Leo couldn't wait to start cooking more than desserts, but he knew he couldn't be too hasty with his ambitions.

And after all, he had to admit that the castle's cooks knew their stuff. They were really professional in what they did, from what Leo had been able to observe in those first two days on the job.

Except, this time, Anna had messed up badly.

He wasn't saying it meanly, at all. Anna was the nicest cook that Leo had befriended, but she had really really messed up that dish badly.

“Prince Daryan, you shouldn't eat this dish at all!” he advised the prince after tasting the breakfast.

The latter, who was working on some documents, raised his head to the cook, and looked at him confused.

“For what reason?” he asked, suspicious, observing the plate with a slight note of concern.

“I don't think it's poisoned... I hope... I really hope it's not poisoned! In any case, it tastes terrible” Leo began to fear that the poisoning of the story had happened before his predictions, and he looked at the dish worried.

No way! It was Anna who prepared it, and the only ones who had approached the food were her, Leo, Mildred and a Chevel who had asked what the prince's dish was and then immediately left after checking it with a grin… wait a minute.

Oh no! Was Chevel a traitor?! And had he inadvertently poisoned Leo trying to poison the prince?! Or maybe he had poisoned the dish just to poison Leo!?!

The boy started to spiral, and sniffed the dish looking for something that he didn't even know what taste or smell it could have had (what does a poison smell like? Especially a poison from another dimension?!).

The prince, with all the calmness in the world, took his plate, lightly tasted the sauce with the tip of his tongue, and sighed, shaking his head.

“What a terrible way…” he muttered to himself, annoyed and… almost amused?

His face was too much of an iron mask for Leo to fully comprehend his emotions.

But if the meal had been poisoned he wouldn't have been so calm, right?

“Take this plate back to the kitchen and don't let anyone eat it” the prince handed him the still almost full plate, and Leo took it with trembling hands.

“It's not poisoned, is it?” he asked, worried “If it is, I swear it wasn't me! I haven't even touched it except to taste it! And I would have never poisoned myself! It's not poisoned, is it?” he inquired, trying to be formal but completely failing due to the growing panic.

The prince made a strange face.

“No, it's not poisoned. But I'm afraid the meat is a little spoiled, and I'm not going to eat it. Besides… because of this incident, I'm giving you the day off” he informed him, pointing to the door to say goodbye.

“I can cook” Leo tried to show his availability. Sure, he had a lot of sleep to catch up on, but he didn't want to make a bad impression by snoozing on his second day at work. It was downright unprofessional.

“Trust me, you'll need some rest... or at least I hope you do” the enigmatic sentence of the prince turned Leo's stomach... no, it wasn't the enigmatic sentence that was turning him inside out, but the spoiled meat.

Damn if it was turning his stomach over!

Ugh!

“Shall I bring you another plate?” he proposed, heading towards the door walking backward so as not to give his back to the prince.

“No, I'm not very hungry anyway” Daryan shook his head.

“Okay, goodbye” Leo made a bow that was still very very awkward and badly done, and started to leave, but the prince interrupted him.

“One last thing…” he called him back, Leo stopped and looked at him fearing the worst.

That prince was unpredictable.

“Your attempt to prevent me from eating the meal was admirable. I wasn't expecting it” he admitted, he seemed to be talking more to himself than to Leo, who looked at him as if he were crazy.

“But it's obvious, it's my job! I would never allow someone to eat a bad dish!” he became enraged. Cooking was a subject close to his heart. The food had to be a means of union, it had to be excellent. Leo wouldn't have served a bad dish even to his worst enemy!

The prince raised an eyebrow, surprised by his vehemence.

Leo tried to calm himself.

“Ehm.. your majesty” he added, to seem more elegant and formal, with another very unsuccessful bow that risked making him drop the food from the plate.

The prince made a strange face again and hastily looked away from Leo, back to his papers. The boy took it as an invitation to leave the room for good.

Once outside, he found himself face to face with a Chevel with a mischievous grin and expectation.

“Everything alright, cook?” he asked, checking him from head to toe.

