The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 197

It was a miracle.

A miracle where white turned into black.

A miracle where something soft turned into something hard.

It wasn’t something that existed to change that way, nor was it something that had been handled to make it change that way, but such a change occurred.

In Eliza’s hand.

It was truly something that could be called a miracle.

Eliza, gazing down at her miracle, murmured seriously.

“…Why did it burn again?”

What was bubbling up, blackened and stuck to the pot, was not a chunk of darkness pulled from the abyss of hell, but onion soup.

It was made by sautéing onions, adding water, and then milk and cheese.

All the ingredients were white, but the result was as black as the emptiness of the universe.

“I don’t understand…”

Maria, watching from the side, had an itch to speak.

She had clearly told her the fire’s intensity and how long it needed to cook.

Yet Eliza had performed a miracle by transforming the soup into darkness.

This was already the third time.

Maria calmly explained again.

“Elly, first you need to sauté the onions over medium heat…”

“Hmm… I think I did it like that…”

Maria thought for a moment.

Could it be the magic?

Eliza seemed to think that “medium heat” meant the fire was just short of burning down the whole kitchen.

To help Eliza figure it out herself as much as possible, Maria only offered advice from the side.

However, if she kept going like this, today, Judas might end up going hungry.

“Alright, Elly, should we try again, step by step, together?”

“Okay, I understand. I’ll really follow it properly this time.”

Fortunately, Eliza was not discouraged by her failure.

She was burning with enthusiasm at the thought of serving food to Judas.

Before that enthusiasm burned down the kitchen, Maria decided to step in.

“Alright, alright. Let’s take it slow.”

Maria’s new teaching method was simple.

First, Maria would begin the cooking steps.

For example, the first step.

She would turn on the fire at the appropriate level.

Eliza would then match it exactly before moving on to the next step.

Then she would sauté the sliced onions.

Similarly, Eliza would mirror Maria’s actions exactly.

Step by step, they progressed with the teaching.

As a result, something that could also be called the second miracle happened.

A normal dish was completed.

“Hmmm… I see now, the taste of food is determined by the combination of the ingredients.”

While mimicking Maria’s actions, Eliza understood cooking theoretically.

“The texture is also determined by the ingredients themselves, but how and how long they are cooked has a big impact.”

The proportion of spices, cooking time, the intensity of the heat — those things.

When Eliza didn’t simply follow Maria’s actions, she had made arbitrary decisions about these factors, but when she got them exactly right, the result changed.

“Well done, Elly. Just keep doing it this way.”

“Yeah. I think I get it a little now.”

“…Well, how about we make one more dish together, just you and me?”

“Okay, okay.”

Eliza followed Maria’s lead and they made two dishes.

A simple onion soup. And an oil pasta.

The kind of dishes that could guarantee at least a basic level of flavor.

Eliza tasted a bite and muttered.

“Do you think Judas will like this…?”

This was at least good enough to guarantee that Judas would be able to eat it.

But Eliza didn’t want to settle for that.

She hoped Judas would enjoy it and be happy.

Because his joy was her own joy.

Thinking about it, a smile naturally formed on her face.

It was a mysterious feeling.

His joy was an independent matter from Eliza’s own emotions.

But still, when he was happy, Eliza was happy too.

Just imagining him smiling made Eliza feel good.

He was someone whose very existence only brought beneficial experiences to him, so she couldn’t help but love him.

‘Now that I’m thinking about it, I miss him.’

It hadn’t even been an hour since they parted, but the longing to see him surged up.

Today, he’d have to endure it.

She wasn’t quite ready to offer him the food she needed to practice yet.

It seemed bold to offer the first meal, but today, she had planned to prepare her dinner.

After finishing the exercise, a hearty dinner was served.

…As I thought of him sweating, improper thoughts quickly began to grow in her mind.

Fortunately, Maria’s response cut off my impure imagination.

“The taste is definitely good enough to satisfy Judas.”

“Just being satisfied isn’t enough for me…”

“Just the fact that you’re so enthusiastic, Judas will like it. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Eliza answered with a smile and then began preparing the next dish.

Ground meat, pasta with tomato sauce. And steak.

