“How did you make the dough? The ingredients were so simple, yet the result was so good!”

“You were right to ask for fruits. The strawberries were a really great addiction!”

“Who taught you to make whipped cream like that? I had to take lessons from Mildred for a month before I could make it come right!”

At the very moment in which he was forcibly thrown into a common room with three girls, Leonardo was practically attacked by the excited and enthusiastic cooks, who had not even presented themselves and had started filling him with questions.

And they were so energetic, vital, and emphatic, that Leonardo was almost about to call Chevel back and ask him to sleep in a cell.

But eventually, he was infected with their enthusiasm, and began to answer questions and give little advice.

He also discovered their names: Anna, Jane, and Mary.

Such classic names for maids that Leo swore they were in any fantasy work, not just isekais.

There was at least one Mary, Anna, or Jane as the personal maid of a prince or princess.

Furthermore, it had not escaped Leo that they were the three maids who had given the princess a crepe, thus indirectly responsible for his survival.

He hoped he would build a good relationship with them.

“Oh, how rude, we didn't even ask you your name!” Mary finally realized, desolate.

“Oh, my name is Leonardo” they were still quicker than the prince to ask him that question, and he answered with a big smile.

“What a singular name! Can I call you Leo?” Anna asked, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

“What kingdom are you from?” Jane inquired, curious.

“Lumai” Leo replied confidently, hoping they wouldn't ask any more questions about his presumed place of origin.

“Oh! May Laasya protect you, then!” Anna commented, with a small bow.

Oh! New information! Laasya, another deity, perhaps in charge of Lumai?

Chevel had spoken of a council of gods, there may have been a patron god for every city.

“May Jahlee protect you” Leo returned, with a smile, praying that he was saying the right thing.

But he was an adaptable type, and while he wasn't overly intelligent, he grabbed the important information on the fly.

He just had trouble keeping his tongue in check and prioritizing things.

Anna smiled warmly, so he was safe for the moment.

“Oh, the goddess of light, I love her! If I didn't have everything here in Jediah I think I'd move right to Lumai! The divine energy of that place is wonderful. Why did you come here?” asked Mary, continuing to investigate.

Eh, great question!

Could he use the slave story? But perhaps it was best not to divulge this information, and everyone knew that the maids were the greatest source of gossip in every kingdom.

But maybe starting a gossip could be a good way to make the story more believable?

Before Leo could answer, he was saved by the arrival of Mildred, who made her head appear from the corridor and gave the four a dirty look.

“You should be already sleeping! Don't be swayed by that charlatan” she gave Leo an extremely grim look, and admonished her subordinates.

“Sorry, Madame Mildred!” the three exclaimed in chorus like robots.

“And you! I'll make sure you’ll change dorms tomorrow. Don’t even think about touching or hurting my girls, or I'll make you pay!” Mildred walked over to Leo and showed the muscle in her arm, which was practically as big as he was.

Leo took a step back.

“There's no danger, Madame Mildred, I’m…” he broke off just in time. It was not really the case to say ‘I’m gay’ to the cook of a very old-fashioned royal palace.

They would have sentenced him to the stake for real.

“… a gentleman” he concluded then, with a small bow.

Mildred grunted.

“Girls, stay away from him!” he ordered the maids, before leaving the dorm again.

“We'd better go to sleep. There are only a few hours until dawn” Jane noted, looking at the sky beyond the window.

“Dawn?” Leo asked in a whisper.

“Yup! Tomorrow we go back to work! And you begin! Good luck” Anna got under the covers and gave Leo a big smile, to encourage him.

“Dawn…” Leo whispered again, throwing himself on the bed too.

It had been a day full of events, and Leo was more than dead-tired.

He couldn't even conceive the idea of waking up at dawn.

He sighed, gave a quick goodnight to her roommates, and tried to fall asleep as quickly as possible, to ensure at least four hours of slumber.

But as he thought about the events of the last few hours, the truck, the prince, the princess, and the book in general, an enlightenment came to him.

An illumination that made his eyes widen, and erased any trace of tiredness left in him.

The poisoning.

In the book, there was a moment, the most cathartic moment in the story, where the prince suffered a poisoning attempt, and the female lead was accused of the crime.

Leo hadn't the faintest idea who was responsible, and he didn't even know when in the book he ended up, but one thing was certain.

Sooner or later someone would try to poison the prince.

Perhaps it would have happened sooner rather than later, as the palace's extreme security and the prince's fighting skills made him a difficult target for frontal attacks.

And Leo was the official royal taster.

So Leo would have died poisoned, sooner or later, because the prince was a bit immune, and he had antidotes, but Leo was not, he was expendable, and he was of weak constitution.

And once again, and certainly not for the last time, Leo had dug his own grave.

So deep that it was now impossible to get out.

There was only one thing to do…

He had to become the prince's only cook! He had to be so good that the prince would forever ask only and exclusively to eat food cooked by him.

The only food that Leo surely would never have poisoned.

It was a perfect plan!

But to gain the prince's trust enough to succeed, he had to pass his interrogations.

Ergo, he had to retrieve as much information about Lumai as possible.

Ugh, the more he thought about what he had to do, the more suspicious he looked from the outside.

But what could he do, he was in a panic, and he was in danger.

He had to play it well.

And keep bluffing as much as possible!