LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 4
Karem quickly pushed away the thought that had suddenly popped up as he watched Gordon getting punished. He swiftly cut the toast diagonally and politely offered a piece.
Although the situation was amusing, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
He had fed babies before and had even served meals to bedridden elderly folks in a nursing home.
It was just that he had never fed anyone else.
Especially not someone so beautiful that it was hard to focus on anything but the space between her eyebrows.
Of course, Karem was curious as to why Catherine, who was perfectly fine in mind and body, didn’t feed herself, but he was sure that if he asked in the current situation, she might end up with a chunk of ice lodged in her head, just like Gordon.
Then wouldn’t it be better to feed her until she calmed down a bit first?
As a blushing Catherine approached, Karem offered the toast with an oddly thoughtful gesture that was uncharacteristic of a serf.
Crunch! As Catherine bit into it, she flinched.
When the toast moved away from Catherine’s mouth, the melted cheese stretched from it, only to snap apart.
Karem quickly moved the toast, wrapping the cheese around it.
“Toast is familiar, and cheese is familiar too, but eating it this way has its own charm.”
“Well, the crumbs flying everywhere is a bit annoying.”
With bread, a certain amount of crumbs was inevitable since it was made by baking a mixture of flour and various ingredients.
Moreover, while toasting bread, you were practically burning it.
But it was only natural that the more you cooked the bread, the more crumbs would scatter everywhere.
Then wouldn’t it just be better to enjoy it nicely?
Deep-fried foods and toast were designed to be crisp, and the more they crumbled, the greater the pleasure that traveled from the teeth to the brain.
Thinking about fried food, Karem suddenly craved chicken.
In his previous life, he could have had it every other day or at least once a month, but now as a serf, it was enough to be thankful to the sky for even ordinary food.
In fact, unless one was born into a sufficiently wealthy nobility, it was quite a stretch to find something that used as much oil as chicken.
Karem, who loved it the most, desperately suppressed the inner conflict brewing over a food he could only dream about now and, at the perfect moment, offered Catherine a piece of sausage and stir-fried vegetables.
As the items on the fork vanished into her small mouth, Karem quickly scooped his share of food into an empty wooden bowl and took a bite of garlic cheese toast.
The moment his top and bottom teeth crushed the crisp toast filled with butter and garlic aroma, a tingling sensation ran from his knees to the top of his head.
“Uhhh—”
“What is this—”
“Ah, I know that feeling. I felt the same when I first got to eat proper food after escaping serfdom.”
Gordon was spot on.
Ten years.
A whole decade had passed.
Certainly, there were occasions during festivals in Moston Village where he could have eaten decent food, but his useless parents denied him even that.
It was nonsensical reasoning that eating nice things at such a young age would ruin him.
The humiliation and mind-numbing meals during that time.
Karem was rather proud of not having cried.
Of course, as he chewed the toast, he observed Catherine’s mouth, and as she swallowed her food, he promptly offered her the garlic cheese toast again.
“Did Gordon’s parents also forbid food during festivals?”
“What? Of course they didn’t—huh? Karem, are you suggesting—”
“Hmm. I’d say you had it better than me?”
“Those were some truly goblin-like parents you had.”
—Tsk
Gordon clicked his tongue as he paused from eating the sausage to respond to Karem’s words.
No matter how beggar-like the food may be, it was clear that the festival was the time when even serfs could eat proper meals, and what kind of parents would deny their children food during a festival was glaringly obvious.
Catherine swallowed her toast and crossed her arms, tapping her fingers lightly against her arm.
“The village chief and that priest weren’t exactly the best of people, were they?”
“Of course. The chief assaulted his own daughter-in-law and the priest was consistently drunk, pursuing adult men.”
“What? I can’t believe they were trash like that?!”
Catherine was aghast at the secretly awful truths about the chief, although she could understand the priest’s shortcomings.
Even if the continent of Europa was in medieval times, incest was still a taboo.
“Well, compared to the chief, the priest wasn’t the worst… well, let’s just finish the meal.”
“Right. But how on earth did you cook like this under such conditions…?”
“I had to twist my body to try to eat anything that was unusable in that crazy environment.”
Of course, for the sake of health and the future, he had to eat everything he could, including bugs and monster byproducts.
However, while he remembered the cooking skills from his previous life, Karem lacked the courage to speak about it directly.
His attempt to answer a question with another question miraculously worked.
As Gordon patted Karem on the shoulder, he seemed to acknowledge the effort, whereas Catherine nodded slightly in agreement.
“When threatened, people often uncover talents they didn’t even know they had. Kid, it seems you’re definitely gifted in cooking.”
“It’s just sausage and vegetables tossed together with cheese toast, though?”
