Dinner

I suppressed a groan as I took another bite of the food in front of me. This was the most awkward dinner of my life.

"Sweetie, make sure to eat your veggies," the empress said as she dumped a pile of green salad onto my already overflowing plate.

Over the course of the meal, she had been scooping up all sorts of food and placing it on my plate, creating a mountain of various colours. I already had enough to feed ten men in front of me, let alone the little me. At this rate, I would need a few more plates.

Not only was she continuing to give me food, but she had also been feeding me her own food like a child. Every so often she would bring her spoon or fork to my mouth and ask me to open up. The act was embarrassing, but it was also difficult to refuse the empress.

If that was all, the dinner would have been somewhat fine. A little uncomfortable perhaps, but at least bearable.

It was the three pairs of eyes that had been fixed on me since we first sat down that were ruining this meal for me. Couldn't they look at someone else?

The first was Elaina. It took me a little to figure out why she was staring at me, until I noticed her frown when the empress fed me a bite. She was jealous of me and the empress. It was a little cute, but she was staring a little too much.

The next person that was glaring at me was my 'twin sister', Adriel. Her cold eyes had not left my body once, as she ate her food while staring at me. She…didn't really seem to like me. At all. In fact, I'm pretty sure she might want to kill me, and I have no idea why. Was it because her mother was now spending all her time with me?

The last of the three girls was Primrose, the hero of mercy. Instead of outright staring at me, her violet eyes were instead taking frequent glances at me whenever I was looking away. However, she wasn't as sneaky as she thought, and I had caught her on a number of occasions.

The thing is, I have no idea why she was staring at me. Her face was still completely blank, and I couldn't see a hint of emotion appear even when I caught her looking at me. It was quite weird. Maybe she had figured out that I was a hero? But couldn't she stare at Elaina too?

The other people at the table were at least somewhat normal. Damien was taking peaks at Aurelia, although the latter seemed to ignore him completely. Was she that oblivious?

Oddly, Alicia was not talking much, as she wolfed down her food faster than anybody else. She was the smallest one here and yet she had probably eaten the most, even more than the giant Damien. I'm not even sure if it was biologically possible for her to eat so much food.

I sighed. At least life was better here than in captivity or on the road escaping from a demon lord, even if the people were more than a little weird.

After dinner, Adriel was the first to run off the moment she finished her meal. She hadn't said a word since she entered and hadn't looked at anyone besides me. A little creepy. Hopefully she wouldn't murder me in my sleep.

Soon after, the heroes left to do their…hero stuff. I honestly wasn't quite sure where they went. It wasn't late, but it was still evening. Did they still have to train?

Only the empress, Aurelia, Elaina and I remained at the table. Aurelia seemed to be waiting for her mother who was still trying to stuff me full of food. The empress seemed to think I was too skinny, but I had the opposite thought. Elaina was much thinner than I was.

"Ki— Adrianna, you can sleep in my room tonight if you want," Elaina said after she finished her own food.

"Sleep in your room? Why would she need to do that?" The empress asked, narrowing her eyes at the elf.

"Adrianna gets scared when she sleeps alone. When we were staying at an inn in separate rooms one time in the north, she screamed her head off from a nightmare, so I've been sleeping beside her ever since. Last night was probably pretty terrible for her, but fortunately she was likely quite tired from the journey," Elaina said.

I immediately wanted to refute her, until I saw her wink at me. Dammit, couldn't she at least tell a less embarrassing lie. And how was she so confidant when these people had truth stones?

Instead, I glanced down to stare at the floor, my cheeks burning from embarrassment.

"Oh, my cute daughter! You don't have to be frightened anymore, you can sleep with mommy. I'll protect you from anything." I was enveloped into an embrace as the empress began to hug the life out of me.

I heard Elaina cough behind me as I was smothered into the empress bosom. "I think it would be best if she slept in my room for tonight. After all, she is used to being next to me."

"Hmph, you are just her friend. I am her mother. She's obviously safer with me."

"Mother, I think it would be best if we let Adrianna sleep with her friend. You will need to work late to prepare for the banquet and while you can get by with a few hours of sleep, Adrianna needs much more," Aurelia said from the side.

The empress groaned as she released me from her arms. "Fine, I suppose I can trust this elf since she was the one who helped bring my precious daughter home."

After parting with my new mother and sister, Elaina brought me to her room. It was a simple room, yet still quite well decorated. The moment I entered, she shut the door tight.

"Elaina, do you—"

Suddenly, my lips were sealed by a kiss.

"Mmph!"

I tried wiggling my way out, but Elaina's hand was firm on the back of my head. I felt the other hand grope its way down to my butt to give it a squeeze.

Finally, after a half a second she released my lips to catch her breath. However, she still held me against her body.

"Mmm, delicious," she said as she licked her lips.

"Elaina, what are you doing? We need to talk…" Although I wanted to argue, she was turning me on.

She moved her mouth next to my cat ear, her warm breath making it twitch. "We can talk about that later. Right now, I just want you."

Maybe I would have been safer sleeping with the empress…