"Girl, you wanted it, why did you come to complain to me now when it didn't work out?" Gilbert grumbled, picking some apples from the appletrees growing at the very end of the garden.

"Because I hoped you had some advice for what I should do? Can I change his attitude somehow to make him receptive to what I'm trying to teach?" Melina prodded.

"Have you already forgotten what happened before you came along?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow.

Then she remembered. Gilbert was well-known even in a place as faraway as Tuvia as someone who rejected all apprentices who came to learn from him. He had always been the worst person to ask this question.

"Right…" She drawled out.

"Right, indeed. You're going to have to figure out something on your own. Frankly, I would just turn away anyone who doesn't show any willingness to learn. Why waste your time? There are plenty others who would pay big money just to glance over your shoulder," Gilbert shrugged.

"That is true… But this is a person sent by Duchess Sinclair. I can't just turn him away."

"Why not? You think the Duchess would be happy to hear that one of her staff is acting like a prick?"

"But he's still a noble, even a low-ranking one. I don't think I can just throw him out…" Melina frowned, biting into her thumb. Technically, she had told him to leave, but Michael had just sneered derisively and promised to come back tomorrow.

"Suit yourself. But people like that don't change just because you scolded them once."

Melina knew that, but perhaps, if she approached Michael the right way, she could entice him to listen. After all, his goal was to learn recipes. If she focused solely on that and ignored his comments, then maybe she could get by.

Best not to mention this to Alistair yet. I already have a pretty good idea of what he would do.

Next morning, Melina decided to approach the whole apprenticeship with a new perspective. She accepted that not everyone will be as eager as Roxie and Adrien, so she would adjust her expectations accordingly.

"Good morning, Michael," she greeted the young cook when he arrived at the bakery.

"I certainly hope it will be a good morning. Yesterday's performance was rather poor. To think that you'd lose your temper against a noble. If I were any less kind, I would have reported this incident to the Duchess. But my goal is to learn new recipes, so I shall forgive this unpleasantness if you provide a proper apology," Michael said.

"Apology?" Melina could feel her left eye twitch in disbelief.

"Yes. Most generous offer from my perspective. I still think that Lord Sinclair should know about what transpired, but as I said, I am a kind and generous man, so I will look past it."

Melina couldn't believe her ears. Somehow she had been turned into the one who was wrong. How did he ever come to such a conclusion? Was this some skill noblemen possessed? Or was it this man specifically? She was so flabbergasted that she didn't know how to react.

"Well, what are you gaping for? Apologize so we can finally move on," Michael said impatiently.

"I have a question for you first," Melina said, trying to be diplomatic about the matter.

Michael groaned. "Time's wasting, but very well. What is your question?"

"Who is the owner of this bakery?" She asked.

"Owner is a rather generous title if you ask me, but I suppose you do own this little shack you call a bakery. Why are you asking me this? Are you not aware of something so simple anymore?"

"Just humor me for a minute. Who is the one who created the magical pastry recipes?"

"I suppose that was also you. But I suspect anyone with the right ingredients could recreate them without issue."

Melina smiled. She got him now.

"So you believe you could recreate my magical pastries?"

Michael shook his head. "I can hardly understand what goes on in the head of a commoner such as yourself, so I can't recreate them. But I could certainly make something better."

Melina wanted to shoot back that she had already beaten him once in a cooking competition, but she decided to hold back for now and let the harsh reality teach him a lesson in her stead.

"Then why don't we make a bet? You can create anything you want with the magical ingredients I have in my storage. Make as much as you want, but by the end of the day, it should all be sold out. If you manage to do that, then I'll provide you with the necessary Monster Realm ingredient and announce to the Duchess that you can create magical pastries better than I can."

Michael smiled. "I am glad that you are finally coming to your senses. I honestly thought this whole debacle is a huge waste of time. After all, what could I possibly learn from a commoner? But this makes it easy."

"However," Melina continued. "If you don't sell out, then you're going to have choices: either you shut up and learn what I tell you to learn or you return back to Fenrora and admit that you're incapable of learning new recipes!"

Michael gasped. "The audacity! If you were not Lord Sinclair's fiancee, I would have reported you this instant. I can't believe the rudeness of commoners these days. But obviously, I would never lose such a bet. Not a frumpy girl like yourself."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Adrien leaned in close to Melina and whispered. "Maybe you should just tell Lord Sinclair about this guy right away?"

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure his pride will be his downfall."

Roxie peered nervously at the man. It was clear that after yesterday she was incredibly uncomfortable around him. Melina put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about him. Just do what you always do. You're a full-fledged member of this bakery and never let anyone convince you otherwise."

Michael proceeded to explore the storage. Man took quite a while exploring the Monster Realm ingredients. Melina had quite a collection of them. She and Count Speziale had already worked out which ingredients were best used in pastries and how much she needed them. Those that weren't as useful, the Count didn't send anymore, instead searching to trade them with elves and drow instead.

Melina, Roxie and Adrien didn't pay Michael any mind instead opting to focus on their own work. She did occasionally check what Michael was doing to try and figure out exactly what he was trying to make.

He had taken generous amounts of feyfruit and luminfruit and was making copious amounts of choux pastry. It looked like he was making cream puffs. Maybe he was trying to display that he could do them better than Melina. Although she was a bit nervous about all the feyfruit he was chopping up.

