The hero's gender is yet to be determined after rebirth.

"I want to see your cooking skills with my own eyes first. Please change the dish."

So Lorenwei tried a different approach.

The lady-in-waiting didn't even need to taste the food; just by watching her movements and smelling the aroma, she knew the dishes were quite good. This was even after Lorenwei deliberately concealed her supernatural abilities and didn't use any water or fire elemental magic to control them.

"Your pay is one hundred silver coins per day, including two kitchen helpers, which you will manage," the female steward stated, explaining, "but it won't be you cooking directly; rather, you'll be teaching our court chefs how to cook for a month. How does that sound?"

Lorenwei immediately realized that she was a newcomer of unknown origin, and the other party wouldn't let her work directly on them. This indirect approach was a safer method.

"You're all learning my skills, are you trying to stop people from earning a living by their own abilities?" Lorenwei complained.

Of course she had to put on an act; it would be too fake to just agree directly.

After some haggling, a deal was struck, and the three were taken to the palace. But it wasn't the inner palace; they only passed through the first layer of guards.

"You may rest here." The lady-in-waiting led them to a beautifully decorated palace.

With its Byzantine-style decor and impressive interior, it's clear that this is a very nice place to live.

"We're staying here?" Lorenwei looked flattered.

This arrangement is a bit much for a cook. She felt a little uneasy, but couldn't figure out why.

"We'll be welcoming distinguished guests soon, and the servants' quarters are all full. You three are such young girls, and you're from out of town, you might get bullied if you stay in the servants' quarters," the female official explained. She quickly summoned the etiquette officer, taught the three some basic palace rules, and then left.

While Lorenwei and the others were receiving instruction in palace etiquette, the palace maid went straight into the inner palace after leaving, found a magnificent palace, and bowed to a noblewoman to report.

The lady in her thirties was arranging flowers when she heard the lady-in-waiting's report. She exclaimed in surprise, "That beautiful cook is named Weiwei? And the assistant cooks with her are an elf and a girl?"

"Yes. They are all too beautiful! Any one of them would be exceptionally beautiful, so I have my suspicions. Especially that Weiwei, I have never seen such a beautiful girl before."

Could it be that they've surpassed Kurara? The noblewoman smiled subtly.

Although the lady-in-waiting couldn't find anything wrong on the surface, she was far from reassured about Lorenwei and the other two: "I'm here to inform you that I'm worried there might be something wrong with them, so I've placed them in the most heavily guarded Noble Lady's Palace..."

"I understand. Come with me to take a look." The noblewoman stood up.

The female steward quickly followed.

"...Eagle Eye!" The noblewoman, familiar with the palace's layout, immediately found a high spot and used her magic to get a distant view.

Her control over magic was so good that it was impossible to detect her from a distance.

After getting a clear look at Lorenwei and the others from the window of the noblewoman's palace, the noblewoman covered her mouth and chuckled. Then she dismissed the lady-in-waiting, saying, "I know. They are not suspicious people. Don't frighten them."

The lady-in-waiting acknowledged and left.

The noblewoman gazed at Lorenwei in the distance, smiling as she murmured to herself, "Kurara hasn't returned yet, so why is Lorenwei here?"

Chapter 169 A True Assassin, Elf Culinary Skills are Divine, Only Vivi is Miserable…

Inside the Noble Lady's Hall, a rather elderly female etiquette officer began instructing Lorenwei and her two companions on basic manners.

"I see on the list that your name is Weiwei, right?" the etiquette officer asked. "By the way, what are the names of your two kitchen helpers?"

“Her name is Donglufu,” Lorenwei introduced, pointing to each of them in turn. “Her name is Meihong.”

The two women's lips twitched.

“My name is Meilan!” Meilan couldn’t help but protest.

Lorenwei was helpless.

The etiquette officer demanded, "What is your name, exactly?"

"Vivi likes to joke. My name is Silph, and her name is Melanie," Silph explained. Anyway, neither she nor Melanie were famous, so even if word got out, no one would suspect anything.

The female officer glared at Lorenwei: "If you dare to be disrespectful again, you'll get a good beating."

Lorenvi's eyes widened in horror: "Are you really going to hit me?"

"There are rules in the palace. Those who disobey will be slapped at best, and executed at worst!" the female official warned the three.

Lorenwei stuck out her tongue: "We're just here to make some money, it doesn't have to be this dangerous, does it?"

"What do you know?! If you offend someone important, there's no point in arguing!" The female official glared, but quickly asked with suspicion, "The three of you are all so beautiful, why are you out here making money? What are you doing as a chef, trying to earn money?"

Lorenwei said, "To save up for my dowry."

"You, need to save up for a dowry? The matchmakers would be fighting over you!" the official said, unconvinced.

"A pretty face is only a temporary asset; as time goes by, it will eventually fade away," Lorenwei said seriously. "If a woman wants to have a place in her husband's family, she still has to rely on herself!"

The female official looked at her with new respect.

Sylph thought to herself: This guy really does talk a lot about unicorns.

The lady-in-waiting looked at Sylph again: "Elves also need to earn dowries?"

