Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Mansion in Belgravia

[ Frederick Arthur Stanley: If Edith eats this delicious food too, won't she turn her heart around? / Emotion: Confusion / Satisfaction: ★★★★★ ]

Aha, I roughly get the whole story. It was a case I'd seen a few times even in my previous life. Named money madness.

There are people in the world who believe that with money you can solve anything. Buy friends with money, buy honor, even buy love. Honestly speaking I'm also one of that type of person... Well, whatever.

Anyway, what can't be solved with money is people's hearts. Such cases aren't as rare as you think. Because there's also a rebellious nature. People who start with 'I don't like it' like a contrary frog. Or people who don't match at all like the two poles of a magnet. Such relationships are hard to solve even with money.

This Grandpa Stanley, that is, it wasn't like Mr. Henry smelling money and trying to buy my Chicken and Chips. He just expressed wrongly the heart of wanting to feed someone Chicken and Chips.

But with the face of a great noble, just wrapping up cold chicken alone like a dad wrapping chicken on the way home from work wouldn't save face, so rather buying the recipe and showing sincerity directly was probably his real intention.

Well, if you've lived your whole life as a noble there would have been no need to mind others' eyes, and with an earldom you would have enjoyed all the wealth, glory, and power of London, so even if thoughts went astray like that, there would have been no one to pick up the rod except Mom. It was understandable.

Is the person named Edith the wife? Or a lover? The relationship with that person going wrong is probably also the result of that old-fashioned force acting...

Anyway, if the reason is like that, the solution is simple. I first thickly coated my tongue with oil.

"The price of my Chicken and Chips is... 1 penny."

"What?"

"You just need to give me one 1 penny coin. Then I'll hand over the recipe."

"Young man, are you joking with me right now? What I showed is a chequebook."

The Earl of Derby didn't get angry. Instead, he stared at me as if trying to grasp the intention of my statement. Just from his eyes I could tell how serious he was about this matter. So I also completely removed the smile from my face.

"It's not a joke. I'll write it right here on the spot. It's not a recipe worth selling for money. Because it's food you can easily eat anywhere in London."

"Heh..."

"Although I'm the child of a poor laborer, I haven't lived just chasing money. I know well how great a contribution Your Lordship the Earl of Derby has made for this country. How could I sell this trivial recipe to such a person for money? 1 penny is the paper cost."

Of course it's a lie but I act with all my heart. I quickly took out paper, ink, and a dip pen from the drawer. And started writing the real ingredients and recipe in one stroke. Chicken, flour, etc. And even the real know-how of frying twice.

Now, I'll come out like this, so how do you plan to play the next move, Lord Earl of Derby?

[ Frederick Arthur Stanley: This fellow is no ordinary person! / Emotion: Surprise / Satisfaction: ★★★★★ ]

"Enough. I don't need the recipe. I apologize. Discard the content written now."

He quickly chose to surrender. The whole story of the incident is like this. Both of us bluffed. Looking at the content of the status window, what the earl needs is not the recipe but the cooking itself. Even if he takes the recipe, if there's no one who can properly make it, it's useless.

Teach the mansion's chef? If that worked so easily, copies of my food would already be everywhere, right?

Probably if I called a high price, he intended to take me somewhere and make me cook under the pretext of paying that value. But I nullified that intention with the price of 1 penny.

The earl immediately revealed his real intention. Damn, this was his move.

"I was so impressed eating your Chicken and Chips that I seem to have been rude. However, it's true that I coveted it enough to want to buy the cooking know-how. If you have time, would you listen to my story for a bit?"

I only avoided the difficult situation once with a trick, the fact that the status gap between him and me is large didn't change. Further refusal was meaningless. Anyway, as long as it wasn't taking the recipe, there wouldn't be a big problem.

So I also put down the pen and answered. Now it was time to soothe his mood.

"I'll listen carefully. If you need help, I can help anytime. Please speak comfortably."

"That's a nice thing to hear. Have you coated your mouth with honey too?"

His circumstances were simpler than expected.

The earl had a granddaughter named Edith. (Unfortunately, it wasn't a lover.) For some reason she closed the door of her heart, shut herself in her room, lost her appetite, and gradually withered. So the earl expected that if she also ate my Chicken and Chips, she might try to come out into the world again.

The chicken I made was that shocking a taste even to him. Then the earl's actions were also sufficiently understandable reasons.

"If you help me, I won't forget that favor. If you need money, talk as much as you want."

"Money is fine. If you need my strength even if meager, I'll help as much as you want. Especially since it's a matter of saving a person. But since it's difficult to close the restaurant on weekdays, how about I visit the day after tomorrow around Sunday noon?"

"Good. I'll send a carriage on time."

The two of us readily shook hands. With this the negotiation was dramatically concluded.

###

It became Sunday. I bought something like a doctor's house call bag, and neatly stacked various seasonings and simple cooking utensils inside it. Doing this makes me feel like I've become a quack doctor. Well, I just set the mood. Anyway, if there's something additionally needed, I can secretly summon it on the spot.

I asked the earl's attendant in advance to prepare noticeable ingredients like chicken or milk separately. In fact, it would be more strange for a mansion like the earldom not to have essential ingredients, so there wasn't much worry.

Upper class people are those who steadily finish off beef more than one meal a day. Probably in the cellar underground, there was a high probability that top-grade beef even by modern standards was piled up.

