Chapter 2

The chief eunuch saw it happen and slapped his own thigh in a panic.

"Five people ahead of you are already dead, and you still dare to sneak a bite?"

My mind went blank.

"Osric, you saw everything! Every move I made just now was right under your eyes!"

"How could I possibly have eaten it?"

Osric gave a cold snort.

"The five before you all said the very same thing!"

"If you didn't eat it, are you telling me a spiced cake can simply vanish into thin air?"

"Guards! Drag this thieving little wretch away—"

My thoughts raced, and I dropped to my knees with a thud.

"Osric, the spiced cakes need the heat controlled to the exact degree."

"I must have gotten careless just now and steamed one of them clean away…"

Something wavered in Osric's eyes.

But the Matron slid me a cold glance.

"They were all steamed in the same pot. How does just one melt away and the rest come out untouched?"

"Osric, a lying, slippery little slave like this cannot be kept!"

With my life on the line, I forgot every rule of decorum.

I clutched the hem of Osric's robe.

"Right now I'm the only one left in the royal kitchens who knows how to make spiced cakes."

"I beg you, give me one more chance!"

Osric glanced at the hourglass in the corner, was silent a moment, then spoke coldly at last.

"Fine. Kill you, and I'll have to go outside the palace to find another cook."

"You have half an hour. Slip up once more, and not even the gods themselves could save you!"

I thanked him quickly.

Trembling, I went back to the stove.

Staring at the steamer with only four cakes left in it,

my thoughts flew as I ran through every detail of how I'd steamed them.

Then it struck me.

What if someone had tampered with the ingredients themselves?

When I was little, my sister told me about a shape-shifting powder said to exist among the common folk. Mix it into food, and once the food was steamed through, it would dissolve into vapor and vanish without a trace.

I'd always taken such street rumors for nonsense.

But now…

I asked Osric at once to send to the royal storehouse for fresh ingredients.

Osric's face soured with impatience.

"If the young prince weren't at stake, I'd never let a little girl make this much fuss over a plate of cakes."

I kept my eyes down and apologized over and over.

By the time the new ingredients came, I had only three quarters of an hour.

I worked faster than I ever had in my life.

First steaming: all five cakes, not one missing.

Second steaming: still fine.

On the last steaming, my hand shook on the lid.

The Matron's brows knotted.

"Waste the hour, and it's still a death sentence!"

I gritted my teeth and lifted the lid.

This time, five cakes, not one missing!

Heat rushed through me, giddy with relief.

Everyone in the room let out a breath.

The cakes were packed into the serving eunuch's food box.

The Matron cut me a look.

"The food's done. Still standing there? Waiting for a reward?"

"Get yourself back where you came from!"

I turned to go back to the laundry service, but my heart was pounding.

My sister had told me you could never let your guard down for a single moment in the palace.

The more you relaxed, the easier it was for things to go wrong.

I glanced back at the serving eunuch, uneasy all over again.

"Osric, spiced cakes are soft and bruise so easily. Would you allow me to deliver them myself?"

The Matron glared at me the way you'd glare at hopeless dead weight.

"What's gotten into you today, girl?"

"The serving eunuch has been in the palace more than thirty years. What delicacy hasn't he carried?"

"Since when is it a little girl's place to run her mouth?"

But the moment the words left the Matron, the serving eunuch set the food box in my hands.

"It's all right. No harm in Rowena being careful."

Five people had died over a single cake.

These spiced cakes had become a hot coal no one wanted to touch.

On the way, a few of the ladies grew curious and wanted to peek inside the box.

I turned each of them away.

When I finally reached the hall where the young prince waited,

I watched Osric carry the food in himself, and only then did I breathe again.

I knelt outside the hall through the burning of a stick of incense. All was calm. Nothing happened.

At last I let go of the fear, rising to take my leave.

But the instant I turned, a furious roar came from inside the hall.

"Who made these cakes?"

"I want her chopped to pieces and fed to the dogs!"