Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 9 ❆ On Leave

I nodded, tugging on my hood and bringing it forward further.

He smiled. Very brightly, if I might add. So bright it was blinding.

Erenol looked at us, frustrated that she couldn't be let in on the joke. She then cried to herself in her mother language, "I can't understand..." She then proceeded to stuff her mouth with food, messing up her lips with the sauce covering the roasted meat before abruptly recovering. "Oh wow," she said upon tasting the food. "This is...good. Ah! H-h-hoooooottt."

"Careful with that. I added a ton of herbs—and chilis," said Mistress Kora. "The meat had a slight pungent smell to it before that I really had to rub it down. Good thing this place has a lot of salt!"

The spiciness must have kicked in after a slight delay. Chilis were very sneaky like that. I almost forgot that Lovardi cuisine was very particular about hotness. Traditional dishes often had an ample amount of heat. Not only the temperature kind.

"Are you hungry?" Mistress Veronika asked, looking at me.

"Somewhat," I replied. "Where'd you get the meat? Aren't we lacking in money?"

"No worries," Kora said. "That young man...Elion, I think. We bought it from him for a very small price. He caught it in the forests. It seemed they are very good at it—hunting, that is. Besides, why would you even think that way? Even if we're like this, we did save enough when we were still working. We won't be getting to the bottom of our savings anytime soon."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes." He winked at me.

I looked to the direction that Mistress Kora was casually pointing at and found the dark-skinned youth from before busily skinning his catch—whatever kind of animal it was. As though he felt me looking, he lifted his eyes and met mine.

Curiosity bloomed in them.

I casually looked away.

"It seemed to me that they caught on already," Mistress Veronika said, having caught our exchange of gazes. "Evy, half of your blood most certainly belongs with these people. It really is hard to keep hidden considering how obvious it is. Why don't you try learning their ways? Haven't you always been curious about what the other half of the world is like?"

Mistress Veronika made a lot of sense and I couldn't refute my wanting to know about Vertvalden and the countries in it. Besides, it would also be very useful considering all the trouble that Amber was talking about was currently in Vertvalden. With how he made it sound, I would be heading there at some point in my life to face the trouble.

From my mistresses' perspective, now that I "knew" I was only adopted, that should mean I would be seeking my identity even more. Nonetheless, even with my curiosity, I was very hesitant in dealing with these people—probably because I wasn't certain about what to expect.

Besides, it was almost impossible for these people to know who my parents were directly. Just because they came from the same continent, it didn't mean they knew everyone there.

I only knew my mothers' name...Elleria, most certainly. But I wasn't supposed to know that so I could not ask. I was a baby when I was taken away, after all. I wasn't supposed to remember.

"I don't know," I told my mistress. "I'm really different, aren't I? Won't they question and not like me?"

Kora and Veronika exchanged looks.

"Why don't you try?" Veronika asked. She tore at a piece of meat for me and handed it over in a bowl. "You never know until you do."

I looked at Erenol and Maun and found them busily stuffing themselves. I accepted the bowl from Mistress Veronika and gazed at Kora inquiringly. He gave me the same, encouraging smile.