Isekai: Princess Marquess Becomes Entrepreneur of Tempe

Chapter 28. Game

"What's up, Miss?"

The cook apparently saw Elona coughing and covered her nose with her left hand. In his right hand, there was a glass filled with white liquid that he had not been able to drink.

Elona was silent when asked. The girl wondered why the drink in her hand was so smelly that she could not get close to the mouth of her glass.

But he didn't give up. He clamped his nose with his left hand, to cover both holes. Then his right hand smeared the soy milk in the glass to his mouth. Looks like the guy who's drinking the jamu.

"Loh... it feels fine like regular soy milk...why does it smell, huh?"

Elona said, tasting her lips, trying to taste the milk she made carefully.

Elona looked at the cook who was standing next to her. The girl held out her glass.

"Uncle you know, why does this smell?"

The cook grabbed the glass, then brought the mouth of the glass closer to his nose. A moment later, his head moved away while narrowing one eye, like he was avoiding something.

Then the cook circulated his gaze toward the ingredients and utensils that his young lady was using to make the liquid outih.

"Miss, it looks like you forgot to do something" he said. Elona looked at him confused.

"Eh, what?"

The cook picked up a pinch of unprocessed soybeans from the table.

"Miss didn't peel the skin, did she?"

"Eh? Should it be peeled, right?"

The cook chuckled, "Of course! We also cooks must peel the skin of soybeans first before put in the soup. It's the skin that makes it smell!"

Elona picked up a piece of soybeans with her hand and looked at her, "But, how about peeling this skin? Isn't loud?"

The cook took a large bowl of clean and put the unprocessed soybeans in it. Then, he filled the bowl with water, until the nuts were submerged.

"Must be soaked like this first, Miss. The nuts will swell and the skin will break. At that time, the lady could clean her skin with just her hands like this" the cook said.

"Oh..." Elona nodded her head in understanding. "then how long should it be soaked?"

"A full day, Miss!"

"Eehhh...?!"

*****

Next day.

"Where are you going?"

Art asked Elona who was getting ready to go home in the middle of the day like before. When Elona came home at noon, it meant that the man would lose the opportunity to be with her for the whole day. And Art doesn't like that.

The girl turned her head while attaching the cloth bag to her shoulder.

"You go home." replied Elona briefly.

"Come home?"

"Yes, I'm doing an experiment, hehe. Wanna come?" ask Elona sumringah.

"To your house?"

"Yes! Come on!" Elona pulls Art's hand, invites him into the horse-drawn carriage that the girl is also riding.

The man was surprised, as it meant it was the first time he would visit the house of Elona officially, instead of sneaking into his room at night like he had done lately.

"What experiment did you do?" art asked as soon as the two of them were inside the cabin.

"Hehe, you'll find out later. You'll be the first to drink it, after me!" elona smiled.

"Drink?" Art is getting more confused.

The journey from arable land to Locke's residence at Armelin did not take long. Elona and Art arrive at Locke's mansion's front yard. As soon as the door opened, the butler Wilson and several other servants greeted.

"Welcome, Miss. Are you done with your job?"

"Already, Uncle! Oh yeah, this is my friend Art." Elona introduced the man standing beside her. His eyes were fixed on the head covering cloth worn by Art.

"It's not hot, is it? Just open the cover!"

"Eh?!"

Quickly, Elona pulled the hair-covering cloth that Art was wearing, revealing the golden hair on her head. Elona thought all this time that her friend was wearing a cloth cover so that her hair avoid the heat of the sun.

At that instant, all the servants who were there held their breaths in shock, including the butler.

"You..."

"Did you introduce, Uncle, this is my friend Art. He lives in the village of Rudiyart!" elona Sahut. Art nodded his head.

"Ah, I change clothes first in the room. Art, you wait here, I'll be back soon!"

Elona went to her room on the second floor, accompanied by several servants behind her.

*****

Art left himself in the lobby below. As soon as his master had climbed into the room, Wilson and the servants who were still there immediately lowered their heads.

"Greetings! Young master Arthur Eckart!!" wilson said fearfully, and the other servants followed.

