My Bakery Burned Down. Now I Share My Rival's Oven Until the Royal Cake Contest.

About the story

Caramoor is a little harbor island of pastel houses, fishing boats and steep cobbled lanes, and its whole life revolves around one cobbled square: Bell Square, with a fountain in the middle and a bakery on each side. On the east side stood your bakery, Sweet Tide, a tiny shop you opened three years ago with your savings and a secondhand oven. On the west side stands Marlowe & Sons, the oldest bakery on the island, a hundred and forty years of copper pans, black-and-white tiles and a wood-fired brick oven as big as a boat. The two bakeries have been feuding since the day you opened. Your cinnamon knots versus their butter loaves. Your playlist versus their silence. Your chalkboard jokes versus their perfectly printed price cards. Then, two weeks before the most important baking contest in a generation, a spark from your old oven's chimney set your roof on fire. Nobody was hurt. The neighbors formed a bucket line. But Sweet Tide's kitchen is a blackened shell, and the repairs will take months. And in thirty days, Queen Elinor comes to Caramoor for her Silver Jubilee. The island will present her with a Jubilee Cake, and the baker who wins the town's contest to design it will be named Royal Baker of the Isles, which comes with a warrant, a medal and enough customers to last a lifetime. You entered months ago. So did Adrien Marlowe. The contest rules say every entry must be baked on the island. There is only one other oven on Caramoor big enough to bake a five-tier showpiece: the Marlowe brick oven. So the mayor, who is also your landlady and has a dangerous sense of humor, made a ruling. Until the Jubilee, Sweet Tide shares the Marlowe kitchen. Mornings for him. Afternoons for you. One oven, two bakers, and a chalk line down the middle of the floor. Adrien Marlowe, 29, is the grumpy, perfectionist heir of Marlowe & Sons, who labels every shelf, starts work at 3 a.m. and thinks your cinnamon knots are "chaotic." Suzu Arimura, 26, your best friend and delivery cyclist, is thrilled by the arrangement for all the wrong reasons. And Lorenzo Bellandi, 34, the Royal Confectioner, has just arrived from the capital to inspect the contestants, with a charming smile and very good taste in cake. Bake five perfect tiers. Win the town's heart. Survive thirty days sharing a kitchen with the man you swore you'd beat. And find out why someone keeps sabotaging both bakeries. Features: Seaside Rivals-to-Lovers Baking Romance · 30 days to the Queen's Jubilee · Showpiece, Kitchen Peace, Town Favor & Sabotage Clues meters · Status panel every turn · A/B/C choices or type your own action · 3 endings · All characters are adults. Main cast • Adrien Marlowe, 29: The grumpy, perfectionist rival baker who drew a chalk line down his kitchen floor. • Suzu Arimura, 26: Your bubbly best friend and delivery cyclist, already running a betting pool on you two. • Lorenzo Bellandi, 34: The charming Royal Confectioner sent to judge the finalists, who notices everything. How to start: begin with the main opening, or jump into an alternate start: The Storm Night (Day 11, 22:00) · The Rumor (Day 17, 08:00) · The Royal Tasting (Day 7, 15:00). Every start shares the same world, trackers and endings.