

And that literally went boom! and drew an explosive reaction.

The rapid social change due to the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, and the all-around curiosity about mysticism that arose as a reaction to that.

Against that background, palm reading happened to mesh and gained great popularity.

Even the newspaper I delivered regularly carried analysis articles on palmistry, so you can guess that popularity.

Anyway, I carefully grasped her hand and sneakily checked her expression.

But contrary to expectations, her eyes were very calm. An ordinary young lady would have been surprised or flinched around here... well, I just continued what I was going to do.

"Hmm, ho, is that so..."

"What do you see?"

Telling all the information I know truthfully here is low-level. It was important to somehow twist my body and raise the other person's curiosity and interest as much as possible.

So I started spouting nonsense.

"The wealth line is clear and clean without breaks. It's a face that will enjoy a quite abundant life across your 30s, 40s, and 50s. Congratulations."

"Really? Then what about the others?"

"The fame line is also straight and deep. It seems a fate to enjoy both honor and success at the same time... the health line at this level means you'll live healthily without major illnesses until old age. But... hmm, hmm."

"But? Come on, don't drag it out."

"There's a slight problem... there's a point that bothers me."

"A bothersome point? What is it?"

I paused a bit. The point here was to make an expression as if hiding something important and arouse suspicion.

"There's a slight problem with the current situation... no. I must have been mistaken. Don't mind it. Then next, here the sun line and marriage line..."

"Wait a minute! What problem is there with the current situation?"

Caught the bait! I deliberately sighed deeply.

"I don't think it's something I can carelessly say. Since it might affect the young lady's fate, the side of not being curious..."

"No, I must hear it! Please tell me the truth!"

"This is troublesome. Because I don't properly know the young lady's situation, my interpretation might be wrong. Then I'll only tell you the keyword, so if there's a part that bothers you, please let me know. By any chance, is there something the young lady is earnestly 'wishing' for right now? According to my palm reading, that part seems to be becoming a problem."

"Ah..."

"You have to choose well. Because you're standing at a crossroads of fate right now. But as long as I don't know the exact content, it will be difficult to help further."

There's no way palm reading has a function to figure out something like that. But after a big fish is hooked like this, such things become irrelevant.

I watched her expression changing moment by moment while holding back laughter.

Turning red and blue, seeming to resign, then becoming resolute again. She was a young lady with quite colorful expressions.

Around here the status window appears.

[ Emily Edith Stanley: Could it be that becoming an actress is not my fate? I'm hungry, and this situation is really frustrating! / Emotion: Great Confusion / Satisfaction: - ]

Oho, so that was it?

A scene was drawn in my head. A young lady of a noble family who harbored the dream of an actress, and the family opposing that dream. Up to the situation of faking illness and protesting.

It matches exactly with now!

Then since I figured out the correct answer, what I have to do now is...

"Then, I'll take my leave. I'll leave the Chicken and Chips here, so enjoy it deliciously. I'll tell the Earl that the young lady received the 'gift' well."

"Ah, wait�"

"Then farewell! Adios!"

Immediate thirty-six stratagems of fleeing!

How on earth am I supposed to solve that? From old times, it's best not to get involved in the disputes of noble families. There's no way I can help, and it's a problem I shouldn't help with. In the end it would be a pride battle between each other.

Fortunately, Edith didn't hold me any longer. When falling into a state of 'great confusion', there are many cases of becoming dazed with only miscellaneous thoughts like that.

Anyway, like that I safely escaped from Edith's room.

Going down, the Earl and the family had cleanly finished the Chicken and Chips and were drinking black tea while patting their bellies.

I reported that she had cleanly finished the Chicken and Chips (anyway, once she took a bite she wouldn't be able to stop), and the Earl thanked me and handed over a small token of appreciation.

That was none other than two theater tickets for the famous St. James's Theatre.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the box seats mainly used by the upper class, but the stalls.

