"That sounds really strange," Renz said, puzzled. "Are you confessing to me?" he added, pulling at the corner of his mouth. He still remembered the previous grudge, and now that he had a chance to get back at her, he wasn't going to miss it.
"What are you talking about!?" Erina's voice involuntarily rose a bit, seemingly noticing the sudden glances from others. Erina then lowered her voice again.
"It's just... it's just that our relationship is one where we rise and fall together. If you lose face, I lose face, got it? Don't overthink it!" Erina said, her face slightly flushed. No liking! No liking! I just don't want to hear others say that Erina bullies her husband every day, that's all!
However, within this short week, they had held hands and hugged. Erina found that her resistance to Renz wasn't so strong that she couldn't live with him. On the contrary, she was gradually adapting to this life. Perhaps living like this isn't so bad after all?
"Okay, I understand," Renz nodded. This is truly Erina!
"Don't misunderstand, I just don't want to lose face," Erina emphasized again. "After all, you are also Haruki and Rina's father." Renz thought to himself, Indeed, as a young lady from a prestigious family, she highly values her reputation. With Erina's protection, it did feel a bit good. Is this what it feels like to be pampered?
Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! This corrupting thought must die! How could I, Renz, win by relying on a woman? Laying back and winning is unacceptable. Winning by relying on children is even more unacceptable!
"Understood! No one understands your thoughts better than I do," Renz made an 'OK' gesture. For a facade of a marriage to exude that 'loving' feeling, it truly required more effort from Erina's side. The fact that Erina was willing to give Renz a high status already made them a model couple in others' eyes.
"Let's go back," Erina said, crossing her arms. Having cleared up some additional small details with Renz, it was time to return to her judge's seat for evaluations.
"Then I'll go to the audience to take care of the children?" Renz asked. There wasn't much point in him staying here. He couldn't comment on dishes, and there were no seats for him, which would only make Erina awkward. Plus, if they appeared in the same frame, there would inevitably be many unnecessary interactions. The more they acted, the higher the chance of exposure. Now that they had successfully bluffed everyone, there was no need to do anything meaningless.
Erina nodded. Renz quietly left the competition venue and headed towards the luxurious audience seats on the stage. Haruki and Rina were currently being looked after by Alice Nakiri. Alice Nakiri was an examiner for the second round of the competition, which was tomorrow. Since she had no duties today, she helped look after the children.
Rina and Alice Nakiri were happily playing in their seats. When Rina saw Renz approaching, she kept waving. However, Renz saw Rina being held by Alice Nakiri, so he reached out and picked up Haruki Nakiri, who seemed a bit lonely sitting by himself.
"Isn't Papa staying with Mama?" Haruki Nakiri asked in a somewhat old-fashioned tone. Compared to the informal Rina, this younger boy, a year younger than Rina, was more composed.
"Mama is busy with work. If I, Papa, were to go over, I would just cause trouble. We can't cause trouble for others," Renz said gently.
While they were talking, the large screen in the center of the venue, which was reporting the overall situation to all the live audience, lit up. A preliminary contestant had already finished their dish and submitted it early. That contestant picked up their dish and rushed towards Erina's direction. Achieving a good ranking in a competition was one way to gain recognition in the culinary world. But receiving an evaluation from the God's Tongue, even if the evaluation was relatively moderate, was still a boost to one's reputation, especially since this was Erina's comeback. Handing the dish to Erina for evaluation was an opportunity to maximize exposure.
A beautifully crafted, expensive classical wooden table was placed in front of Erina's seat. When the contestant presented their dish, they showed a confident smile. Erina picked up her chopsticks. She gently took a small portion, put it into her mouth, frowned slightly, shook her head, and said, "No, next."
The evaluation was merciless; she didn't even bother to use extra words.
"Uh, Miss Nakiri, could you elaborate on the flaws in my dish?" The preliminary contestant still seemed a bit unconvinced.
"Too many flaws, not worth talking," Erina put down her chopsticks. The God's Tongue could maximize the flavor perception of the entire dish, so once a dish was poorly made, those flaws would gradually be magnified in Erina's mouth. What might be a decent delicacy in the eyes of ordinary people would, after tasting flaws, become like chewing wax, or even so unpalatable as to be difficult to swallow. Moreover, Erina had grown up eating renowned chefs' dishes; she had tasted dishes from many famous chefs. Now, the works presented by these preliminary contestants were, it must be said, somewhat of a torture to Erina's tongue.
The preliminary contestant, who had been critically hit by Erina, sighed softly, looking at his dish as if on the verge of tears, then left the stage with a tear-streaked face. It was too tragic. Erina had only given a "no" evaluation, but he insisted on asking further, and as a result, listening to what she said, was it even human language? Were his dishes really that unpalatable?
However, Erina's allure as a judge remained fervent on the stage. One person's failure didn't crush others' desire to receive an evaluation from the God's Tongue. Unless no one passed.
Within five minutes, dishes were constantly being brought to Erina's table. And dishes were constantly being taken away, along with the contestants. Everyone finally realized that passing Erina's assessment was simply challenging the limits of human endurance. In an instant, a quarter of the people were eliminated. All of them had fallen at the hands of Erina, the judge.
At this point, the preliminary contestants became smarter. They began to bring their dishes, one after another, to the tables of the other judges. As a result, the number of contestants advancing to the next round finally increased. Only one preliminary contestant passed Gin Dojima's assessment. Megumi Tadokoro had already passed eight preliminary contestants. The relatively approachable Megumi Tadokoro wasn't strict with the contestants. She wouldn't be so exaggerated as to demand that preliminary contestants' dishes meet the standard of a master chef. Hisako Arato nodded secretly. No wonder the Director-General invited Megumi Tadokoro to be a judge this time. Compared to others' standards, Megumi Tadokoro was indeed more suitable as a judge. Without Megumi Tadokoro, who knows how many contestants would have been eliminated in this preliminary round.
And... Erina sama's passing standard was probably that the dish had to be palatable for her to swallow it. But who would have thought that, so far in the preliminary round, not a single person's dish had been good enough for Erina to swallow. In that case, wouldn't Erina's 20 passing spots go to waste?
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What will happen if Erina continues to pass zero contestants? Will the competition organizers intervene, or will her strictness continue to shape the outcome of the preliminary round?
--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter