“Minister! I'm here!”
The newcomer was none other than Sushia.
She was a veteran member of Section Three of the Evaluation Department, an eighth-rank civil servant, and also the daughter of a duke.
She also possessed a resounding nickname—the Office Snack Thief.
At this point, the snacks she had filched over the years could probably be stacked into a tower.
“Are today's cookies sprinkled with cinnamon? I'll just have one.”
“Wow, fruit drizzled with honey! They're in season right now, so they must taste amazing. Can I just have one?”
“A tart! How did you know this is my favorite? It looks delicious. Can I just have one piece, please?”
This woman was practically a rogue.
Normally, the office was well-stocked with snacks, so an extra bite here and there didn't really matter.
That was, until Sushia completed her dark evolution.
“Hmm... the dough today is a bit underbaked, not quite right.”
“Isn't this fruit a little sour?”
“Ah... what a waste of a bite.”
Ultimately, Sushia had completely evolved into a single-bite connoisseur.
It would have been fine if she had stopped at just taking a bite.
But on top of eating other people's food, she had to deliver her own critique afterward before casually patting her skirt and walking away.
“Isha.”
Li An said expressionlessly,
“Starting today, ban Sushia from entering my office.”
“Understood.”
The next day.
“Minister! Minister! I was wrong! Please let me in! I won't do it again!”
Sushia tapped pitifully on the closed door.
But Li An coldly chose to ignore her.
One shouldn't push their luck too far.
This was the price of crossing the line.
A few days later.
Li An happened to run into Sushia in the hallway.
“M-Minister...”
With a slightly timid look in her eyes, Sushia brought out a cookie from behind her back.
“I baked this myself. Would you... like to try some?”
Her cautious behavior made her look exactly like a poodle trying to read its owner's face.
Li An took the cookie and took a bite.
“It's not that great,” he said calmly.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't actually that bad.
It was just that the average standard of the snacks in the Evaluation Department's office was simply too high.
With such a comparison, this cookie naturally seemed completely unremarkable.
Sushia instantly felt the sting. Her eyebrows twitched.
“Well, have you ever baked cookies yourself, Minister?”
“You want me to bake cookies?”
“Yes.”
Sushia puffed out her chest.
“I'd like to see if cookies baked by the Minister's own hands could possibly taste better than mine.”
Li An smiled.
“If the cookies I bake taste better than yours, then I will permanently ban you from entering the Minister's office.”
His tone overflowed with confidence.
Just as Sushia was about to shrink back, a brilliant plan suddenly flashed through her mind.
Anyway, her family had the best pastry chefs in the empire, as well as the highest-quality ingredients.
All she had to do was have her family's pastry chef help her bake them.
At this thought, Sushia's confidence instantly surged back.
“Fine! If I win, all the snacks in the Minister's office will belong to me from now on!”
“Aren't you afraid of losing miserably?”
“Say whatever you want.”
“Then it's settled.”
Sushia's eyes lit up.
“The contest will be in one week, at my house. I'll invite judges to guarantee that it's fair and square.”
Li An readily agreed.
No matter what tricks Sushia planned to play, he didn't think there was any way he would lose.
After all, in his past life, he had actually worked as a baker.
Cookies of this level would be a walk in the park to crush.
Only, Li An didn't know yet.
Exactly how massive of a snowball this tiny cookie competition was about to become...
“I heard that the House of Senistia is hosting a banquet.”
“The Duke of Senistia? That is an excellent opportunity. We must attend.”
Sushia's original intention had been very simple.
Since it was a cookie competition, naturally, the more spectators there were, the better.
So she decided to host a banquet at the same time to liven things up.
That was indeed what she had thought at first.
Until heavyweight figures from all sectors of the empire, one after another, expressed their intention to attend...
“Count Teheng has confirmed his attendance!”
“Viscount Yorick is coming as well!”
“Word came from Marquis Habal that he will also attend!”
Sushia looked at the list in her hands, her hands trembling involuntarily.
Count Teheng was a powerful knight in his own right, as well as the master of the Violet Knights—one of the empire's top knight orders. His influence was extraordinary.
Viscount Yorick was one of the wealthiest nobles in the empire, owning some of its most fertile lands.
As for Marquis Habal, he was a close friend of the Duke of Senistia and held an extremely high position within the imperial nobility.
“This...”
Sushia swallowed hard.
“Did I... take things a bit too far?”
Still, although these people were highly prominent, they were still within her expectations.
But once the news spread, things went completely out of control.
Before long, even the Crown Prince heard about the banquet.
Kane looked at the guest list in his hands and couldn't help but chuckle.
“Oh? What kind of interesting scheme are you all plotting?”
