Chapter 55: 55 | Strange Behaviors
"Open up. Say Ah."
Mira’s face flushed slightly, and she glared at him with intense annoyance.
She absolutely hated it when he treated her like a helpless child. Especially when he used that patronizing tone and said, "Ah."
She was about to open her mouth to deliver a sharp, angry retort, but then, the incredible, sweet aroma of the rice entered her nose.
Her eyes widened and her anger vanished in an instant, replaced by a sudden, intense hunger.
She looked at the spoonful of food, then she looked at Dexter’s calm face.
Then, she looked back at the food.
"Where did you actually get the ingredients for this?" she demanded, trying to remain suspicious.
Dexter rolled his eyes playfully.
"Must you question every single thing I do? Just eat, Mira. I promise you I didn’t poison the food."
Mira wanted to ask another question, to demand to know how he could afford such luxury.
Unfortunately... the smell was simply too tempting to resist.
Without even realizing what she was doing, she slowly, reluctantly opened her small mouth.
Dexter gently guided the spoon inside.
The very next second, Mira’s pupils constricted.
The flavor was completely indescribable. It did not feel like she was eating a simple bowl of rice at all.
It felt as though she was eating soft, warm, heavenly clouds that melted instantly on her tongue.
The rich, sweet flavors of the fruit and the savory, earthy tones of the ginseng blended together perfectly. A deep, comfortable warmth spread rapidly through her entire body.
Her damaged meridians, which had felt like dry, cracked twigs for years, trembled.
Then... they began to heal.
Her eyes slowly closed on their own. A soft, blissful, and completely relaxed expression appeared on her face, replacing her usual defensive frown.
A few seconds later—
She opened her eyes, and then, without realizing it, she opened her mouth again.
This time, she did it entirely on her own.
She looked at the spoon in Dexter’s hand expectantly, her eyes wide.
Dexter nearly laughed out loud.
At this moment, she looked incredibly cute. She looked like an obedient, hungry puppy waiting patiently for her master to feed her.
Of course, he wisely kept that specific thought entirely to himself. If he said it out loud, she would definitely become angry and refuse to eat another bite.
So, he simply continued to feed her.
One spoon after another.
Three spoons.
Four spoons.
Five spoons.
By the time Dexter finally managed to pick up his own spoon to eat a single bite of his own portion—
Lyra had already completely emptied her enormous bowl.
She sat quietly, holding her empty wooden spoon, looking at him with an intense, expectant, and slightly pleading gaze.
Dexter looked at her empty bowl, then at his own plate, and shook his head helplessly.
"That’s all for today, Lyra," Dexter said, his voice soft as he looked at her empty bowl. "This meal is highly complex. The ingredients are extremely rare and difficult to balance, so it isn’t something I can prepare in large quantities or multiple times a day. If you are still feeling hungry, I cooked a fresh pot of ordinary rice on the side."
Lyra’s shoulders slumped slightly as she pouted sadly. The sheer disappointment on her face was so vivid that Dexter felt a brief pang of guilt. But a moment later, she seemed to realize how much she had already eaten. She looked down at her hands, then pressed both palms against her flat stomach.
A quiet, satisfied expression returned to her face. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting her head lean back.
"Burp."
A small belch escaped her lips.
The entire dining room went completely silent. The quiet hum of the refrigerator seemed to grow louder in the sudden stillness.
Dexter blinked.
Mira, who had been about to swallow another spoonful of rice, stopped mid-movement, her eyes wide with surprise.
Even Selene, who usually remained completely detached from her surroundings, paused her spoon halfway to her mouth, her head tilting slightly toward Lyra.
A second later, Dexter could not hold it in any longer. He burst into an amused laughter.
"Hahaha."
Lyra’s face turned bright red. The blush started at the base of her neck and rushed upward, coloring her cheeks and the tips of her ears a deep crimson.
She quickly pulled her hands away from her stomach, picked up her empty bowl, and stood up so fast her chair screeched against the floor. Keeping her head bowed and her eyes fixed firmly on the ground, she hurried toward the sink, placing the bowl down with a loud clatter before retreating down the hallway toward the bedrooms.
"Well," Mira remarked, her voice dry as she watched Lyra disappear around the corner. "It seems someone has completely forgotten her manners. Her family tutors would have had a stroke if they witnessed that."
"She enjoyed the food. As a cook, there is no greater compliment than seeing someone finish their plate and feel satisfied."
"Hmph," Mira muttered, though the small, content smile on her own face contradicted her sharp words. She took another bite of her rice, closed her eyes, and chewed quietly.
Meanwhile, Selene was still only halfway through her meal. Normally, Selene ate very, very little food. She was always the very first person to quietly say she was full.
Most days, ten small spoonfuls were more than enough to make her stop eating entirely.
But today... she showed absolutely no signs of stopping. One warm spoonful after another disappeared quickly into her mouth.
Even Mira, who normally stopped eating out of pride after a few bites, had eaten absolutely everything on her plate. Everything. There were only two or three single grains of rice left sticking stubbornly to the edge of the bowl.
Before she asked to be pushed off, she had immediately hestured with her chin at those grains. "There are still three left."
Dexter had stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. "You’re actually counting individual grains of rice now?"
Mira had glared at him fiercely. "Food is food. Don’t waste it."
Chuckling, Dexter had scraped the remaining grains into the spoon and fed them to her. Only then did she look completely satisfied. For a brief, funny moment, Dexter even felt that she wanted to pick up the bowl and lick it clean.
Then he suddenly remembered—Lyra had actually done exactly that.
Dexter almost laughed again remembering it.
Back at the table, Selene finally let out a small, quiet hum of deep satisfaction as she finished her bowl.
Her blind, white eyes remained closed as she sat quietly, deeply enjoying the lingering warmth spreading through her cold body.
The strong medicinal energy from the Heavenly Treasures flowed rapidly through her damaged meridians, nourishing and repairing them little by little.
Since Mira was already gone, Dexter stood up and began clearing the table. Selene didn’t move. She remained sitting exactly where she was at the dining table.
Even after Dexter began noisily washing the dirty dishes in the sink. Even after he thoroughly cleaned the kitchen counters. She simply sat there in perfect silence, Cultivating.
Dexter glanced over his shoulder at her strangely. Lately, she had been acting even stranger than usual.
Then again... all three girls occasionally behaved in ways that could only be described as highly unusual due to their trauma.
Sometimes, Lyra would stand completely still by the living room window for an entire hour without moving a muscle. Sometimes, Mira would sit in her chair and stare silently at the blank television screen despite not even watching a show.
As for Selene... he had once walked into the backyard and found her standing still, facing a brick wall, her empty eyes staring forward silently for almost twenty minutes.
So compared to that... remaining seated quietly at the dining table wasn’t particularly strange. Dexter simply shrugged his shoulders and continued scrubbing the pots.
Suddenly—
Comments