Alpha King’s Virgin Slave
Chapter 54

Lorena POV

It was the second phase of the competition and it was to be done in the royal kitchen but we stood outside the mansion to hear the news before proceeding.

The outside was beautifully decorated in a white and red theme and unlike in the arena when there were a lot of people present, there were a few people around and amongst them were a videographer and a woman who stands beside him. since the event was happening at the royal home, I believed that they had come around to broadcast the show for everyone in the world to see.

Fenrir was seated in a tent with his second in command Romeo and his third in command whose name I didn't know. There were two other tents where elderly men were seated and there were people addressed as lords. Alistair was also seated under the tent and when our eyes met, he waved at me and I waved back at him. I could feel the king's gaze on mine as soon as my eyes left Alistair. I made the mistake of staring at him and when our eyes met, he grinned at me while I lowered my head.

I wasn't in the mood for his cranky attitude and certainly wasn't in the mood to continue staring at him and let my body react to him as if I was under a spell.

"hey," he waved at me as she stood beside me.

"hi," I waved back at her in order not to look rude. since her friend Talita was removed from the concubine's list, I felt she wanted to get close to me and even though I never liked her, I didn't want to ignore her hence, the reason for greeting her back. "hey friend," Angelica faked a smile at me as she touched me on the shoulder. "how are you doing?" she asked as if she didn't know what she did wrong to me. "Let's just get this over with and...."

"but I already apologized," she stated and stared at her giving her the looks of when she apologized to me because I don't remember her ever doing that.

I wanted to reply but instead, I forced myself to smile at her not bothering to say any other thing because I was not in the mood for her attitude at that moment.

so much for having a friend thought that I could trust. what the hell was I even thinking by trusting a werewolf?

"Welcome to the second phase of this competition," The announcer, a tall bulky man that could pass as a giant spoke through a microphone as he stood at the center facing us. "today's competition is by preparing a sumptuous meal for the alpha king and his loyal servants that hungry," he said.

Danielle raised her hand to ask a question and the man pointed towards her. "why are we doing the cooking when we have servants who could do all of that?" she asked.

That was a great question from someone as dumb as Danielle. never believed that she was going to ask a question like that.

"According to what the alpha king wanted, he doesn't want to rely on the servant's food only and the noble consort can prepare a meal for him if he demanded it," the announcer replied, and to be honest, I found the reasons a little bit dumb because it didn't make sense that a noble consort would also be involved in the kitchen affairs.

"if that is all then I shall continue right away," the announcer said and cleared his throat. "we shall now begin the competition. guards," he shouted.

since we were reduced to five, the guards assigned to us were on five and they all walked towards us holding a tag just like in the forest. they handed over the name tag to us and unlike in the forest where it was two people sharing the same color, it was different as the tag was of different colors. I raised mine which was a green color and tapped the center. it showed the timer which was also four hours and began to countdown.

"you all shall be lead to the royal kitchen and you have a few hours until this task is completed," the announcer said and we all nodded in response. we followed the guards who lead us into the mansion and took a left turn where the kitchen was. the royal kitchen was much bigger than they portrayed it to look. it could contain a hundred people at once and I wondered if they were cooking other people's food aside from the king's. There were five stands with our names on them and a kitchen assistant already standing by our stand. when I saw my name beside a cooker, I rushed towards it and waved at the assistant standing by the table.

"hello," I greeted her but she only stared at me without saying or doing anything. "I am Lorena and I thought that you were assigned to me."

"yes my lady," the girl replied and lowered her head. "we are assigned to you to assist with receiving or passing the necessary instruments to you but we are not assisting you in cooking," her replies was straightforward and I liked how she sounded like a robot when talking.

"great," I turned on the tap in the basin and washed my hands.

"what meal will you be preparing huh?" she asked.

"how many are the lords?" I asked and made the mistake of looking by my right-hand side. angelica was by my side and she waved at me while I ignored her as if she wasn't there. I knew that she had a motive and was waiting for the perfect time to take credit for what I wanted to do.

"the lords are five in numbers and the other lord who is the king's friend...."

"lord Alistair," I finished it for her and she nodded in response. "so they are all a total number of nine right?" I asked her and she nodded in response.

"yes," she replied.

"great," I cleared my throat and looked at my table for the ingredient present but there was none. "how do I get my ingredients?"

"just tell me what you want and I make it available for you," she replied.

"alright," I nodded in response and requested a pen and paper which were handed over to me. after writing what I needed down, I handed over the paper back to her. "get me all of that," I requested and she nodded in response.

"I will be back," she answered and walked deeper into the kitchen. I noticed that it was the same time angelica's assistant also walked into the inner side of the kitchen.

"what are you cooking?" Angelica asked.

"so I have you steal it again huh?" I retorted and she burst into laughter.

