A Divorced Evil Lady Bakes Cakes

Erin cut the steaming, golden brown pie into slices.
She put the slices on a tray and walked into the store.

But before she could open the door, she heard a loud shout.

“Does this thing think I’m a beggar?”

“Ack..!”

She then saw a middle-aged man shoved a woman hard, knocking her to the ground.
Erin dropped the tray and ran to immediately.

“Melly!”

“Ms.
Erin, he’s here again.”

Erin looked up at the grumpy man.

He was a grumpy-looking middle-aged man.
He was a customer who came while Erin was out shopping for ingredients.

The truth was that he only paid around ten-silver coins, but he still insisted that it was ten gold coins, he even angrily demanded change.

He heard from one of the regular customers that the shop is quite famous in the area.
So he came to check.

It was always his habit to go to newly opened shops, that were being managed by women, or the elderly.
Then create trouble like this.

To stop him from causing anymore commotion they would often just give him money to get rid of him quickly.
For them, It’s not really that much money.

The grandson of the woman at the next table was confused.
He’s been a regular since day one.

“Look, I swear I saw it, and it was ten silvers.”

“What? Are you the owner? Why are you interrupting a customer?”

“I’m the owner.”

“What?”

Erin replied, stepping up to the man.
“I’m the owner.”

The man approached Erin.
He was a big man.
As he got closer, he looked even bigger.

“You’re the owner? How do you train your employees? Can’t you even count money?”

“As you saw, it was clearly a silver coin.”

“Shut up!”

Before he could finish, something flashed in front of his eyes.

Erin instinctively turned her face away.
A handful of copper coins fell to the floor.

The man sneered, after throwing a handful of coins into Erin’s face.

“I obviously came here with gold coins and a handful of coins.
Are there any gold coins in here? I want you to count them.”

“You treat people like beggars, and you disrespect people when you only own a small shop like this!”

It was too much of an insult.
The coins scattered to the floor.

The tension in the shop was palpable.
Melly’s face was full of shock and anger, and the customers were looking at the man with displeasure.

Erin couldn’t help but feel sorry for Melly, but she wasn’t angry.

As people stared at her with tense expressions, she just casually picked up all the coins that had fallen to the floor.

Then she threw them back into the man’s face.

“How dare you hurt me?”

The man, who had been standing tall, quickly fell to the ground and stiffened.
He raised his arms to cover his face.

“What the hell is this?”

The man cried out in surprise.
Erin turned to him and said gravely.

“Why don’t you count them? Even though you don’t have any manners, I think you should at least know how to count.
But you don’t even know your basic numbers.”

“What, what?”

The man is quite shocked in his own way.
No owner had ever reacted this way before, because he’d always gone to shops run by nice young women or old ladies.

Most of the time, they avoided him because he was dirty, but no one had ever jumped in and fought back like this.

“Is this woman out of her mind?”

That was when the man raised his fist to hit Erin.
Erin quickly grabbed the small dagger she kept in her pocket.
Her father was a knight and she was an only child.
Erin had learned some self-defense.
She could easily stab an opponent.

‘In this situation, it’s self-defense, right?’

That’s all she could think.
So she didn’t hesitate at all but before she could do anything the man already screamed.

“Ack!”

Blood trickled down the back of the man’s knee.
Behind the cowering man, was another man standing with his sword drawn.

Dark black hair with a faint blue tinge.
Piercing and beautifully shaped features, vividly blue eyes.

He was familiar.

“Your Highness…?”

The man screamed, falling to the ground with a sharp kick to the head.

Without missing a beat, Calix stamped his foot on the nape of the man’s thick neck.

“Sister-in-law, should I kill him?”

Calix put one foot on the man’s throat and pressed hard.
The man made a gasping sound and struggled.

Erin quickly stopped him,

“No, don’t kill him!”

‘Who would come to eat cake in a shop where a murder had taken place?’

Calix was persuaded and removed his foot.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The man ran out of the shop, dragging one leg in a panic.

