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!

[AH, this is why I didn't want to tell Empress Liane about my circumstances.]

Tabitha was back in the palace to visit the empress. To be precise, she was in Her Majesty's bedroom.

Empress Liane was on her bed while Tabitha sat on the chair next to it.

It had already been formally announced that Her Majesty was pregnant. Hence, the empress took a leave of absence from her duties.

[It's a secret, but Empress Liane's pregnancy is sensitive and she's getting weak.]

Even though the servants of the empress' palace had returned to normal, Her Majesty couldn't trust her old servants when it came to handling her pregnancy. Hence, Ava (the emperor's younger sister who gave up her royal title to become a doctor) has been assigned to the empress as her physician.

"I'm so sorry, Lady Tabitha," Empress Liane said in a voice filled with remorse. "I don't know what else to say, but I'm sorry…"

TABITHA AND LIANE (13)