"Can you explain in a bit more detail what you mean?" The boy suddenly asked.
The topic of food rapidly grabbed his attention; it was obvious to see. He even sat properly and scooted closer to me to hear better.
"Ah… well… it's hard to put it into words, but if I had to describe in a few words how your food usually tastes, I would say it's gentle." I awkwardly explained while making weird hand gestures all around me.
"You don't get the feeling of… I don't know how to say it, but when you eat in the Fracture, you feel satisfied. " I tried to explain, "Sorry, it's just that it's really hard to describe the comparison."
"Every dish is incredibly flavorful; it's more complicated. Sometimes a sauce can be savory, leaving a sweet aftertaste, yet here even the sweets are mild. You can definitely feel the sweetness, but it's not the kind that leaves you wanting for more. It doesn't have that kick, that punch of spices and other condiments." I kept trying to explain.
"Can you explain it better for me?" I asked my butler.
He solemnly shook his head in response.
"It's something that… to put it into better words, when you eat in the fracture, you want to eat as much as you can digest; here, you eat just to not feel hungry, at least that's what I think the difference is," I concluded.
"Is that even healthy? Overeating like that? The kid asked; he was now fully awake. I could see his sister nervously pinching his right arm, but he was ignoring her.
"Probably? I don't know; so long as you don't overeat, I would say it's fine to go all out once a month or so," I replied.
"Do you have some with you that we could try?" He boldly asked the butler behind me.
"Yes, we do. I'll—" he calmly answered.
"What do you think? Want to try some?" The boy asked his sister, his eyes glimmering with expectations.
The sister simply rolled her head; she was about to say no when he got closer to her and whispered something that made her sigh.
"Okay, you won." She responded in a defeated tone.
"Yes!" he celebrated.
"What would you recommend we first try?" He asked me.
Huh? Since when did our house become their restaurant? Why do you speak as if getting a free meal is the most natural thing? Is this common between nobles, or are they taking advantage of us?
"Well, I guess a simple hamburger would be a good start; Lucifer could barely handle that, so I guess you should be around that same level of spice tolerance." I responded as I turned to the butler.
"Tell them to go light on the spices, even black pepper; that's what really got to him," I whispered to the butler.
He nodded in response and glanced over at a bunch of the maids; they quickly bowed down and headed out to prepare the food we requested.
Is it really okay? Do you have telepatic abilities? Because I still remember his reaction; if his was like that, these poor kids stand no chance.
Then his ears began to flicker.
"We had already prepared a snack; hopefully you'll be able to enjoy it while we wait for your requested meal." He announced this as a group of butlers barged in, carrying numerous plates.
In the meantime, the maids put down the silverware on the table as the butler served the plates filled with potatoes alongside a small dish containing a yellow sauce.
I dipped a finger in mine to taste it.
It was a spicy sauce made by blending a special pepper along with other ingredients; it was a bit spicy but not too much. It had a mild sweet and savory flavor.
Not bad, not bad at all, so you can serve us with something tas— Hold it! The kids can't handle this level of spice.
Then I used a fork to split the potato in 2 to reveal its contents.
Oh, stuffed potatoes… Why haven't they fried them? Stuffed potatoes are best when they have a little crust; these are just… They're too soft; they'll crumble after the first bite.
Then I glanced over the twins only to see them clumsily inspecting the dish; the girl was hesitantly poking the potato with her fork while the boy…
The boy seemed hesitant at first; he had taken the potato with his bare hands but couldn't muster the strength to bring it to his mouth.
After some awkward exchange of glances with his sister, he finally decided to take a bite; thankfully, he was so nervous he forgot to dip the large potato in the sauce.
His eyes seemed horrified at first. His face turned grim when the potato made a crunch sound after he bit into it, but the frown disappeared quickly after some time.
Why make such a big fuss over a potato? It's like the simplest… It's not like we're going to hand him a poisoned—ah… Things up here sure do look tough.