Erin quickly apologized to the customers.

“I’m sorry for causing such a ruckus.”

But none of the customers looked at her.
It just so happened that all the customers were women, and All their eyes were on Calix.

And for good reason.

He was a beautiful spectacle who could be considered a ruggedly handsome man.

Erin cleaned up the spilled tray and bloodstains and led Calix out into the garden.

“What brings you here?”

“Sister-in-law, how could you say that, you weren’t like that when I left.”

‘Really?’

Calix laughed heartily.

“I just came to look around, and I’m glad I did.”

Erin had spent nine years playing the quiet, patient Duchess and couldn’t remember what she was like, maybe living in the palace had changed her personality.

“Anyway, it’s been a while.”

It had been a while since she’d seen him.
He was almost always on his estate or out and about, so she hadn’t seen him much except when she was younger.

Erin was thinking that she should catch up and make amends when, suddenly Melly came out and announced,

“Miss Erin, we have an order!”

Erin turned to look at Calix to excuse herself, but he already beat her to it,

“You must be busy.
I’ll just go back then.”

“You’ll just go?”

Calix turned away as if it were no big deal.

“I’ve already seen enough of your shop for today,” He said slowly.

He walked through the shop and out the door, and Erin wondered if he had really come just to take a look, but she still wanted to treat him to tea.

‘I’m sure he won’t come back anymore.
She’s divorced now, and we’re not even family anymore.’

Erin pushed down her disappointment and walked into the shop.

A young customer appeared at the door entrance.
He introduced himself as someone from the Levonce family.

“Lady Caterina has ordered a cake for herself.”

The order was for Caterina von Levonce, to send her a sachertorte as an after tea snack.

“Caterina…? Lady Caterina?”

Caterina was a pretty, self-confident young lady, she was a daughter of a duke.
She was also the granddaughter of the chancellor.

Sachertorte is a sweet and sour chocolate cake made of chocolate sponge cake cut into thin slices, layered with apricot jam, and then coated with chocolate on the outside of the cake.

It’s tricky, but it’s not unheard of.

The only question is, why would a young Duchess who could have her family chef bake enough cakes for her to last a lifetime, order this from Erin’s shop?

“Her Highness Caterina also requests that the cake made by Miss Erin should be delivered by herself.”

Even with these instructions.
Melly glanced uneasily at Erin.
Maybe she’s up to something.

She looked at Erin as if she had to be careful.

‘Of course, I know she didn’t order the cake purely for the sake of it.’

But since she ordered one for some reason, she is not going to take no for an answer.

Erin hesitated for a moment before accepting the order.

“Okay, I’ll take the order.”

⚘

Erin whipped white cream with vanilla beans and brought it to a boil.

As the white cream bubbled, it began to emit a savory creamy smell, like milk and vanilla.

She whisked the egg yolks and sugar into the lightly simmering cream.
Pour the mixture into a small bowl and cook until the top is pale golden.

After removing the golden cream, she sprinkled a little sugar on the golden top and melted it over the fire to create a solid caramelized layer.

The snowy white sugar granules turned into a sweet-smelling caramel color.

It was crème brûlée, made by cooking cream.

It was a simple, yet deliciously sophisticated dessert

“This is pretty good?”

When she poked her spoon into the caramel, the thick layer of caramel covering the cream broke apart, revealing the yellow custard cream inside.

Calix was sitting at the kitchen island, He then curiously scooped up the crème brûlée and admired it.

Erin watched the finished dessert disappear in a flash, then asked.

“Your Highness, what brings you here today?”

It was the second day since the incident with that burly man occured.

Calix, who had helped Erin that day, had come to the shop again today.

How long had he been sitting alone?

The women even followed him into the shop, just to watch him.

She likes customers, but she doesn’t need any more strange rumors.

“I came to watch my sister-in-law work today, and while I’m at it, I’d also like to have some of the desserts you sell here.”

Erin was about to retort that she’s not his sister-in-law anymore, and that the desserts are good enough in the palace.