Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“What the heck. It won’t come off. It’s stuck on tight!”
The cookies were firmly attached to the biscuit and wouldn’t come off easily. But Luke was a very strong child. He would often win arm wrestling matches against adults twenty years older than him despite his young age, so something like pulling a cookie off a wall was easy.
He succeeded in ripping the cookie off with strength and shoved it right into his mouth.
“It’s a hundred times better than Mr. Creven’s cookies!”
His eyes flew open from how delicious it was. How could such a taste exist in this world? It was shocking.
Luke shoved every cookie he ripped off into his mouth. He didn’t care whether crumbs got around his lips right now. He couldn’t stand it, wanting to somehow eat more and faster.
The cookies within his reach disappeared in no time. His gaze then turned to the chocolate door. He tore off the doorknob and also ripped off the marshmallow window frame, placed it on top, and put it in his mouth in one bite, happiness spreading fully inside.
As he lost all reason and wolfed down the food, a shadow approached from behind him.
“You brat, what do you think you’re doing!”
Luke instantly curled up his body at the sudden scolding that flew at him. Frozen in place, he couldn’t even turn around and just rolled his eyes around.
“Aagh, my house! You brat, what am I supposed to do if you eat someone else’s house!”
The age felt from the voice wasn’t much for now. Luke gulped down the sweets in his mouth and turned around. As expected, she was a young woman.
“I’m sorry. I was just so hungry….”
Luke’s words trailed off as he examined her face. An ear went pop between her golden hair, sticking out. He had seen long ears and folded ears before, but it was his first time seeing ears like those.
As he stared blankly out of fascination, she put her hands on her hips.
“You ate my house without permission! I don’t even have any more ingredients!”
Luke bowed his head deeply at her sharp voice. I’m sorry. Once he apologized, the strength in her furrowed brow that had been glaring at him with displeasure softened.
“You’re a kid from the village, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you here all alone? Did you get lost?”
When Luke nodded, she let out a deep sigh, saying she figured as much. She then continued with words that sounded half like a question and half like a scolding, asking why a child was here alone when even adults get lost in the Black Forest.
I didn’t come in alone though. And I didn’t come in planning to get lost or anything.
Luke retorted in his mind as he brushed the crumbs off his lips with the back of his hand and pouted.
“Come inside for now. Oh my, what’s this? You ate the doorknob too?”
She discovered the vanished doorknob and was dumbfounded.
Luke desperately avoided her eyes. I’m going to get scolded badly. He thought, but she only sighed and said nothing more about it.
“Anyway, come in. It’s cold if you keep standing there.”
She gestured. Luke hesitated for a moment before going into the house as she said.
Unlike its exterior, the inside of the house was surprisingly ordinary. Aside from the walls being made of biscuit, the fireplace, the bed, the desk, everything was what you could find in any household.
She moved the basket placed on top of a stool to the side and brought that stool in front of the fireplace.
“Sit here and warm yourself up.”
Luke sat as he was told and stretched his hands and feet toward the fireplace. The warmth coming from the fire melted his tension just as it melted his frozen hands. Luke now had the leisure to carefully look around his surroundings.
First, there was a large cast-iron pot placed over the fire. When he listened closely, as if something was boiling, he could hear bubbling sounds along with the crackling firewood.
He sniffed the air and a delicious smell hit him. Judging by his keen sense of smell, it seemed to be some kind of stew.
With his sense of smell stimulated, his stomach growled once more. Luke glanced around to check if she had heard the sound.
She said nothing and brought over two bowls. They were deep, concave bowls. She picked up the ladle resting on the side of the pot, filled a bowl generously with stew, and handed it to Luke.
“Here. You said you were hungry.”
When Luke hesitated and didn’t take it, she gave him a look with her eyes.
“Is it really okay for me to eat?”
He asked because he felt self-conscious, but the child’s hands honestly moved toward the bowl. Luke, who received a stubby spoon along with the bowl, looked inside it.
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