Soup with lightly grilled salmon, and so on.

It was different from the previous dishes, which were made with very simple ingredients.

Now, she was in the realm of proper cooking, requiring multiple ingredients.

Maria carefully guided Eliza step by step.

However, Eliza soon faced a challenge.

It was chopping.

Memorizing the combination of ingredients and following the recipe wasn’t too difficult anymore.

But chopping was a matter of experience.

Since Eliza had never cooked in her life, it was only natural she had never held a knife before.

Because it was such a dangerous task, Maria spoke firmly.

“Press your wrist down and move the knife back and forth. You need to be careful not to slip and injure yourself. Many beginners get hurt while chopping.”

Eliza focused without responding.

She suddenly had a realization.

The ingredients that always appeared on the table were completed after going through such labor.

There really is no such thing as an easy job in this world.

Of course, for a chef who’s been doing this for a long time, it would be no big deal.

Then, out of the blue, she wondered.

When did Mom become skilled at cooking?

Back when we lived alone in that little wooden house, she didn’t do things like this.

Amid the passing thoughts and Maria’s watchful gaze, Eliza finally finished chopping.

She had cut the salmon into suitable pieces and made the necessary slashes on the steak.

“You did well, Eliza. This will be good for cooking.”

“Phew…”

Eliza wiped away her sweat and sighed in relief.

For some reason, it felt much harder and more tense than when she fought in the demon realm.

Which made sense, since Eliza didn’t actually go into battle on the frontlines.

She just swept the battlefield with magic.

It was a one-sided bombardment, so it couldn’t even be called a fight.

She quickly regained her composure and began cooking again.

One step at a time, carefully.

Though she was skilled at using magic with fire, handling fire in cooking was a completely different matter.

But still, she persisted and got it done.

She thought of how Judas would enjoy this dish.

That luscious pair of lips… no, not right now.

The tension didn’t last long.

Before she knew it, Eliza had found her rhythm.

She could even talk while cooking.

The change in how she was chopping was a big factor.

She used the tip of her finger to create a narrow, high-density wind like a knife blade, rotating it in a specific pattern and using it as a substitute for the knife.

If other wizards saw this, they would be shocked at how precisely she controlled the magic, using it for cooking.

‘This is doable. It’s much easier than holding a knife.’

Thanks to that, she became more relaxed.

Then, Eliza suddenly became curious.

“When did you start learning to cook, Mom?”

“Huh? Ah, I guess you’d be curious since I never cooked like this when we lived together.”

Maria awkwardly smiled and looked up at the ceiling, as if reminiscing.

“I started learning when I began taking care of you. Back at the family estate. I wasn’t good at it at first. I had to be scolded a lot to get better…”

“Who scolded who?”

For a moment, Eliza’s voice lowered ominously.

The ladle in her hand seemed like a weapon for some reason.

Maria quickly waved her hand.

“I don’t really remember who. Probably…”

After Barak’s death, the Bevel family estate crumbled.

A few moved to branch families, but they were very few.

The rest didn’t meet a good end.

“Hmm… if I had known earlier, I would’ve scolded them.”

“Just hearing that makes me feel reassured and grateful.”

Nearly ten years.

That was the time Eliza had spent without knowing Maria.

During that period, the two of them had a strictly master-servant relationship.

Only business-like conversations were exchanged.

There was no real connection between them during that time.

Though it was late, now, for the first time, mother and daughter felt a sense of family and connection.

In moments like this, I was just happy and grateful that it had come to this point.

Eliza, stirring the soup with a ladle, suddenly spoke.

“…It must have been hard.”

The time when she had ignored her.

Maria’s heart couldn’t have been at ease either.

Eliza understood that helplessness.

Maria’s eyes welled up, but she managed to steady herself.

“Eliza had it harder.”

“…….”

“Still, mom is okay now. Since we’ve met again like this.”

Tears formed in the corners of Maria’s smiling eyes.

Looking at her, Eliza also smiled gently.

“Yeah. I’m okay, too.”

It was bittersweet and painful, but now they could talk like this and bury the past.

Without clinging to the past, they could move forward.

Thinking of Judas, who helped them get to this point, Eliza smiled contentedly.

