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Chapter 20 Act 3: Adaptation

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Author: Starving Wind Original Source: Joara Word Count: 3585 characters
Translator: Anonymouss English Source: Re:Library Word Count: 2134 words
Editor(s): Silva

While feeling the sensation of a foreign object sticking right into my chest, I had the thought of ‘Why would I need to go this far to make it look even bigger?’.

It’s not that mine is small either, it should at least C cup in size. I couldn’t understand their reasoning in trying to make it look like a D at all.

“It’s better when they’re bigger.”

Looking at Sara speak with a slightly bitter expression, I realized that her chest was quite smaller than an average western woman, so I couldn’t say much as she put them on my chest. I still feel uncomfortable wearing them, though.

To make a comparison, it’s like wearing tight-fitting jeans and then putting in your wallet in the back pocket. The area of the tightness may be different, but the feeling was still similar.

“A message from the front gate. Esteemed daughter Katalina has arrived.”

Sara leaned in as if to receive the message, as she was a bodyguard and a maid. She relayed that message to me while I sat in the chair in the home office waiting for Katalina.

“Got it.”

Now, in 2 to 3 minutes, she’ll be arriving at the mansion. As the owner of the mansion, to sit deep inside the mansion when a guest is arriving was a vulgar thing to do for them.

I got up to head to the entrance, and even though I was pretty annoyed that I must go all the way over there, under the nagging of the butler and having Eastern courtesy buried deep in my mind, I had to give up trying to go against it. Even if I had to go all the way there while wearing a high heel.

‘Argh.’

I stepped down the hallway and down the stairs while screaming in pain inside my head. There were a few moments where I avoided the disaster of having my foot fold and causing me to fall down, but more than that, because I had to walk in a fashion where I had to forcibly lean my body forward slightly, my calves and hips felt quite a lot of pain.

Walking down the main hall of the mansion, just like the first time I came in (even though that was just two days ago) I saw rows of servants and workers all bowing deeply on both sides as I walked in the middle.

Although it wouldn’t be rude for me to be waiting inside the hall of the mansion for her, it was the very first time an outside guest had come in for quite a while. I also thought ‌this may go too far in courtesy since my relationship with Katalina is more than just acquaintances, but the butler didn’t seem to mind going all the way like this.

Along with the sounds of tires rolling on the ground, I saw a line of vehicles coming in towards the mansion. It looks like it was Katalina and escorts tagging behind.

The expensive black cars stopped in the driveway not long after, and the white limousine amongst them stopped near the front entrance itself.

Soon after, a bodyguard got out of the limousine and opened the door for Katalina, who stepped outside of the car.

With long blonde hair reaching to her hips, big blue eyes that looked like calm waters, perfectly symmetrical nose and her cute little lips, the woman with astounding amounts of charm smiled towards me with a bit of a shy expression.

Usually Koreans think ‌having a western face structure shows beauty and handsomeness, but I swear with no bias that the woman in front of me really was exquisite.

“Miss Katalina?”
“Pft. Why are you talking like that, Ellie?”

Seeing me having a ‌nervous expression on my face as I said way too courteously, Katalina couldn’t help but laugh as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“Ahem!”

Looking at the two of us acting way too informal, the butler showed his expression of annoyance.

“Please, come inside, my ladies.”

He then quickly regained his composure and guided us inside of the mansion. I felt a tinge of worry that the butler may berate me for having such a stiff face after Katalina goes back home today.

“Ah, have you eaten?”
“Well, it’s really early, so I planned to eat at your place.”
“Okay.”

As the two of us step inside of the mansion, the workers all bowed deeply as a greeting. It was the same ‌soundless greeting they all gave when I was discharged from the hospital, but standing here with Katalina by my side and wearing a dress, I felt that it was much more fitting. I was glad that at least I didn’t feel like I was the leader of some mafia gang.

“Is the breakfast ready?”

While receiving greetings from all the workers, I saw the chef in the crowd and asked him.

“Of course, my lady. This time we’ve specially prepared some French cuisine.”
“French cuisine?”

