“I heard you liked the tomato dishes on your first night at the palace so, here’s my special tomato soup.” Is he not going to mention the incident that came later that day? and why did he have to remind me…
I raised an eyebrow at that and asked “First of all, why would someone as rich as you know how to cook at all? and a royalty member at that.
Second, why would a prince go through so much trouble to cook for a slave?”
The prince sighed heavily and put the plates on the table before sitting down.
“Oh man, you sure are suspicious of everything… I get it though, why would a prince cook for a slave? I did tell you right? that I will consider you a friend even if you protest.” He smiled softly and motioned for me to eat.
I looked at the bowl of soup, it looked just right, creamy but with a bit of grounded tomato texture to it, the onion smell and the spices blended in perfectly into the light reddish - orange color.
However, for some reason my hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I looked at the brew.
The light red slowly turned darker and more thick as sweat formed on my forehead.
I picked a spoonful of what seemed like a gooey mess with a shaking hand as the other guy started speaking again, his voice getting muffled and distant.
“...cooking, Milinda… me, …personal maid thro… …y childho-” As the soup touched my tongue, it went numb and I fell from my chair and held my mouth so I wouldn't throw up.
I couldn’t see what he was doing but I heard the prince get up from his chair and come closer to me.
Instead of muffled and distant, he sounded loud, obnoxiously so. “Lifes?! Are you that disgusted with my food? Is it really necessary to try and humiliate me like that?! I get that you don’t want to be friends but isn’t that going too far?
What is this fucking guy talking about…?
In between pants and heaves I tried to respond “W-wha Uhmp, what are.. you t- *cough* talking about? STOP FUCKING YELLING!” I spat out the soup and my body started to stabilize.
“Yelling…? Anyway, I thought you were just trying to make fun of me but you’re actually suffering…” He put a finger to his chin and mumbled to himself “Did I make a mistake with the spices? Maybe I put too much sugar instead of salt?”
I started getting up to my feet and even my knees felt weak and wobbly now.
looking at the glob of soup mixed with saliva on the ground, I suddenly remembered something Snoopsi told me before he left Slayer.
“People tend to connect situations and memories with sensations, so be careful. Savor the joyful moments and don’t let external influences hijack the sensations with bad memories…”
“I’m allergic to tomatoes now…?” I mumbled quietly.
“What!? Lifes you’re allergic to tomatoes?! Why didn’t you tell me? I’m sorry man…”
“W-what? No I’m not allergic, dude can you fucking back off and give me a second to breath here?” This has to be some sick joke Kiyoko is playing on me from the grave, I can’t even eat my favorite food now?
I refused to accept this fate, I got up and quickly went to the table, took a spoonful of the bloody concoction and stuffed it into my mouth.
“Lifes, be careful! Allergies are a newly researched topic, they might not have a cure for yo-” I pushed the guy to the side and collapsed to the floor once again, this time my vision went blurry and my head was pounding. The smell of onion and spices turned into a vague odorless gas.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
It was just like all those times I keep getting reminded of. Right on time, memories of my past exploits, including but not limited to Ostel’s death, started flooding in uncontrollably.
I started banging my head against the floor and yelled “Get the hell out of my head!”
I lifted my head and saw drops of blood in front flowing from my forehead and my bangs, red-hair’s voice caught me off guard when he started panicking at the sight of my blood. I can’t let this thing happen again!
“L-Lifes, you’re bleeding man, just stop, calm down for a second! we need to stop the bloo-” I jumped up from the floor and pounced on the guy, putting my hand on his mouth.
“DO NOT SAY THAT WORD! If you say it, I WILL kill you!” I felt warm tears flowing over my cheeks and dropping to the floor as I looked into the prince’s wide-eyed expression.
“Please…” I added before letting him go and dropping my gaze towards my feet.
“Li-Lifes! What is happening right now? Why are you crying? What’s got you so tense? I don’t understand anything, please just talk to me man, I told I’ll be your frien-” He paused before finishing as he saw my murderous aura.
I breathed in deeply and relaxed a little bit before concluding “Just stay away from me, and don’t even call yourself my friend. I’m the slave, you’re the master. That’s how it is, that’s how it will be until I die or finish my mission.”
I walked back upstairs and into my room, leaving the prince to figure things out on his own.
I crawled into my bed and covered my head with the blanket. My hands were shaking as I hugged myself and tried to sleep.
It was a strange feeling, my body felt heavy and sluggish but not really tired. My head was pounding and, contrary to my body, it felt like my brain, which now officially felt like a separate entity from my body, was completely fatigued.
I was tired and not really tired at the same time. With a black curtain in front of me I tried to make the show stop and slowly drifted out of consciousness.
***
“Noooooshi! Wasu and I are going to hunt a Bilzar we just saw! I heard their meat tastes like tomatoes! You’ll love it!” Snoopsi announced as he entered our tent.
“We’re on a mission to lure and capture a Dirk alive. You vegetable predators need to remember we don’t have much time left.” I retorted
“Pfft… Pahahahahahaha, Noshi your jokes are always so bad!”
“Tssssss, mmmm, smells so gooood, I’m gonna flip it ova and do the otha side, are you sure you don’t wan’ a piece Lifey? Tssss, listen to the TOMATO tasting juices just oooooozing outy, mmmm, YU-MMY!” Ostel stood behind Snoopsi, next to our sleeping bags and made gestures with his hands to simulate a grill.
My mouth started watering a little bit and I mumbled “Yu-mmy…” before realizing what I was doing. I shook my head and felt my face becoming hotter as I yelled at Ostel to fuck off.
I suddenly heard knocking on some wood outside our tent. How strange…
“Lifes! Hey Lifes, wake up!” The voice outside yelled, it sounded familiar.
My dream ended abruptly and I found that the source of the voice came from outside my room.
I opened the door to see a bittersweet expression on the royal prince that stood with a bowl of soup in his hands.
“Hey, Lifes, I made you some soup to help you feel better, I promise there’s no tomatoes in it.” he said.
It was then that I realized that I haven’t eaten in a long time, even the 2 spoons of cold tomato soup from this morning were spat out.
“Tch, do you really have to try so hard? I keep telling you, we’re not friends, stop cozying up to me like that already, treat me like your slave and it will work better…” I took the soup from his hands and finished “For both of us.” before closing the door.
I turned around and looked at the window above my bed just to realize that it was now nighttime, I really slept through the entire day.
The weird part was I was feeling even more tired now, or at least, my body felt heavier and more sluggish, my eyes felt swollen and tired too.
Sitting at my desk in the corner of the room, I put the bowl down and looked at its contents. It was a type of comfort food I knew all too well. Niya and Dawn would make this type of soup if we ever found any meat on hunting missions.
“Carrots, parsley, potato, salt, pepper, some rejuvenation stone powder and 2 chicken drumsticks that were boiled in the mixture for a long time… It looks perfect.”
The first sip of the greenish water, along with the amazingly nostalgic smell made it obvious to me that this guy put a lot of effort into making it.
It’s getting difficult… This fucking Leo is making everything so hard, why can’t he just leave me alone or hate me like the others?!
I need to find a way to distance myself.