## Chapter 1365 – ##17_Daughter-Lings (3)
##115
1.
During her Big Boss days, Dorothy often wondered.
‘If happiness exists in this world, what shape would it take?’
Dorothy found the answer to that pointless question that she thought she would never get, no matter how much time passed.
“I’m home…”
“My daughter’s home? Come here! Let me hug you tight!”
That’s it!
Happiness is small, cute, and resembles Dorothy and Siwoo, but especially Dorothy!
Dorothy’s eyes wavered as she was about to hug Sasha, the youngest of the daughter-lings, who was bowing deeply, with fervent enthusiasm.
“Sasha?”
“Mommy…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Waaah…”
Sasha was always so hesitant that it made you wonder what to do.
But that only meant that she was introverted and shy, not that she was always as gloomy as she was today.
At that moment, Dorothy, who didn’t know any of the circumstances, felt her head heat up.
At the same time, she felt her reason become surprisingly cold and clear.
Sasha, born from her beloved darling, was the most ideal form of happiness that Dorothy had found.
If anyone tried to interfere with that, she was ready to use any means necessary.
The scariest thing here was that Dorothy’s face, as she looked at Sasha at this moment, had a gentle smile befitting the title of ‘perfect mother.’
Why is that scary?
It’s because growing children are emotionally vulnerable and especially dependent on their mothers, so it’s proof that she’s keeping the iron rule of not being emotionally swayed in front of her daughter, even at this moment.
This is the Witch of the Path.
The power of a woman who was once a big shot in the underworld who conquered the world, but is now retired and a normal housewife.
“Well, you see…”
However, the terrifying things didn’t happen, like an enraged Dorothy filing 500 complaints to the Trinity Academy’s sprout class teacher, or finding the culprit who made Sasha feel down and confronting them face-to-face.
“S, Sasha… like Seoyeon unnie or Lapi unnie, wants to be friends with everyone… but it doesn’t seem to work out…”
“Why? Sasha is getting along well with her sisters, isn’t she?”
“I am. But I always feel like I’m just receiving…”
Dorothy, who was about to explode in anger, felt her heart melt at Sasha’s innocent and cute worries.
What is this?! This cute creature?!
Is it okay to be this cute and kind?
“Mommy…?”
Dorothy, who almost lost her footing for a moment, put her hands on her hips.
“Hmm~ Then how about we take this opportunity to express it?”
“How?”
“It’s almost Valentine’s Day.”
“Valentine’s Day?”
2.
Valentine’s Day.
Originally, it was a day to commemorate Saint Valentine of the Roman era, but for some reason, modern people recognize it as a day when lovers exchange chocolates and hotel reservations are more expensive than usual.
If you dig into the root of it, you’ll find that a ‘capitalist ploy’ is always behind it, and she knows that it actually originated from a marketing strategy of a British chocolate company, but she’s not stupid enough to teach that to Sasha.
“Sasha, originally, feelings don’t necessarily have to be expressed in words.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, don’t Mommy and Daddy love Sasha so~ much?”
“…Yes.”
“You know that even if we don’t say it, right?”
“Yes!”
“Why is that?”
“Um, uuum…”
Dorothy, who had finished preparing to make homemade chocolates in front of the kitchen, stroked Sasha’s head as she pondered.
“Because we re~ally love you. It shows in our eyes, in our actions, in every moment we look at you.”
“Really?”
“Of course, love is the most powerful magic in the world.”
Anyway, that’s why today is Dorothy’s cooking class with Sasha!
Homemade chocolate class.
For reference, this isn’t the kind of homemade chocolate that’s just melting and hardening commercially available chocolate, but rather, it’s a pave chocolate made using chocolate couverture.
The ingredients are high-cocoa content chocolate couverture, fresh cream, butter, and cocoa powder.
Usually, you would add syrup to adjust the sweetness and texture, but in Dorothy’s case, she decided to add a touch of flavor using various fresh fruit purees.
“Mommy will put the puree in the fresh cream and boil it. In the meantime, can Sasha melt the couverture?”
“Yes.”
Sasha, who had carefully put on oven mitts in case her delicate hands got hurt by the hot heat, went up on a stand and stirred the chocolate in the silver bowl.
Well, even though she’s young, Sasha has activated her self-defense, so there’s almost no chance of her getting hurt in the kitchen.
“Wow…! Mommy! It’s melting well!”
“Chocolate melts very~ easily. We’re going to melt it completely until it’s between 45 and 50 degrees.”
“Yes!”
As expected, she likes making things because she’s a child.
When the chocolate becomes moderately thick, mix it with the fresh cream that has been heated until it’s about to boil with the puree.
“Sasha, do you know what flavors of chocolate Mommy was going to make?”
“This is peach flavor, this is raspberry flavor, and this is apricot flavor.”
“Oh my~ our daughter! You did great! Do you want to mix it yourself? You can’t pour it all at once, you have to draw circles to mix the chocolate and fresh cream well.”
“Like this?”
“That’s right~.”
Sasha was small, but she was quite skilled.
Without being told, she poured the fresh cream in three or four times and mixed the three flavors of chocolate very well with a silicone spatula.
“Now that it’s well mixed, let’s add the butter!”
“Add!”
“Pour it into the molds! This is heavy, so Mommy will do it.”
“Then what about me?”
“Can Sasha flatten it with a spatula?”
“Yes!”
