The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 64 - Add Another Morsel of Sweetness and Then I’ll Be Terrified

Chapter 64: Chapter 64 - Add Another Morsel of Sweetness and Then I’ll Be Terrified

The seaside tavern that Yatrel picked was abustle, but one girl’s focus on the face of a tall ’boy’ in a black blazer made the noise of the world fade away. Her prior fury had transformed completely into the determined glint in her mint eyes. She brandished a spoonful of food like a weapon prepared to skewer her fiance.

"I told you I’d be cute. Now, open up."

Pigeon-blue eyes darted nervously between the utensil and the face. It wasn’t that she... was not cute. But it was too intense!

"El, I can eat on my-"

A voice that was as sweet as steel broke her attempt to refuse.

"Unh-ah~ I promised I’d be cute for you. And what could be cuter of me than feeding my beloved?"

Across the table, Ondua choked on his drink. He didn’t want to see this! Yatrel patted his back, her own expression blended amusement and bewilderment. She wondered if her daughter realized this was the same thing the boy did for her earlier. Was she teasing him by calling it all ’cute’?

She glanced at her wheezing husband... and filed the thought away.

Meanwhile, Qatrand sighed. She obediently opened her mouth and accepted the spoonful of seafood stew. A slight flush crept up her neck as she chewed... El had beamed at her with too clear *satisfaction*. She even began loading another taste that was clearly not for her!

"Now, have another bite from the cutest future wife in the world."

Qatrand couldn’t hide the small smile tugging at her lips. The girl’s narcissism seemed to be getting worse to her. She considered carefully that the time she was blamed for calling her cute leading to her vanity problem... might be true. But it also seemed to be beyond help - it’s not like she’d stop calling her that when she felt the need.

"Okay, El. You don’t have to-"

"I want to. Let me do this for you."

The brunette insisted with her voice softening. Something more vulnerable pushed away the playfulness in her eyes. Understanding tumbled across Qatrand’s spirit and she accepted another bite without protest. Though she did question if she was being tricked somehow...

One Goltbred parent leaned towards another.

"Did we miss something? Weren’t they just..."

He trailed off, gesturing vaguely at how the mood turned somber again. His wife shrugged. She’d stopped paying attention to them to make sure Ondua was alright.

"Best not to question the shifts of young love too much. Do you want me to remind you how stubborn and hard to pin down you tried to be closer to their age?"

He gulped and shook his head from side to side in a very, very slow manner.

Elua’s movements gradually became smoother and less filled with such intense purpose. She began to swap between feeding her husband-wife and taking bites herself. The girl also chatted about the taste and other dinnertime pleasantries. To an onlooker, it was all affection between a young couple.

The tall teenager could sense the lingering shadow of things lurking behind Elua’s facade-bright smile. The presence of it made the Yecine even more pliable and hopeful that playing along would help. With each bite she accepted - each soft word of praise for the taste she offered back - Qatrand was trying to let her understand.

’I’ll accept all of you. Like you’ve done for me.’

The one witnessing the steady glow of returned affection in the spirit of her ’fortress’ wanted to hop into her lap and start nuzzling the young woman... but she realized that this was not the place. Instead, as she offered another bite to the gem she had been blessed with finding, the mask slipped entirely.

"You know. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a meal quite this much for as long as I’ve lived."

The reborn cultivator let her know, while lacking her usual sweet lilt. A free hand found the swordswoman’s under the table and intertwined their fingers. All while sending a press of ’warmth’ and ’gratitude’ with *most* of the immensity of her spiritual cultivation - a wordless acknowledgment of her betrothed and the likewise unspoken support she had been giving.

The moment passed when the heiress slid the facade back into place. She glanced at her parents... and lingered on Yatrel in particular, but much of the tension in her shoulders had eased. There was a new - less false - lightness to her movements as she continued filling her stomach.

When the plates were fully cleared, the tension from the time at the play had mostly dissipated. Elua sat back, looking pleased with herself. She pitched her silky voice for her fiance’s ears alone, though she didn’t bother to hide it any other way.

"See? Cute can be scary too. You couldn’t even refuse properly."

Qatrand nodded with a hint of amused exasperation, though her eyes were still soft with fondness. The word she used as she gave the girl’s hand a squeeze was solemnly spoken.

"Terrifying."