“Hmm…”

While preparing dinner, Eliza continued to think.

‘Food Judas would like.’

He eats anything well, but what does he particularly prefer?

After some thought, she easily reached a conclusion.

‘Food he ate in the previous world.’

Before coming here, he used to enjoy certain dishes. She just needed to make one of those.

There was no need to ask Judas what it was.

Eliza had once watched all of Judas’s memories.

She had stored that experience in her mind in detail.

Like flipping through a dictionary, she could peek into his memories as if they were her own.

And the conclusion she reached.

‘…Stir-fried pork?’

The conclusion was simple, but implementing it in reality wasn’t so easy.

‘Sliced pork stir-fried with vegetables and spicy seasoning… This isn’t a dish that can be made with the ingredients here.’

If it was just about satisfying the ‘pork’ and ‘spicy seasoning’ parts, she could make a similar dish.

However, recreating that specific taste exactly was impossible.

‘I wish I’d thought of this earlier… I could have tried making it… What a pity.’

For now, she decided to try to mimic it as best as she could with the ingredients she had.

“Elly? What are you trying to make?”

Maria asked when she saw Eliza trying to cook with spicy spices and pork.

“Something Judas likes.”

“Hmm? Did Judas tell you something?”

It was a difficult question to explain.

A different world.

If she hadn’t peeked into Judas’s memories herself, she wouldn’t have believed it either.

So, Eliza decided to brush it off.

“It’s not like that. I was just thinking about something he usually enjoyed eating, and I thought he might like this.”

Since no one observed Judas as closely as Eliza did, Maria understood.

It was a dish where you just stir-fried meat with seasoning.

It wasn’t hard for Eliza either.

But the result was nothing like what ahe remembered in Judas’s mind.

‘The color should be darker… and the seasoning thickness too.’

Unlike the food in her memory, the meat was light in color.

The aroma wasn’t as refreshing either.

‘…Did I mess up?’

Eliza felt a little anxious.

***

After finishing his workout, Judas quickly washed up and headed straight to the dining room.

It was time for dinner.

Normally, Eliza would have come to meet him right after his workout, but for some reason, she didn’t today.

He found out why only when he arrived at the dining room.

“…Did Eliza make all this?”

The dinner set on the table was a bit simpler than usual in variety, but the quantity was the same.

Though he wasn’t an expert on cooking, just by looking at it, the quality of the food seemed quite good.

Eliza spoke from beside him.

“Well, I didn’t do it all by myself. Mom helped a little too.”

Judas smiled softly at her.

‘She’s cute in so many ways.’

She said it like it wasn’t a big deal, but her smile seemed to rise from a sense of pride.

Her gaze averted in embarrassment and her restless feet were all too endearing.

Maria, who happened to be nearby, spoke up.

“Before, she came to me, saying she wanted to cook for Judas, so she was quite serious about it.”

Eliza pursed her lips and pretended not to hear.

“Is that why you didn’t come to meet me today?”

“Well, I guess you could say that.”

The way she acted all shy to hide her embarrassment was so obvious that Judas couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re so cute, seriously.”

“What…?”

Eliza, who still couldn’t get used to being called cute, immediately turned red.

“Should I try the first dish of the glorious Emperor Herself…?”

“Wait, I’ll feed you.”

Eliza quickly sat next to him.

The first bite was salmon soup.

A thin soup with pieces of salmon cut into bite-sized chunks.

It was a dish filled with the strong scent of salmon, cream, and finely ground onions.

Eliza took a spoonful, blew on it, and then fed it to Judas.

“How is it?”

Maria, also nervous, waited for his response.

Judas’s tastes weren’t particularly picky, and Eliza’s cooking skills were objectively decent.

Even though she knew he would say it was good, she still felt nervous.

“Mm, mmm.”

The savory flavor spread throughout his mouth. Then the taste of the salmon, enhancing the umami.

Judas nodded and said somewhat plainly.

“Mm. Oh… it’s good.”

Did he seem too indifferent? He thought belatedly.

It was sincere, but maybe he could have shown more excitement for Eliza, who had made her first dish.

However, Eliza immediately understood his feelings.

