Chapter 149
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For some, it was a nightmare.
For others, it was full of good things.
And for others still, it was a night where they witnessed the magic of people turning into tools.
The dark night sky shattered and disappeared in the sunlight, and the empty dining room began to fill with the smell of food.
Along with the aroma of food, people started to fill the seats in the dining room, with family members taking their places around the empty table. Following them, guided by a servant, Anastasiya and Ella entered the dining room, followed by the Grand Witch and Agnes walking at a leisurely pace.
The dining room, filled with savory smells, looked different from yesterday.
The unnecessarily large table and the people waiting to bring out pretentious course meals had all disappeared, replaced by tableware, a reasonably sized table, and two chefs standing by on one side.
It was the result of the Grand Witch's renovations along with the interior.
The Grand Witch stood in the middle of the dining room, looking around to see if she liked the dining room she had personally remodeled, and nodded with satisfaction, crossing her arms. Then she strode over to one of the chefs and asked:
"What do Koreans usually eat for breakfast?"
"There are several types. Let me explain. First..."
The Grand Witch cut off the chef's words midway.
"Never mind. I just realized there's no need for that. Prepare what you consider a 'Korean breakfast' every day, differently, without me having to tell you."
Then, pointing at the name tag on the chef's chest, she said:
"Your name tag says 'Chef', so let's see you show off those skills. Surely someone with the title of chef won't produce disappointing results?"
The chef, more intimidated by these words than a simple request to cook well, tensely said he understood, and wiped away cold sweat as soon as the Grand Witch turned her back. Then, after letting out a small sigh, he psyched himself up and prepared breakfast to bring to the Grand Witch.
"Not bad. It seems to be mostly vegetarian... Well, that's fine. You can go now."
"Yes."
The Grand Witch dismissed the chef with a haughty expression and a wave of her hand.
Then she watched as the foods everyone had ordered gathered in front of them.
As she did so, the Grand Witch caught sight of the food Anastasiya had ordered across from her.
The Grand Witch couldn't help but be appalled at the terrible appearance of the food she had ordered.
The food being placed in front of Anastasiya held a splendor unfitting for breakfast.
To exaggerate slightly, jellies that seemed visible from 50 meters away in dazzlingly bright colors - red, orange, green, blue, and so on - were rolling around, and next to them were piles of foods made with contrastingly pitch-black chocolate.
Moreover, there was a true 'peanut butter & jelly sandwich' - bread that looked like it would saturate you with sweetness to the bone with one bite, spread with peanut butter and strawberry jam, and topped with a heap of jellies. Even the drink was chocolate milk.
The pièce de résistance was the bear-shaped jelly.
A bear-shaped jelly the size of a palm sat very naturally in the center between Anastasiya and the Grand Witch, like a decoration that had originally been on the table. The bear was even facing the Grand Witch's direction rather than Anastasiya's.
The seemingly trivial jelly bear made eye contact with the Grand Witch.
"Anastasiya! Why are you eating so much chocolate first thing in the morning!"
The Grand Witch, upon making eye contact with the jelly bear, seemed unable to contain herself any longer and scolded Anastasiya in a small voice. Then, as usual, just as her temper was about to get the better of her and she was about to step on the accelerator, she stopped abruptly at a light shining from her arm.
When she looked at where the light was coming from, she saw a bracelet made of gold.
The beautiful bracelet, which looked as if it had been woven from golden roses, was sparkling in the sunlight coming through the dining room window, and some of it seemed to have hit the Grand Witch's eyes at just the right angle.
Odilia tightly closed her mouth, stroked the golden rose bracelet that was shining even more brilliantly in the sunlight and dazzling her eyes, then closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. Thus, Anastasiya escaped the crisis of hearing a lecture that would have been like a nightmare.
Seeing this, Ella, sitting next to Anastasiya, looked at the Grand Witch with her eyes closed with a strange expression.
Normally, she would have given a long speech and raised her voice to lecture in an overbearing manner, but it seemed very strange that she just stroked the gold bracelet that hadn't been there until yesterday and then tightly closed her mouth.
Ella pondered for a moment.
Did Herr Park have a hand in this?
And soon she was able to get an answer.
