Two Sinfully Handsome Devils - Chapter 14

I wanted to blurt out and ask if cat people were common here but held myself in check. As a girl from Earth who was pretending to be a boy from this realm, I should already know this basic information.

I said, “Hi.” I was grinning like an idiot as I gazed lovingly at those ears of Brenna’s. God, the urge to pet was strong.

I felt an arm wrapping around my shoulders, and Felix’s deep voice said, “Aria? The medicine? Alfie’s story can wait until we return to the palace. This is neither the time nor the place for it.”

Aria said, “Of course, my lord.”

Brenna offered, “I’ll get the medication for you, Alfie. Please wait a moment.”

I gave her a bright smile for being such a nice nurse, which caused her to blush shyly. I noticed her eyes shifting to Felix beside me and then to Caleb. She became flustered again, rushed out of her chair, and headed away.

Confused by her reaction, I turned my attention to Caleb, whose steel-gray eyes looked rather dark, and then Felix, whose mauve eyes were just as intense. Both of their faces seemed so damned stern, too, despite being mostly hidden behind those masks.

Was Brenna afraid of these two lords? Then again, I was afraid of them, too, since the first time I had met them last night. Which begged the question as to why I was behaving so familiarly with these two men, as to even sit with them during a morning meal.

Well, I reasoned with myself, that is because Felix dumped me here, so I have no choice in the matter.

Speaking of the morning meal, food appeared before us. The chefs came and placed an array of food on the table. There were muffins, toast, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, an assortment of grilled vegetables, green salad, and even an array of different cheeses and breads.

“Wow!” I expressed, dumbfounded. A meal fit for a king. Or should I say lords?

What did I expect? These two near me were lords, weren’t they? So they’d be treated as such even out in the field.

Everyone started grabbing for whatever they wanted, and as hungry as I was, I did the same. I took two pieces of crispy bacon, two pieces of toast, and some scrambled eggs. I then picked up my knife and fork and tried some scrambled eggs.

“Hmm…” I sighed in pleasure and grinned. It was creamy and delicious, not unlike the way Mom used to make it back at home. I dug right in and ate to my heart’s content.

I was just biting into my second bacon when I felt Caleb’s gaze on me. Trying not to feel flustered or intimidated, I gave him a bright grin as I munched on my food. Then Brenna returned, and she handed me a little round pill that looked like a small blue jewel. It was glowing, too, like a tiny star that was full of energy.

“This?” I asked.

“Painkillers,” she said. “It’s top quality, Alfie. It’ll heal your headache in no time.”

So this glowing, bright-blue little pill was something akin to aspirin, then?

I popped it into my mouth and then reached for my glass of water. Suddenly, I felt the pill melt in my mouth, and a burst of sweetness flooded my taste buds.

“Oh…” I expressed breathlessly. Then I chuckled. “It’s sweet.”

Leona said, “All top-quality pills are sweet. If it’s not top quality, it’ll taste bland or, worse, bitter.”

Aria asked, “Do pills back at home taste bitter, Alfie?”

I nodded. “Very bitter. Although some of them have added flavor, which is mostly for children. Personally, though, I think they still taste horrible.”

Caleb said, “Masking a lousy-quality pill with flavor is treachery of the worst kind.”

Nodding his head, Felix said, “It is, isn’t it? But I’ve never in all these years heard of a kingdom that’d allow such a dishonorable behavior.”

One of the men sitting next to Caleb said, “Having a low-quality pill is useless on the battlefield.”

Another one sitting opposite him nodded in agreement. “Hmm. Of course, ours are quality checked.”

Her plate now filled with food, Brenna asked, “What kingdom are you from, Alfie?”

Her question had me cornered, and I felt at a loss as to what to tell her. I was merely mentioning pills and flavors, and now we were on to treachery, dishonorable behavior, and what kingdom I was from?

Trying to evade answering the questions as much as I could, I said, “I must admit that perhaps our medicine back home isn’t as high quality as here, although we do our best, particularly in research and such like to find cures.”

I shifted my eyes across the table, staring at the array of food. Then my gaze rested on the assortment of salad greens, and I suddenly thought of a better explanation.

I cleared my throat and continued. “The core molecules for our medicines come from plants that are mostly bitter, which explains why our medicines taste bitter.”

Leona nodded in understanding. “Come to think of it, I’ve heard of something like that in one of the lectures during my university class many years ago. It touched base on the eastern culture of using traditional medicine.”

I nodded. “That’s right. My father is from the eastern region, and we used to live there for a while.” Which was true since I had lived in Japan with my parents and Grandfather Kenjiro until I turned eight. Not to mention that Grandfather Kenjiro, who ran a shrine at the base of the mountain, knew a lot about traditional medicine and herbs.

“Ahh, so you’re from the eastern region,” Brenna said.

I nodded again. “My family and I lived there until I turned eight. After that, we traveled around quite a bit…”

Leona said, “So your family are travelers, then?”

“Yes.” I chuckled. “Our journey is always long and very tiring.”

I grabbed some salad greens and placed them on my plate. As I munched on the greens, my eyes wandered about the table. Caleb and Felix were busy talking to the other men. Meanwhile, the girls were eating quietly, including me.

My eyes shifted back to rest near Leona, and that was when I noticed a book sitting by her plate. I cocked my head to one side and asked, “What’s that?” I nodded toward the book.

Leona was surprised for a moment. She picked it up and asked, “This?”

I nodded.

“It’s a novel I’m reading,” she said. “It’s very popular. Do you want to take a look?”

I eagerly took the offered product. I was about to open the book when I noticed both Felix’s and Caleb’s eyes on me.

Felix said, “You like reading, Alfie?”

Finally, the man decided to call me by my name, which made me happy. I gave him a sweet grin as I nodded at the same time. “Yes. It can’t be helped since Dad… I mean Father is an author. I’ve read most of his novels and many others, too.”

Caleb asked, “Do you write books, too, then?”

I shook my head. “I’m no good at it.” I chuckled. “My specialty is cooking and eating.” I blushed, having realized I’d revealed too much about myself.

“Then you must cook us something nice to sample, little elf,” Felix said.

I sighed. Back to little elf again, I see.

“We’ll see,” I said as I flipped the book open to the first page and brought it right up to my face. I proceeded to glare like I usually did without my glasses on and tried to figure out what language this was written in. There were lines and curves with elegant strokes this way and that, which I had never seen before.

Aria said, which made me jolt in surprise, “Can’t you see properly?”

I moved my head and grinned. “Not really. I’ll be honest that I can’t see anything clearly without my glasses on.”

“You have bad vision?” Caleb asked.

I turned my attention to him and nodded. “I can’t actually see your face clearly at all.”

Felix burst out laughing as he tousled my hair. He said, “You never cease to surprise me, Alfie.” He leaned back as he folded his arms across his chest. “We can’t leave you walking around half blind. It’s dangerous.”

I noted Caleb nodding his head in agreement.

“Come with us to the clinic tent after breakfast, and we’ll give you a pair of lenses,” Aria said. “We brought backups because a few of our men are shortsighted, too.”

So they did have glasses here, which didn’t surprise me. But whether they had some that’d fit my sight was another question. I was about to ask Aria that when we were interrupted by a soldier.

“My lords,” he announced loudly. “We have news.”

Both Caleb and Felix, along with the other four men, got up from their seats immediately and walked off.

I watched them until they were out of sight before turning my attention to Aria. I asked, “News?”

Aria said, “The men must have found the bandits’ hiding place.”

“Oh,” I said.