"Hey, Renato. What's this?"
Carlo came to Renato's office with a round plate of chocolates.
Carlo works as a close associate of Renato, the Crown Prince of the Gallerian Empire. As Renato's baby brother, Carlo spoke with a casual manner in private, but when it comes to work, he always behaved according to his position.
However, when his emotions ran high, he sometimes took on a rough tone.
Renato allowed him to do so, so it is not disrespectful.
This was usually after Renato had done something wrong, so there was tension in the office, leaving people wondering what had happened this time.
There was a black mass on the plate.
When the rest of the entourage saw it, they became excited at the thought of black-colored food.
It was fresh in their minds that a national conspiracy had been revealed in the neighboring kingdom of the Gallerian Empire, where Black Death Barley was the cause.
Black Death Barley is a mutated form of wheat that grows harder and blacker than other barley, and if eaten unknowingly, it can cause poisoning, blisters all over the body, and death.
Although highly toxic, it is no different from ordinary barley except for its color, so it is often eaten by mistake.
The fact that Black Death Barley was being distributed in the kingdom caused tension in the Gallerian empire.
When Black Death Barley appears, the entire region stops harvesting and stops distribution.
That is why black food is often avoided.
Furthermore, due to the disturbances in the kingdom, everyone is hypersensitive about the color "black."
In such an atmosphere, Renato took his eyes off the documents and answered as if it was nothing.
"Oh. It is a confectionery made from a bean called Cocoa from the south."
"Confectionery? Is this..."
Carlo held up an uneven square mass on the plate at eye level, as if in disbelief.
"It does not look like a pastry at all."
"It is a confectionary called "chocolate." It took a long time to put it to practical use, but they finally did it.
Renato, who should not have liked sweets that much, looked very happy.
Carlo was surprised by this reaction.
He said, "You mean to distribute something as black as this?"
"I don't think it's a good idea to avoid it just because it's black. There may be some excellent foodstuffs in it."
"How can you think such a thing after all the turmoil in the... kingdom?"
"This pastry is probably not just a sweet pastry."
Carlo waited for Renato's answer, wondering what kind of mystery lay in this confectionery.
"That's why our country has a monopoly on distribution. And even though it is a pastry, it was introduced as a tonic in a limited area in the south."
"So you're going to distribute it as a medicine?"
"That would be uninteresting."
"It is not about whether it is interesting or not, but about the fact that it is a black food in the first place," but to Renato, whether it is interesting or not seems to be more important.
He crossed his arms and enjoyed Carlo's reaction.
"I wonder if anyone would eat such black food, whether it be medicine or a confectionery."
Carlo put his face to the plate and smelled it.
A slightly sweet aroma tickled his nose.
"The tasting is over, you can try it."
Carlo wondered if the tasting was really over, and he took a piece of the lump in his mouth, thinking it was the tasting just before Renato ate it.
As soon as he put it in his mouth, he instantly felt its rich aroma in the back of his nose.
As it melted in his mouth, it transmitted a mellow flavor to his tongue.
"Isn't it good?"
Renato, seeing the change in Carlo's expression, had the same look on his face as he did when he found the irregularities in the reported documents.
He looked very amused.
"But how do you sell it? You can't get rid of the aversion to black food."
"I have a plan."
Renato smiled, his confidence overflowing.
"Well, what's this?"
Mariabelle, who was handed a cute little box wrapped by Renato, flashed a curious expression.
"Please open it for me."
Renato's eyes were so gentle that if Carlo saw them, he'd want to ridicule how sweet he looked.
"This is...?"
Mariabelle, who had unraveled the red ribbon, was unsure how to react when she saw the black mass inside the small box.
It was candy, which meant it was food.
But it had a jet-black color that she had never seen before.
"It is a nourishing confectionary called chocolate. The production process is difficult, so it cannot be mass-produced, but I intend to distribute it within the empire in due course."
Then Mariabelle lifted the small box and tilted her head in a slightly troubled manner.
Mariabelle stared intently at the chocolates in the small box.
The black color of the bite-sized pieces of chocolate was reminiscent of the recent black canulé with Black Death Barley.
It was still fresh in everyone's memory that the king of the kingdom fell because of it.
Mariabelle thought that Renato, who knew about it, had to go out of his way to give it to her.
"Is it okay if I have it?"
"Of course."
Mariabelle carefully pinched the chocolate between her fingers.
"I can feel the chocolate on my fingertips slowly melting away."
"It's easy to melt with heat, so you should eat it right away."
Mariabelle hurriedly ate the chocolate after being told by Renato.
The sweetness that she tasted for the first time made her cheeks loosen involuntarily.
"Delicious..."
Renato's smile deepened at the unexpectedly spilled words.
"Do you like it?"
Mariabelle felt unsatisfied because the chocolate melted in her mouth in no time.
She nodded without hesitation.
"The texture is also smooth... With this, even if https://susqu.campuslabs.com/eval-home/direct/0933914t is mixed in, you can tell right away."
Mutated wheat contains Black Death Wheat poison, and it is necessary to soak it in a certain chemical solution to extract its toxicity.
The liquid is not very edible, and if mixed with food it will cause regurgitation.
Black Death Barley demonstrates its dreadfulness in the fact that when it is treated as powder, even if it is mixed with edible barley, you will not notice it.
However, in the powder state, if you mix it with chocolate, you will know immediately.
That's why even if it's a black candy, you can eat it with confidence.
"It's made using cocoa beans, which are harvested in a small area in the south, but the people living there aren't very rich, so I'd like to make this chocolate a specialty product."
"Then...I will advertise how delicious this chocolate is at the tea party."
Saying that, Mariabelle lifted up the small box and tilted her head in a slightly troubled manner.
"I wish I could add value to it."
"Then it's easy."
Saying that, Renato lifted up the hand that was holding Mariabelle's chocolate and licked the fingers that were still covered with chocolate.
"..!"
"We can advertise that chocolates are given to the one you love."
As he stared at her with eyes that were the color of the deep sea, Mariabelle's face turned bright red.
"Don't you think this is a good idea?"
Renato was greatly scolded by Carlo when he found out what happened, but since then, along with the anecdote about the affection between Renato and Mariabelle, chocolate has been loved in the empire as a gift for lovers.