He said with great interest:
“It seems I'll have to send someone over to investigate.”
As the Crown Prince of the empire, Kane was swamped with work every single day.
Even if many powerful figures were attending, a mere ordinary banquet would never be worth him taking a whole day out of his schedule.
But just then, the attendant added a sentence.
“I heard that Li An Adolf will also be attending.”
Kane immediately snapped his head up.
“What?”
Before the attendant could even finish speaking, he cut in:
“Quick! Go tell the Duke of Senistia—”
“I'm going!”
Kane, the Crown Prince of the empire, had entered the fray.
Meanwhile, Serena, the Second Princess of the empire, sat on a soft chair, flipping through a report delivered by her subordinates.
“Hmm...”
She narrowed her eyes.
“What has gotten into my dear brother?”
“For someone so busy, why on earth would he attend an ordinary banquet?”
“How interesting.”
The names on the list grew heavier and more influential by the page.
Singling out any one of them would be enough to whip up a storm within the empire.
Everyone believed that the next Emperor would undoubtedly be Kane.
But Serena had not given up.
No matter how perfect someone seemed, they would always have a flaw.
And what she excelled at most was finding that flaw and biting down hard.
Therefore, she never let any potential opportunity slip by.
“I'll attend too,” Serena said, closing the report.
“Also, have the tailor prepare my most expensive dress.”
There was also a much smaller, subtle reason.
If it was a banquet of this scale...
Would that person come as well?
She couldn't deny it.
This tiny expectation had also influenced her decision.
And just like that,
Serena, the Second Princess of the empire, also joined the banquet.
Meanwhile, Li An had been busy since early morning on his day off.
What was the most important part of baking cookies?
Naturally, it was—the ingredients.
If any any believed that sincerity alone was enough to win, Li An would suggest they sign up for basic pastry lessons starting from scratch.
“Very good, that's enough flour.”
He ran through several shops, meticulously selecting his flour.
Next, he went to purchase butter and eggs.
However, for some reason, the square was exceptionally lively today.
Normally at this time, it should have been a peaceful hour for noblewomen to chat, but today, the noise was easily twice as loud.
“Have you heard? The Crown Prince is going to attend this banquet!”
“Even the Second Princess said she's going! Isn't this the largest banquet in the empire recently?”
“Of course! Almost every noble with a shred of influence is attending. In my opinion, this banquet probably isn't as simple as it seems...”
While picking out butter, Li An casually listened to the surrounding chatter.
The Crown Prince and the Second Princess were both attending?
But...
what did that have to do with him?
What he needed to care about most right now was his own cookie competition.
Just as Li An was preparing to leave, a sentence nearby made him halt in his tracks.
“I also heard that the Third Princess, Elizabeth, might attend?”
“...”
Li An fell silent.
The Third Princess, Elizabeth.
The legendary princess who almost never made public appearances.
She was actually going to attend?
For a time, prominent figures from all over the empire were shook.
Just what secret was hidden behind this banquet?
Why were so many high-profile figures actually gathering together like this?
But Li An didn't dwell on it.
'Isha is a princess as well, so she's probably quite busy.'
Every single one of these people was an illustrious figure in the empire.
An ordinary person like him sneaking in was practically a tiny shrimp colliding with a whale—he could be crushed to dust at any moment.
'Forget it, it has nothing to do with me anyway.'
Humming a tune, Li An picked out his butter.
The ingredients in his shopping basket grew more complete by the second.
Excellent.
Now it was time to go home and practice.
First, preheat the magic stone oven.
While waiting, thoroughly mix the sugar and butter together.
Once they were fully incorporated, add the eggs and continue mixing.
Then, add the flour bit by bit.
Knead it thoroughly.
Until the dough takes shape.
After confirming the dough is of the right consistency, use a mold to cut it into round, neat pieces.
Arrange the cut dough neatly on a greased baking sheet.
Then, slide it into the preheated oven.
“Whew...”
Though he hadn't baked in a long time, his skills had not rusted.
Before long, the cookies gradually took on an enticing golden-brown hue.
Li An removed the perfectly baked cookies and set them out to cool.
Crunch.
“As expected.”
He took a bite and nodded in satisfaction.
“Goods made with premium ingredients really are different.”
A level like this...
was a guaranteed victory.
A cheerful smile spread across Li An's face.
“I'm already looking forward to seeing Sushia cry her eyes out.”
Unfortunately,
he didn't know.
At this very moment, Sushia was already crying so hard she was practically running out of breath.
Preparing for the grandest banquet in the history of the empire had left her utterly overwhelmed.
And more importantly—
she simply had no time to tell Li An that this cookie competition had spiraled completely out of control...
Rate on N.U.
