A Divorced Evil Lady Bakes Cakes

Raymond set down his teacup and looked directly at the Emperor.

“There’s nothing wrong about it.
I got divorced with both parties agreement.
Even ordinary couples separate when they are not compatible.”

“You are not an ordinary couple.”

The emperor retorted calmly.

“You are the future emperor and empress.”

“If we were an ordinary couple, this would be considered a simple domestic matter, but since that woman has tarnished the name of the imperial family with her dirty rumors, we can’t pass it off as a simple domestic matter, can we?”

“…”

The emperor looked away without answering.
The chancellor who has been serving the emperor for 20 years could see his wrinkled fingers fiddling with the teacup between his words, and he knew what he was thinking.

However, even if the duchess really had an affair, it is not the sort of thing a man like the chancellor could talk about casually in front of him.

Especially since the Duke himself has been living with a mistress for the past nine years.

Of course, it was always customary for imperial family members, especially male, to have mistresses.

“But it was just a rumor.
The Eyewitnesses only said that they had seen them together, so how can you be sure that a dishonorable thing has happened?”

The Emperor spoke slowly and carefully, as if he were nudging Raymond.
The Emperor was always tender with his grandchildren.

Raymond, his biological grandson, and Calix, the crown prince’s adopted son, were treated without distinction, but as they grew older, their relationship became polarized.

Calix, the adopted grandson, was genuinely fond of the emperor who had raised him, but Raymond, the biological grandson, was constantly at odds with him.
Even now, Raymond could be seen sneering at his grandfather.

“Your Majesty is always so generous to that woman.”

The young duke’s rude remark made the chancellor groan inwardly as he pretended to look around in the air.
It was a sarcastic reference to the emperor’s dislike of Serena and his generosity to Erin.

The conflict between the grandfather and gis grandson had begun ten years earlier when the emperor had forced Raymond to marry him.

There had been signs before then, but it was only then that it exploded decisively.
After that, the conflict between the two continued for years.

Raymond abandoned his new bride and instead brought in a mistress into his palace, and the emperor refused to make Raymond the crown prince.

“Wouldn’t it be better to be generous than to cast away your wife, who had served you for the past nine years, just because because of such baseless rumors?”

The emperor calmly persuaded his grandson, as if soothing a child.

“Erin is a wise and good child.
For nine years, she has been in charge of the palace’s affairs.
No matter what you’ve done, she would even put up with it without a word of complaint.
She’s more than what we deserve.
She’s a good child.”

Raymond’s blue-gray eyes burned irritably.
He seemed to have reached the end of his patience.
As the chancellor watched with bated breath.
Raymond turned to the emperor and spoke.

He spoke in an extremely condescending tone, even smiling sarcastically.

“We’ve already divorced, if you want her to be the empress so much then make her.”

The chancellor didn’t understand it at first.
The duke was speaking so casually as if there was no meaning behind his sarcastic words.

“After all, if you like her so much you can just marry her.”

When the Chancellor finally understood what he meant, and he immediately turned to the emperor.
But before he could even speak, the emperor had already moved.

Black tea was immediately splash on Raymond’s face.

“…”

The fine silver hair was soaked in black tea, and dripped down along his forehead down to the chin line.

The Chancellor and servants looked around, pretending not to see anything.

‘…if you like her so much you can just marry her.’

The chancellor could have sworn he would have beaten his grandson with a cane if he had said that to him.

The emperor set down his teacup and turned to the window to compose himself.

The duke, covered in black tea, sat in silence.
When the emperor finally set down his teacup, the chamberlain at his side poured tea again as if nothing had happened.

The chamberlain handed the duke a dry handkerchief.

“I want you to bring Erin back.”

After several minutes, the emperor broke the heavy silence that had been slowly permeating inside the tea room.

“I can’t do that.
She has already agreed to the divorce.”

“Then you will find a way to bring her back yourself.”

The emperor looked out into the garden, which was bathed in warm sunlight, and said,

“I am the emperor, and you are my grandson.
If you want to get a divorce, it’s polite for both of you to come together to ask my permission.
Bring Erin back to me yourself.”

His voice held no anger, but it was a command with a firm will.

