Lotus left the room with a satisfactory smile have plastered a look of confusion and disbelief on the two's face. She could feel as though her mission was accomplished as she walked away with a wide smile.
.....
When they came back to their senses, Riddle and Trey came back to their senses to find that Lotus had already left. Confused and bewildered by his own behavior, Trey turned to Riddle, "What... just happened?"
Riddle glanced back at his hand and frowned in confusion, "I'm not too sure myself... More importantly, it's rare to find you believing in something that I find illogical, Trey."
"Believe it or not, I'm surprised too." Trey answered with a frown and kneaded his temple with his finger, "I don't know what made me believe in him so easily... Could he really don't have any magic?"
Riddle frowned, "The mirror is never wrong... I think. If he doesn't have magic, then he doesn't have magic. But, it makes me wonder when he's here... He can't have deceived the mirror, did he?"
When she returned to her dorm, it was already in the afternoon. She found that the place was empty and she was the only one around. After finding the ghosts and confirming this, she returned to her extra room and began cultivating once more after setting out food for the group and the ghosts, so the ghost won't steal their dinner.
Without stop, she continued to cultivate within her ring. The room she occupied with simple, but could endure the elements as she continued to gather the energy in the air. Today, she had to make up a big lie, but it's not like this was her first lie. Of course, she could never outright lie to her mother, but her mother and the fairies are the only ones who know the truth and her mother the only one to know so much about her daughter.
This week, she has learned a lot about the relationship between parent and child. Though she doesn't have a definite answer, she wondered how things would've changed for her if she experienced the love of a biological mother. Would it be different than that of her foster mother?
The love her foster mother gave her unconditionally was warm and kind. The fairies were like that of younger siblings and friends to her. Being a fairy before, she never felt out of place amongst them, yet...
After several days of cultivation, she could finally feel the energy in her rise and make another breakthrough. She was now at the peak of Gold Core before she left the room and returned to her dorm just as Ying Hui came to get her. When she got out, it had already been time for class to which she quickly left her room to join Yuu and the others. Then, in the afternoon, she received permission to use the kitchen as she pleased and entered with a basket full of the fruit she had found in the botanical garden to find Riddle hard at work with his tart and a cook book in hand. Hearing the door open, he turned around to find Lotus come in. Surprised, he said, "You're here too?"
"Yeah." Lotus responded with a smile, "I'm making dinner for the Prefect and Grim. Grim can be a glutton around dinner time."
"I didn't ask what you were doing." Riddle asked with a slight pout as he stared at Lotus with a look of suspicion.
"I know." She responded with a smile and placed the basket of goods onto the table.
Surprised by the amount, he turned to her, "That sounds heavy."
"Haha..." Lotus wore a small smile, "It's only so-so."
She then took out another cutting board and a knife before working with the ingredients. Taking the Ruby Flowers and peeling the petals from it. The red petals of the flower is red violet and looked spiky, but it wasn't really hard to peel. Like peeling leaves from a lettuce, she pulled away the petals one at a time throwing the bulbs away as she began drenching them with syrup.
Making the tea, boiling the fruit into jam, and making the biscuits and glass jelly was tedious work, but Lotus had often worked with food when she had been with her brother from her previous life. Riddle who had been hard at work was finally taking a break after placing the tart into the oven when he turned to see her take out a wok from the stove to his surprise. He noted with eyes wide in surprise, "You really know how to cook..."
Lotus smirked proudly, "Of course, when you live on your own, you have to be able to do everything yourself, but I can only make these dishes today because the botanical garden has them and I've only just gotten permission to use them today from the caretaker. So, there's a portion of the meal for him too."
"Really, huh." Riddle looked at the violet fruit with a raised brow, "These are edible too?"
"Of course." Lotus said with a wide smile, "In my hometown, they're called rogue fruits after the blush that women used a long time ago for their cheeks."
She smirked, "Wanna give it a try?"
