HCYPBTKIRWO Chapter 9

"Sister…”

"Hush."

Luna, hiding behind the corner of the building and peeping at something, put a finger on Luca's mouth.

Luna's eyes were fixed on a wagon in front of the warehouse. The mule tied to the wagon was leisurely grazing and the owner of the wagon was not seen.

At 5 p.m. every day, a wagon that delivers groceries enters the territory. It takes about 20 minutes to empty the wagon.

Then the owner of the wagon chatted with the workers of the Archduke. Even now, they could hear the voices of adults laughing over the wide open warehouse door.

"Now."

Luna whispered low and grabbed Luca's hand. A rabbit doll shook in Luca’s long arms as he ran with Luna.

"Ah…”

"Hush."

Luna, who was glancing toward the warehouse with anxious eyes, pushed Luca up.

Like last time, they succeeded in hiding in the wagon safely. The two children crouched between the empty wooden bins covered with rags and waited for the coachmen to return.

Soon after, the chatting stopped, and they heard the sound of footsteps walking toward the wagon.

‘We won't get caught, will we?’

The children sat hugging and holding their breath. However, as soon as the wagon began to move, they took a breath of confidence.

The rattling wagon shook along the graveled road. When it was no different from last time, Luna straightened her shoulders, which was tensed up.

Soon after, the carriage stopped. It seemed to be at the back door of the mansion that they could hear the murmur of words.

Now, if they pass through here, it’ll mean freedom. Luca whispered softly to Lulu's long ears in his arms.

"Lulu, we're going to Hazel now."

"No."

The rags were quickly moved, and the sunset poured in. As soon as they opened their closed eyes due to the scorching sun, the children's faces became contemplated.

Elliott also smiled down at his younger siblings who were about to run away from home.

‘No matter how smart you are, a child is a child.'

Clothes disappearing, a wagon that comes at 5 p.m. they couldn’t fool him again the same way as last time.

In fact, he was never fooled. The last "runaway" took place while Elliott was away due to an expedition.

When the troublemakers were brought to the inner room, the maids, who were waiting in the hallway, walked up.

"Change their clothes and bring them to the restaurant right away."

"Yes, your highness!"

Elliott gave the maids instructions as they took the vigorous Luna and the shrieking Luca back to their respective rooms.

"I'm sorry, Archduke."

As the children disappeared, the maid and the butler approached and bowed their heads.

It was the job of these two servants to monitor the children who tried to run away to the witch's hut again and again.

“In addition to the ban on cats, from now on, make sure to thoroughly inspect the people and luggage leaving the mansion.”

“Yes, duke.”

Entry into the mansion was already thoroughly inspected because you never know when some threat will come from the outside world and wreak havoc on the family.

Knowing that, he was just trying to protect them, but there were a lot of misunderstandings.

Maybe the seven and five year olds were still too young to understand that.

***

Elliott, who sat at the end of the table, looked at his younger siblings on both sides.

“The dinner is what you wanted.”

There was only one menu on the table too wide to sit with two little children.

“So please stop the hunger strike and eat everything.”

Even though he let the witch live as they wished, the children expressed their displeasure by not eating. It was unacceptable to starve even one meal a day at a very young age.

Of course, since it was a children's hunger struggle, a piece of sweet chocolate quickly disappeared. The problem was that they have become too dependent on chocolate.

‘How many times have you eaten that this week alone…?'

Even so, they were very picky eaters. His strategy was wrong, and he knew they could eat chocolate if they were starved. So until he worked out some tricks, Elliott was at a loss.

'Why is the foolish scheme of my younger siblings more difficult than the elaborate scheme of the imperial family?'

Elliott looked at his siblings and nodded his head slightly to the cook standing by the table. A middle-aged man who received instructions opened the lid to the large soup and placed it between the three of them.

A brown soup appeared as the steam that had been rising from the luxurious pot surrounded by gold leaf dispersed. It was the beef stew the children had been singing about for days.

Soon, the servants were busy moving, placing soup bowls of stew in front of the three of them.

The cook watched the two little demons of the Archduke raising their spoons with anxious eyes.

'I'm going to be cut off like a nanny.'

