Osiris carried bowls and water with an expression full of injured dignity because he still felt unfairly exiled from the fire.
Zyran peeled and cut things with the dramatic bitterness of a fallen noble. Ophelia and Shelia arranged the vegetables together while whispering to each other.
Valen stayed close enough to Ophelia to steady her whenever she moved too quickly.
Luca kept finding reasons to drift near Shelia whenever she needed sothing heavier moved, then pretending it had happened by coincidence every single ti.
Isabella noticed.
Of course she noticed.
And because she was Isabella, she tucked that little information away at once for future use.
The filling ca together first, fragrant and rich. Then the wrappers were prepared. Then the folding began, and because several people were doing it for the first ti, the shapes quickly beca ridiculous.
Osiris made one that looked like a wounded fish.
Zyran made one that was sohow pretty but deeply suspicious.
Ophelia’s first one burst open.
Shelia’s were neat.
Luca’s looked offended.
Valen’s were surprisingly good, which made Ophelia stare at him with admiration.
"How do you even know how to do this?"
Valen looked a little awkward. "I watched Isabella’s hands."
That answer made Ophelia smile so brightly that even Valen’s ears seed to heat slightly.
By the ti the last batch was done, the whole room was full of warmth, flour, laughter, and the sll of at, herbs, and the sauce Isabella had instructed them to prepare along with the dumplings.
Then, as evening settled and the fire burned steadily, the final sll filled the air.
It was mouth-watering.
It was rich.
It was warm enough to make everyone’s stomach twist in hunger at once.
Cyrus set the table carefully, placing everything in order while the others gathered around with tired but satisfied faces. Even Kian, who had spent most of the ti pretending to be calm, looked slightly more relaxed than before. Isabella saw it all and felt a strange soft happiness settle in her heart.
This really did feel like ho.
Then, just as they were about to eat, a female voice ca from the entrance.
"I’m sorry to interrupt."
The mont that female voice said, "I’m sorry to interrupt," the whole room froze.
The warm and lively feeling in the kitchen changed at once, as if soone had suddenly opened a door and let cold wind walk straight into the middle of their al.
A mont ago, everyone had been laughing, arguing, and looking at the steaming dumplings as if life was beautiful and food was the only thing that mattered. But now all of them turned to look toward the entrance.
And there she stood.
The healer.
At least that was what everyone else thought.
Only Isabella, Zyran, and Cyrus already knew the truth.
However, the funny thing was that none of the three of them knew that the other two also knew. So for one brief mont, each of them felt that they were the only person in the room who could see through the woman standing at the entrance with that ek face and that borrowed na and face mask.
Kian’s face changed first.
The softness from earlier disappeared so quickly that it was almost frightening. Just a mont ago, he had still been a little relaxed from laughing with Isabella and watching everyone make fools of themselves over dumplings.
But now his expression turned cold again because he imdiately recognized this healer as the sa one who had dared to walk into his room earlier and cause trouble for him.
At first, he had tried to brush that incident aside as an accident he simply found irritating.
Now?
Now he was no longer willing to do that.
Because what was this woman doing in the royal kitchen?
That room was not a place one wandered into carelessly, and after earlier, he was already beginning to suspect that this healer was doing things on purpose.
Cyrus also beca alert at once.
He did not move obviously, but his body shifted a little closer to Isabella before even he realized it. That was simply his instinct.
The mont he saw Zara standing there, every gentle feeling in him changed into sothing more careful and protective. He did not like her at all.
In truth, he had disliked her from the very start, because even without revealing who she was, her presence felt wrong to him. And now that she had appeared here too, in the middle of a warm family mont, his dislike only deepened.
Zyran was bored for exactly half a breath.
Then he was annoyed.
That was because the mood in the room had changed. He had been enjoying himself earlier.
Everyone had been ridiculous, Isabella had looked satisfied, Kian had even laughed, and he had fully planned to continue being a prince suffering under cruel labor for at least another few minutes. But now this woman had walked in and soured the entire atmosphere.
How hateful.
Osiris was the first one to speak.
Naturally, it was Osiris.
He looked at the healer up and down without any attempt to be polite and asked very directly, "Who are you? Are you lost?"
The whole room fell quiet again.
Because when Osiris spoke, he really did not know how to decorate his words. That man had lived too long in the mountains to understand the art of pretending to be gentle when one did not care.
At the doorway, Zara lowered her eyes slightly and said in a soft voice, "No, I am not lost. I only wanted to join you all."
She said it in a careful way, as if she did not an any trouble and had simply co because the room looked warm and friendly.
Osiris stared at her.
Then he gave her another once-over, his expression full of very open doubt.
To be honest, he did not care whether she was a woman or a healer or so guest from another place. Earlier he had already decided he did not like her, and because his brain was a very straightforward place, that dislike had remained exactly where it was.
So he said, "No. You are not allowed to join. Leave."
That was it. No softening. No explanation.
Just leave.
Zyran laughed imdiately.
He really could not help it.
The sound escaped him before he even thought about holding it back, because Osiris saying sothing that blunt with such sincerity was too ridiculous.
Osiris turned and looked at him at once. "What is funny?"
Zyran smiled lazily. "You are funny."
Osiris frowned. "Are you insulting ?"
By now, Isabella was trying very hard not to smile.
These two n were truly exhausting. One was shaless on purpose, while the other was shaless by nature, and sohow together they always found a way to make serious monts turn stupid.
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