*****

In the north tower, hidden behind a door, there was another spiral staircase that led underneath the main hall, where the kitchen was located. Adrien followed Val down these steps and to another wooden door, then went inside.

Unlike the rest of the tower, the kitchen was not lit up by torches burning on the walls, but rather by ceiling lamps, which Val had to turn on via a lightswitch. The kitchen that appeared under the lights was immense; Adrien had never seen anything like it - not even the one time when he was a little boy and he sneaked into the school's kitchen to pilfer chocolate cake. There was a massive pantry by one wall, fully stocked with all sorts of foods; another wall had the stove and the oven; the rest of the space was taken up by counters and cabinets - all of beautiful make, like everything that Val owned. There was so much room available that several people could have worked there without ever obstructing each other's paths; or, rather, that would have been the case, had the kitchen not been in a state of absolute chaos. There was not a surface that wasn't covered with pots, pans, spoons, and all sorts of utensils - even the floor featured piles of junk here and there; where the countertops were visible at all, Adrien could see they were covered in a layer of grime. The kitchenware itself looked to be clean, and the burners looked mostly clean too, but the rest of the stove was lurid; the back wall was splashed here and there with encrusted sauce, and so was the floor - to the point where, in some spots, the decorations on the tiles had been completely hidden by filth.