RIP Elena.
In the web novel, Elena participated in the test and immediately quit her job at her parents inn just to make the short cakes on the second floor of Yuna's shop. Seems she got dropped for a new character who isn't even in the web novel.
This sorta(!?) follows the LN though.
Volume 7:
Ch.161 Yuna encounters a teen girl on the steps of the shop Morin owns in the capital; she is introduced as Morin's Niece Nerin and Yuna gives her some money to get a carriage to Crimonia.
Ch.167 Yuna encounters Nerin outside her own home (in Crimonia) and takes her to the cake tasting party (which is held in the shop, not Cliff's estate)
Lala doesn't appear in this chapter; instead, Yuna visits the estate in Ch.169 to give cake to Noa, and ends up cashing in a favour with Cliff to have Lala teach her, Nerin and Fina how to brew tea.
Elena and Nerin become firm friends, and Elena shows her around Crimonia on her day off.
Ah yes, fat. A maiden's worst enemy.
Yup. In the LN, Tiermina immediately starts feeding what cake she still has on her plate to Shuri, as "pounds creep up on you" and Milaine has had six slices, not four....
Later on, Nerin AND Karin decide they need to diet, as they have "tested" too much cake, but that's still half a dozen volumes away
