The Cursed King

Loriel was in the business district this evening to pick up Elise for her special evening class at her baking school. When Loriel arrived outside the premises of the Sanderman Building, he saw Elise leave with her fellow colleagues.

His wife truly looked beautiful. Loriel could look at her pretty face forever and he would never feel bored of it.

Loriel stepped out of his car and came to meet her by the entrance.

"Hey, love..." His voice was sweet like honey and made the women around Elise swoon.

Already, her colleagues were teasing Elise or gawking at the luxury car that Loriel brought, but his eyes were only Elise alone. He gave her a smile and offered her his hand, "Shall we get going? We can't miss your baking lessons."

"O-Oh right!" Elise said. "Thank you for picking me up."

She grabbed onto his hand and found their fingers intertwining immediately. Even though this was all pretend, she couldn't help but blush slightly. Elise gave her friends apologetic looks but they were all accepting of this situation.

"Enjoy your evening with your boyfriend, Elise!"

"Have a safe trip~"

"Actually use the Christmas break too!"

Even though she hadn't been able to join them in many outings, the mere fact that she also joined these extra work hours with them was already telling in and of itself of her personality.

Despite having a rich and handsome boyfriend, Elise was a humble and hard-working woman. It was truly admirable. So, not only she was beautiful and charming, but she was also independent and did not rely on her man to support her financially.

Loriel gave the others a polite goodbye before he and Elise stepped into the car. Loriel already explained to Elise that he had a luxury car at his disposal. He just didn't use it much because he didn't like going out.

Both of them stepped inside the backseat and Loriel's driver immediately drove them away from the Sanderman Building.

Elise smiled at him. "Thank you for picking me up, they're all convinced."

Loriel wanted to say that next time, they'll really think that they were a couple. He had already been thinking about when to confess his love and he already started preparations.

"No problem. I'm really looking forward to it, actually, I've never been to this bakery before but I hear that your instructor is an acclaimed chef?"

"Chef Lucy is the absolute best!" Elise said, "Such an excellent teacher who doesn't mind playfully teasing me or giving me a hard challenge to make me learn better, so I love it!"

"Sounds good." Loriel nodded, he thought that it was the kind of person that Elise would like to be around.

The car was driving on the streets near the bakery as they were approaching the front entrance. Elise was already halfway excited to see her teacher and it was evident in her face.

Loriel was unaware of Elise's true excitement, but he smiled lightly.

"It's such a wonderful place, isn't it? I want to take a tour of the whole bakery," Loriel said.

"Of course~ I'm sure Chef Lucy doesn't mind having visitors and observers," Elise assured him. "If not, even a quick visit would suffice. But I think Chef Lucy would be happy to meet you."

"I see, then it's only right that I meet your teacher." Loriel already knew that he would need a way to justify a visit to the bakery for his wife if they were to go there together.

When the two of them stepped down the car, they were given the front view of the bakery. It was a large building with a huge front entrance and beautiful glass windows that allowed them to see the available desserts.

When they entered the building,  it really looked like a luxurious bakery. Different cakes and bread were placed in delicate containers, and some in grass-woven baskets.

Loriel knew it gave off a rather Parisian atmosphere.

"Ah, good evening, Elise," a person greeted them.

Loriel stopped cold at the voice and appearance of a man. Huh? Who was this man?

He looked so handsome with his slick brown hair and an apron that hugged his chiseled chest and flat stomach. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing toned his arms and some traces of flour in his hands.

Loriel thought nobody could look as good as him in an apron, but this dude just proved him wrong.

Elise turned to Loriel and gushed innocently, "This is Chef Lucy, my baking teacher."

Her cheerful words instantly made Loriel cough violently.

Gosh! What's this??? Chef Lucy was a man??? So, Elise had been learning baking under a male teacher? And a handsome one at that!!!

Didn't Loriel tell Marc that he wanted Elise's instructor to be a woman and so did all of their employees? This is totally unacceptable!!

Was this why Elise was always eager to attend her baking courses? Oh my goodness!

Elise strolled up to the chef and motioned to Loriel. "Chef Lucy, it's so good to see you. I brought my friend, Loriel. He said he is interested in seeing the baking process."

"Didn't you tell me your baking teacher's name is Lucy?" Loriel asked in confusion. "Who is this man?"

Before Elise could explain it, Chef Lucy quickly had answered his question. "Well, my name is actually Lucius Fournier. People call me Lucy since I was young, and the name kind of gets stuck with me now. Hehehe… You seem surprised. Do you have a problem with my gender?"

Loriel pursed his lips. This was not what he wanted at all. Somebody needed to answer for this mishap.

How could he let Elise spend so much time with this sexy chef who— just look at his shirt, did he intentionally unbutton his three upper buttons to show off his chest muscles?

Dammit! Even Loriel, a man, would admit that this chef was sexy as hell.

He didn't know the chef was a handsome hunk. He was deceived by the name, Chef Lucy, and thought it was a woman.

Jeez...

Loriel didn't understand what was it with those people who loved to wear their names in such a way to defy their genders.

For example, Alexandra who preferred to be called Alex, and now this man who was actually Lucius but asked people to call him Lucy?

Didn't they know that this could create confusion and misunderstandings???

What had this world become into?