"You better not burn any of my profiteroles, dragon!" Michael shot Sienna a nasty glare when he loaded his piped choux pastry into the oven.

Sienna let out an angry growl, but Melina pacified her. "It's alright. Just cook them as you normally would."

The wyvern wasn't too pleased, but obeyed nonetheless.

Once the pastries were ready, Michael left out to cool while creating a pastry cream made with copious amounts of feyfruit, and a glaze made with generous helping of luminfruit. Melina couldn't believe how nonchalant he was about it. Even worse, he was grinning victoriously as the pastry cream sparkled as if it had starlight within it.

He must have thought that it was a great effect, but the fact was that it was overloaded with mana. That pastry cream would undoubtedly make anyone who ate it pass out, unless they were a monster. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

It was the same with the luminfruit. A good chunk of the glaze consisted of luminfruit, making it glow beautifully. But he didn't account for the fact that luminfruit caused a strong euphoric effect and could even make a person hallucinate. At this rate, she wouldn't even be able to display these cream puffs in the bakery.

But Michael wasn't done. He stacked the cream puffs in a giant tower and then proceeded to make thin caramel strands over it by using a whisk. The technique was interesting and the end result was that the cream puff tower was covered in beautiful glistening caramel.

The fact that the glaze shone lightly only added to the effect, so overall it looked pretty.

"Feast your eyes on perfection!" Michael announced proudly.

Melina frowned and walked up to his creation, using <Dish Assessment> to figure out the effects.

[Croquembouche Impérial – Rank D]

[Tower made from small cream puffs and covered in delicate caramel strands. Each cream puff is filled with feyfruit cream and covered with luminfruit glaze.]

[Effects: Causes overwhelming hallucinatory effects that trigger happy memories and euphoria.]

[Warning: Consuming even one cream from this croquembouche imperial might prove deadly to a human.]

"Let's bring this out into the bakery. I know you have your floaty magic, so go ahead, and make sure it doesn't fall," Michael said with his nose held high.

"Absolutely not!" Melina instantly rejected the idea.

"Wh-What? You said that you'll display it in the bakery for sale. You can't go back on your word now!" He bellowed.

"I will never serve anything harmful to my customers," Melina shot back angrily.

"Harmful?" Michael shrank back for a moment. "You're just messing with me! I cooked with the same ingredients that you've been using. I saw that you used both luminfruit and feyfruit just this morning."

"Yes, but it's how I use them that matters," Melina said. "In large quantities, feyfruit is harmful for humans because of how much mana it contains. Luminfruit on the other hand can trigger hallucinations. You overload this single cream puff with them so much that they can trigger death in humans."

Michael paled, but nevertheless stood his ground. "I don't believe you! You're lying so that you can win!"

Melina groaned. "Fine, don't believe it. Find someone else with a skill that can figure out the effects of this dish. Or perhaps, just try it yourself."

"I will try it myself and you'll see that it's completely safe," Michael declared.

Melina wondered if she should stop him, but decided against it. Worst case scenario, she could trigger him to vomit it out.

"Let's head outside," Melina said.

"Outside?" Michael raised his eyebrow.

"You'll understand why pretty soon."

The man regarded her dubiously, but in the end agreed to go outside. Good, she didn't want any vomit in her kitchen.

Once they were outside, Michael took a big bite out of the cream puff. He was smiling initially, but his smile vanished quickly the more he chewed. His face color also changed from normal to pale to almost green, and eventually he rushed into the bushes and spit it all out.

Melina shook her head. Mostly she felt bad for the ingredients wasted. But her point was proven.

"What have you done to this fruit? Are they rotten?" Michael yelled once he had returned from the bush.

"No. They're not. We used the same ones didn't we? Feel free to taste one of my cream puffs for comparison," she replied calmly.

"Oh, I will!" Michael ran inside, and Melina followed, watching him bite into one the cream puffs Roxie had cooked this morning.

The man chewed angrily for a moment before his arms went limp. "It… It tastes good."

"It was made by Roxie," Melina said with a smile.

"This girl!" Michael howled pointing at Roxie, who took a step back. But his anger quickly dissipated. "I don't get it. How could she make it right but I couldn't?"

"It's quite simple. You used far too much feyfruit and luminfruit. They are tasty in small quantities, but in large quantities they become dangerous. If you actually bothered to listen to what I'm trying to teach you, you would know that."

"But… But…" Michael was left gaping, his cheeks flushing red from embarrassment.

"So what are you going to do? Will you listen to my lessons peacefully, instead of telling me whether I need to stir my dough clockwise or counterclockwise? Or will you return back to Fenrora? Let me warn you, I highly doubt the Duchess will side with you even if you're a noble."

Michael looked at Melina for a while, then pressed his hand against his chin, clearly deep in thought. He didn't look particularly pleased, but eventually he nodded.

"I shall listen… It appears that Monster Realm ingredients aren't quite as simple as regular fruit," he conceded, albeit his expression suggested that he wasn't happy about it.

"No more complaints either?"

Melina asked.

"I… I shall try. Albeit you have to admit that there are—"

Melina shot him a glare. Michael sighed. "Very well. I shall keep them to myself."

"Wonderful! Let's go open the bakery then!"

She had managed to convince him for the time being, but whether it would turn into obedience or resentment remained to be seen.