Well, France is the closest country to England‌. Even though it wasn’t like it was difficult for me to have French cuisine back when I was in Korea, I still didn’t have many chances to have some, which made me anticipate the upcoming meal.

“Oho. Sounds interesting. Could you explain what the dishes will be?”

Katalina also seemed pretty interested in hearing that French cuisine had been prepared.

“I’ve prepared foie gras and escargot, which are my most confident dishes. Since it’s the main representative dish of French cuisine, I’m sure both of you had it ‌often.”
“I look forward to it.”

Katalina nodded with an expecting expression on her face.

Foie Gras is a meal comprising goose liver as the key ingredient and is one of the top 3 most delicious meals in the world. This is why many hotels and top end restaurants serve foie gras and try to make it taste the best they can. The etymology of the word Foie Gras means ‘fattened liver’ in French.

The dish also often uses duck’s liver in substitution, but that isn’t widely known public knowledge. Using a duck’s liver meant that the quality and price of the dish would go down. Real Foie Gras is known for its high fat in its liver compared to the livers of other animals, which makes it taste exceedingly smooth and having a variety of protein, copper, iron, manganese, calcium and others ‌great for people with low blood pressure or trying to improve their stamina.

That I know this much about it even though I’ve never ‌had it represented how famous the dish is. The problem was escargot.

If it was the main dish of French cuisine, I must have heard it at least once in my life, but I wasn’t familiar with the dish at all, which worried me1. Well, it’s not like the chef would prepare a dish that would kill me. I only wished that it wouldn’t be a difficult meal to eat as my tastebuds were ‌sensitive.

They guided both Katalina and me to the dining hall part of the mansion2, and sat down at the prepared table with the two of us sitting on opposite sides of the table, staring directly into each other’s face.

It’s not like I was having a blind date or something. But to make the guest sit somewhere else would be rude, so ‌we both sat at the opposite ends, me looking away from her gaze as it felt like she kept enjoying looking into my eyes.

“Hehe…”

Katalina giggled seeing me look away from her, making me realize that I was being ‌rude to her, so I turned to face her directly.

“Gosh. I think it’s the first time I’m seeing you with makeup on, Ellie. Wow! You look so beautiful that I can’t help but be amazed! You really look amazing.”
“… Thanks.”

I had to at least respond to her compliment towards me if I didn’t want to appear rude, but I couldn’t make a response that had any more effort than a short thanks.

“How about me? Do I look good? I looked my best for you today. Hmm? How is it?”

With a blank expression, I stared at Katalina’s face. I think it has been a ‌long time since I’ve ever studied a woman’s face this close and directly. It may ‌be the first time I’m doing this since I’ve met that woman.

Although she had a completely different set of facial features to Elizabeth, ‌she definitely had a very pretty face. But if I were to just make an unbiased judgement between the two, I would pick Katalina as the more beautiful one.

“Yeah. You’re beautiful.”
“Hehe, really?”

Seeing her smile so innocently, I had the thought ‌her smile looked very similar to the smile of the woman I knew in the past. Maybe it’s just me, though.

I thought I had already left all of my past behind, but it seemed impossible for bits of memory to pop up now and again.

I no longer felt any lingering attachment nor resentment to that woman. I only wished for her to live a good life from now on as a woman that I once loved.

“Thank you for waiting.”

Finally, the meals arrived. Although several dishes were served first instead of the main course, they all tasted very good.

“How does it taste? I’m not sure if it’s to your liking.”

It’s not like I’ve ‌cooked these meals myself, but as the owner of this household I felt that it is courteous for me to at least ask that question to her, so I did with slight caution in my voice.

“Yeah, it’s delicious. I think your chef is quite better at cooking than mine.”

After wiping the smudge off her lips, Katalina once again made a small smile towards me. Whether she was putting up a hyperbolic compliment to not offend me or the chef, she still didn’t seem upset by the food, so I was glad.

Finally, the main dishes had arrived. It was foie gras and escargot, but they covered both in a silver lid so that the temperature or smell of the food would not escape until it was ready.
And so, the chef himself lifted the two silver lids off the dishes, allowing the fragrant smell and beautiful aesthetics of the main dishes to show itself.

“!!”

