“I suppose you didn't prepare breakfast this morning” was the cold sentence with which Prince Daryan welcomed Leo into his office the following day, escorted as always by Chevel, who was practically the boy's shadow.

Shadow not only because he was always following Leo, but because he was in a very bad mood, and never uttered a word.

Not that Leo cared, as he was practically sleeping on his feet, and barely realized where he was and what he was doing.

“No, Mildy told me to stand still, silent and in a corner. And I obliged” explained Leo, placing the plate on the desk and trying to keep his balance.

“… and slept” Chevel added, ratting him out.

“I preserved my strength because I had nothing to do” Leo justified himself. He did try to take a nap, but had always been woken up by Chevel, so it wasn’t like he had actually slept.

“Tell Mildred to give Leo full control of the kitchen for the princess's scheduled desserts. Obviously, keep an eye on him all the time and make sure he always tastes everything he later intends to give to my sister” the prince ignored the part about sleep, and only thought about work.

“What are her favorite dishes?” Leo asked, to make conversation “My sister has always loved meringues... the only thing I haven't learned to memorize yet. But I'm great with fruit and chocolate. I could make a cake or some cookies. I miss my sister” he muttered, talking nonsense and pinching his face to stay awake.

The prince raised his eyebrows at his comments, then pushed the plate towards him.

“Instead of talking why don't you taste it?” he encouraged him to fulfill his role.

Leo hesitated just a bit before taking a bite, but tried to convince himself that no one would dare attack so soon. Or if they had wanted to, they would have waited for a moment to blame Leo for the crime. But he hadn't come near the stove, and Chevel had been on watch the entire time.

Finally, he took a bite, tasted it cautiously, and expected to feel some odd taste, or die on the spot.

After a few seconds of silence, contemplation and tasting, Leo swallowed, and nodded a bit.

“The eggs are a bit dry. I would have added mozzarella. Eggs and mozzarella are an excellent combination” he observed, thoughtfully.

The prince sighed, and took a bite as well, without the slightest comment.

“Chevel, can you wait for me outside?” he then asked the knight, pointing to the door.

There were two possibilities as to why the prince had just discharged his right-hand man: either Daryan had just decided to kill Leo and did not want witnesses;

Or he had fallen madly in love with him and wanted to confess to him without risking a scandal.

Leo prayed in the second hypothesis.

The prince was not the best, but at least he could offer Leo prospects and money.

Rich husband, rich opportunities!

Not that Leo expected same-sex marriages to be accepted there, but whatever.

In reality, Daryan's intention was only to question him with some privacy, but Leo was dead tired, he still had the right to dream.

“You look tired, cook. Why are you so tired?” began the prince, looking at him with icy eyes.

“I slept little to nothing last night. I didn't imagine I’ll be waking up at dawn” Leo replied, barely holding back a yawn.

“When I dismissed you it was pretty early, how did you spend the night?” Daryan continued to investigate, suspicious.

Leo had absolutely nothing to worry about, he had an iron alibi, as he had spent all the time with his roommates.

“The mad swordsman took me to the dormitory, and I made friends with Anna, Mary and Jane. I'm sleeping with them…” Leo began, retracing his steps “…I mean… in the same room” he clarified, noticing the misunderstandable choice of words.

“… right, I should move you somewhere else, it is not convenient to let you sleep with young women” the prince observed to himself, noticing the problematic choice of words too.

“I don't care, they're nice. Mary bandaged the wound on my back, and they asked me for cooking tips. So cute. Then Mildred came to tell us to turn off the lights, but first we talked about how beautiful Lumai is, and then I stayed awake for a few more hours because I have been in constant anxiety ever since I ended up here” Leo concluded the speech, without problems, and without filtering his words. He was too tired for that.

“If you are from Lumai, what is the patron deity of your city?” asked the prince, observing him more carefully.

It was a question that anyone in that world should have known, even those who were not from Lumai.

Thank goodness Anna had let the information slip, otherwise Leo would have been really screwed.

“Laasya, of course” he replied with conviction.

Luckily, he had an excellent memory for names!

The prince seemed a bit disappointed.

“And what is the kingdom of Lumai famous for?” he asked again.

Why was he asking the obvious questions?!

“The city of light, with great divine power!” Leo replied in a sacred tone.

The prince looked even more disappointed.

“Let's get more specific then. What district did you live in?” he leaned slightly towards him, as if trying to peer inside his soul.

“The district?” Leo asked, trying to take time to come up with an answer or play it well.

Could he give coordinates, or was it a trick question? No, surely there were districts in that world but he didn't have the faintest idea about Lumai's districts.

