Chapter 11 – Is Stepmother A Sleepyhead?
“Sinclair?”
Suddenly, the man’s voice ceased.
“…”
I was perplexed. Why did he stop?
‘Why? Why did you call? Why are you standing still after calling me? Why did you bring me here!’
When my words couldn’t come out, my resentment smashed through my stomach and struggled to pierce my chest and flow toward him like hot lava.
As if trying to control my struggles, the fog trapped my hands and legs. It was definitely foggy, but I couldn’t free myself.
“Who are you?”
The man who called me seemed startled.
“…!”
“Where is Sinclair?”
Suddenly, a strong wind blew and hit me.
I felt my body flutter like a piece of paper and in an instant soar into the air.
Before long, I seemed to see a human figure in the white snow at the top of Todai Volcano, which stands tall in the distant center of the Demon Realm, and then,
“Kang. Joo. Hee.”
My hair stood up straight. A being who can reveal my name. There was someone in that white snow. But I didn’t know who it was.
I tried to open my eyes to see, but the white mist turned the whole world into a dark black cloud.
“Die, you must die!”
A resonant voice, humming as if coming from a deep cave, caught my body.
My arms, torso, and legs were bound, and I couldn’t move my body. Suddenly, I soared horizontally into the sky and then dropped to the floor.
‘Wait a minute, if I fall like this, won’t I really die?’
Aahhhh!!
My body just fell to the floor and sounded like a puck!
Like the pain of an explosion, the pain of bones breaking burst through me. At that moment,
“Chinkwer!”*
“Sinclair!”
I heard a different voice call to me, not the insidious voice from earlier.
“Ugh!”
I opened my eyes, and in the gloomy darkness, blazing red eyes were staring at me as if to eat me. Something sat on top of my body so that I couldn’t move at all.
“Kyaaaaaah”
I screamed, and those red eyes showed surprise too, and I saw fists rise to cheeks as someone shouted with me.
“Wuuuuaaaahhh”
“Kyaaah! Kyaaaa!!”
“Wuaaaaah! Wuuuuaaaa!!!”
“Kyaa?”
“Wuaa?”
As my vision expanded from red eyes to chubby hands to full outline of the face, I began to realize who was in front of me.
“Devil?”
“Deboh?”
Finally I came to my senses and pushed my upper body up from the mattress.
“Theodor?”
Theodor’s smile reached to his cheekbones and nodded.
“Is Stepmother awake?”
“How are you here?”
“Is Stepmother a sleepyhead? She slept for two full days!”
“Two days?”
When I asked in surprise, Theodor nodded his little head.
“Guests…?”
“Everyone gone.”
“Ah…!”
My head hurt. Obviously, I drank a whole bottle of alcohol before the Ceremony, and after that, my memories faded in and out.
I think Gerard was holding me in the middle and escorting me down the hallway?
Ah… Right.
You exclaimed when you entered the bedroom? The bedroom was even nicer than the hotel suite.
Long windows let in the soft moonlight, and the walls were lit with torches, but beautiful glass shades made the room look very warm and alluring. In addition, there was a clean, warm carpet under my feet.
That’s right, it’s like running around announcing you have to achieve at least this level to experience a medieval palace…
‘I think I rolled over in bed…’
So who was the owner of the strange voice in the mist?
I think I saw a madman in the snow?
Was it a nightmare?
Suddenly, someone pulled my long hair. Surprised, I looked at it and it was the devil!
A grimace was glued to his face.
“Are you thinking hard about Theodor, Stepmother?”
‘If his mother is a little absent-minded, he should know how to wait. How dare you grab my hair?!’
The corners of my eyes twitched, and the corners of my lips formed a moue. As I pouted, Theodor’s eyes widened.
“What iz wron, Stepmother?”
“It hurt.”
“Hurt?”
Theodor blinked his big eyes and looked at me carefully.
“You pulled my hair.”
Theodore nodded and suddenly pulled his own hair hard. I was surprised and seized his hand gently.
“What are you doing?”
“Theodor hurt, too.”
“Theodor, no, can I call you Theo?”
Theodor’s eyes widened, then he nodded his head and closed his eyes while trying to cover his ears.
I grabbed Theo’s hands.
“Theo, why are you covering your ears?”
“Theodor doesn’t laugh wecklessly, because he’s a Pwince.”
“If you do that you won’t laugh?”
Theodor nodded his head in response to my question.
“Das wight.”
“Who taught you not to laugh?”
“Of course, Nanny taught Theodor.”
“Haa…” I sighed
“What about covering your ears and closing your eyes?”
Theodor answered, proudly pointing his thumb towards himself.
“Theodor find out!”
