Allie clasped her hands together as she felt anxious, staring at the ceiling while she lay on her bed. The day was pleasant, nothing bad happened, however the princess asked if she wanted to cook for her. Or to be specific, something to be served to the royal family.

That terrified her, but due to her desire of cooking and wanting to return to the path of her ambition, to the path of change, she blurted yes. The moment she said those words, the nervousness came instantaneously.

In truth, there was a side of her that was not confident about this. It has been a long time since she had last served the royal family. Not only that, she wasn’t confident anymore if the taste of her food would be on par with the dishes served to the royals.

In addition, she was still essentially a criminal, she was terrified of them. Add to it the issue that a prisoner would be serving food to the royal family, one that attempted to poison one royalty. Allie did bring up that issue, but the princess assured her that she had brought the matter to her family. Allie once again felt elated at the kind consideration of the princess.

There were two ways to handle this, the princess suggested.

The first one was to cook alone, however, the food would be tasted first, and she would be watched while she was cooking.

The second was to work once again with her old colleagues. This was the one she was reluctant to do. She would cook with them, a guard watching wouldn’t necessarily be needed. However, her former colleagues would definitely taste-test all the food first. It was said that this option was preferred by the royal family.

The first one was ideal for Allie, but there was a problem. It was her lack of confidence. She might taste the food and think it was good, but in truth, it was actually terrible. And the testers would not even try to point that out, just to perhaps shame her — but if they do, what Allie cooked might not be served in the end. She didn’t want to waste her cooking and make the princess look bad for even suggesting for Allie to cook again for them.

Thus, she had to take the second option. It may be hard, but by building up courage, she could. With this, the royal family can be more at ease. And she wanted to make the best dishes she could. For that, she needed her former colleagues.

Still, would they help her? Surely they would. But, they may not find her presence comfortable. Still, Allie wanted to give it a try, to see if she could rekindle old friendships.

She wanted to make a new beginning. Thus, she would try to work with her former colleagues. Even if it would be hard, she will still try.

She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

***

Allie being led by Mera, headed to the old kitchen where she once worked with her former colleagues. Her heart pumped hard as they got closer and closer to their destination, subtly taking deep breaths. She imagined how she would first interact with them.

Should she be casual? Or be stiff about it? Formal?

She pondered hard and imagined, but even now, she still couldn’t think of the proper way to do this.

Before she knew it, even if she was yet to be mentally ready, they have arrived at the kitchen. Allie felt nostalgic just seeing the door she was ever so familiar with. Disregarding Allie’s inner turmoil, Mera opened the door.

Upon stepping inside after a deep shaking breath, Allie pursed her lips the moment he saw two familiar faces. They stiffly stared at Allie, and they stole glances at each other, indirectly asking how they should respond to this. That said, they should have already been told this was happening, so they shouldn’t be that completely clueless about what to do.

Even so, Allie understood their feelings.

“She is here to cook with you, for the royal family’s breakfast,” said Mera. “Treat her nicely. But as you already know the situation, I suggest you keep watch over her.”

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With only those words, Mera left, leaving the guard knight inside to watch things over.

Allie glanced at her former colleagues, only to avert her eyes away. It was harder to look them in the eyes than she had expected, feeling shameful.

“Hello, Allie…” The first to speak was her former teacher, Ceruos, the head chef.

Allie frantically shifted her gaze toward him. “Um, hi. Cerous.”

“It’s been a long time. Are you doing alright?”

“Yes…”

“Good, good… We were surprised to hear that you would be working with us today, the announcement was very sudden. Didn’t expect you would come back here though.”

“... I also didn’t expect the princess would ask me to…”

“The princess, huh…” Ceruos lightly scratched his head. “Well, as long as things are alright…” he then turned to look at the young man, Tenil, who was looking away with furrowed brows. “Hey, greet her.”

Tenil paused for a moment before sighing. “Hi, Allie…”

“H-Hi.”

Ceruos looked at the two of them with a wry smile, but Allie had imagined that Tenil would be this way. He was expected to give her the cold shoulder, but Allie wanted to fix it. She wanted to try to remedy the consequences of her mistake. Yes… mistake.

Still, she didn’t know how to.

