Chapter 49: Princess Mia... Hits Peak Mental Performance! (2)

After hearing Anne's answer and having all sorts of alarms go off in her head, Mia quickly went to seek help. Despite knowing plenty of people, few of them proved useful. After all, the girls who followed her around were all nobles and could probably count on one hand the total number of times they'd been in a kitchen. In fact, the same applied to essentially the whole of the Saint-Noel student body. Almost none of the students here had ever cooked before.

Almost none.

Mia made her way to the room of one of the exceptions — Chloe. Though the Forkroads were nobles, their title had been purchased. Even now, their lifestyle more resembled that of well-to-do merchants. There was a good chance she'd know how to cook.

"Oh, Princess Mia... Huh? Cooking?" Chloe tilted her head curiously at the unexpected request. "Well, yes, I'm familiar with the topic. I mean, I've read about it before," she said with a smile.

Note her choice of words: "familiar with the topic" and "read about it before."

It doesn't look like I'm going to have any luck with her either.

Mia's survival instincts were on point today, and they told her that Chloe's answer reeked of danger as well. Nevertheless, she decided to recruit her to the lunchbox team; beggars can't be choosers, after all.

"Sure, I'm free that day. I can come help."

After receiving a swift confirmation from Chloe, Mia headed out again. Knowing that she needed to scout more people, she made her way toward...

"...Nobody. Absolutely nobody else is coming to mind!"

Things had barely gotten started and she'd already run into a dead end. She was actually quite proud of herself for all the hard work she'd put into getting to know people, so this one hit her particularly hard.

The problem is the cooking! Finding someone in this academy who can cook is impossible to begin with!

Just as she was about to start heading back to her room to sulk for a while, Anne showed up.

"Milady! I found someone who can cook!"

"Really?! Wait, let me guess... someone you know who can cook..." After a moment's consideration, she said, "Oh, is it Liora?"

Tiona's attendant suddenly came to mind. She seemed like a possibility.

"Uh, no... I did try asking her, and I mean, she's good... but she's good at things like catching wild hares, gutting them on the spot, and roasting them whole..."

While it was technically a form of cooking, it seemed a tad too... "one with the wilderness," so to speak. For forest peoples, it was probably an extremely useful skill, but its relevance to preparing lunchboxes was debatable.

"It's actually Tiona who said she's good at cooking."

"T-Tiona?"

Mia recoiled in shock. And maybe horror as well. In Mia's world, Tiona was public enemy number one. She'd actively avoided her, trying everything she could to ensure they had minimal interaction with each other. Being put to the guillotine was, after all, the kind of thing that tended to leave a lasting impression. But...

"Yes. Apparently, she'd sometimes help out in the kitchen at home."

It made sense. The Rudolvons were so poor that it was almost silly to call them nobles. Not only that, but they had a ton of land that they used for farming. With most of their servants out working the fields, it was certainly possible that Tiona would have to help cook. She'd be a crucial addition to their team.

"Hnnngh... F-Fine," said Mia, making a face like she'd just swallowed the bitterest pill in history.

Thus, Mia paid a reluctant visit to Tiona.

"Ah, Princess Mia? What's the matter?" asked Tiona, caught off guard by the surprise visit.

"Miss Tiona, I heard that you are good at cooking. Is that true?"

"Yes, I'd say so."

Seeing Tiona's confident nod, Mia was about to let out a cry of glee...

"I'm always chopping things up, so if you need any vegetables julienned, just leave it to me."

...Only to choke it back down after hearing Tiona's words.

"...And what about other things?"

"I can mince things too."

Mia knew nothing about cooking, but even so, she had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. Tiona didn't seem entirely reliable either. Still, questionable help was still help, and she needed all the help she could get.

"Miss Tiona, you see, I'm planning to prepare a lunchbox and deliver it to Prince Abel on the day of the swordsmanship tournament. Would you like to do so together?"

"Huh? Together? But... You're the princess, and I'm just... Besides, I don't have anyone to give it to..."

As soon as she heard those words, Mia had a flash of devious inspiration.

"My, is that so? Hm, in that case, how about that jer— Ahem. I mean, how about we prepare some extra and you can bring one to Prince Sion?"

It seemed to Mia that the chances of her ragtag group successfully preparing a lunchbox was rather low. If things went poorly, whatever concoction they managed to come up with might be so bad that it made Abel sick and ruin his performance at the tournament. In that case, however, so long as she made Sion eat the same thing...

That way, I'll at least take him down too! This is a perfect chance to get some payback!

She'd gone too far to stop now. Operation Lunchbox was going to happen one way or another. If she was destined to fail, then so be it. But she certainly wasn't going to fail alone. She was going to take her archnemesis down with her.

When life gives you lemons, squeeze their bitter juices into the eyes of your enemies! That's right! Mia knew how to make the best of what she had! She was an optimist! A positive thinker! That's what those words meant, right?

On top of that, it won't be just my fault. Tiona has to share the blame too. That means no matter how much Prince Sion hates us, he can't single just me out. Oh, what a perfect way to have my revenge!

An evil smile crept across Mia's lips. Little did she know that dragging in Sion would ultimately derail her entire scheme and send it off in a completely different direction.