By now it was obvious that he had done something to the food… he was too suspicious.

But if the prince said it wasn't poison, Leo could rest easy, right?

He knew he didn't like him, but if he had accepted him as a cook there he wouldn't have let him be killed like that, right?

Or at least he would have warned him about his demise.

Even if the upset stomach was only getting worse. But it was more like indigestion than poisoning... maybe... Leo had never been poisoned, and he had no idea what would have happened.

But if Game of Thrones had taught him anything it was that a poisoned person had more graphic consequences than a simple stomach ache.

“The meat wasn't appropriate so I'm taking it back to the kitchen, and Prince Daryan gave me the whole day off” Leo explained, checking his mouth, nose and eyes to make sure he wasn't bleeding without realizing it.

“Are you okay? Any strange effects?” Chevel asked, more and more curious and with an increasingly less reassuring smile.

Leo also checked his ears, but he seemed fine. He began walking towards the kitchen, trying to do a self-analysis.

But he just had a terrible stomach ache.

And he was tired.

But that was because he hadn’t slept much.

“Yes? Why? What poison did you use?” he asked, worried, turning towards Chevel.

The knight stopped looking at him and tried to not look suspicious… looking extremely suspicious in the process.

“What? Me? Nothing!” he feigned ignorance.

Leo froze abruptly as a huge pang in his stomach suddenly hit him.

And it didn't look like the work of some poison.

“I suppose it's early for the effects” Chevel muttered to himself. Leo didn't even hear him, too focused on looking around.

“Is there a bathroom nearby?” he asked, urgently, starting to jump on the spot to try to appease the stomach pain that had now reached the point of no return.

“Uh? Yes, a few meters further on, near the kitchen…” Chevel, surprised, pointed to a vague point.

“Perfect!” Leo violently handed him the plate and ran in the direction indicated by him, leaving the knight shocked.

Wow, the effect of the laxative had come earlier than expected.

Unless Leo was pretending, and it was unlikely he was pretending, he was clearly not immune to poisons, in fact, particularly sensitive.

Great, one less concern for Prince Daryan.

However, Leo really needed urgent lessons in etiquette, if he dared to hand a spoiled dish to the prince's personal knight as if he were a maid.

He was hopeless.

“You're hopeless” Persian complained, shaking his head with a resigned sigh.

Leo, who could have spent his day off in the uncomfortable bed with no mattress or blankets and instead had decided to take advantage of it for his first etiquette lesson, felt very offended.

“It's not my fault that I have food poisoning and I can't concentrate” he tried to justify himself.

He still had a terrible stomachache, and went to the bathroom too much for what he had eaten… which was practically nothing.

He regretted not staying in his bedroom!

…no, not really, since in the dormitory he would have been bullied or totally bored all day. He didn't even have anything to read, sigh. Life was boring in medieval fantasy universes. Without television, or video games, or Youtube.

Leo couldn’t understand why the isekaied people never wanted to go back home.

Ah, right! The hot prince.

Indeed Daryan would have been quite an attractive reason to stay there if only Leo had been a less suspicious female lead.

And if only he didn't consider the prince's personality, but just looks and money.

Although in terms of personality he was much better than Chevel, Lionel and Prankit, so he was on thin ice.

Although the best at the moment was Persian.

Which also wasn't bad looking at all.

The guys there were all pretty handsome, much more so than in Leo's world. Classic beauty from a medieval fantasy imaginary universe.

Even if perhaps it was more Renaissance than medieval…

“Are you listening to me?” Persian caught his attention by hitting his head with a book, and Leo snapped back to reality.

“No” he admitted honestly “I got distracted”

Persian hit himself with the book, repeatedly, trying to get a head injury rather than continue to teach etiquette to Leo the hopeless.

“Sorry, go on… or rather, wait… I apologize, please proceed…” Leo tried to assume the typical formality of the period, given that Persian was a nobleman.

“I want to die!” the nobleman in question self-pitied, depressed and demoralized.

“What's going on?” asked a female voice as she enthusiastically entered the library.

“Princess Opal! May Jahlee protect you!” Persian hurried to compose himself and made an elegant bow.

