(Side Story) Learn to cook

The day after Henry leaves the castle on the mission to make salt, Clara and Claire already feel missed Henry. Well, they are Henry's personal maid and without Henry around, there're not many things to do. Can be said they have abundant time to spend.

"Sister Clara! I'm bored! We already did our chores and I had nothing to do, right now"

"Are you sure we already did all?"

"Yes, besides the bed sheet that you said no need to replace, Henry's room already cleaned and tidied. Why you don't let me change the bed sheet, sister Clara?"

"Fu fu fu…You'll know that later. Why don't you have chat with other maids?"

"I did…and get bored too!"

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Well, you know that Henry lately becomes popular in the castle, especially after he makes such delicious dishes. The maids always talk about him and I'm afraid if I'm around them, they start prying about Henry"

"Ara ara…you get jealous, aren't you?"

Claire's face getting red because of Clara's question, yet she still tries to deny it

"No, I'm not. I just worry if my mouth slipped and said something unnecessary like 'Henry is a good kisser' or 'Henry is great on the bed' or something like that. Even if I only say 'Henry is a gentle person' they will still chase me with other questions like 'How do you know he's gentle?' or 'Is he also gentle on the bed?' that kind of question is something I try to avoid"

"Hu uh …you got your point there. I'm glad you still have the consciousness to avoid publicize those kinds of Henry's treatment upon us. It would be troublesome if they get jealous of us because of that. Jealous women are scary, you know"

"You don't have to tell me about that sister Clara. Of course, I know what I can say and what I can't say. So, what I'm supposed to do with this boredom?"

"Mmm…how about chatting with married maids? Maybe we can learn one or two things from their marriage….like…how to please a man in bed maybe? It would useful when Henry return, right?"

Clara smile mischievously for this idea. But Claire rejects this idea by shaking her head.

"No! Absolutely no! If I'm talking about that with married maids, somehow my lower part becomes itchy and my body feels hot, and I don't have any means to vent this feeling nor tools to ease this itchiness"

"Araa~ you really have a sensitive body, aren't you Claire. Oh well, what else we can do to remove this boredom….let me think"

"Make it quick, sister Clara…I already hear enough about Henry and his food from the maids…find something else please"

"Ah? That's it…let's learn to cook! A woman supposed can cook for her husband, right?"

"But Henry is already very good at cooking. What if he doesn't want to eat our cooking because the taste is bad?"

"You silly girl…we learn to cook not to compete with Henry but to help him cook. Imagine the scene where we cook together with Henry, we cut the vegetables while he preparing the meat, then we eat our cooking together happily in the dining table….Hey! Don't drool yet! We did not even touch the kitchen knife yet"

"But you told me to imagine that, sister Clara…I already imagine three of us in the dining table, eating a delicious dish that we cook together…Henry even feed me with that delicious food"

Clara only can shake her head hearing that.

"Alright, at least you agree with this idea…we can use this as a surprise for Henry too when he come back later"

"Yes! Let's go, sister Clara!"

Claire drags Clara to the kitchen. She looks encouraged by Clara's idea to learn how to cook. And when they arrived at the kitchen, Mrs. Martina greets them.

"Ara~ isn't this Clara and Claire? What can I do to help you, girls?"

"Auntie, please teach us how to cook!"

"Oh? Do you want to learn how to cook? Do you want to impress young master Henry with your cooking?"

Both Clara and Claire feel their face become hot because Mrs. Martina caught their intention to learn cooking.

"How…how do you know, auntie?"

"You're not the first maid who comes here and want to learn cooking because of young master Henry. Unfortunately, not even one of them can pass the taste qualification"

"We're not trying to compete with young master Henry's cooking but want to learn cooking so we can help him in the kitchen"

"Oh? Is that so? Very well…. I can let you learn to cook here. Girls are supposed to know how to cook, anyway. But I will not make an exception because you're Henry's maid. I give you the same treatment as other maids who come here to learn how to cook"

"It's okay, auntie…can we start now?"

"You want to start now? Fine…let's start from the basic, preparing the ingredients and we start by cooking something simple yet delicious that young master Henry made, Frikadel. Are you fine with that, girls?"

"Yes! No problem"

"Okay, …you can start by peeling the potato first. Please be careful with the knife and you don't have to peel too many potatoes. Just peel some for training"

Under Mrs. Martina guidance, Clara and Claire start their lesson in cooking. They learn how to peel the potato, boil it in the pot until soft enough and mashed it. They also learn how to cut the meat, make it tender and turn it into minced meat and then combined with mashed potato shape it into frikadel like they know and fried it.

And after the frikadel making is finished….

"Are you sure you don't need me to taste your frikadel, girls?"

"No, we only want to learn how to cook and we want to be the first one who tastes our own cooking"

"Oh, alright…then the cooking lesson for today is enough. You can learn anything else again tomorrow"

"Yes, thank you, auntie"

"You welcome, girls"

Clara and Claire hurriedly back to their room with frikadel that they just made. After they arrive at their room…..

"What do you think, Claire?"

They're looking at the frikadel that they just made in the table.

"I think it's not different with frikadel that we eat before, sister Clara"

"I agree…now, how about the taste?"

They look at each other, nodded, and then their hand takes one frikadel on the table

"Let's try!"

But after take a bite and swallow it, both Clara and Claire frowned over the taste of frikadel that they just made. They said the same thing almost at the same time

"So bland!"

While staring at the frikadel in their hands, they try to figure out what's wrong with their frikadel.

"Claire…Are you not forget to add salt to mashed potato?"

"Huh? I think you already put the salt on the mashed potato. I see you pour something there"

"It's pepper that I put in mashed potato…I want a strong flavor"

"No wonder the taste is so bland….not even a pinch of salt is used in this frikadel"

"I don't know what to say to auntie Martina if she asks how the taste"

They look at each other with bitter smiles on their faces. Their effort to learn cooking finally ended in bitter failure with tasteless frikadel. Later on, when Clara and Claire ask what to do if they forget to put salt in the mashed potato to Henry, his answer is quite simple. Put some salt on the sauce and dip that frikadel in the sauce before eating it.