The kitchen was filled with the sweet scent of chocolate.
She poured the melted chocolate and fresh cream mixture into square paper molds and put them in the refrigerator.
“Now, in two hours, we’ll take them out, cut them like cubes, and sprinkle cocoa powder on them, and it’s done.”
“Hehe.”
“Shall we eat some of the leftover chocolate in the meantime?”
“How?”
Dorothy spread the chocolate that was slightly left on the bowl and spatula on bread and shared it with Sasha while they spent time together.
And then, the long-awaited two hours passed.
“Huh~?”
Dorothy was slightly flustered when she took out the chocolate.
Pave chocolate is actually quite easy to make compared to its fancy name.
This is because in order to make hard, non-melting chocolate, you have to go through a difficult process called ‘tempering,’ which involves lowering and reheating the chocolate temperature, but pave chocolate doesn’t really need that process.
Because it’s a soft chocolate that melts easily at room temperature anyway.
“What’s wrong?”
But even at a glance, Dorothy and Sasha’s chocolate looked strange.
It had been in the refrigerator for two hours, but it still didn’t seem to be holding its shape and wasn’t hardening well?
“Shall we wait another hour?”
“Yeees~”
If Amelia, who was an expert in baking, had seen it, she would have quickly diagnosed it.
‘Chocolate doesn’t mix well with water. The texture is probably ruined because of the moisture in the puree.’
‘If you wanted to add puree like this, you should have adjusted the amount of fresh cream or added a little cocoa butter to balance it. Or you could add a little gelatin.’
That’s what she would have said.
That’s right.
Dorothy only learned baking in a crash course at a housewife class.
And because her daughter was so cute, she got a little greedy compared to her skills.
“……”
She realized that fact after waiting for five hours and seeing that the chocolate was still not hardening well and was still in a strange shape.
“Uuum, the shape is a li~ttle weird, but it’s okay, right?”
She couldn’t throw it away, so Dorothy cut the three flavors of chocolate (but the shape and texture were a bit ruined) and sprinkled cocoa powder that had been sifted through a sieve.
She quickly picked up a piece of chocolate and ate it.
The taste was….
“Uuum~~”
Subtle.
It was subtle.
It didn’t taste particularly delicious, and it didn’t have the fruity scent she had expected.
In the first place, the fruit flavor was completely buried by the sweetness of the chocolate.
Ah, I shouldn’t have been greedy.
Dorothy sighed inwardly.
“I’m sorry~ Sasha, what should we do? It turned out like this. Mommy will make it again.”
“……”
Sasha, who had been quietly watching the scene, quickly put the chocolate in her mouth.
“It’s delicious.”
“Huh?”
“It’s the most delicious chocolate I’ve ever eaten.”
That couldn’t be true.
It wasn’t a terrible taste because of the puree, but it was just a so-so chocolate that wasn’t anything special.
“Mommy said that it doesn’t have to be expressed only in words.”
In other words, Sasha was saying this to be considerate of her mother’s feelings!
“The feelings Sasha wants to convey don’t have to be expressed only in the shape of the chocolate. I’ll give it to my sisters tomorrow.”
“Sasha!”
Dorothy hugged her daughter tightly without realizing it.
“How~ did you grow up to be so smart, kind, and cute…”
“Hehe…”
“Mommy loves you. I re~ally love you.”
“I love Mommy a lot too.”
The mother and daughter divided the ugly chocolate into pretty packaging boxes and stored them in the refrigerator.
And as soon as Siwoo came home, they showed him the chocolate.
“Daddy, Sasha made it with Mommy.”
“Wow, Sasha made this herself?”
“Yes!”
Of course, Siwoo didn’t react by saying, ‘It tastes as bad as it looks.’
His wife and daughter had worked hard to make it for him, so what did it matter if the taste was a little lacking and the shape was a little off?
“Kyahoo!”
“Sasha! Look!”
“Daddy did 21 somersaults…! That’s a new record!”
Siwoo expressed his joy with his whole body by performing a whopping 21 somersaults in place.
And when it was night, Dorothy bragged about Sasha’s admirable behavior until her mouth was dry.
“So, you know what she said?”
“Was it that touching? You’ve already told me five times.”
“Of course, isn’t she so, so admirable?”
“But it wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“But I wanted to make something special. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all?”
Siwoo and Dorothy were sitting on the sofa in front of the bed, leisurely talking with wine.
“Come to think of it, I don’t remember ever celebrating Valentine’s Day?”
“Really? Is it possible for such a person to exist?”
“…What about you, Dorothy?”
“Oh my~ don’t even mention it. I had truckloads of chocolate pouring in every year, you know?”
“That’s… probably not a lie.”
Dorothy was also strangely popular among the other witches.
The truckloads of chocolate were definitely not a lie.
“So, I prepared some more chocolate for our poor~ nerd husband.”
“Oh, really?”
“Of course~”
Siwoo, who was smiling wryly at Dorothy’s usual teasing, widened his eyes.
Dorothy suddenly took off her gown in front of Siwoo.
Dorothy’s naked body, with not a single thread on it, was wrapped only with a bright red ribbon, as if it were a gift.
It was also at a level that barely covered the main parts.
“It’s a re~ally sweet milk chocolate~ how is it?”
Siwoo grinned.
“Chocolate is milk chocolate.”
That night was said to be a very sweet night, mixed with chocolate-flavored kisses.