Ondua and Yatrel exchanged glances at the nonsensical exchange. They silently agreed to table their questions for another time. Whatever had transpired between the young couple, it was clear they had weathered it together. There was also the chance that their future son-in-law was right... and that the girl had just been hungry still.

Their daughter’s earlier fury seemed a distant memory on the surface. However, the one whose tendrils of spirit poked so questioningly all the time was extra aware of her fiancee. Qat could still sense the undercurrent of unusual emotions beneath Elua’s more cheerful exterior.

’Maybe... we still need to talk some more... away from them.’

Part of her wanted to pull her aside again and get it through with - she didn’t like that El was stewing in this. The other part was content to bask in the aftermath of ’scary’ cuteness. Though she had thought her heart was already full of love for this complex - at times baffling - girl who had chosen her...

She was learning there was room for more.

---

"Absolutely not."

The Goltbred put his foot down. His daughter had ’sweetly’ insisted that there was no need to pay for three rooms and the two were plenty. He had agreed with that - but the moment they approached the doors his daughter started to drag her fiance to a room!

"It’s still early in the evening, dad. I wanted to talk for a while. What are you even thinking about?"

She puffed her cheek out and glared at him. The look hurt his fatherly heart, but now that he knew... or at least was coming to know a little more about his eldest, he could tell it wasn’t that angry. The look she had back at the play was *real* anger!

"Isn’t it fine, dear? You should trust her more. She isn’t going to..."

Yatrel attempted to defend their young heiress. However, the woman had to trail off. Past events had shown her daughter to be-

"You’re not going to do anything, right?"

The mother’s tone was a little icy, proving both as an order and as an admission of distrust. Elua... couldn’t really blame her. She still really, really wanted to cuddle and nuzzle and-

"I hadn’t planned on it, but the two of you are making me feel like I’m prone to doing things behind your back."

The look she was being given when she showed herself as ’affronted’ became ever more chilling.

"You have been doing things behind our backs. Where is all this money you are giving the orphanage coming, again?"

’Oh, right.’

The brunette had somewhat neglected to think of the fallout of those reveals... considering that Yatrel seemed to take it all in stride. She knew it had been a rhetorical and guilt barbed question, so she ignored it!

"Business is business and this is personal. I promise I have no intention to do what either of you are thinking I might do."

’I obviously can’t say I haven’t hidden personal things from either of you either... so I’ll just let you make your own conclusions there!’

The slight outsider to the family conversation, even though she was a main component of what ’might be done’, cleared her throat.

"I feel like I’m supposed to know... what everyone is talking about. Is this another thing about kidnapping?"

All three Goltbreds turned to the soft spoken Yecine - each of them a variation of incredulous. Elua recovered first and gestured in the tall teenager’s direction.

"See? Your fear has no grounds, dad. Nothing will happen if we’re just in a room together alone for a while."

"And mine? Would you really tell me they are baseless?"

"I’d rather not comment on that, mom. Please stop teasing me about it."

Mint eyes could not meet their progenitor. She could easily feel that to tease was what her intent had been, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t effective! The schemer understood. This was what it was like to know an assault is coming but still fail to defend against it. She became a little upset that Yatrel struck first in that game!

"I don’t think I will, but you should know that I do trust you, dear. I’m also very proud of you. Go talk to Qatrand for as long as you want - and then the men can share a room tonight while we do the same, okay?"

After smiling warmly the wife grabbed her husband’s collar and pulled him to one of the rooms. As the door closed, despite being in the middle of being conflicted about the ’trust and pride’ being levied on her, the small girl couldn’t help but think to herself... that it was quite the double standard!

’So you pulling him somewhere is fine, but I do it with my beloved and I must be up to indecent things?! No, quit it. You successfully refrained from thinking about their acts that created yourself and Onya in the past...’

She shivered and shook her head. The reincarnator felt she should be more mature about it all, but something about it being her *parents* in those situations gave her chills. She was glad they weren’t *too* affectionate outside of... closed doors.

"Let’s get further away from that room, please."

Her ’fortress’ tilted and squinted with confusion as she was led towards a rented sleeping space. The blonde wasn’t sure what they were going to talk about, but whatever it was... she would hear her out without jumping to judgments. Just like she’d done when hearing that her fiancee could use her spirit in such a questionable way.