At that moment, my face froze up. Although the foie gras was just as I had expected it to be, the escargot differed completely from my thoughts.

It was… A snail dish3.

“Then please, have a wonderful meal and let me know if you both need anything at all.”

Usually the chef would stand by to watch us both savour to the last bit of the meal, but it seemed like he still had to ‌prepare the desserts as he asked for our forgiveness before going back into the kitchen. This was perfect for me since I wasn’t able to bring myself to have a bite of the escargot at all4.

Seeing Katalina already having a taste of both main dishes and looking like she’s enjoying it, I dined in the foie gras dish, which looked at least more palatable than escargot.

The smooth taste of the goose liver didn’t taste fishy at all, coming together with a sweet and savoury flavour which came from the sauce poured on it. The liver was so smooth that it already had melted in my mouth the moment I put it in, which felt so delicious and amazing that I came to agree why it was called the top 3 most delicious meals in the world. The perfect companion wine from Sauternes called ‘Mariage’ helped make the meal taste several times better‌.

It was obvious as the ‘Sauternes Wine’ that I was having was also the special grade of their wines called Château d’Yquem5.

Having the most expensive one ‌out of every wine, what more can I say? A single bottle of Château d’Yquem from 1787 sold for a hundred thousand US dollars6, so it was clear just how valuable it was. The wine that I was drinking right now probably wasn’t that old, but it was still very expensive.

Looking at Katalina, she also seemed thrilled with the meal. The expression she makes as she chews on her meal looks very cute. Actually, how are my table manners compared to her? I was conscious about how I ate. Though thankfully there didn’t seem too much difference between my table manners and hers.

“Ellie, have some escargot‌.7

And so, while I was in another world drowned by the heavenly taste of the foie gras, Katalina recommended that I eat the forbidden dish that I would never eat.



 

Footnotes:

  1. Lilith: Really? Never heard of the snail dish?
    Anonymouss: Probably knew about “french eating snails” stereotype but didn’t actually know the name of the dish “escargot” since its a rare western word that doesn’t get spoken often, unless you’re living a high class food life… I guess.
    Lilith: I’m pretty damn poor and I know it.
    Robinxen: You spend HOW much on gacha Lilith?!?!
    Silva: I don’t know both, fite me
    Lilith: You’re in Brunei, which is only good at keeping people from becoming citizens, not food
  2. Robinxen: Note for readers, this originally said restaurant. Normally I’d leave out these pure edit discussions because they require context. But Lilith and Silva made some funny remarks so I kept it in.
    Silva: a restaurant in a mansion…. I feel like dining hall would be more fitting tho
    Lilith: They’re just showing off how rich they are, putting an entire restaurant in a mansion
    Silva: Press F to doubt, even an Emperor of an Empire don’t install “restaurant” in their castle!
  3. Silva: Yea… I wouldn’t want to put “that” in my mouth either, thank you
    Lilith: What would you then :kek:
    Silva: Say… a frog?
    Lilith: Really? You’d eat a frog over a snail?
    Silva: Well, I mean, I’ve already eaten a few before, a frog that is, waaaaaa
    Lilith: Silva in his off time… Out eating frogs for fun
    Silva: ey, I don’t eat frogs for fun, I was out eating with my cousin and they ordered the frog dish. Oh and I also tried crocs meat before
    Robinxen: I would die… I have the fussiest diet on the planet. Well almost close enough. It’s certainly among the worst.
  4. Silva: Typical Asian mindset
    Robinxen: MC-kun I empathise with you! Ganbaru!
  5. Silva: Is it that obvious? I don’t know anything about wine
    Lilith: I know nothing as well. Wine is the rich mans game
    Silva: and yet the protagonist knows his stuff, despite being poorer than us
    Lilith: You mean the author does. Damn rich author
    Anonymouss: This particular paragraph in Korean RAW was very confusing, so I think some proofreading by another korean translator would be useful.
    Line 77, 78 and 79 for reference (in korean raw)
  6. Silva: wot? I can buy a house with that
    Lilith: Scoffs A mere bit of pocket money
    Robinxen: Wow I could buy half a house with that!
  7. Silva: Here comes the snail
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