Leo looked at Persian carefully, and stood up trying to imitate him.

“May Jahlee protect you” he repeated, lowering his head a little more since being a commoner he surely should have made a more heartfelt bow.

“And may Laasya protect you both! What are you doing? Why isn’t Leonardo cooking for lunch?” asked the girl, placing some books in a corner and looking at Leo with curiosity and slight concern.

Leo opened his mouth to answer, but found himself dying on the floor with another twinge in his stomach.

“Prince Daryan gave him a day off due to food poisoning, and I’m taking this opportunity to... teach him... etiquette” Persian had the look of a man on death sentence, but to be honest Leo was certainly in worse shape than him, since he not only had to learn, but was also reduced to a rag.

“Oh, holy seven! Are you feeling okay? Can I do something to help you?” the princess leaned towards him, and gave him a few pats on the head, trying to reassure him.

Leo smiled at her courteously.

“Your concern is the best medicine, your highness” he flattered her, with the maximum possible formality.

For some strange reason, it was much easier to be nice to the princess, even though she was younger than him and was also the only one who treated him as if he were her equal.

Maybe the reason was that she was the only one who treated him well in there, so she deserved his courtesy.

Or maybe subconsciously he was trying to distance himself from her because the last thing he wanted to risk was that the underage princess who reminded him of his sister would have a little crush on the mysterious foreign cook who cooked her favorite dishes.

That would have been the most direct route to beheading.

And Leo's main quest was always to survive.

“It's nothing serious, don't worry, princess. What can I assist you with?” Persian tried to take Opal's attention away from Leo, who was really happy to get out of the spotlight, and struggled back to his feet, observing the situation and making mental notes on how to address a member of the royal family.

“I just wanted to return a book. I want to be prepared on Ombron for when mom and dad return!” Opal pointed to the book she had just brought back.

“If you need help, I'm at your complete disposal” Persian offered himself, elegant.

“I think I know enough now. I'm rather curious to see how your lesson is going, can I assist?” asked the princess, sitting down on an armchair and watching the scene with trepidation.

Well, now performance anxiety was adding to an already bad situation.

“Sure, princess. But I warn you, the cook is a desperate case” Persian immediately put his hands forward.

Leo sighed, annoyed, but didn't reply.

“You have to make him perfect within five days, you know that, don't you?” Opal beamed, but her eyes had a warning aura.

Persian paled.

"I'll do my best, your highness," he promised, in a tone that sounded more like a cheep.

“Five days? Why five days?” Leo asked, starting to worry.

“My parents will be back in five days! And Dary told me that you will be in charge of preparing dinner when they get home. You will have total control of the kitchen and your every dish will be judged by my parents. You too will be judged, and you have to make a good impression since your job depends on this test!” explained the princess, enthusiastically, as if she were giving him good news, and not communicating his imminent end.

Yes, Daryan had told him that he would have to convince the king and queen too, but he hadn't understood that it would have been a test worthy of the Masterchef final!

Good heavens, in five days it was impossible!

“Ah... I understand” he muttered, now the stomach ache was no longer a sign of simple food poisoning, but also caused by the terrible, terrible performance anxiety he was starting to grow.

“…Dary didn't tell you that?” asked the princess, confused by his reaction.

“I’m afraid he didn't go into details... now, if you can forgive me for an instant, I necessarily have to go to the restroom” without waiting for approval and with his stomach more upset than before, Leo ran into the closest bathroom, the one in the library, which he had now baptized far too many times that day, and vented his anxiety about the impending challenge.

To recap… he had five days to develop a menu worthy of an entire royal family, learn the etiquette basis for serving such a royal family, and overcome that stomach ache. All with the knowledge that he would not sleep well with his new roommates and in the absence of mattress, pillow and blankets.

…well, he didn't want to stay there that much anyway.

When they’d kick him out of the castle he would drop by the temple and ask for a divine grace or to become a priest.

Not that he believed those deities really existed, but he really hoped for a miracle from Jahlee, or Laasya, or someone else.

Because only a miracle would have helped him in that situation.