sola_cola

Chef Zoe Kim, hired by the (dead) heroine from the book she read once, entered the novel and possessed the body of a side character to do one job: save the abandoned Crown Princess.
But in the original story, the character that she possessed died at the hands of Duke Isaak Viotto--- the ghoul duke. Yes, GHOUL, a creature that eats human flesh.
Regardless of what the duke is, she can't avoid him because he's the key to her success. Luckily, she just knows how to get to his good graces.
'THE WAY TO A MAN'S HEART IS THROUGH HIS STOMACH,' right?
She's a chef and the ghoul duke has an awful eating habit.
And she's about to fix that,
With the help of her lovely pastel pink chef's knife, she's determined to feed Isaak Viotto until he's wrapped around her finger.
Wait, no, that's excessive.
The last thing that Zoe needs is a ghoul duke obsessed with her (god-tier cooking skills)!

***
[ORIGINAL BOOK COVER.
Artwork commissioned by sola_cola from Artist CJ.]

***
(EXCERPT 1)

[I didn't expect to meet Isaak Viotto, the ghoul duke, as soon as I entered this novel.]
Scratch that.
Zoe should say that she didn’t expect to find him in a dark alley, but there she was.
Isaak Viotto was crouching down in the corner while holding a dog. Considering the fact that he had his mouth wide open as if he was about to bite the dog, it was obvious that she just interrupted his meal. He only closed his mouth when he felt her presence, then he turned to her.
[Oh no, he's hot!]
Isaak Viotto snarled, baring his fangs at her. “What are you looking at?”
“Your violet eyes,” Zoe said without thinking. “They look yummy.”
“Huh?”
“I like putting violet pansies in my salad,” she explained. “They’re delicious.”
He just looked at her as if she was crazy.
She knew that Duke Isaak Viotto was a GHOUL and ghouls, apparently, eat human flesh. But...
[Dang, he's really hot.]
“Give me the dog,” Zoe told the ghoul duke. “I’ll make you steak tartare in return.”
[So, how did I end up in this situation again?]

***
(EXCERPT 2)

“You shouldn’t be too rough on animals even if you plan to eat them,” Zoe lectured the ghoul duke that she caught in the middle of trying to eat a dog--- alive! “There’s a humane way of taking their lives, you know?”
Isaak Viotto, the ghoul duke that allegedly eats human flesh, just looked at her with glowing violet eyes. “You’re not scared of me,” he said bluntly. “Are you not afraid of getting eaten?”
“Literally or sexually?”
“What?”
“What?” Zoe asked back. “I thought we were flirting.”

I Won't Let The Ghoul Duke Go Hungry!

Three days had passed since Zoe was sucked in by the book.

That was also how long Isaak had stayed in his office which had now become his new bedroom. Not that he had a decent sleep for the past three days. How could he do that when he didn't know when Zoe might need him?

["Zoe has weak Mana, and the book needs a lot of Mana in order to stay activated. Once Zoe runs out of Mana to fuel the spell, the book will look for a new source of Mana. You have to be there when that happens, Isaak. That's your only chance to follow your wife inside the book."]

That was what Lady Tabitha told him the last time they talked.

Hence, he was stuck in his office. Thankfully, his office had an adjacent bathroom and toilet. It was built that way since he was a workaholic who hated wasting time. Thus, it wasn't difficult for him to lock himself up in his office.

His thoughts got interrupted when he heard a soft knock on the door.

THE PAST OR THE FUTURE?