I planned that if I discovered such a thing, I'd secretly grill and eat it under the pretext of preparing cooking. Why? I can receive that much return, right? Fresh beef is expensive even in the point shop.

The carriage sent by the earl arrived exactly around 10 o'clock.

A luxurious decorated carriage pulled by a reddish-brown Hackney with glossy flowing fur. At that level, just renting for one day would be well over 2 pounds, right? Just looking at the carriage, the earl's financial power could be sufficiently guessed. You'd have to sell Chicken and Chips for a full two weeks on Baker Street to ride that for one day. It was proof of how severe the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The carriage entered an unfamiliar road I'd never seen in my life. The exteriors of the surrounding buildings gradually became more luxurious, the paving stones laid on the ground became denser and more precise, and when the number of mounted police seemed more than expected, I realized where this street was.

Belgravia. The residence of Britain's highest upper class in the current era.

I'd only heard the name in newspapers, visiting was the first time. Even just the design of the gas lamps installed beside the road was distinctly different from existing streets. What passed around was all carriages, a place where there were almost no people walking.

"Ohh, is that Buckingham Palace?!"

Between the buildings, an even more splendid building brushed past. Unfortunately, without even time to enjoy a tour, the carriage went around the outskirts of Buckingham Palace and headed deeper.

And the destination that appeared.

A refined mansion with countless lawns laid and rose vines stretched. It was said to be the Earl of Derby's London exclusive villa. In his actual estate there would be an even more awesome mansion and castle. Even so, the mansion looked sufficiently tremendous even from a modern person's perspective.

In fact, other things aside, what made me feel it was modern society was real estate.

"Young Jean! Hahat, to take time and visit all the way here! I'm endlessly glad!"

"Your Lordship the Earl, thank you for the hospitality."

The earl met after two days looked brighter in the face than at the restaurant. An expression as if saliva was about to overflow from the corner of his mouth.

"By any chance, can I know where I should go? As I said, today's lunch I will prepare with all my heart."

"If young Jean shows his skill, how could I refuse. Jeffrey! Guide this short gentleman to the main hall! Young Jean, this is my butler Jeffrey. If you need something, request it from him."

"Yes, by any chance is there food you dislike? I'd like to reference it."

"As long as I have your Chicken and Chips, it's enough! Thinking of it after a while, my mouth waters again."

I thought an upper class of the earl's level would reject Chicken and Chips saying it's lower-class food, but it seemed it suited his heart quite well.

I also came to make Chicken and Chips, and the earl knew that, so this conversation was just a face-saving greeting between each other. That is, words for the attendants standing around to hear.

I took out a pocket watch from my bosom and checked the time. Current time 11:30. In London, eating lunch usually at 1 o'clock is common sense, so there was still enough time margin.

Yeah, in the end it's Chicken and Chips again. Actually, while riding the carriage I briefly had the idle thought of how to respond if the earl threw a tantrum and requested another menu. Should I stir-fry some curry? I thought.

In my previous life there was a stereotype that British food is monotonous and tasteless, but the upper class of this era enjoyed rich gastronomy with French, Italian, Indian cuisine and desserts developed in the Victorian era.

There's no way nobles who gathered enormous wealth from colonies all over the world would live ascetically.

But even by their standards, the Chicken and Chips I made seemed to be a special delicacy.

Wherever they heard the rumors, including the mansion's attendants, all the people who brushed past were looking forward to my Chicken and Chips. Surely I'm not supposed to make food for all these people, right?

Of course not. It wasn't like I was invited as an exclusive head chef, and for now it was closer to me, formally a guest of the earl, making food for fun. So the attendants also couldn't think of treating me carelessly.

However, the chefs and attendants who flocked around me glancing sideways trying to steal and learn my recipe somehow was a bit hard to endure.

"Go ahead and look. Anyway, without my special seasoning you can't make it the same."

"Yes? What did you say?"

"No, it's nothing."

If I talk shit in Korean in front of them, what can you do? I can even swear in Korean. Envious?

Anyway, despite various interferences, Chicken and Chips was prepared quickly. The people scheduled to eat were the earl and his second son's couple, and that problematic granddaughter Edith.

But a problem arose. Even after waiting a long time, Edith didn't come down. Hungry but unable to eat, this time the earl also seemed firmly angry.

"This... Young Jean came all the way here and prepared the best meal, what kind of embarrassment is this! That's why I told them to prepare in advance!"

"Father, I'll go and scold her sharply. Please wait a bit."

"No need for that. Tell her to starve to her heart's content shut in her room! Young Jean, I'm sorry but how about visiting again next time? I'll compensate sufficiently."

The earl boasted that just letting her smell it would make her appetite turn sharply, but what can you do when the person herself is immovable. That's 100 percent a sickness of the heart.

I too am a busy body for my own happiness and peace. I couldn't be swept up forever in the earl's play who likes to order people around. An outsourced buffet was enough for one time.

So I answered like this.

"If it's okay, may I personally serve Chicken and Chips to Lady Edith's room? Since it's food I made myself, I'll persuade with all sincerity. Then her thoughts might change a bit."

"Really? May I ask you to?"

Actually, to go and peek a bit with the status window at what that stubborn one is thinking. And the reaction of hers that I confirmed was a bit unexpected.