Novel Vol 7 Ch 3 summary (Aoi’s cooking class)

Takechiyo-sama, art by Laruha
(taken from Laruha's art book, sourced from this site)

As per my recent post, I will jump-translate to Volume 8 Epilogue due to my limited time (and TBH, my impatience to understand what happens with Ōdanna-sama – partly because I miss him so much!). But beforehand, I’d like to summarise Vol 7 Ch 3 so that people are not wondering why I summarise this chapter, instead of properly translating it (aside from the possible copyright issues…). By the way, as a reference, this chapter is 53 pages long. The title is 料理嫌いな御子 , which I translate as “A Picky-eater Royal Child”.

So, in Vol 7 Ch 2, Aoi was having a serious heart-to-heart chat with Ritsuko-san in the Nui-no-In residence. During that talk, Ritsuko-san adviced Aoi to use her mansion as the headquarters for their mission to rescue Ōdanna. Afterwards, Aoi went back to Seikamaru and Kimon. However, since Aoi sees the merit of Ritsuko-san’s advice, she then stayed at the Nui-no-In residence once her five-days roster above Seikamaru has finished. The idea is to regroup with Ritsuko-san and her husband Nui-no-In-sama to talk about the plan to rescue Ōdanna. However, on the first morning Aoi woke up in Ritsuko’s house, she was woken up by a loud voice of a child, a boy who dismissed every meal offered to her. 

This boy’s name was Takechiyo 竹千代, and even Ritsuko-san called him with the honorific “sama”, which means this little boy had a higher status than Ritsuko (who married one of the closest relatives of the King). Apparently, this boy was none other than the King’s eldest grandson. Takechiyo often visited Nui-no-In Mansion, but he never liked any meals that the Residence has offered him.

This is where Aoi came to the rescue, for after she saw how hard it was to please Takechiyo, she offered her meal service to Ritsuko-san. But Aoi also sensed that Takechiyo wasn’t just being a brat who disliked any meals. 

See, Takechiyo’s father is the King’s 2nd son, thus the Second Prince, so to speak. Takechiyo is also the King’s first grandchild, hence the boy’s position was very special in the Royal House. However, Takechiyo’s mother is a concubine (she came from a middle-rank aristocrat family, but the Second Prince loves her very much). His family is currently welcoming another baby boy into the family. Although Takechiyo had all the attention before his baby brother was born,  because this baby boy’s mother is the first wife of the Second Prince, this new baby boy takes precedent in Takechiyo’s house, because the new baby is now the heir of the throne. So Aoi concluded that Takechiyo’s fit of being picky with food might stem from his loneliness after his baby brother was born. In Takechiyo’s own words: “I am not needed anymore.”

Having talked with Aoi, Takechiyo was also surprised to learn that Aoi was a human. When he realised that Aoi was Tsubaki Shirō’s grand-daughter, he was even more surprised. He told Aoi that he had heard of what Shirō had done in Kakuriyo – mostly unbecoming stuff, I’m sure. However, Takechiyo’s child brain seemed to admire Shirō instead, and he wanted to become a strong man like Shirō. This was Aoi’s point of entry; for Takechiyo to grow into a strong man, he needs to eat. That’s when she finally was able to discern what type of food Takechiyo might like to eat. 

After chatting with Takechiyo, Aoi concluded Takechiyo’s resentful attitude towards food was linked to his loneliness. Ritsuko-san agreed, and the lady further added that she often observed Takechiyo eating alone in a vast tatami room, which didn’t help alleviating his loneliness. Furthermore, the (very delicious) meals of the Royal Residence is a symbol of solitude and loneliness to the boy. Takechiyo was not neglected per se (because his father actually worried about him), but it was enough for Aoi to care for the boy. She got to know that Takechiyo had no favourite food, and he hated daikon and carrots (well, kids…). And she realised that – because Takechiyo’s angry fit was due to his loneliness – involving the boy in the process of making the meals is important. Hence, she actually made the meals with the little prince, complete with shopping for the ingredients with the boy! She even made an event out of her cooking and called it “Aoi’s Cooking Class”. She also rolled out the following menu:

“First, we make rolled Chinese cabbage shimmered in tomato cream stew. Second, yam mochi stuffed with daikon. Third, mustard green pilaf. The dessert is frozen mikan (mandarin oranges). That’s it.”

Which left Takechiyo agape…but the boy followed Aoi's instruction anyway, perhaps out of curiosity instead of because he really wanted to learn how to cook.

So basically, the whole 53 pages were devoted into Aoi’s effort into winning the heart of this lonely little prince. It’s an important bonding chapter (much like Aoi’s bonding with Akatsuki etc), but with my limited time, I can’t spend a month just translating 53 pages…

However, granted, I will miss some tidbits because I skip translating the chapter. My Japanese reading skill is not that great yet that I can just scan a passage and understand most things in that passage. If it’s mostly kana and recognisable kanji, that’s fine. However, for passages with many kanji characters, I can’t completely understand it without transcribing it first (i.e. literally writing down all the Japanese characters) and then translate the passage into English.

For instance, I am not yet aware whether in the process of making Takechiyo his meals, Aoi was able to let Takechiyo see the benefits of having a little brother, for instance. I suspect Aoi would have that kind of conversations with the boy though, much like she did with (again) Akatsuki and Nene. 

I suspect that this chapter facilitates Aoi later meeting with Takechiyo’s father (the Second Prince), who understandably would be thankful for Aoi’s help in making the boy eat. I bet that Takechiyo’s dad is the purple-pink-haired ayakashi whom Aoi served above Moonflower Two in Vol 7 Ch 1. Since Takechiyo’s dad is the 2nd son of the King, we can see how this alliance will be very important in Aoi's mission to rescue Ōdanna later. 

Vol 7 Chapter 4 is titled “The Mystery of Yōto” and I intend to fully translate that chapter. During my sneak peek of that chapter, it seems that Takechiyo has grown attached to Aoi, and that would facilitate Aoi’s meeting with Takechiyo’s father. 

After this post, I will post the translation of Vol 8 Epilogue which depicts a conversation between Ōgondōji-sama and Ōdanna-sama. I have finished transcribing that chapter, so I hope I can post its translation by my Thursday night at the latest (i.e. tomorrow night).  

I will return to translating Vol 7 Ch 4 after I finish translating Vol 10 Ch 5 (where Aoi finally frees Ōdanna-sama from his prison – feel free not to read that chapter, of course, if you’d like to read in a chronological order). I estimate, if all goes well, I’ll be able to start translating Vol 7 Ch 4 in early April  December (2021, fingers crossed!). It won’t be quick, for it’s another 53 pages (pp 119-172), but it seems it’s worth the patience…

Update 6 Nov 2021:

I was wrong. The purple-pink haired ayakashi with purple-pink eyes is not Takechiyo's dad. He's a totally unexpected character that was disclosed in Vol 10 Ch 6. I'll tell you later about it... but he's DEFINITELY an important character in Kakuriyo.