Chapter 43 – Inferiority (1)
Mason’s eyes widened when he saw the breakfast on his table. A table full of warm steaming soup, fluffy and soft-looking bread, and deliciously cooked eggs caught my eye.
“Sit down, sister. I will cool down in the morning.”
“Oh?!”
Lucia grinned at Mason and pushed her chair behind Mason, who stood engrossed at her table. Mason reflexively sat down on the chair that was suddenly pushed under his calf.
The smell of the closer food tickled Mason’s nose and her stomach began to rumble. Morning with the smell of soft butter and freshly cooked good food. The cutlery in front of her seemed to urge her to start eating.
Then Mason remembered that she hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days. She carefully picked up the fork and knife from the table.
“Lucia, I will eat well.”
Although her mouth was watering and clamoring for her food, Mason did not forget to greet her brother. Lucia also responded with a smile and took her tableware.
Without further hesitation, Mason started eating her meal. When I touched the egg lightly with a fork and knife, the golden yolk spilled onto the plate. She hurriedly tore a piece of soft bread on top of a piece of egg and brought it to her mouth.
Soft bread on the tongue, soft and fluffy eggs on it, followed by the savory taste of the yolk and the taste of salt sprinkled slightly salty.
As the food touched Mason’s parched tongue, he savored her taste as if he wouldn’t miss a single bite. Next, she took a spoonful of the soup and brought it to her mouth, and the taste of the soft milk, butter, and cream soup filled her tired body in an instant.
Mason started her meal by speeding up her involuntary eating, and Lucia looked at her contentedly. For a while, the sound of chopping dishes and dishes made filled the kitchen.
“Is it delicious?”
Mason, who was putting food in her mouth, hurriedly nodded at Lucia’s sudden question. She blamed it on her starvation, but even taking her hunger aside, Lucia’s cooking skills were excellent. Mason wanted to say something, but the food in her mouth made her cover her mouth and nod fiercely.
“You must be very hungry. Eat more, sister.”
Lucia said as she cut her portion of eggs in half and placed them on Mason’s plate. Then Mason felt a little embarrassed. It wasn’t until her older sister that she was seen eating so voraciously in front of her younger brother.
“Oh, no, you eat.”
Lucia laughed softly as she hurriedly swallowed the leftovers in her mouth and patted her hands as she spoke.
“No sister. I don’t eat much because I have a short mouth. You look good because you eat well.”
As Lucia said, she cut off the corner of the remaining egg and brought it to her mouth. The shiny silverware slipped between her lips and then came out.
Mason began to match Lucia’s pace with her conscious eating. The kitchen continued to eat quietly at the calmer sound than before.
It wasn’t until he was full that Mason realized how much Lucia had prepared for her meal. Seeing her knife in her own hand, she vaguely recalled her forgotten memories. It was a special silverware that her parents used for birthdays and anniversaries when she was young.
“Oh, come to think of it, this…”
“Huh?”
“This silverware.”
“Ah. This? That’s right. Because today is a special day.”
Lucia held up the knife in her hand and continued her words.
“I was going to wipe it off in the morning, but my effort was saved because my sister wiped it in advance. Thank you, Sister.”
“Huh?”
“This silverware. Was it well maintained? Didn’t your sister clean it up recently?”
Upon hearing Lucia’s passing question, Mason recognized who washed her dishes.
“Are you okay, sister? Why did you suddenly stop eating?”
“Huh? Oh, rice, it’s nothing. Just thinking about something else for a while.”
Mason cut the egg again and brought it to his mouth. For some reason, the taste of the egg, which had been savory and soft until just now, seemed a bit cold and dry.
While she went to work on Isabella’s farm, I thought of the grown-up girl who would have sat alone at her kitchen table and washed her dishes.
No Mason. Right now you are having dinner with your brother. I also saw it in a very long time.
Focus on Lucia. To your only brother.
Mason gave Lucia a smile as she eagerly munched on her food, forcing her to resume her meal. Fortunately, Lucia didn’t seem to notice the change in her. She was just telling the story with her face looking amused.
“… I want to go, how is it?
Huh?
What were you talking about?
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you properly. Can you tell me one more time?”
“Let’s go to the city together later. Is today your day off, too?”
“Uh? How did you know?
She seemed to ask her question why she asked something obvious, and Lucia answered her doubt with her contorted face.