Sylph, being exceptionally intelligent, slowly replied, "To buy a house in human territory."

“…” Lorenwei thought to herself, “Sure enough, the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie.”

“It’s not easy for any race,” the female official suddenly said with a touch of sympathy, then turned to Meilan and asked, “What about you? What’s the reason?”

Meilan couldn't answer for a moment, and was afraid of saying the wrong thing and exposing Lorenwei, so she turned red with embarrassment.

"Never mind, I won't ask you anymore." The female official didn't take it to heart.

Then she began to teach them where they couldn't go, that as cooks they could only move around in designated areas of the palace, how to bow their heads when they saw important people, and that they were not allowed to look up directly at them, and so on.

There's no need to teach them anything too detailed, since they're just cooks and don't need to be served or relay messages like maids.

However, Meilan also encountered problems in learning even the most basic etiquette.

"Bend down!" The female official pressed hard on Meilan's back.

But this seemingly frail girl's back was so slender that it couldn't bend at all.

Sylph quickly said, "She was injured when she was a child, so she can't bend over anymore. She'll just lower her head and avoid looking at important people."

Meilan stubbornly replied, "I won't bow my head..."

Lorenwei tugged at her arm: "You asked why we make money? Meilan makes money to treat her back injury!"

Female official: "I don't believe it!"

Lorenwei tried to signal Meilan to bow her head, but it was no use. She could only advise the lady-in-waiting, "She's a slow learner, please be a little more lenient with her..."

"I don't need to make any special demands on you, but she..." The lady-in-waiting was quite satisfied with the appearance of Vivi and Sylph, feeling that they didn't need any instruction. After all, one was beautiful and had the air of a well-bred lady, while the other not only possessed a natural and lively charm but also an innate elegance.

But this girl named Meilan actually tried to learn the bowing etiquette like a wooden stake!

The female official was not satisfied and jumped up on the spot, pressing down on Meilan's back.

Meilan curled her lip, her body tilted slightly, and the female official lost focus of her strength, falling to the ground with a thud.

"Oh dear, my back! My back!" The older lady-in-waiting clutched her back on the ground, too afraid to move.

She was carried away by the maids...

"As expected of you." Lorenwei gave Meilan a thumbs up.

Sylph patted Melanie on the shoulder: "You haven't lost any of your teacher-slayer skills..."

Meilan scratched her head and gave an awkward laugh.

Soon, a new lady-in-waiting arrived.

The newcomer is relatively young and doesn't make overly demanding requests, nor does he force Meilan or others to provide guidance; he truly keeps things within reasonable limits.

Lorenwei and the others assumed that each lady-in-waiting had a different personality, and naturally did not know that it was the noblewoman who gave the instructions after receiving the report.

The afternoon of etiquette instruction passed quickly.

The dinner wasn't lavish, but it was of a high standard, and Meilan and others were satisfied with it after it was served.

After the meal, the female stewardess came again and asked them to familiarize themselves with the commonly used ingredients and seasonings in the kitchen and back kitchen.

Of course, someone will accompany you throughout the entire process.

Lorenwei selected some seasonings she needed and also made some requests for purchasing special ingredients.

“If you teach our chefs diligently, we can meet your needs.” The lady-in-waiting instructed her servants to write it down and go to make the purchases.

Satisfy me? Not so easy. At least your princess would have to come, Lorenwei thought to herself.

A kitchen that wasn't used much on a regular basis was designated for Lorenwei to train the court chefs.

“The fire in the stove is a bit small; I need the bellows to be cleaned. I need to personally inspect the coal, wood, and coke,” Lorenwei continued, making further demands.

"If it weren't for that noble person treating you differently, I wouldn't bother with you cooks at all!" The palace maid was dissatisfied. She thought, "When have the cooks ever dared to be so picky and make demands after entering the palace? Besides, you didn't even cook the dishes yourself. You were just passing on your skills to the palace chefs. In short, you were mentors."

That evening, three royal chefs arrived at the teaching kitchen to receive culinary instruction.

After the lady-in-waiting introduced them, none of the three chefs even glanced at Lorenwei.

"So young?"

"Hmph! What a joke!"

"Could they be playing a trick on us?"

The three chefs were naturally unconvinced. Although they were not yet top chefs, they did not take Lorenve seriously.

"If you don't respect me, I'm too lazy to teach you." Lorenwei looked like she was too lazy to bother with you. "As long as you can eat the food she makes, I won't force you."

She pointed at Sylph.

Sylph: "..."

Meilan thought to herself, "Lorenwei, you're pretty ruthless to those who look down on you!"

Sylph carefully prepared a scrambled egg dish, doing her best, hoping that her cooking skills would no longer be cursed.

Soon, all three chefs were carried away after tasting Silva's scrambled eggs at the same time.

One of them was foaming at the mouth and convulsing.

One of them immediately felt dizzy and unsteady on his feet.

The third one was even more decisive; he just choked and passed out.

Before they lost consciousness, they couldn't believe it: they had clearly seen her make the scrambled eggs, how could she have poisoned them?!

……