I asked her, "So how does magic work?" I think I knew it, but I couldn't remember how. I just knew what a spell was, but I couldn't remember anything else.
She spoke, "So you aren't just a pervert, but a moron too. Alas, what can I even do? Master Lina has assigned me to an adult-sized toddler."
She is intentionally messing with me, isn't she? I said to myself. So I decided to just make her feel pathetic by ignoring her insults.
She continued, "See magic as a dish. You imagine visually how a spell looks and performs, you gather mana to cast the spell, and then you use the spell—which acts as fire—to cook the dish. When the fire stops, the spell is completely cast."
She has a real ability to break things down simply, I monologued, while she continued. "But if the fire is stopped midway or isn't provided properly, it depends on the spell how it misbehaves. Like when you saw me, you didn't fire the spell instantly, making the fire too much and making the dish misbehave."
I nodded silently while she moved slowly. Then Lina entered with a dish in her hands, covered in so much mana that it could be physically sense.
Rather than delivering it or placing it down, she spoke to Ruby, "It seems you're starting to open up with males."
Ruby replied, "Over my corpse."
Lina smirked a bit, saying, "As you wish. And tell me when you have a bride."
Ruby's face reddened a bit as she said, "I hate you... Lina. But can't I just live without marriage, like you?"
Lina, placing the food on the corner of the bed beside my side, said, "It's up to you whether you want to be lonely enjoying your life, or want to trust a person to hold you when you don't even want to see yourself."
After those lines, all that followed was an air filled with its own depth that made silence itself the baseline. All that was left was the smell of spices, chillies, and meat spreading all over. Although it wasn't a meat I had eaten until now, I was sure—or at least I trusted my stomach enough—that it was a new type or a new dish. I was the first to break the silence: "Can I move outside the bubble now?"
Lina replied, "No, we..."
She cut her sentence midway at Ruby's comment, stopping herself before saying something so chaotic that even he was questioning himself for being patient that have to listen that thing after coma.
Lina replied, "Oye, you queen of modesty, come over here to the other corner and eat. It isn't like Ryn will be God's favorite, chant a spell, kill me, and try to assault you. He wouldn't even be able to feed himself."
Ruby replied, "You really are a bi..."
Cutting her sentence midway, she took her first bite at the far side of the bed. I could sense their movement, but couldn't directly see them from inside my bubble. That was when Lina said to Ruby, "You have to feed him."
Ruby froze for a moment before replying, "Wouldn't it be far more efficient if I just killed him?"
Lina replied, "I am too exhausted, and if I touch him, his body will try to absorb mana, which I can't risk."
Ruby replied in a sarcastic tone, "So our Hunter of Two Dragons fears a corpse-like living being? What crap."
Lina replied to her, "So it means you can't even do this much for me?" She said it in a deep, low voice—it wasn't acceptance, but rather like pushing Ruby's buttons with a deliberate bit of manipulation.
To which Ruby replied, "Ahhh, okay." Casting a small spell that wrapped the food inside a bubble, she said, "Open your mouth, you... I don't even want to call your name. Just open your damn mouth. And I don't know what happened to Master, but one thing is confirmed: I should try to stop her supply of romance books, or she's going to make me marry in the name of dark romance."
As I opened my mouth, shifting from a passive observer to eating, the bubble popped open inside my mouth, giving a crisp, juicy feeling of a type of meat I had never eaten nor known. It was crisp on the surface, as it was intentionally coated, yet inside it was soft and juicy. It gave a feeling of mother's food, making my eyes wet as the taste anchored my mind, bringing back memories of those days when I used to eat with Mira and mother. Although in the end I was rude to Eron, I think having an irritating enemy around is better than having a selfish friend.
As I chewed it, I subconsciously closed my eyes for a brief moment to preserve the feeling of its taste. I had never expected a being like the Curse Weaver to be this good at cooking—in fact, she was the third woman I would intentionally want to eat food from, after my mother and Aeldir.
But the thing is, what am I to Aeldir's mother? It was like I was something near a twin, but I was aged and a tensei, so is she my stepmother or like a second family? Ahhh, I hate these types of relationships that blur lines and definitions.