"You're dismissed. We will be making lunch." Catherine informed the head chef who nodded in understanding on seeing the little princess with the madam, as the rest of the kitchen servants started to leave the kitchen.
Normally, nobles would be mortified at the thought of cooking or learning that their spouse— the women, or child— wanted to cook, but the people in the Grand Duke's mansion were used to their madam using the kitchen, since Catherine used the kitchen sometimes when she got married to their master.
So, it wasn't too shocking that the princess also wanted to join her mother in the kitchen.
No one knew how the servants would react if they learned that Wilson would also join in the cooking. But even if they did find out, they could do nothing about it, after all servants had no say in the affairs of their masters.
The only servants who remained in the kitchen were Adeline and Cassandra, their personal maids and nannies who were told to observe so that they'd be able to teach the rest of the kitchen servants how to make the food just so that they wouldn't have to always prepare the meal themselves whenever they wanted to eat it.
Melanie, Catherine's lady-in-waiting, was also present. She was an aristocrat and left for her, wouldn't have liked to do things the servants should be doing, but she had no choice but to obey her lady.
Besides, it wasn't the first time such a thing would have happened. She just didn't expect, even in her wildest dreams, that there would come a time where Wilson would join his wife to do something so lowly. It was unbelievable!
Nevertheless, she kept her thoughts to herself.
The head chef and the rest of the servants weren't asked to leave the kitchen just for Catherine to use it. Aristia came up with the idea to save Wilson the embarrassment. She couldn't believe she actually forgot the timeline she was in, and was beginning to doubt if she truly was a genius as the world called her and she called herself.
Some minutes after the kitchen servants left, Wilson and Alaric walked into the kitchen, the both of them dressed in their usual stylish clothing. Aristia had changed into the simplest dress in her wardrobe and also asked Catherine to do the same, but even the simplest dresses spelled expensive and looked extravagant.
She was considering wearing her sleepwear but she didn't want her parents to experience a heart attack.
[Walking around the house in pyjamas? That would be the last straw. They'd take me to the doctor to have me checked out, or even to a priest after I've made all these 'strange' requests today.]
She smiled at the thought as she kneaded the dough with her little hands. She enjoyed cooking as much as she enjoyed eating.
"What am I to do?" Wilson asked Catherine, his voice snapping Aristia out of her thoughts. He was clueless on what to do. Even the cooking utensils were foreign to him.
Catherine chuckled softly. Her husband who always knew what to do actually looked clueless in the kitchen, but it was expected, after all, he had never stepped foot into the kitchen before now. However, she was seeing a side of her husband she had never seen before.
Catherine turned to Aristia for the answer to Wilson's question. She realized that she herself didn't know what Aristia had in mind so she couldn't tell Wilson what to do. She just knew that they were baking based on the flour they were kneading.
"What do you have in mind to make?"
"We're making doughnuts and a few drinks." Aristia chirped.
"Doughnuts? What are those? I've never heard of them before." Wilson asked curiously.
They all turned to her, wondering what that was and why they had never heard of it. Most importantly, they wondered how she knew about it.
"You'll see. For now, you can help knead the dough like I and Mama." Aristia replied, pointing to the remaining lump of unkneaded dough in the bowl.
Wilson was about to pick up the dough when Aristia stopped him, politely telling him to wash his hands. She didn't want germs all over her food.
It's essential to always wash your hands when dealing with food," she said, then provided an explanation. "I read it in a book in the library yesterday."
Obliging, Wilson and Alaric did as she said. Aristia divided the unkneaded dough into a smaller portion which she gave to Alaric, while handing the bigger portion to Wilson.
Wilson watched their movement and in no time, he was able to get the hang of it. The problem was with Alaric who was having trouble kneading the dough.
Walking over to him, Aristia sprinkled a little flour on the rolling board placed on top of the kitchen stool so that Alaric would be able to knead the dough comfortably. She held the dough and kneaded it, and then asked him to do the same.
She oiled a bowl and asked Alaric to place the kneaded dough into it. She did the same to hers as Wilson and Catherine imitated her actions.
"What shall we do now?" Catherine asked Aristia curiously.
"Now we cover it and wait for the dough to rise." Thankfully, she found yeast in the kitchen.
Her next words made them curious.
"We aren't anywhere near done, and we won't be making only doughnuts today."