“I don’t know. At least I’ve never seen a toast like this after living for so long. And this sausage and vegetable mix is surprisingly well-seasoned for something seemingly simple.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah. The amount of garlic you’ve added is impressive.”
“Is it? But it’s still pretty good, right?”
“Yeah. The flavor and aroma of the garlic are strong, but thanks to that, it actually balances out the richness of the cheese and butter.”
“Oh, wow.”
Compliments this specific were awkward to hear.
Feeling uncomfortable with the continued praises, Karem simply offered the toast to Catherine again.
It wasn’t that Karem was unaware; he had simply reincarnated as someone who enjoyed cooking as a hobby in his previous life.
The thing that was different was that he had put all his effort into what was merely a hobby.
There was hardly anything else he’d poured himself into like cooking.
However, there were as many types of cuisine as there were sentient beings living on the continent of Europa, but the fundamental principle of cooking remained the same: seasoning, and this didn’t change for Karem in either his former or present life.
Catherine, who had unknowingly lived for centuries, could have built a mountain of meals based on what she had eaten during that time.
Although throughout her long life, she rarely had picky eating habits, she could still eat most things, provided they weren’t incredibly horrible, while her palate became increasingly refined.
As a result, Catherine was genuinely impressed by Karem’s cooking skills at this very moment.
On the other hand, Gordon praised based on experience.
“Hey Karem, I promise you, there are countless inns and restaurants that accept money for food they can’t even make.”
“Well, there’s bound to be a difference in any place that sells food.”
“Ha, it seems you don’t know much as a serf.”
Even modern restaurants have more grim tales than one can count in the present age; one could only imagine how it was in the medieval period, and everything Gordon illustrated sent chills down Karem’s spine.
As Gordon shared his vivid experience of once finding a cat skull in a stew that had been simmering for over a hundred years, Karem felt a shiver run through him.
Catherine, too, retaliated with a bouquet made of sharp icicles as a response to Gordon’s tales.
“I’d like to decorate your pretty head with ice for talking about food like that during a meal.”
“Oh, I just happened to want some refreshing ice right now.”
“Hmph, kid. Just focus on your meal.”
After a brief pause, Karem resumed eating immediately.
Fortunately, by the time he emptied his plate, the awkwardness he felt, every time he helped Catherine eat, was still very much there.
Catherine, who had been receiving meals from him, finally turned red and halted him, clearly full.
Karem could only think, “Now?” It was understandable, considering she had eaten three plates like Gordon, with her slender frame.
“Hmm, cough cough. Alright. I’m full. This should be enough.”
“Yes, ah, Gordon. Are you going to eat more?”
“Enough. Why don’t you eat? Who was the one not eating properly—oh, you are already eating.”
No matter how much Catherine yelled for him to be quiet, Karem began to genuinely enjoy the meal he hadn’t been able to relish properly due to others’ interference.
Even though the garlic cheese toast and sausage stir-fry might have cooled down, they were still delicious.
No, compared to everything Karem had eaten so far, this was an exquisite feast.
With a whole toast stuffed in his mouth, crunching away, Karem slyly looked at Catherine as she unfolded the parchment.
Catherine seemed to be in a good mood, her belly full.
Now was the time.
Once he finished every last bit of the sausage stir-fry, Karem took a bite of the last remaining half of the toast and asked,
“Sir Atanitas, I have a question.”
“Hm, kid?”
“Was there a reason I needed to feed you?”
The words that came from the mouth of a young serf made Catherine freeze awkwardly.
Seeing her, Gordon subtly leaned closer to whisper in his ear.
“Well, I was half-joking, but there’s a chance he might really be into that kind of thing.”
“Excuse me? Into what?”
“Silence!”
Zzzkt! Gordon’s mouth instantly froze, encased in ice.
The one who had frozen him, Catherine, shot him an intense glare before softening her eyes and quickly began to think.
Most of what transpired in the world stemmed from a lack of conversation, leading to misunderstandings; that was a fact.
Truthfully, if she had simply stayed hungry like before, it would have solved everything.
The reason she had joined the upper ranks was that she had purposely starved herself. However, her filled stomach, now released by Karem’s cooking, disallowed that option.
Catherine quickly agreed.
Yes, revealing the truth now rather than risking a misunderstanding that would lead to a late-night escape would be better.
“So, um, no. Sigh, okay. Showing you directly would be quicker. Both of you come over here.”
Suddenly? But Karem and Gordon had no reason to refuse and approached.
“Kid, pass me that toast.”
“I-Is it because you’re short? Giving a piece I was already eating seems a bit…”
“That’s not it!”
“Yes…”
Karem hesitantly handed over the toast, and Catherine reached out without hesitation.
In that moment.
As Catherine’s finger touched the edge of the toast,
It started to quickly blacken, as if the video had been fast-forwarded hundreds or thousands of times.