To his enormous, immense and seriously absurd luck, just at that moment the door swung open, and an agitated man, with two huge round glasses on his face and long brown hair tied in a ponytail, hurried to the prince's desk with several papers in hand and an urgent demeanor.

“My prince, may Jahlee protect you! You have no idea how many reports there are of slave trades on the Valkrest border, it's a minefield! I immediately planned an observation perimeter and we should promptly inform the information recovery unit and the king! If we lose them a lot of innocents could be sold to work in the mines! It's terrible!” he explained, showing various maps, and ignoring any attempt by the prince to stop his rant.

Leo pretended to be uninterested, but listened and metabolized every single word. Trying not to be seen by the prince, he also took a look at the map, which however only showed the two kingdoms of Jediah and Valkrest.

What bad luck! If only he had access to a map of Lumai.

Or some information on Lumai.

Or a person from Lumai...

“May Laasya protect you, Persian. I understand your urgency, but we shouldn’t talk about this information with strangers” the prince finally interrupted the guy, and hurried to cover the map, glaring at Leo, who looked away and stared at his shoes. They had given him a butler's uniform, and it was a thousand times more elegant than anything he had ever worn.

But the way in which the prince had greeted the newcomer had not escaped him.

Laasya… the goddess of light, the goddess of Lumai.

So Persian was from Lumai!

And his ticket to get more information about the city.

“Strangers…?” Persian asked, surprised, looking around, and finally noticing Leo, who gave him a smile and a nod of greeting, making him jump.

“Oh dear! I didn’t notice him! My apologies, Prince Daryan!” the man put his hands over his mouth, mortified, and blushed a little. He looked at Leo as if he came from outer space.

“Cook, you are dismissed, and take the plate with you” the prince slipped the plate still almost completely full towards Leo, who took it with arched eyebrows.

“You haven't eaten practically anything” he observed, sadly. It was a great shame to waste the food, which was still very good despite being slightly dry. And to stay healthy it was not convenient to skip meals.

“If you care so much for it to be consumed, you can finish it” the prince snorted, encouraging him to leave as soon as possible.

Leo was almost going to remark that the point was that the prince had to feed himself well, but he held back, because a free meal was a free meal, and Leo had only eaten some oatmeal for breakfast, along with the other cooks.

“With pleasure, your majesty!” he then exclaimed with glee, devouring the eggs as he walked out the door.

He managed to grab one last excerpt from the conversation between Persian and the prince.

“So he is Lumai's slave?”

“Don't have any kind of conversation with him, Percy!”

Could the prince have guessed Leo’s plan to use Persian to obtain information about Lumai? …Probably, since the prince seemed intelligent and Leo had been very suspicious.

But that didn't mean he would give up, on the contrary!

In one way or another he would have discovered something about his alleged city! And he would answer all the prince's questions.

“You are finally out! Hey! How dare you eat the prince's leftovers!” Chevel greeted him, in a worse mood than usual, reproaching him for his lack of etiquette.

“The prince allowed me to! Do you want some?” Leo shrugged and offered a forkful to the knight, who walked away as if Leo were pointing a sword at him.

“You can’t eat the prince's food! It is the basis!” he complained, irritated.

Leo ignored him and finished the dish.

“I am the taster, so I'm excused, right?” he tried to justify himself, with a satisfied grin.

Chevel gave him a dirty look.

“I’ll take you to the kitchen. The princess expects a rich dose of sweets for tea time. You better start preparing now” he decided to let it go, probably well aware that he could not win, and preceded Leo down the corridor.

“I’ll make a cake, some cookies and some muffins maybe… the guy who came in earlier… who is he?” Leo would have liked to be discreet in asking for information, but he was too tired to work out some strategy.

Even if the hearty breakfast had given him back some energy.

Chevel snorted.

"I told him not to go in!" he muttered to himself.

Leo sensed that there was bad blood between the two.

... obvious intuition since Chevel looked like smoke was about to come out of his ears.

“I noticed that he was very energetic” he commented, thinking of his agitation upon entering.

“It's Persian Lavoie, the librarian and the princess's private teacher... why so interested?” After finally answering Leo's question, Chevel realized Leo’s interrogation, and gave the boy a look of deep suspicion.

“Just to name the face! If he works with the princess I will meet him often” Leo played dumb and started whistling, passing Chevel and trying to get to the kitchen before the knight asked him more questions.

The information received, after all, was enough for him at the moment.

And now he had to concentrate on preparing a banquet for the princess, in the hope that she would encourage him to stay or take tea as a break from classes.

Because before the prince had called him back to his study, Leo necessarily had to talk to Persian about Lumai!