"Greetings, Mr. Eckart!"

"Eh?" Art aka Arthur Eckart looked at the servants, "You recognize me?"

"of course! Who doesn't know you, future duke!" Wilson said, still looking down, before Art told him to stand up straight again.

"Err, your mistress doesn't recognize me, you know?"

"I'm sorry, Sir! In lieu of her late parents, I should have been able to warn Ms. to be polite, not like that"

"Don't! No need! Just let him act as he pleases me." Art interrupted Wilson's words quickly.

"But, Mr. Arthur-"

"Oh, it's okay. Don't tell him about me. Secret everything. He won't be helped if he knows who I really am. He'll be thinking and stressing."

Wilson was stunned to hear the words of the noble's son before him. As her employer Stefan said, never stress her young miss out because her overeating disorder habits can come back later.

"Then let me take you to the kitchen first before Miss comes, so that the servants and cooks who work there can immediately understand the situation." Wilson suggested. Then he called a servant nearby.

"Let's go down, take her straight to the kitchen. Tell him his friend's already there." said Wilson. The waiter nodded as well.

Before long, Art and Wilson walked down the corridor on a red carpet to the kitchen.

"Young master, I agree with your play, as long as Miss Elona is happy. But if it were to be discovered later, even more so from the mouths of others, he would definitely be very disappointed."

Wilson said with a worried tone. To her, the mistress was like her own daughter. He would not have the heart to see his daughter crying because she felt being played by the person she trusted the most.

Art sighed. His eyes looked straight ahead. "Just calm down, I'll keep everything a secret, until the time comes. When that happens, I'll tell him everything directly."

*****

"Art, apparently you're already here! Uh, where are the other servants?"

Elona arrived at the kitchen with a puzzled look, as usually the entire cook and waiter were in the kitchen at the moment to prepare dinner. But actually no one is there right now.

"Oh, they had finished preparing dinner, he said they would all take a break" replied Art.

"Ooh..." Elona nodded her head. Surely the man had lied a little to Elona.

The waiters and cooks were resting, but that was because it was asked by Wilson after the old man introduced Arthur Eckart to them. Rather than everything being awkward and unable to work due to the presence of a high nobleman within the kitchen, it was better for the cooks to immediately finish their work and leave from there.

"Yes already." Elona took a large bowl of soaked soybeans that had swelled up from the corner of the room, and placed it on the table.

"This... soy beans?" Art asked, taking a pinch. The soybeans had grown and the skin had broken.

"Yes. Help me peel off the skin. The clean ones, if not the drinks will smell" said Elona.

Art aka the son of duke Arthur Eckart, who for a lifetime had never set foot in the kitchen to make food, now had to peel soybeans from his skin.

It's crazy, yeah, whatever, for Elona's sake.

They both drowned in his busy peeling soybean skin. Soon, the whole bean was clean.

"Then just repeat what I did yesterday. Hm..."

Elona tried to remember the steps she had taken before. First boil all the nuts so that they are tender. Then grind it until it becomes porridge. Then filter it with a cloth. And cooked again to add salt and sugar, do not forget to also remove the foam. Finally, put the white liquid into two glasses.

"So...!" Elona half-screamed while smiling happily. He smelled the drink with his nose. No longer smelled like before.

"This what?" Art asked as he stared confusedly at the white liquid-filled glass before him.

"Soybean milk!"

"Susu... soybeans? What did you say on the land the other day?" Art remembers the incident and he was also confused when Elona said about soy milk. But right now, it was in front of him.

"Yes, that one!" answer Elona. He also fanned the milk so that it can be drunk quickly.

"Here, drink. It's yummy!" Elona thrust the bronze glass at Art.

The man stared doubtfully at the white liquid before him. Slowly, he pressed his lips against the mouth of the glass and tried to drink it while closing his eyes, anticipating that it might not taste right.

"How, good, right?!" elona asked impatiently as soon as she saw the young man before her trying his homemade milk.

"...!!" Art widened his eyes after drinking a single sip.

*****