The cook thought.

Originally, there was a lot of food that was covered, so there were not many dishes that could be cooked. In addition, the rules set by the Grand Duke were very strict, so he could not bring ingredients into the mansion at will.

However, the reason he had been working here for ten years was because it was the best job in the empire. From salaries to employers' reputations.

Besides, it was understandable that the Grand Duke was demanding.

'Ahh, don't do that.'

Recalling what had happened several years ago, the chef swiped the sweat running down his forehead with his sleeve. After only passing through that crisis, another crisis came.

'A stew with carrots that they've been terrified of for years and never put on the table… Isn't this really the time for my cut off?'

In addition, it was basic to prepare five courses from appetizers to desserts.

It was unprecedented for the common people to have only one dish of crude food.

The Archduke said it was a waste of food and said that only one thing the children asked for should be made. It might seem convenient, but the smaller the menu, the less chance it has to capture the taste.

'Are you sure you want to eat that?'

The prince and princess only had one ingredient they didn't like, carrots, and the other foods were filled with the things they liked.

The beef he used was the finest tenderloin. Instead of water, high-quality red wine from the southern region was generously poured in.

'It doesn't even compare to how the cunning witch boils it up with all the cheap ingredients.'

He couldn’t lose to a witch. His pride, which came from when he took his first steps as an imperial chef as soon as he graduated from the empire's top culinary academy with the highest award, did not allow him to do so.

No, having to be compared to the witch in the first place is a humiliation...

"Ugh!"

As he watched the prince and princess take a large spoonful of stew and put it in their mouths, he forgot his manners and shouted.

But he wasn't the only one with that reaction. All the employees waiting in the restaurant, even the always stubborn butler, were astonished.

It was because a large piece of carrot was placed on the two children's spoons.

'You’re eating the carrots first, not the beef?'

There was no way they could have mistaken that orange color for meat.

Among the servants who looked at each other in amazement, Elliott could only watch his siblings quietly.

Everyone was more surprised when the carrot eventually went into Luna’s mouth.

'You're eating that!'

“Wow. Carrots taste bitter.”

“Lunabell Blaine, act like a princess.”

“Oh my god, the carrots taste terribly bitter. Would the food here really taste like this?"

It was the moment when Elliott, tired of his clever sister's behavior, closed his eyes while holding back a sigh.

“Wow…”

Even though it was against the etiquette of the meal, he opened his eyes from a sound that was not heard for a long time. Luca was spitting out a carrot into his napkin. At least Luna swallowed while complaining.

“Luca!”

Because he lived with the witch, he forgot the dignity of nobility. It was disrespectful to do that at the table, but Luca only wept.

“This is not it.”

“Harold, you need to cut the carrots into small pieces and boil them.”

Luna said he didn't know how to cook carrots to a chef with decades of experience, and she even taught her own hands.

“I prepared a dish of chopped carrots, princess.”

The chef took out the secret card he had prepared in case this happened. He nodded to the assistant behind him, and he soon came from the kitchen with a plate of cake.

Seeing the little carrots on top of the cake, Elliott raised one eyebrow at an angle as if questioning the cook.

'That's carrot cake.'

The chef prepared the dessert without his permission.

“Your Excellency, I apologize for not asking permission, but…”

Elliott nodded his head countless times. His younger siblings' eyes were already large.

Contrary to his cold-blooded appearance, he was weak-minded in front of his younger siblings. It was obvious that they wanted to eat, but they wouldn’t dare do that in front of him because of their stubborness.

Besides, if it wasn't for that, they might starve all evening.

“Wow…it’s carrot cake.”

However, after taking just one bite of the long-awaited carrot cake, the siblings put down their forks.

"No! This isn't it!"

It was unexpected that Luca, who was always timid, made a loud noise.

“Give me carrot cake.”

“Luca, this is carrot cake.”

“I’m talking about Hazel’s carrot cake.”

Luna's stinging gaze turned to Elliott, who was soothing Luca.

"You bring it."

"Luna, that was ten days ago. Will the cake really last ten days?"

Luna sprinted from her seat and stood up.

"Luca, let's go."