To Love, Once Again

Chapter 97

Note from tofu:

Surprise~! A special second release this week to make up for the one I missed last week. xoxoxo

——————

The kitchen hummed with the comforting sounds of crunching nuts, a simmering pot, and paper and pen scratching against the thick wood of the table. Sera was reminded of her own childhood weekends in such a homely atmosphere, Ma cooking in the kitchen while Pa and Sera worked on her homework together.

This time, her family of three was different. Lucien, her love sat at the table in place of her father,his large body dwarfing the shadow of her own father she saw. And Leo, concentrating with his tongue peeking out just like she used to do with a particularly difficult equation.

While Leo happily crushed the soft, slightly sweet, slightly bitter butternuts under his knife, Sera was able to quickly finish up the custard. Though nuts scattered everywhere, flying off the cutting board and across the pages spread out around Lucien, he never complained. Instead, he would throw the small shard of butternut into his mouth as he worked, glaring at the paper before him.

Stirring the pot on the stove, Sera looks over the simmering mixture of heavy cream, milk, honey, while adding a pinch of salt. There was a mischievous glimmer in Leo's sky blue eyes as he paused, cutting up the nuts.

Lucien continued to work at a break-neck pace, the sounds of footsteps busily entering in and out of the kitchen gradually diminishing serving as evidence of his speed.

Smiling, Sera pauses between stirs to see what would happen next.

Without taking his eyes off the papers before him, Lucien's large hand searched for the next chunk of butternut to clean off his desk. Instead-

Plunk-plunk!

"Fwater, here! Pwesent!"

Chunky, small fingers open up to release a mountain-load of nuts on Lucien's papers. Better to have Lucien deal with it. Shaking her head, Sera takes the custard off the stove and begins straining it. She pretended not to hear Lucien's cough, knowing he wanted her to notice so that she could come and help.

Those two could figure it out together.

"Pwesent!" The small boy cries again. He picks of two large handfuls of the nuts, waving them in the air.

"Thank you."

After another cough, Lucien gives up asking for Sera's help. He beckons to the nearest pageboy.

"Let's finish here for today. Tell the Ministers the rest will be ready in the morning."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

It had been a long day for the King. With a sigh, he removes his glasses and rubs at his brows. All at once, the tight atmosphere that surrounded the king loosens. His unbuttoned shirt peeks open to reveal a glimpse of tantalizing bronzed pectoral muscles when he leans forward.

"You may all withdraw."

""Yes, Your Majesty""

The pages bow, backing out of the kitchens while the maids retreat; only the minimum number of maids necessary to support the Queen and Prince remained.

From the corner of her eye, Sera could see Lucien start to eat the small nuts bit by bit. When Leo opens up his mouth for a taste, Lucien reluctantly complies, carefully setting the smallest chunks of the nuts on the boy's small tongue. Not to be outdone, their son returns the favor, feeding Lucien with all the joy of a small child feeding an animal at the zoo.