“Yeah… Because Isabella told me?”
Ah.
But. You two are friends
It was now impossible for Mason to think of Isabella without feeling a bitter taste in her mouth. She used to be a friend of her little brother from her neighborhood when she was young, her sister whom she was grateful for helping herself, but now Isabella couldn’t quite decide who she was to her.
She felt as though she had taken her Shiana away from herself, but the reasons her Siana left her were a combination of issues. Perhaps, she had identified her Isabella as someone to blame for her own inadequacies that had caused Cianna to leave herself.
In any case, she seemed to still remain friends with Lucia, regardless of what she thought of her Isabella.
If so, she didn’t have to step out and intervene in her relationship with her Lucia, and she shouldn’t. Mason decided not to tell Lucia what had happened between her and Isabella.
“… Sister?”
“… Uh?”
Mason came back to her senses and looked at her Lucia, who was still sitting across from her table, looking at her. With a smile on her lips.
But her eyes weren’t smiling.
“Sister. Are you still sick?”
“Oh, no. I’m fine. Sorry, I keep worrying about something…”
“Okay?”
Mason turned to her fork and knife to catch her nerves from the awkward air currents. Like a perfect young lady, Lucia carefully brought a small piece to her mouth with a fork and knife and continued her meal neatly.
Silence continued between them until she swallowed the food in her mouth and patted the corner of her mouth with a napkin.
“I couldn’t concentrate on the conversation all the time, so I thought I was overdoing it even though I’m still not feeling well. Are you okay?”
“Sorry for worrying you, but it’s okay. Really.”
Mason assumed that her chilled air was an illusion of her own, and she spoke out as if to make an excuse.
“Okay. Glad then Then, will you go to the city with me later?”
“Okay. Come with me.”
Lucia smiled and continued her meal, and Mason put down the tableware she was holding in her hand. My stomach, which had been throbbing as if I was about to starve until just now, was no longer hungry.
Since the days are short in winter, it was difficult to open the market early in the morning and prepare. Therefore, when the market opening time is delayed, merchants and suppliers naturally have more room.
“Uncle Reggie!”
Lucia knocked on the door of Uncle Reggie’s house at the beginning of the village. Beside her, Mason watched her and Lucia’s actions with a slightly helpless expression.
She, too, had taken Uncle Reggie’s cart a few times as he headed into town, but like Lucia, she had never asked Uncle Reggie himself first. She was in a position to receive the favor of the uncle, and from Mason’s point of view, her Lucia’s behavior was close to a nuisance.
“Um, Lucia? Is it okay for me to visit you recklessly like this?”
“Huh? Oh, you don’t know, sister?”
Before I could ask what he meant, the door opened and Uncle Reggie came out. He opened the door with an annoyed expression, then smiled broadly at his sister standing in front of the door.
“Ooh, who is this! Lucia! Mason!”
“Bye… “
“Mister! Long time no see! How have you been?”
Lucia’s cheerful and lively greetings overshadowed Mason’s greetings. Lucia smiled broadly and started talking to Uncle Reggie.
“How are the children? Don’t you know if I’m using the gift I gave you?”
Gift?
Mason felt a bit bewildered, but Reggie smiled broadly.
“Thank you! The kids love the clothes you sent! In particular, my daughter had to be forced to wear it even when she slept.”
“Thank god! You know Reggie, could you take us downtown just once? We are finally going to hang out together for the first time in 10 years~”
Lucia looked at Uncle Reggie with a smile on her lips, and after that things went smoothly.
“You didn’t have to worry, did you?”
It wasn’t until Lucia explained that she had been sending several sets of clothes each year to Regine and her family to repay her debts in her childhood that Mason understood the conversation between the two.
Watching Uncle Reggie’s cart gradually pull away towards her market, Lucia looked up at Mason with her triumphant smile. Mason had no choice but to acknowledge it with a quiet nod of her head.
And at the same time, Mason felt a little distant. Her little brother, who had been complaining about small things when she was young, was now a full-fledged adult.
Although she is a well-mannered young lady, she knows how to take advantage of a relationship that started out as goodwill to her own advantage.
“Let’s go quickly, there are so many things we want to do before the sun goes down.”
Lucia hurried to her feet, and Mason followed her. For some reason, the look on her back felt a little strange.
