CH 4

After working up a sweat, I decided to get some food.

Lunch was softly baked bread along with a bowl of consommé soup with lots of vegetables in it and a small amount of meat was served on the plate.

A balanced diet like this is good.

A constant cycle of meat, fried food, meat, fried food makes me tired of the taste.

I first used a spoon to bring the consommé soup to my mouth.

“Delicious!”

The taste I had been hoping for was there.

The ingredients are well-cooked, and the soup is not too thick, but the taste of the ingredients is well preserved.

I was used to the delicate flavors of Japan, so I wanted to eat something like this.

Yesterday’s food was laden with salt and pepper, which did not suit my palate.

I got hooked and chugged the consommé soup.

“Is this thing delicious?” My father asked me with a look of strangeness in his eyes.

“Yes!”

The chef’s skills were, without a doubt, top-notch.

“Hmmm. You are out of your mind. That’s no way to cook.”

That is not true! I almost said back but stopped myself just in time.

There is no point in arguing about it here.

I understood my father’s character, and it would not be good to make a bad impression on him.

“Yeah,” I replied vaguely.

Then tore off a piece of bread and munched on it.

It was good too.

The soft, fluffy bread gave off a savory aroma in my mouth.

Finally, I pricked the sliced meat with a fork and put it in my mouth.

This is good too!

There is just something about this balance of flavors!

There is bread, meat, and consommé soup with lots of vegetables.

Seeing that my parents were gone, I called the head chef.

“What is it…?”

“The food today was exceptionally good. Thank you very much.”

I cannot thank the chef enough for allowing me to eat this kind of food every day.

In my previous life, I lived on convenience store lunches and cup noodles.

What, girlfriend? Wife?

There was no such thing.

But why do they let someone who can cook such delicious food only cook grilled meat and fried food?

Not that there’s anything wrong with grilled or fried food, but I feel like it is a waste of talent.

“Especially the broth, so full of the flavors of the ingredients, it was excellent! Keep up the good work! You are a great cook!” I said that, hoping to convey to the chef that I will continue to order delicious food.

“Owen-sama, Thank you very much.”

The chef bowed deeply to me.

Oh, oh…

For some reason, he thanked me.

I really do not understand.

■　■　■

(Change of POV)

Michael has been working as the head chef for the Pepper family for more than two years now.

The Pepper family does not have a good working environment.

They think of their servants as livestock or something.

No matter how skillfully you serve them.

“Anyone can make something like this. You’ve got to make something better than this!” He had shouted at me.

The words were humiliating to Michael, who had made a name for himself as a skilled cook.

Can anyone make this?

No, that is not possible.

The dishes are prepared by gathering ingredients from all over the world, carefully selecting them, and using techniques accumulated over many years.

He’s obsessed with taste, texture, and aroma, and does not compromise on any of his products.

He served the best food he could think of at the time.

However, they only wanted to eat food with a lot of salt and pepper.

Can he even accept such a tasteless thing as a dish?

This makes it hard to know what you are cooking for.

‘I don’t know what I’m doing here.’

Because of his pride as a chef, he does not cut corners in his cooking.

However, the frustration only increased.

Then one day, Owen, the heir to the Pepper family, started acting strangely.

He used to be the embodiment of verbal violence, and to my surprise, he thanked the servants.

This event shocked all the servants in the Pepper household.

What is more, Owen saved Michael’s life when he was almost fired, and the next day he told Michael that his food was “delicious”.

That was something that had never been said to him since he started working for the Pepper family.

A single word, “delicious,” touched Michael’s heart.

Michael suddenly remembered how he came to be a chef.

It was the first time he cooked for his mother.

In retrospect, it was an awkward thing.

It was just a piece of bread with some vegetables in it.

The combination of flavors in the vegetables and bread was not good, and the taste was thin.

In addition, the moisture from the vegetables made the bread soggy and the texture was not good.

But when his mother tasted it, she smiled and said it was delicious.

He was happy.

“Yes, I wanted to be a chef because I wanted to make someone else happy”.

‘I wonder how long it has been.’

He had started to cook to see what his master would think of him.

Cooking is all about pleasing people.

“Owen-sama, Thank you very much,” Michael said to him, for reminding him of that purpose.

The words spontaneously flowed out of his mouth.