"However," Charlotte Linlin leaned in, glaring at Violet. "You didn't invent these pastries, did you? Can you tell me which chef developed them?"
Charlotte Linlin's voice did not sound particularly harsh, but the greedy, crazed appetite in her grin, along with the drool dripping from the corners of her mouth and corroding the ground into smoking pits, still made Violet tremble in terror.
"I-I made them myself," Violet said. Her legs shook with fear and tears streamed down her face, yet she stubbornly insisted that she had made everything herself.
"Mamamamamama! I hate it most when people lie to me! Tell me, who taught you how to cook?!"
Amid Charlotte Linlin's frenzied roar, like a storm of wind and thunder, Violet shook all over. Her eyes were tightly shut, her teeth chattered, and her arms hugged her chest, but she kept her head lowered and said nothing.
"Hehehehe! Denial is useless." Perospero, Charlotte Linlin's eldest son and Totto Land's Candy Minister, gently took a small pack of mint candies from Violet's little bag.
"Don't tell me you can make candy of this caliber. Of course, if you really can, then I'll admit those desserts were all your invention. I can even waive Dressrosa's soul tax!"
As the user of the Lick-Lick Fruit, Perospero was unquestionably among the very best at judging candy, and he had sampled countless varieties. Even so, the flavor and effects of these mint candies greatly surprised him.
Even with the Lick-Lick Fruit's boost, the finest candy he could make was only about this good.
"Ugh..." Violet clenched her teeth, but in the end, she still did not say a word.
"And you two? You don't know either?" Charlotte Linlin's bell-like eyes turned toward King Riku and Scarlett, but both kept their heads lowered in silence.
"Hmph!"