The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 72.1
“If this keeps up, we will have a problem. What are we supposed to do if this is all the meat we are getting today?”
“We are missing some ingredients. Lately, the quantities have been off more and more, and today the supply manager swears this is all there is.”
“So why—”
The head chef, clearly upset, grumbled under his breath. The assistant hesitated, glancing at him nervously.
“Should I go out and buy more?”
“And have that man let it slide?”
The one he was referring to was the supply manager.
“If this keeps up and we run out of food for students who come in late, how do you think it will turn out?”
It was only the two of them who openly complained, but the entire atmosphere of the kitchen was tense.
“Maybe I should just go talk to him myself.”
“You cannot. That would only cause a fight. Let me go.”
Just then, as the assistant stepped forward to stop the chef, a stranger entered the kitchen. The assistant froze and looked at him warily.
“You cannot just walk in here.”
If someone could move around the academy so freely, at the very least, they had to be a student or someone related.
He politely asked him to leave, but the man did not move. Instead, he looked around before fixing his gaze on the head chef.
It was the kind of look that went straight to the person in charge. The chef turned to face him.
“What is this?”
The man who had entered the kitchen was Leslun.
Leslun’s gaze swept across the kitchen. The scene he had glimpsed earlier would not leave his mind, and he could not ignore it. After some thought, he had come here.
“Would you spare me a moment?”
At Leslun’s calm request, the chef and assistant glanced at each other. Normally, they would have kicked him out, but the atmosphere made that difficult.
Someone recognized Leslun and whispered something into the assistant’s ear.
The assistant’s eyes widened. He scuttled toward the chef and whispered the same thing to him. The chef’s expression darkened, and then he gestured toward the back.
“Over there… please.”
The chef’s voice became quieter and more cautious. At first, he had thought of Leslun as an unwelcome guest and tried to send him out, but now his expression had changed. He seemed tense yet careful to remain polite.
Leslun immediately realized the atmosphere had shifted once they recognized him. He also understood why the chef’s attitude had changed.
He did not comment. He simply nodded and followed the chef quietly toward the back.
Once the three of them, Leslun, the chef, and the curious assistant who tagged along, disappeared into the back room, an odd sense of emptiness lingered in the kitchen.
***
The inner room was quiet, as though cut off from the noise outside. It was small but neatly organized, likely serving as both storage and a small office.
Once the door closed, the chef cautiously asked,
“What brings the Crown Prince’s aide here?”
His tone was as polite as possible, but there was a trace of tension. Leslun calmly met his gaze and took a seat.
“I would like to see the records of the ingredient deliveries.”
At this request, the chef flinched and hesitated. He had just been arguing with the assistant about that exact matter, but now he was reluctant to show it to the Crown Prince’s aide so easily.
After a moment of thought, he asked carefully,
“Is this at the Crown Prince’s order?”
Leslun looked at him steadily.
“No. This is a personal request.”
His voice was firm, but not forceful. Even so, there was a weight to his words that made refusal difficult.
The chef ran a hand over his neck, troubled.
Lately, the deliveries had been coming up short again and again. At first, he had thought it was a supplier’s mistake, but after so many repetitions, it no longer seemed like a simple error.
The real problem was that the supply manager acted like an immovable wall whenever the issue was raised. If they pressed too hard, it felt like it would only come back to harm them.
And now the Crown Prince’s aide was here. If this issue blew up, it would affect him as well.
But he also could not ignore the person before him. There was no sense of someone abusing power under the Crown Prince’s name. Still, his tone, his gaze, and his demeanor were anything but ordinary.
It was as though he already knew something and had come to confirm it. To dismiss him would be dangerous.
After thinking that far, the chef let out a long breath.
“Please wait a moment.”
He decided he had no choice but to show him. But just as he rose, the assistant quickly stepped in front of him.
“Step aside.”
“You cannot. Even if he is an aide, we cannot just show these records to an outsider.”
The assistant glanced at Leslun for a moment, his voice dropping, then continued,
“If we do this, both you and I will take the blame. We should just pretend we do not know—”
“For how long?”
“…What?”
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