“I guess it really is delicious, huh?”

“…How did you know?”

“I can tell by looking.”

The way his brow furrowed.

The rhythm of his nodding and the way he looked at the food.

The speed at which he chewed, and the time it took for him to answer after savoring the taste fully.

When it came to Judas, Eliza knew everything about him, and that intuition was fully displayed at this moment.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

Eliza smiled brightly.

“I’m the one who should be thankful, though. Thanks for preparing this. Also, thanks to Mom for helping.”

“No, no, I just helped a little.”

The dinner began in a cheerful atmosphere.

Not only the soup, but every dish was excellent.

Judas felt a sense of absurdity.

“You’re good at cooking too… Luckily, it seems like your hands aren’t hurt. But isn’t there something you can’t do?”

Eliza said casually.

“Is it a problem to be good at everything?”

“Mm, I guess that’s true.”

The fact that she had failed multiple times at first was a secret, one only known to her and her mom.

During the meal, Eliza suddenly stood up.

“Oh, right!”

“Huh?”

Then she quickly went to the kitchen and came back.

What she brought was a dish covered with a lid.

“What’s that?”

“Well… I made it for you, Judas, but I forgot for a moment. Actually, it’s not that great…”

“What’s the big deal?”

“Will you be… disappointed?”

Judas kindly nodded.

He lifted the lid of the dish in front of him.

For a moment, he doubted his own eyes.

‘This is… Could it be… stir-fried pork?’

Eliza whispered into his ear.

“I tried to make it based on the taste you remember.”

“Is that even possible…?”

It didn’t taste exactly like jjeyuk, but the appearance was quite convincing.

Judas swallowed and picked up a piece to try.

Objectively, it didn’t taste like stir-fried pork.

It was inevitable, because there was no Korean chili paste here.

But still, he could tell she had tried her best to recreate that taste.

Even though it wasn’t stir-fried pork, it wasn’t bad either.

“…I guess it’s not quite that taste, right?”

Eliza looked a little downcast.

“To be honest, that’s true, but does it have to be exactly that? As long as you made it, it’s all good to me.”

“…Hm. What’s with that?”

Even though she said it somewhat gruffly, her cheeks turned pink.

Judas couldn’t resist and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“…Ugh!”

Then, Eliza shrank back as if surprised.

Judas was flustered.

Normally, he would have just laughed it off.

“Why, why are you acting like that?”

“…It’s spicy.”

Eliza muttered while rubbing her lips.

“Spicy? …Ah.”

For Judas, this wasn’t spicy, but it was different for Eliza.

Realizing this, he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

‘Everything about her is cute… I just want to kiss her more.’

When Eliza met Judas’s mischievous gaze, she flinched and pulled his upper body back.

“…Why are you looking at me like that? What are you thinking?”

“Hmm, I wonder?”

“Come on, hurry and eat. It’s going to get cold.”

“Before that, I want to kiss you once.”

“Ugh…”

Eliza hesitated but then lightly brushed her lips against Judas’s before quickly pulling back.

“It’s spicy…”

“Got it. I won’t do it anymore.”

Judas chuckled as he handed Eliza some milk.

Eliza pouted, though deep down, she was happy with Judas’s affectionate reaction.

Maria, seeing the two of them suffering from their mutual feelings, just smiled warmly.

As long as Eliza was happy, that was enough.

***

The sky was bright and clear.

The sunlight was shining down.

It was the middle of summer, approaching quickly.

Judas smelled the strong scent of the sea.

The slightly salty and fishy wind from the dock.

And at the dock, a very large ship was anchored.

Judas gazed at the towering ship that filled his field of vision.

“Wow…”

Eliza, who was standing with her arms crossed, spoke.

No matter how hot it was, she wouldn’t move her body away from the scene.

“That’s the ship that will supply goods to the middle point of the demon world. After the conquest, it’ll be used as a trade ship.”

“That’s amazing…”

The large ship was about to set sail for its first journey.

Eliza decided to board the ship herself to verify the actual route and the ship’s performance.

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah. We can’t keep waiting, so let’s go.”

And though they came for work, this was also Judas and Eliza’s first ship journey together.