Master Brian’s maid

Ramha took the tray of food and left the room, leaving Jane there with the troubles before her eyes. Jane glanced at her watch and realized that it was afternoon, she had about three hours left to finish. And Jane must complete them by seven o’clock tonight, or she will lose and be disqualified from the competition. Because of that, there were only about five servants in the kitchen now, all of the previous servants had left a few hours ago. Among them was Tess, Lady Chesa’s servant. Tess is still diligent and careful to take care of her dishes. And Jane, she is recalling what Ramha said, she proceeded to wash the ingredients Ramha said.

Then Jane cut and chop them, put them all in a large saucepan and stir constantly until they are cooked and crispy. Jane quickly poured them out onto a large platter and garnished them with a few cleverly trimmed fresh carrots.

And Brian seemed to have thought through it, he didn’t want Jane to struggle with fancy dishes, so he gave her dishes that were easy to make and easy to prepare. But that didn’t make it any easier for Jane because she didn’t know how to cook these dishes before, when Jane was just a poor girl living on a remote island, far from the mainland.

Tess stood nearby, she saw Jane in a happy mood as she finished her third dish. Tess thought for a moment, then walked over to talk to Jane in a sociable manner. Then she asked in a close tone:

“Hi, how are you doing?”

Jane garnished the food and replied:

“I finished the third dish, only the last one left.”

Tess heard this and immediately pouted her lips and said:

“Oh, is that so? I’m almost done with the last dish.”

She glanced around, observing and probing:

“But I wanted to redo the sauces because they weren’t very tasty. Unfortunately, my place ran out of salt. I see you have a jar of salt that you haven’t used yet, can I have some?”

Jane smiled friendly and replied:

“Yes, go ahead. Take it as much as you like.”

Tess took the salt shaker and thought for a moment, she said:

“Bubble and Squeak? Can I taste it?”NôvelDrama.Org owns all © content.

Jane nodded silently, she was still focusing on pruning an apple to beautify the dish. And Tess, she took advantage of Jane’s inattention, Tess pretended to taste a little and said:

“Hmm, I think this dish is yours, it’s a bit bland.”

And then at that very moment, Tess opened the salt shaker and sprinkled it evenly into the pan. But she purposely sprinkled it so hard that the salt in the jar was half poured. Tess pretended to be careless and panicked, shouting:

“Oh my gosh, what have I done? I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Jane noticed that her dish was accidentally poured a lot of salt by Tess, she rushed to remove it but still could not save the dish. Jane tasted her dishes and discovered they were too salty to be eaten. Tess saw that and smiled inwardly, but she still feigned apologetic expression on her innocent face. She comforted Jane:

“Jane, I’m really sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an unexpected accident. I just want to make your dishes more flavorful.”

Jane shook her head sadly, she waved Tess’s hand to show that it was okay, she said:

“Yeah, I don’t blame you. Everything happened. Now that there is still time, I will try to cook them again as quickly as possible.”

Tess took Jane’s hand and replied:

“Thank you for forgiving me. I really wanted to help her to correct her mistakes, but time did not allow. Now I need to go back to my place and finish the dishes.”

Jane nodded to indicate it was okay, Tess gave her a small smile and parted quickly, as she turned to go back to her seat. Tess smiled and said to herself:

“Jane, good luck. I was just following Chesa’s duties, you can’t blame me.”

Tess leisurely did the final decoration of her dishes, and a few minutes later she happily placed them on a tray and carried them out, leaving the kitchen, which was now only about three servants are cooking, including Jane, the little girl is struggling to cook a third dish when Tess ruined it.

After she had finished cooking the third dish again, Jane looked at her watch and became more frantic, she only had about two hours left. Jane looked at the last dish on her list, Tikka Masala, with a worried look on her face. This is a strange dish that Jane has never known.

She became even more impatient when she looked back inside the kitchen, now only two servants were left cooking. According to Jane’s observations, one person has cooked to the fourth dish and the other is doing the final stage of decorating his dishes. As for Jane, she has just started cooking the fourth dish, but the biggest problem is that she doesn’t know how to cook it? So what should she do for her fourth dish now?

With no other choice, Jane ignored Chesa’s implicit rule, she walked over to a servant named Ryla and asked her. When Ryla saw Jane coming, she didn’t care and deliberately looked away to avoid contact with Jane. But Jane ignored that, she boldly asked Ryla to seek help for herself:

“Hi, it’s embarrassing that I came to bother you. It’s just that I had a little problem with the fourth dish. So can you help me with it?”

Ryla tilted her head to where Jane was standing, she asked nonchalantly:

“How?”

Jane hastily continued:

“Ah, it’s just that this dish is strange, the first time I’ve heard of it. So I don’t know how to cook them? And that’s Tikka Masala, do you know anything about it? If you know, can you tell me how to cook?”

Ryla paused her cooking for a moment, turned to Jane:

“I think you already know Chesa’s hidden rules. And I’m Bonie’s servant, she’s a strict fat lady, and I don’t want to be punished by her for any reason.”

She paused for a moment and then continued:

“Moreover, when participating in this contest, Bonie stipulated that whoever successfully completed four dishes, she would reward the servant with a small amount of money. On the contrary, if they break the rules in the contest, they will have to be fined or punished in other ways if they don’t have the money.”

Ryla saw Jane looking at her confused, she knew Jane still hoped for her help, so Ryla bluntly replied:

“And I never wanted that to happen to me. I need money so I have to do well in this exam. That’s why, even though I really wanted to help you, I couldn’t. I am very sorry for that. Good luck.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Ryla left Jane standing there, she continued to cook her food. Jane heard Ryla’s words, she sighed wearily and said to herself:

“It sucks for me, but I can’t blame her either. All servants must obey the rules of the contest. And this last dish, what should I do with it?”

The other servant is Ewa, when she saw that Jane was so worried and didn’t care, Ewa calmly placed her finished dishes on a tray and leisurely carried them out of the room. Jane saw that even more sad, she couldn’t do anything now. Perhaps Jane had to accept defeat in this contest.

Just like that, about thirty minutes passed quietly, Ryla finished her dishes as well, she left the room quickly with a tray full of food in hand. And sadly, without a miracle or good thing happening to Jane, she was alone in this large kitchen.

_________________