Ceruos began speaking to break the ice. “So let’s start cooking? We can’t waste time.”

Allie nodded, but Tenil merely went straight ahead to his desk and began preparing his ingredients. And so, Allie began working on her own, but working alongside the head chef. Tenil would often glance at her, and mostly at her work, and often begin to frown.

With her wooden spatula, Allie mixed the dish around on the pan, then added some seasoning. It smelled good. But then, Ceruos came in to inhale the permeating smell.

“Is it just me or does this smell different than the last ones you made?”

He was referring to the cooking done by Allie a long time ago with this recipe. This one here was one of Allie’s usual dishes, one she commonly serve when she wanted to give something good. Of course, Ceruos was well familiar with this.

“I-Is it? It smells good to me.”

Ceruos seemed to be puzzled. Then Tenil chimed in.

“You didn’t put enough seasoning.”

“I-Is that s-so?”

Allie scooped a little with a spoon and tasted it.

“I-It’s fine.”

“Really?” Tenil grabbed a spoon and tasted it himself. “No, the flavor’s not enough.”

“...”

“Let me,” Cerous used a spoon of his own to have a taste. “Hm, yes, Tenil is right. Not the flavor you always make.”

Allie pursed her lips, she had nothing to say.

“Are you just purposely saying it’s enough despite being otherwise?” Tenil narrowed his eyes while sternly looking at her.

“N-No…”

“Huh? Are you sure? Or are you trying to sabotage our cooking?!”

Allie recoiled in shock at his loud voice. “N-No! No I’m not!”

“How are we sure you’re telling the truth? You could be lying as you have always done.”

“W-What…? No, that’s not…”

That’s not how it was. All of their time, their moments together in this kitchen, was genuine to her. She valued those moments in her heart.

“That’s enough, Tenil,” intervened Ceruos. “You have said enough.”

“Tch!” Tenil clicked his tongue, looking away in annoyance.

Ceruos returned his gaze to Allie. “Just add a little more seasoning.”

“Y-Yes. I’m sorry. It was my mistake.”

Gently, Allie did what the chef said.

“Allie, have you forgotten how your food tastes like…?” Ceruos warily asked.

“... I, no… It’s just… Everything better tastes delicious now…”

“Better? What do you mean…?”

“I—”

“No, you have no need to answer that question. I now… understand…”

Allie faintly nodded, while Tenil glanced at her while working.

Time passed, and they had done cooking all the dishes. Two of them were Allie’s, which she had to have Ceruos’s guidance to make. After which he had to taste test when done cooking, for the reason of checking the flavor, and most of all, checking for poison.

But of course Allie couldn’t do anything bad now, she was in the clear. Although she was a bit nervous about how the royal family would take her cooking.

Mera and the other servants arrived to carry and bring the dishes to the royal family for their breakfast. Allie sighed in relief.

Ceruos casually patted her on the shoulder. “Good work.”

“...” she was speechless for a moment, surprised. “U-Uh, yes… thank you.”

Ceruos glanced at Tenil. “Shouldn’t you say something? An apology would be nice.”

Tenil frowned then scratched the back of his head before hesitantly speaking. “... Sorry, I just lost it. I’m just… I just felt irritated. We’ve been through a lot together, it just… it just so bizarre and terrible to hear that you were a traitor.”

Allie lowered her head, ashamed. She couldn’t blame him if he was annoyed and irritated by her presence.

Then he continued. “In truth, I didn’t want to see you again…” after saying so, he walked down the back of the room, leaving Ceruos and Allie behind.

Ceruos sighed while shaking his head. “Give him time. He just didn’t take the news about your betrayal very well.”

“... Why, why are you treating me well?”

Ceruos slightly raised an eyebrow. “You were still my student, it wouldn’t be good if I just shun you. I’m no child like Tenil.”

“... Aren’t you curious about my reason? My reason may cause you to hate me truly.”

“I am curious. But I would rather not poke my nose into it. I got an idea that you are involved with something very dangerous, I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“...”

“Now then, seeing that we have nothing else to do… what about we cook a bit more, you’re losing your edge. We got to eat breakfast anyway.”

Allie slightly smiled as she gazed into Ceruos’s eyes. “Okay.”