In Korea seats are usually classified as VIP, S, A in order, but in Britain they are divided into the first floor's box seats, stalls, the second floor's Dress Circle, and gallery in order. So it's not special grade, about high-grade seats.

If it had been special grade seats, I would have sold them quite expensively. Ah, in this era there's no second-hand market so selling is also work. Anyway, since there's no one to go with, I just stuffed them into my bosom. Thinking of handling them later through Mr. Henry.

【 Acquired 10 Cooking Points. 】

Look at this. The young lady also ate the chicken deliciously, huh?

Full satisfaction of 5 points, including 5 points of Wonder Points bonus, the maximum of 10 points obtainable from one person. This also meant that the other person experienced a surprising taste they had never eaten in their life so far.

Anyway, with this the Derby earldom commotion is concluded. I won't set foot in this direction again.

I was thinking like that. But�

Well, not even a few days had passed since that incident, and I too was gradually trying to leave that day's events as a simple memory...

I alternately looked at Mr. Henry and the companion beside him with surprised eyes. Mr. Henry made a quite rare, quite troubled expression.

"An explanation of the situation... no, you don't have to. Yes, I just won't ask."

"Young Jean, that is... hmm, the Earl of Derby is the biggest customer of our Barclays Bank."

"I didn't ask. I'm not curious."

"No, still you need to know... Heh, really. It's not excessive to say thank you very much to you! Your outstanding ability, wit, and creativity are really a tremendous example for our company..."

"No, I said I understand! You don't have to unnecessarily praise me. Yes, it's a situation I've already accepted."

Mr. Henry sweating profusely. And standing next to him demurely... the young lady of the Derby earldom.

[ Emily Edith Stanley: Chicken and Chips, my future is here! / Emotion: Excitement / Satisfaction: - ]

No, I know even without explanation!

###

"So, to summarize the situation again..."

Emily Edith Stanley.

The only granddaughter of the Earl of Derby. She was in a conflict relationship with her grandfather to achieve her dream of becoming an actress. To the point of shutting herself in her room with fake illness and staging a fake hunger strike.

And the Earl of Derby.

He tasted the Chicken and Chips he happened to eat, and predicted that with this level of taste she would definitely lift the hunger strike and come out the door. And that thought was exactly right. What a scary old man!

And her father, the Earl's second son.

He was in a very awkward situation caught between his daughter and father. He who had quite free thinking for a noble of this era was happy just that his daughter had something she wanted to do. Looking now, isn't this guy the one who encouraged the actress dream?

Lastly me. The devilish man who willingly came all the way to Belgravia and fed Chicken and Chips to the whole family.

That taste captivated the Earl, the Earl's second son's couple, and Edith entirely, and in the end the Earl of Derby and the three of them matched up and put out a negotiation proposal...

"You'll become a cook instead of an actress? The young lady of a noble family?"

The reason the Earl fiercely opposed his granddaughter's dream is fully understandable. Unlike the high-class image actors have in modern times, actors in early 20th-century London were a lowly occupation that didn't receive proper treatment.

The upper class enjoyed theater culture, yet showed a dual attitude of ignoring the occupation of actor that creates that culture.

Especially actresses were often viewed with a promiscuous image, and were morally suspected or chastity concepts were disregarded in high society. The Earl would have known the surrounding atmosphere well, so he absolutely couldn't permit the path of an actress to his granddaughter.

But a cook is a bit different in circumstances.

Of course the occupation of cook is also not easy for a noble young lady to choose, but the restaurant I operate is a high-end restaurant that only gentry and above enter, and the cooking made is also the original of Chicken and Chips that's hugely popular in London.

Moreover, since the Earl himself is deeply immersed in Chicken and Chips, the psychological resistance would have been less.

Is there anything more I need to know? My head is already in an overload state.

I covered my face with both hands. The snowball had rolled quite properly.

Coincidentally, the newly added crew had the same name as our neighbor cousin tomboy Emily.

How do I handle these two Emilys now?

But, well, it's not like there's no method at all. I clapped my hands sharply!