She took one and swiftly cut out a slice with a fruit knife. Riddle, tempted, stared at it for a while before tossing it into his mouth. Almost instantly, his face puckered to which Lotus laughed aloud, "Sour, huh?"
"Y-Y-You!" Riddle stared at her in bewilderment.
She smiled, "The fruit is sour, but not as acidic as a lemon. You should taste the sweetness after a bit."
As she said this, Riddle's face instantly changed from embarrassment to surprise as he raised a brow and said in confusion, "Huh? It's sweet..."
"Right?" Lotus smirked, "The fruit isn't bad in all as long as you can properly make use of its element, you can make it taste really good. When I was in the North, I've watched chefs use this to make delicacies. From fruit jam to fruit wine, there are many uses for this fruit. Some like to eat it as it is, though."
She then went ahead and took out a couple of the remaining ruby flowers and pulled off the petal before handing to him, "Try this too."
Surprised, Riddle stared at her inquisitively as she continued quickly, "Oh, it's sour too but not as bad."
"I thought so..." Riddle sighed aloud but still tossed it into his mouth.
Sure enough, it was sour but had a similar sweet after taste with a vegetable-like texture.
"We called it the ruby plant in the South." Lotus explained, "It's petals are edible and it can also be made into wine and preserved in wine and rock sugar."
"Ruby and rogue... That's interesting..." Riddle looked to her in bewilderment, "I have known some plants in the botanical garden were edible, but it could be eaten in such a method astounds me a little..."
As she stirred the pot of chrysanthemum flowers, Lotus nodded, "In the south, people often pick them off of bushes during the season to preserve them for the winter."
Cutting up the pork and the vegetables from the basket, she had little problems throwing some stuff together before putting the completed dish into the basket. By then, Riddle had already taken out the tart and started with the cream to which Lotus noticed a familiar container and raised a brow but didn't say anything as she watched Riddle ponder over it in confusion before dumping it in till it was empty.
When she was done, she took out a tall glass of the chilled tea and handed it to Riddle, "Here! Take it as thanks for letting me share the space with you."
"Great..." Riddle shook his head after having finished with his tart and sighed in bewilderment, "What is that?"
Lotus smirked, "Lemon tea."
Riddle raised a brow and looked at it in confusion. It didn't look like anything similar to the tea! Still, seeing her expecting gaze, Riddle frowned and took it curiously knowing that it can't have been anything normal. After a sip, he raised a brow, "Sweet..."
"I lied." Lotus chuckled, "It's Chrysanthemum tea. You can have it warm but you normally chill it after melting sugar rocks in it. It's a summer drink to cool down. I've been giving this to Yuu as of late since he's studying with Grim and that little guy just won't sit still to study. Haha..."
She picked up the baskets before turning to Riddle, "Welp, I'll be taking my leave then. I have to deliver the finished product to Yuu and Grim before our cat starts trying to run again. Ah, right. I made a little too much chestnut cakes today. Could you share them with Trey-sempai and Cater sempai? They probably had a long day cleaning up the garden too."
Having watched her leave without waiting for his reply, Riddle wasn't to thrilled with the way she referred to her own classmate, but he decided to let it go as he stared at the glass in his hand curiously.
"Rogue fruit and Ruby flowers..." He smiled, "Is he trying to gain favor like Cater did? Red and Ruby... Sour with a sweet after taste? Then, Chrysanthemum tea, huh..."
"Our great Leader! The Crimson Ruler! Announcing Dorm Head Riddle!" A Heartslabyul resident announced after the trumpets sounded.
After the cheer, Riddle walked out solemnly and gazed at the area.
"Hm." He hummed, "The roses are red, the able clothes are white. A perfect Unbirthday party."
He sat on the tall, throne-like cushion chair and opened the tea pot, "Inside the teapot is a sleeping... Ah."
To his surprise, he saw that something was amiss but smiled, "Actually, it's fine without."
Trey nodded with a smile at his side, "You don't have to change everything right away. Instead of putting jam on the mouse's nose, try putting it on the scone."