“As I said, the divorce is already over, I can’t just take back my word and bring her back now,”

The emperor sighed silently.

“I’m not asking for a favor.”

 

“Your Grace?”

Serena found Raymond walking down the hallway and she quickly rushed to his side.

She immediately noticed Raymond’s appearance.
His clothes were wet, and there were some black patches here and there.

He ignored her, and went straight to his bedroom.
His blue-gray eyes were glaring angrily.

“Get out!”

The servants immediately followed and run out, after hearing his command.

Serena didn’t approach him.
She knew from experience, that she shouldn’t approach him at this time.
Not when he’s like this.

She was looking at him in horror, while the door was tightly shut on her face.

Serena was standing in the hallway, and she looked like she was about to cry.

‘I thought everything would be fine once she was gone.’

She thought that once Erin was gone, she could be Raymond’s wife.

As soon as the Emperor found out that Raymond was close to Serena, he took Erin away and forced her to marry him.
He hated Serena that much.

Still, she thought that he’d give up by now.
After nine years of the the duke neglecting the Emperor’s handpicked wife and forcing her to work in the Palace alone, she thought he would finally give in and accept her.

But she was wrong.

The emperor hadn’t given up.

“How am I worse than her?”

She said with her voice dripping down her chiseled jawline.
She felt so suffocated that she was about to cry out in anger.
She clenched her fist so tightly that blood was about to ooze out of it.

“Why can’t he give up now that she’s already gone?”

 

Erin walked into the kitchen of the Two-Story house.
The kitchen had been completely redone.
It was clean, sleek, and full of new things.

The cooking utensils and the oven were all new, and there were plenty of ingredients.

There were the basics like flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and butter, as well as hams, sausages, meats, smoked fish, and all kinds of canned goods.

It wasn’t like this when they first bought the house.
It was a clean but dilapidated kitchen, all of these were a gift from Einz.
Even the oven, the dining table, the pots, pans, and a set of pretty porcelain bowls had been sent by Einz.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t get you a housewarming gift.
Is there anything you need?’ Einz had asked, smiling apologetically, the first day he came over.
Erin didn’t think much of it, and replied.
‘Well, maybe some tools or crockery to help with the business.’

Two days later, a carriage loaded with goods arrived at the shop.

The carriage was filled with all kinds of utensils, furniture, groceries, and other items, along with a note that read,.(einz s gift to erin)

Not just kitchen stuff, but daily necessities and beds.
Einz also sent her new furniture, including a dresser, all clean and beautiful.

The two-story house at the back of the shop was now transformed into a clean and cozy new home.

‘…I didn’t expect him to send me this much.’

Einz had gotten busy and hadn’t been seen in the shop ever since.

Erin opened the fruit locker and grabbed two apples, a crisp scent of apples wasps through the air.

Now that she had the ingredients, it was time to make the dessert.
She sliced the sweet, red, flaky apples into small pieces and placed them in a pan with water, sugar, and honey.

The apples turned into a transparent golden color with a sweet caramelized glazed texture.

The pies were lined with parchment paper and were formed into shape, and the cooked apples were placed on top of it.

It was then sprinkled with cinnamon powder, and baked in the oven.

After a while, the sweet and savory apple pie was finally baked, and the shiny golden apples could be seen through the crispy yet soft crust.

The shop has been busy ever since its opening day, half of it due to the tea and coffee, and Erin’s desserts which had been so well received by the customers, but mostly it was because of the emperor’s chamberlain who came to visit that day.

The customers in the shop saw him arrive in a carriage emblazoned with the emperor’s emblem and took a cookie from Erin.
From that day on, strange rumors began to circulate, that the pastry chef who owned the café came from a family that worked in the imperial palace.

The stories were slightly different, but in any case, it was a common rumor that the imperial palace would send people to Erin’s shop to buy cookies.

Although she explained that this was not the case, the customers seemed to believe it even more.

They think that If it was just a rumor, they would have just used it to promote their business, instead she was so adamant to deny it.

This was the result of the reverse psychology.

‘I wanted to run the shop as normally as possible, but thanks to the increase in customers, there was no time to rest now.’

“Oh my God…”