The sister calmly waited for the brother to take its second bite; she looked at her sibling with concern in her eyes.
Man, she's ruthless. To think she would wait for him to take the first bite before she started to eat it. Don't they have poison testers for these cases? Why would she let her brother eat it so carelessly?
"What's this?" The boy asked, pointing at the small dish besides his plate containing the sauce.
"Ah, just ignore that; it's likely too spicy for you to eat it," I answered.
He ignored my warning and proceeded to dunk the whole potato into the sauce.
Haa…
"No, wait, trust me that's—" I was too late; by then the boy had already taken his second bite.
"It's—" Before the boy could finish the sentence, his eyes widened; the spices were clearly too overwhelming for him.
It reminded me of Lucifer's first attempt at eating spicy food; they both reached for a glass of water, and when they both realized it wasn't going to quell the flames in their mouths, they both tried to spit back out the food.
The sister immediately got up and got behind him to help me spit out the food.
"What have you done to my brother? Do you have no—" she shouted while glaring at me.
Tension rapidly rose as a shadow blitzed from behind the door and clashed with one of our invisible guards.
"Calm down, that's not poison… that's spicy food; it feels like heat, as if there's a small flame in your mouth, but it is not lethal in any way." I quickly said to try and calm down the situation.
To give weight to my words, I calmly stood up, dipped my index finger in his small sauce dish, and licked it.
Wow, this… it's really mild. This is clearly more mild than mine. How can you make such a fuss about this? At this rate you might freak out with black pepper as well. What kind of food have you eaten up until now?
"Is that true?" she then asked the cloaked figure that infiltrated within the playroom.
The figure nodded in response.
Once the tension disappeared, I finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew! I didn't think something this mild could be so strong for you; I guess you've lived very sheltered lives, but back in the fracture, people can barely feel this level of spiciness; maybe little kids are bothered by it." I said out loud.
"Are you really trying to insult my brother now? After causing such a ruckus… and for what? Not having consumed poor people's food?" The girl turned around, sending a glare that could freeze glaciers.
"I'm fine now." Her brother stopped before she could actually go out of line.
I didn't mean it as an insult. I'm sorry; I just spoke without thinking.
I wanted to say that but couldn't; the brother managed to recover himself before I could utter those words, and by then, the atmosphere had changed too drastically.
"I didn't expect it to be so strong; I should've gone easy on it with the sauce, sorry. I hope you can forgive my sister; she was only talking out of concern for me." The boy apologized, making a strange hand gesture, with both of his fists connecting with one another, held above his head as he bowed.
"No… It's not necessary to bow; I'm sure it must've been stressful to see her brother in pain." I wanted to immediately stop him from bowing down, but he simply wouldn't budge.
"Well, now that we're over that unpleasant incident, we can resume our meal." The boy proclaimed as he clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"It's fine, guys; it's not poison. You don't have to be so on edge about these things; this is the family of the Scarlet Devil. If they wanted to kill us, we wouldn't even be able to talk about it." He explained while looking behind, in the direction his hooded guard came from.
That's not reassuring at all. In fact it makes things more terrifying, because if the discussions go south, you're never getting out of this mansion alive.
I didn't hear any answers coming from his guards, so the tension didn't feel like it had subsided; the maids were looking left and right, trying to spot either the invisible guards or the hidden assassins from the guest's family.
"Hey, would you mind swapping plates? My potato is practically soaking in that sauce, and I may or may not be able to properly digest it just yet." The boy whispered in my direction.
I still hadn't recovered from the shock of one of his guards breaking in, so I kept the dumbfounded look on my face as the boy proceeded to silently swap our plates.
"Sorry." He then whispered, covering his mouth with his right hand.
Now what? Do I have to eat this thing you touched with your bare hands? Actually… it might be safe, seeing how obsessed you are with cleanliness and all…
"I hope you won't mind this." He apologized further as he adorably winked at me.