Mouse? Scone?
Lotus raised a brow in confusion and turned to Yuu in confusion. Yuu saw this and smiled warmly, "They apparently need a mouse in the tea pot to put the jam on in this dorm and a scone is like a sweet or savory biscuit."
"Oh..." Lotus nodded having known what a biscuit was at least.
"Change 'it's worthless without' to 'it would be nice to have', right?" Trey pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right." Riddle nodded calmly with a smile.
"Uughh..." Ace sighed in exasperation, "In the end, we had to handle getting the garden cleaned up and all the prep work."
"Calm down." Deuce responded with a smile, "Dorm Head being back after a full recovery is the most important."
"The garden is looking super photogenic, so I'm super satisfied." Cater responded with a smirk.
"Yeah!" Grim cheered with a silly smile and a cute new ribbon themed after the dorm with checkered black, checkered red, and gold, "I'm ready to eat all this food!"
"Okay!" Cater smiled, "Let's get to-"
"Just a moment!" Riddle called out with a firm frown.
"What?" Cater looked back in confusion.
"Those white roses..." Riddle pointed over to the corner next to some trees and bushes.
Ace jolted in bewilderment and turned with wide eyes as he saw the trees still having white roses, "We missed some?!"
"Awawawah..." Cater cried out in horror when he saw this and turned to the two Heartslabyul Freshmen, "Ace, Deuce, you said you painted them all!"
"This is our fault?!" Deuce cried out in shock.
"R-Riddle, this..." Trey tried to think of an explanation to save the party and his friend's temper as he was at a loss.
"Please avert your eyes!" Yuu begged nervously as he couldn't bare to leave his seat from fear of Riddle getting angry again.
Lotus just raised a brow and stared at Riddle in confusion, "Are we doing this again?"
However, the student smiled mischievously having lost that harsh gaze from earlier, "... Kidding. I'm not going to punish you for one or two roses."
"R-Really?!" Cater breathed a sigh of relief, "Riddle's so lenient."
"I'll go faster if we work together." Riddle offered with a smile.
As Deuce smiled in relief, Ace groaned, "You still want them painted?!"
"Don't worry." Trey smiled, "But really... Yup. You've changed, Riddle."
"I can't wait another second!" Grim protested with a scowl and tried to reach over to pick up one of the muffins on the table before freezing under a cold gaze.
Slowly, he turned his head with a stiff expression and found himself face to face with Lotus who glared down on him with a smile on her face but a cold aura around her. Lotus chuckled, "Don't be impatient. How about helping us paint the roses before eating? We'll get it done faster that way. After all, it's not like anyone would steal the food when we return..."
Grim slowly retracted his paw to which he nodded slowly with flat ears, "O-Okay, sir..."
"Wah..." Ace sneered seeing Grim cower submissively, "Here comes, mother Lotus..."
Hearing this, Lotus sighed shaking her head in exasperation, "It's fine at the dorm, but please not in public..."
"Anyway!" Grim jumped off the table and shouted with a smile, "Let's get this painting stuff over with and party!"
Riddle laughed, "Then, everyone, are you ready?"
Gathering around the red bushes and trees, the students began to paint the flowers as Trey asked Riddle with a chuckle, "When was the last time you painted the roses, Riddle?"
"Not sure." Riddle responded curiously, "I've left it to the other residents since becoming dorm head..."
"It's fun every once in a while." Cater said with a smile, "We've got to manage the first year, though."
Ace sneered, "Are you talking smack about us?"
Grim called out, "I've been painting roses for days so I'm definitely better at this than Riddle!"
Riddle sneered, "Hehehe, I'll show you my skill."
As they began to color the roses red, Lotus looked about curiously thinking of what she should do before an idea came to mind. Feeling very mischievous, she smirked, "This is the best time to find out how far my abilities have come."
With that, she took a bucket of white paint and quietly slipped a spell making them look red.