LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 6: YUMMYLICIOUS FOOD
The family of three immediately began breakfast.
Aristia wasted no time in gobbling up the food. It would have been a peculiar sight to whomever would have been privileged to witness it back on Earth.
Aristia, who was usually sophisticated and elegant in whatever she was doing, now was filling her mouth with food last a hamster.
Her movements remained elegant, but her mouth was filled to the brim.
[How embarrassing. I blame this small mouth.]
She almost moaned. [D*mn, it's so delicious, yummy! Ooooh! Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy for my tummy. My sister-in-law Suzy was always singing that whenever I cooked for the family, she always comes up with weird and tacky rhymes. I still love her though.]
"Aristia eat properly." Her mother warned sternly, or as stern as she tried to be since she couldn't really be stern when facing her adorable daughter.
"Oh take it easy Cathy, we both know Tia's cute even when she's gobbling up her food." Wilson defended but one glare from Catherine shut him up and he coughed while quickly changing sides.
"Ahem. Your mother's right Tia, eat properly." He said to Aristia. It was funny to see a man of his size look so scared of a small woman.
[Catherine isn't small. She's a bit last his shoulder. And seriously, dude? You changed sides quicker than Mr. Kr*bs changes his expression when he sees money.] She scowled at him, referring him to a character in a kids cartoon she watched when she was little.
Who was she kidding? She still loved it and still watched it at twenty four. She'd proudly admit it.
Apart from that, she also noticed something. [Despite being in this backward world, Catherine has no hesitation glaring at her husband and Wilson doesn't seem to mind at all, unlike what I know about most nobles.] She observed. [Thank God she doesn't say 'my lord', I'd cringe.] She thought with relief. She'd like to think herself a feminist, after all, she was female.
She still remembered to reply to her mother.
"Yes Mama, it's just that all this food is delicious, and yummy– it's yummylicious." She said seriously, trying to cut her point across. It was a funny sight, to say the least.
She suddenly paused, realizing what she had just done.
[Even though I can't resist delicious food, I only show that side of me to my family. So to act like this today, it seems like Aristia's attitude is already rubbing off on me. I can't let that happen.]
"Really?"
"Huh?"
"Really?" A slight blush appeared on Catherine's face. "You like it?"
[Oh.] Aristia relaxed. She thought Catherine was replying her thoughts. When she realized what Catherine was talking about, she stopped. She wondered why the latter's smile kept spreading but she still answered.
"Of course I love it, it's one of the most delicious food I've ever eaten." Aristia wasn't lying, the food really was one of the most delicious food she'd ever tasted. It was almost on par with the food made by her restaurants.
Catherine and Wilson thought nothing of what she said about the food being one of the most delicious foods she'd ever eaten.
"Thank you." Catherine replied, still smiling.
[Huh? Why is she thanking me? Shouldn't it be the cook or something that should receive the praise? Or is it normal for the master's of the house to receive the praise?]
As if sensing her confusion, her father spoke up, "Your mother was the one who prepared the food."
"With assistance from the cook." Catherine added. Wilson smiled while leaning forward and kissing Catherine on her forehead, successfully causing a blush on his wife's face.
"Will, no. Tia's here, and so are the servants." Catherine placed her hand on his chest and said in a bashful whisper.
[Blegh! Who wants to watch your Public Display of Affection? Get a room you guys]. Aristia thought, making a face. [If this was the modern world, couples would literally be eating at each other's faces, and you're both acting like this because of a kiss on the forehead?] She scoffed inwardly.
"Leave." One cold word from Wilson sent the servants out of the room.
Wilson then glanced at Aristia. She had a blank look on her face because she didn't know what expression to put on.
"Tia, eat." He commanded gently before turning to Catherine, but Catherine avoided him and glanced at Aristia, a pink tint on her cheeks.
What was her husband doing in front of their daughter? She thought bashfully.
Wilson finally straightened up with a grumpy expression on his face.
Aristia ignored the grown man acting like a child. It finally registered that Wilson just said that Catherine, a noblewoman and the Grand Duchess had made the food, chef's help or not.
[It's not like there's something wrong with cooking, but this is a novel set in the medieval times with the hierarchy and all so hearing that she could cook is, well, surprising. In this world where women are viewed as inferior to men, nobles also viewed things like these as lowly and beneath their status.]
Grand Duchess Catherine probably wasn't the only noblewoman interested in cooking, but she probably was one of the only noblewomen with the courage to learn it and try it out, even though she did it secretly and without people's knowledge, the exception being her fully supportive maiden family and her lovely Wilson, who was still courting her at the time, even though he found out by accident.
But that was a story for another time.
"See, Cathy? I told you it was good," Wilson said, referring to the food.
"Mm." Catherine hummed softly in reply, the blush on her cheeks slowly fading away.
She hadn't prepared a meal in five years, ever since she was pregnant with Aristia, so she thought her skills would be rusty and the food wouldn't taste good.
Aristia no longer paid them any attention, instead she focused all her attention on the food.
Forgetting that she was in the body of a child, she was about to reach out for the wine but a knock on the door made her halt in her action and she watched as a maid upon receiving permission from the people seated in the dining table a.k.a Aristia's parents, came into the dining room holding a child's hand.