"what are friends for huh?" I hated how she used the term friend when she was abusing it. "whatever is it you are cooking, I hope it's a great meal," she scoffed and walked back to her stand. just then, my assistant arrived with her hands empty. there was nothing she bought back and I wondered why. it was until she reached my side that I realized that the paper I gave to her was gone.

"I lost the ingredient list and..." she paused as Angelica's assistant walked out with a sack bag in her hand. "there are few ingredients left," she said and I could see the nonchalance in her eyes as if she didn't want me to win. "you could just quit because there is no ingredient left for you to win this competition," she scoffed and walked away leaving me all alone.

"oh!" Angelica came to meet me. "did you just lose your servant and you haven't even gotten the ingredient for preparing the royal meal." she tutted and walked back to her stand. "I could lend you a few as a good friend that I am," she stated and pointed to her table. that was when I saw that everything on her table was the ingredient that I wrote for the assistant. I heaved a sigh and rubbed my hands together.

I had no idea what to do as Angelica had already stolen my idea and had started cooking. I looked toward the rest of the girls opposite us and realized that they all has started cooking. "should I give up?" I muttered to myself and looked at angelica again. I stared at her ingredient and smiled widely when I realized that she was missing the main ingredient that I didn't input on the list.

let's see how she will get the idea of replaceing out about the last missing piece, I thought and walked deeper into the kitchen where the Storage was. I removed my name tag from my pocket and stared at the timer. thirty minutes were already gone meaning that I didn't have enough time any longer. I gasped when I realized that the kitchen storage was as big as the kitchen itself. I looked through the aisle searching for the ingredient I had in mind and when I found them, I picked a basket and placed the ingredient inside the basket. I was going to prepare the pan roast cod and jersey royal with pancetta. I had seen my mother write down her recipe each time she was ready to go for her kitchen duties in the home of a noble werewolf.

After I got all the ingredients that I needed, I walked back to the kitchen and placed them on my sink. when I returned, angelica's meal was already close to getting done. when she saw me, she waved at me.

"poor you are going to get kicked out which is sad," she said and shook her head at me.

I ignored her completely because I knew that whatever she was cooking was going to be a crazy meal. if she was on my good side and had not tried to steal my ingredient then I would have informed her but what she did was a result of her greediness so I didn't care about what would happen to her after that.

once I have placed all my ingredients on the table, I began my cooking and already calculated my time. since we've already spent an hour, I only had two hours and thirty minutes for the meal of pan roast cod to be done. I started by preheating the oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

"preparing an oven meal huh?" Angelica laughed at me and I palmed my forehead while realizing how stupid she sounded.

I ignored her and wash and dry the jersey potatoes that I was going to use. I cut them in half lengthwise. once I was done with that, I placed the potatoes in a baking tray with the olive oil and a pinch of salt then I placed them inside the oven leaving them to cool in the oil. "it seems you are going to take a while with your meal when I am almost done with mine," Angelica said.

"I hope you know what you are preparing," I asked her and she glared at me.

"at least it would be better than your crazy food," she said and I nodded in response and stared at her kitchen assistant who looked as if she had no idea of the meal Angelica was preparing. if she knew, she would have advised Angelica to add the most important ingredients.

I went back to the oven and preheat it to 180 degrees celsius once I was done with that, I proceeded to turn on the cooker and placed my frying pan on top of it adding enough olive oil. I increased the heat and placed inside the hot oil the skin of the cod with salt and pepper. I seasoned the white flesh of the fish and turned it over. after making sure that it was crispy, I turned off the cooker. I removed the pan and placed it aside for the heat to reduce. I diced the pancetta into small lardons and then I placed back the frying pan on top of the cooker and fried the pancetta alongside the cod fish until it was crispy. I placed the woody stems from the samphire after making sure that I washed and added them to the pan with a little bit of butter. I cooked it for about one minute and add the lemon zest and seasoned it to taste.

when I was halfway, I realized that almost all the girls were done with cooking. it would have been easier for me if I had an assistant. I envied all the girls at that moment but I had to go on my own. I removed the potatoes from the oven and warmed them inside the pan that has the samphire and the pancetta mix. I poured the lemon juice, wine, and vinegar into another pan and reduced the heat whisked it in butter, and added season, salt, and chives to taste.

"tik tock!" Angelica squealed as she packed the rest of her meal with her assistants. "do you need help?" she laughed.

I was boiling with anger at that moment but I ignored it and focused on my cooking. I placed the cod inside the oven and left it for eight minutes until it was cooked. while waiting, I stretched my arms and neck before proceeding to set the meal in a royal flask for all the royals. by the time I was done, I was the only one left in the kitchen with two guards who were watching me like hawks.

"I am done!" I announced to no one in particular.