That the Grand Witch couldn't stand up to Jinseong.
That this mansion was where Jinseong's family was staying.
That Jinseong and his family had enough wealth to casually gift gold bracelets.
And decisively, that no matter how much she thought about it, only Jinseong would give such a gift.
All these facts were saying that it was Jinseong's, Herr Park's, achievement that had so subdued the Grand Witch's temper.
Ella thought once again that meeting Herr Park was the greatest fortune in her life, and then looked at Anastasiya, who was just smiling broadly for some reason.
Does sister even know what crisis she just avoided?
She must certainly know she was scolded since she heard something.
But she should definitely know…
Wasn't Anastasiya's face too bright for someone who'd been scolded?
Ella felt annoyed for no reason and unconsciously poked Anastasiya's side with her finger.
"Kyaang."
Anastasiya looked at Ella, who had suddenly poked her side, with a puzzled expression, then glared at her as if to say she'd accept the challenge if Ella was picking a fight.
But Ella didn't respond to her fighting spirit.
She herself was surprised at the fact that she had poked her side.
So she just stared blankly at Anastasiya's face looking at her and blurted out something irrelevant.
To escape the crisis.
"Sister? Um... it looks like you don't have any food."
Anastasiya stared at Ella, who looked a bit awkward, then closed her eyes for a moment as if to say she'd let it slide this time, nodded, and responded to her words.
"I saw someone eating like this in a dream yesterday. What do you think, isn't it very pretty?"
"In a dream?"
"Yes. It was someone eating jelly worm spaghetti, a 10,000 calorie chocolate brownie cake, and scooping up a gallon of vanilla ice cream. I think they were American..."
"Eek."
Ella made a disgusted face at Anastasiya's words.
Anastasiya smiled as if she found Ella cute.
"They were very skinny, so I think they might have had such a dream as a reaction to dieting~ They were a pitiful person. If they had been slim and pretty like me, they wouldn't have had to worry about dieting!"
"Is... that so?"
Ella made a sour face at Anastasiya's self-loving statement. Anastasiya, seemingly displeased with that expression, puffed her cheeks slightly and poked Ella's side repeatedly with her index finger. Only after Ella had twisted her body a few times from the tickling did she withdraw her finger as if to forgive her and said:
"Anyway, this sister doesn't like dieting or binge eating like that. But the way that person ate deliciously left a deep impression on me~ So I ordered this moderate amount!"
"Moderate amount, you say..."
Ella looked at the colorful diet filling the seat next to her.
Then, seeing the Grand Witch's face full of dissatisfaction and Agnes's face that looked like she would lecture as soon as the meal was over, she sighed slightly and said:
"Um, I think it would be good to order some vegetables too."
"Vegetables?"
Anastasiya tilted her head at Ella's words.
"These foods?"
Chocolate.
Jelly.
Chocolate topped with chocolate.
Bread sprinkled with chocolate powder.
Bread spread with strawberry jam and peanut butter and topped with jelly.
Rainbow-colored bear-shaped jelly.
What kind of vegetable could possibly fit in and harmonize among those foods that looked like a radioactive contaminated fairy tale landscape?
Anastasiya thought for a moment, and then, as if she understood the intention, smiled brightly and looked at Ella with an expression of admiration.
She raised her hand high and called a servant, whispering something. The servant then went to the chef and brought back what she had ordered, placing it on the table.
And seeing that, Ella was at a loss for words.
French fries.
Tomato ketchup.
"As expected, my sister is a genius. When you think of America, it's french fries, right?"
"That's..."
Ella couldn't continue.
They were vegetables, technically.
Potatoes?
They were vegetables.
Tomatoes?
They were vegetables.
Of course, fried potatoes are food made from vegetables, and ketchup made from tomatoes is obviously food made from vegetables.
It was certainly correct, but...
"...It probably isn't healthy."
Ella turned her head slightly away from Anastasiya, who was challenging her common sense. Talking with Anastasiya somehow gave her the feeling that her brain was becoming numb and her common sense was being twisted.
So Ella turned her head away from the steaming french fries and instead watched the procession of meat and vegetables floating in the air towards the open window.
"Huh?"