“You found a way not to laugh.”
When I asked with a smile, Theo nodded along.
“Theo, Stepmother also wants to teach you a few things, but first of all, never pull other people’s hair. Never touch other people’s bodies and hit them. However, you shouldn’t hit or torment your own body recklessly either.”
At that moment, Theodor’s face turned serious.
“But you don’t have to be too serious!”
I put my hand on the edge of Theo’s mouth.
“And Theo, when you want to laugh, you just laugh. Look. Bleeehhh!”
I put out my tongue and brought my eyes to the center, making a strange expression. Theodor looked at it, his eyes widened and he laughed. I quickly tickled his armpit.
“Aahhhppftt HAHAHA!!!”
Theodor kicked his feet into the air, appropriately for his age, and laughed out loud. Theo’s skinny body lit up with laughter.
And suddenly,
“It’s pretty late for a lunch break.”
I was startled to discover that Gerard was sitting on the sofa in the corner of the bedroom.
“Wake up early next time.”
Then he got up and left, slamming the door out without waiting for my answer.
“…?”
I looked at Theodor.
“Father was worried because you slept for two days.”
Worried?
No matter how I looked at it, he seemed rather angry.
As I entered the dining room, Theodor, sitting proudly, stood. Gerard, who should be at the top of the table, was nowhere to be seen.
I asked the maid next to me.
“Is he coming?”
“He said he was going to eat in the library.”
‘He’s definitely upset.’
Either way, I’m very hungry right now. It was because I was so nervous at the wedding that I couldn’t eat properly.
I went to my seat and sat in it.
“Do sit down, Theo.”
“Yes.”
I sat at the table with an overwhelmed heart. ‘Now, will the noble’s fancy food appear, right?’
For brunch, would the Grand Duchy’s residence prepare crispy, soft-melting deep-fried meat, bourguignon fondue? The best deep-fried meat is the beef sirloin flank. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, it cooks with the juices when heated. If you bite into it,
‘Ugh, my mouth is watering.’
Chicken was good if not beef. Would it be fine to have chicken roasted on the grill?
When meat is heated on a grill, the Maillard reaction occurs. The Maillard reaction speeds up as the temperature increases. The molecules move faster in the same direction and collide more violently, changing the color of the meat and increasing its flavor. Moreover, heat promotes the reaction between the sugar contained in the material and the amino acid molecules that make up the protein! The combination of these molecules creates new molecules that give color, crunch, and taste. Among them, the best is the savory taste of meat fatty acids, which are the fatty components in meat.
‘I can’t stop! Give me some food already!’
My empty stomach screamed.
But the soup could not fill two spoons. The chunks of meat in the soup were large and tasty, and I enjoyed it.
Next came the steak… I only had to cut it once. If it had been aged a little longer, it would have been much more savory, but above all, there was no water to rinse my soiled mouth! As I was looking for something to drink, I saw Theodor across the table. Red wine was about to slip between Theodor’s tiny lips. Wait,
“No!”
I quickly reached out and grabbed Theodor’s cup. The red liquid from his cup drenched the white table as it cut through the air.
Theodor’s eyes flickered bright red like blood, and then transparent drops fell on round cheeks.
‘Huh, what did I do to the devil?’ For a moment, my spine shivered.
The transparent drops running down Theodor’s cheeks from his eyes filled like a sad fountain. Only then did I come to my senses.
“Oh Theo, I’m sorry!”
Theodor shook his head, rubbing his wetted eyes with a small fist, puffing his cheeks.
As the Grand Prince, he tried his best not to laugh, so he must have learned that crying was a greater prohibition.
‘Oh, how can I feel so bad?’
Trying to stop him from drinking and instead hurting him…
The little Grand Prince took a deep breath, dropping his hand from his eyes, and asked.
“What happen, Stepmother?”
As expected, Theodor was a Grand Prince, and he began to grasp the situation.
I wanted to place a band-aid on Theodor’s broken heart so I explained as calmly as I could.
“I’m sorry. Were you very surprised? Wine is not good for children’s health, so my hands moved without realizing.”
“Why iz dat?”
“Because the alcohol in wine prevents your brain from growing and your bones from getting stronger.”
“Weally?”
Theodor nodded his head and reassured me as if he understood, but there were still tears in his eyes.
Understanding with your head and feeling with your heart were different matters. I wanted to somehow relieve that sadness.
——
*Theodor was calling her by her name. I’ll try my best to not do difficult child talk so you guys can understand it, but I’ll keep some small things so the essence of Theodor (a five-year-old boy) is still visible for you to understand that he’s the cutest boy ever, I mean, that he’s a child that, although he still talks funny, does his best to talk and act like an adult.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────