A divorced evil lady bakes cakes

The young ladies who had finished their cakes were all looking at Erin and Serena with interest, their eyes sparkling as if they were looking at a sweet cake.

That’s understandable.

On one side was the ex-wife who had been ignored by her husband and divorced for having an affair with her childhood friend, and on the other side, was the mistress who’s been living with her husband for the entire duration of their marriage.

The combination of the two seems like the climax of an ordinary crazy one-act play.

However, the person who actually caused it all had no shame at all whatsoever.

Serena flashed a smile that shone brighter than her sparkling dress, her eyes darting to the box of cakes Erin had brought.

“I should have done this a little earlier, I was hoping to taste Lady Erin’s cake as well, that’s right. Speaking of which, do you mind if I order a cake as well?”

“A Cake?”

This was an unexpected thing to say.

“Yes, there’s a ball at my mansion in five days, and I was wondering if you could make a cake for me that day?”

Serena added while smiling brightly as if she’d just gotten an idea. Her saintly face could not have been more adorable.

“I’d love to help Lady Erin with her shop, and I think it would be a credit to her shop if the other customers tasted the cake that day, too.”

Erin looked at Serena’s sincere smile and remembered the past.

Erin would have just been called an ordinary duchess if it had only been for her family’s poverty and lacking appearance.

She would have been just a plain duchess that the young duke had accepted at the Emperor’s behest.

But instead, Erin had become an overbearing and mean duchess who bullied her husband’s timid and depressed mistress into submission.

It was Serena who made her that way.

From the first time they met, Serena played the “The little damsel in distress” and thoroughly annoyed Erin behind her back.

She broke and destroyed things that seems to be ‘Important‘ for her, and made it look like, it was all Erin’s doing.

‘While my maid was away for a while, I saw Lady Erin’s maid enter… I couldn’t tell anyone about it, so I had to pretend I didn’t see it…’

After Serena cried and told everyone what ‘Erin’s maid did’, the next day a rumor circulated all over the palace saying that Erin had destroyed Serena’s things in a fit of rage.

‘I went over to say hello, and all of a sudden, Lady Erin was offended….’

After a few words over a cup of tea, the conversation would turn into an anecdote of Erin’s harassment of poor Serena that would spread throughout the imperial court.

If Erin decides to fight back or argue, Serena would then burst into tears in front of everyone, claiming that she had been wronged.

Every time this happened, Erin would always end up as the “Mean Duchess” who bullied poor Serena.

‘I’m so sorry Huhuhu… It’s all my fault, I should have gone back to my hometown when Mr. Raymond got married… No wonder Erin hates me..’

Serena always said that with a look of suppressed sadness.

She always acted like a gentle and cute young lady in front of everyone.

She was kind to everyone and gentle with them. So they all liked her.

The fact that she came from a lowly noble family and was not allowed to become a duchess, even though she was the duke’s lover, aroused the sympathy of the commoners.

Some of the great nobles looked down on her because she came from a lower class.

However, if Serena cajoled them and pretended to be pitiful in front of them, most of them would then change their mind and side with her.

Of course, it wasn’t all just because of Serena’s tricks.

The high nobles of the imperial court are always people who would cling to power.

So as long as Raymond, the future emperor, was on her side, they would always be on her side.

“I see. That’s a very good idea. I’ll make sure to bake a delicious cake for you.”

Now Erin was smiling broadly, too.

Her confident smile was caught by Serena’s beautiful eyes which gave her a feeling of doubt.

However, Serena still smiled unwaveringly.

“Yes. I want a cake made with white chocolate.”

“Alright. I’ll make it with lots of white chocolate.”

Erin looked confident that she could make it well enough.

Serena looked at Erin and then lowered her gaze in disapproval.

“I was… I was actually worried.”

“Worried about what?”

“Lady Erin.”

Serena lowered her eyes slightly and spoke in a worried voice.

‘Ugh.’

“I was worried that Lady Erin would be in a lot of trouble because of those unsavory rumors, and I was afraid that you wouldn’t even be able to come out of your house because of your affair with the Knight Commander, but seeing you like this makes me feel relieved.”

On the surface, it looked like she was genuinely worried about Erin, but if you listen carefully and understand her meaning, she was actually being sarcastic, and was asking how she could be so shameless when she was kicked out for having an affair with the knight commander.

“I’m sure you’re heartbroken.”

She said while picking at the other person’s wounds, but she still had a gentle smile on her face.

“Don’t worry. After all, you’ve been living with a married duke for the past nine years and you’re still fine, so why should I not be able to leave my own house? Even if it’s hard, I’ve cheered up after thinking about Lady Serena’s courage for the past years. So I decided that I’d be as bold as you.”

“Pfft…..”

(T/N: BRAVO!! ERIN! BRAVO!)

Lady Caterina, who had been watching all this from the sidelines, burst out in laughter.

As a proud woman, Lady Caterina had always hated the idea of Serena, a lowly noblewoman, being crowned the queen of the social scene.

It was the pride of a woman from a prestigious family, and seeing her smile so sweetly when she was talking while picking at the other person’s wounds, made her feel disgusted.

The other young ladies tried to hold back their laughter as well, after all they were still unable to go against the wishes of Lady Serena, Raymond’s mistress.

Erin smiled again.

She turned to Serena, who had lost her smile at Erin’s words and was standing there with an expressionless face like a stone statue.

“I’m going to make you a cake with all my heart. You can count on it, My dear Lady Serena.”

Serena replied in a nonchalant tone,

“Yes, I look forward to it, Lady Erin.”

⚘

The yellow glow of the lamp warmed the glass windows as the moon’s shadow crept in.

Erin was sitting at a table in the shop’s foyer while organizing her books.

Sales were good this week, she realized that she’d made a lot more money than she’d expected.

The best part was that the shop was getting even more popular.

At first, there were a lot of people who came in out of curiosity because there were rumors that an imperial patisserie was the one who owns it or that a noblewoman runs the shop or something.

It was good to have so many customers, but she was worried that a lot of them might get disappointed, because those rumors aren’t true but fortunately, those rumors faded over time.

According to a regular customer, the shop is now known as a place that serves unusual desserts.

“Ah, Melly.”

Melly, dressed in her evening clothes, walked into the shop carrying a large basket.

Inside the basket were boxes of white chocolate.

“I brought you the chocolate you asked for.”

“Thanks.”

Serena ordered a cake from Erin yesterday. She said she wanted to order a cake to promote her shop.

She even specified the ingredients.

‘I like white chocolate. Can I order a cake made with white chocolate?’

Of course, you should give the customer what they want.

So Erin merrily accepted her offer and returned to the shop.

It was a cake, big enough for a ball.

So to make that cake, Erin needed to prepare in advance and do some practice.

She asked Melly to pick up some white chocolate when she was out.

During business hours, she didn’t have time to practice because she had to make desserts to sell in the shop.

However, Erin decided that from now on she was going to practice baking different kinds of cake every day after closing and before she went to sleep.

She had just put away her dinner and was in the kitchen baking a fluffy genoise and letting it cool down. When Melly got in with a basket of chocolates. She planned to make the ganache, spread it around the cake and decorate it.

“That… order from Lady Serena. Don’t you think it could be a trap?”

Melly, who was organizing the basket, asked worriedly.

‘Is it?’

“Of course it’s a trap.”

Erin agreed nonchalantly while checking the chocolates.

‘It was obvious.’

Of course, there was no way Serena would order a cake like this from Erin with good intentions.

She must be up to something again.

Just like she always had for the past nine years. Erin knew it, but she’d taken the order anyway.