Lucius looked at Loriel intently. "So, do you have any problem with my gender?"

"Nah, I am just surprised. I don't have a problem," Loriel quickly lied. "Can we see the baking classroom? I am interested in learning baking too. That's why I came here with Elise today."

Loriel was quick-witted. If he suddenly forbade Elise from attending her baking class with Lucius, she might suspect that Loriel was petty and it might make her resent him. No… Loriel didn't want to risk it.

Maybe it would be better if Loriel joined her in the class. That way he could spend more time with Elise, and he could also keep an eye on Lucius.

So, he just pretended to be interested in baking. Loriel was a good liar and he could make his words sound convincing. Well, it seemed Lucius bought it.

"Is that so? Please, lock the front door and I'll show the two of you around." Chef Lucy smiled at them both. He was a indeed handsome and attractive young man. "The front area is where we display our finished products, even those of my students."

Elise glanced at Loriel. "I actually finished brownies when I was here last time."

"Those were immediately sold out." Chef Lucy chuckled and opened one of the doors and led them into the back portion of the bakery. He turned to Loriel and smiled broadly. "This is where the magic happens."

Elise and Loriel entered a long hallway and soon arrived at the baking facility. The baking room had a sink, an oven and an extra sink for cleaning utensils and the oven.

The sweet aroma of baked foods and the wonderful sights of the baking room immediately reminded Elise of her baking class and how she was going to bake Loriel a cake.

"Oh, this smells wonderful!" Elise said.

"You have a good nose, I'm whipping something up for Christmas." Chef Lucy said.

The whole bakery was filled with a soft sweet heavenly aroma, as if this area was always filled with constant baking.

Something was baking in the oven right now. In one of the tables were flowers perfectly arranged in one of the tins, but they weren't ordinary flowers, they were chocolate white roses.

Elise knew that Chef Lucy must be using white roses for some of the desserts. She walked up to the first white cake decorated with white roses.

"What are these for? Besides it being for Christmas, Chef Lucy?" Loriel asked. "It seems like it's intended for something else too? A wedding?"

"They're a small present I wanted to give." Chef Lucy said with a small smile. "It seems like you're familiar with flower meanings, so you must be quite a romantic, sir Loriel."

"Everybody knows what they mean," Loriel said bluntly.

"So someone's getting married?" Elise said. There was a slight wonder in her voice.

Loriel hoped that it meant that weddings were still something that Elise wanted for herself.

"It can also simply show one's pure devotion, a budding and young romance if you will." Chef Lucy answered.

Loriel was surprised at the sweet comment and wondered if it was directed to Elise. As for Elise herself, she looked at the Chef and beamed, "Oh, that's so sweet!"

"I hope they appreciate it when I give it to them," Chef Lucy said.

"I'm sure they will!" Elise replied. The Chef's own words made her think about the present that she was going to give to Loriel.

"If she doesn't want the cake, it'd be a pity to throw it away too." Lucius chuckled.

"... I'm sure that no one can resist a cake from a renowned chef like you, Chef."

"You flatter me too much, shall we get on with the lessons this evening?"

Elise and Chef Lucy seemed to be quite close and friendly with one another.

That made sense because it wasn't only Loriel who spent the last three months with Elise, Lucius was also present around those times, even if his presence wasn't immediately felt.

"Uh, if you guys don't mind… I don't have anything to do at my place, can I stick around here and observe the lessons?" Loriel asked.

"Of course," Lucius smiled at him. "Actually, feel free to wash up and get yourself ready if you want to bake too. I've always taught Elise alone, so it'd be nice for her to have a companion."

"That sounds perfect then." Loriel barely stopped himself from gritting his teeth.

Elise and Lucius were all alone together for the past months. Gosh…! He didn't know this. He had given another man a chance to get close to Elise for a long time.

It's time to mark his territory and showed Lucius that Elise belonged to him only.

It made Loriel stay at the bakery and soon he received an impromptu baking lesson. That night Elise and Loriel learned how to decorate cake through the frosting, little desserts, and other items to make a cake look appetizing.

It was for that reason that Elise wasn't able to bake him the present right away. She didn't want to ruin the surprise by doing it in front of him.

Elise hoped that Loriel enjoyed the lessons from Chef Lucy. However, it was quite the opposite actually.

Loriel saw that Elise and Lucius were already working together like a good team. Whenever Lucius wanted something, Elise was quick to give it to him or even guessed what the chef needed even before he asked.

"Here's the vanilla syrup, and I got the molasses too."

"Thank you, Elise." Lucius smiled at her.

"Not a problem, thank you for teaching us."

"It's always a pleasure teaching you, so you don't have to thank me," said Lucius with a wink. This action invited a murderous glare from Loriel.

He was so tempted to create 'an accident' where Lucius' oven would explode in his face and scare him for a bit. Lucius wouldn't hurt, of course, but he would be shocked and probably take a year or two from baking.

Gosh... shut up, Loriel. Don't be so childish, the former king chided himself.

Elise was glowing and seemed to be so happy doing all her baking work. He didn't want to take that away from her. He must bear this annoyance and let Elise continue her baking classes with Lucius.

It took a lot of effort on Loriel's part to not get too upset. Unlike Tessa and Julian, this Lucius dude was a decent person... if only he hadn't become too close to Elise.

It was one of the first times that Loriel truly felt jealous.

This was a sickening feeling and he couldn't help but wonder how Elise managed to be so kind whenever he brought up Emmelyn before. Just seeing the two of them interact was making his chest tighten.

If Loriel never met Elise, someone else might have met and helped her.

What did she think of her baking teacher? Did she like him a lot and it gave her more eagerness to attend her lessons? What if she wanted to start a business with the man right in front of him?

What if this Lucius had offered it to Elise?

Terrible thoughts filled Loriel's mind and he paused for a moment to become calm again.

.

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From the author:

I will publish the next chapter in a few hours. After that, please be patient and wait for two days as I am preparing the next tier for Privilege (I need two days to add 8 chapters in the new tier and 2 more chapters for regular readers). They will be ready on August 2.

The new Tiers in August will be as follows:

Tier 1 - 1 coin - 2 advanced chapters

Tier 2 - 5 coins - 5 advanced chapters

Tier 3 - 300 coins - 11 advanced chapters

Tier 4 - 1000 coins + disc 99% for chapters - 20 chapters

Tier 5 - 1500 coins + disc 99% for chapters - 28 chapters

As always, privilege is not compulsory to read this book 2 chapters per day. You can downgrade your privilege to a lower tier, upgrade to a higher tier, or stay in the same tier.

It's all up to you. Even without privilege you will be able to read chapters 2 per day. If you want to purchase the privilege, you will have to renew it next month in order to stay ahead.