Aaron was playing with his spoon and the bowl of soup in front of him but wasn't eating. He was bodily present but absent-minded.
Alicia observed him from time to time, wondering what was wrong with her son. It was a strange behaviour since Aaron was someone who liked food, especially the ones she made herself. Regardless of whatever was happening in his life, he never skipped a meal.
"What's wrong?" Alicia asked Aaron.
"Huh?"
Aaron's self returned to him and he looked at his mother with a momentarily confused look and gaping eyes.
"Oh, nothing, mum."
"Come on, Aaron dear. You can't tell me it's nothing when you haven't even eaten anything for five minutes now," she argued,
"I've been watching you."
Aaron sighed, knowing he was caught. He took a scoop of the soup and stuffed it into his mouth to please his mother.
"Oww!" he exclaimed, spewing the soup out of his mouth as he began to mouth breathe while fanning his mouth with his hands.
"It's hot!"
Alicia chuckled. "Of course, it is. If you were here, you'd have noticed. Blow on it, dear. Sorry."
Aaron touched his lips, checking for possible burns from the hot soup and luckily, he had none. His handsomely smooth skin and lips were still the same.
Aaron's facial feature was one of the things the Demon King cherished the most about his new body. It was youthful, handsome and had untapped potential as a young man which he could explore in the near future.
Alicia took a scoop as well and gently blew over it before swallowing.
"Just like this."
Aaron scoffed. "I get it, mother."
Aaron started to blow air over his bowl of soup to cool the entire thing.
"So what's the matter, my dear?" Alicia persisted with her question. "What's on your mind?"
Aaron paused.
'This body's mother is a nag. She's hot and all but it's becoming annoying,' he thought to himself.
"I'm fine, mother," Aaron answered as he bent back on his chair. "The chieftain has invited me to come to her court, wherever that is."
The soup in Alicia's mouth found its way out of there and straight to most of Aaron's face.
"What!" Alicia yelled.
Aaron stood up immediately and began to wipe his face. "What the hell, mother!"
"The chieftain!" she exclaimed before finally seeing what she had done, "Oh, sorry, dear. I'm very sorry. It was just too shocking for me."
Aaron sighed again. "What's even the big deal about this chieftain? Elsa had the same expression. Hers was even more concerned like I was going to die if I ever met the chieftain."
Alicia raised her eyebrows with a lost look. "Who's Elsa?"
"Fuck! That's true, you don't know her," Aaron muttered, facepalming.
"Elsa is my apprentice."
Alicia's eyes dilated with wonder while she rubbed her chin, "Oohh? You have an apprentice now?"
"Well, the clinic has grown so much in these few weeks. You'd know that bit if you came around even once."
"Sorry, Aaron," Alicia apologised with a cute face. "I will definitely come."
"That's by the way, mother. Who's this chieftain?"
Alicia cleared her throat. Aaron knew at that moment that he was in for a long conversation.
"The chieftain is the ruler of our town called the Crimson Melon."
"Crimson Melon Town?" Aaron muttered.
"Yes. That's our town, don't be silly."
Aaron honestly didn't know that, not as the Demon King and he only realised he was supposed to know that much when Alicia complained.
'I need to crack this body's entire memories soon,' he reflected within himself.
"Anyways, you might not know but there are four villages in the Crimson Melon Town, and ours is the second largest. Maybe that's why the chieftain doesn't joke with us."
Aaron narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
'The chieftain doesn't joke with us yet I've not seen this person even once in the weeks I've been in this world,' he wondered about the fallacy Alicia had just uttered.
Alicia continued with her historical lesson.
"Although we hardly see the chieftain, we feel her presence around us and most of what we know about that person is based on speculations. What that person looks like, how tall it is, and whether it is human or from another race. We know almost nothing except for one thing..."
Aaron made a poker face at his mom, finding what she had just said to be unbelievable.
"The chieftain is a woman. The blue-haired woman said it herself," he thought as he recalled his conversation with the blue-haired leader of the chieftain's cabinet.
Alicia paused and her face turned stern. Aaron's interest peaked at the same time and glared at his mother.
"What is it, mother?"
She was reluctant and conflicted about revealing that one thing.
"I know that even if I were to tell you to not go and see the chieftain, you wouldn't listen to me. You are just as stubborn as your miserable father," she said.
Aaron was seeing another side of Alicia Winters which he hadn't seen before. She wasn't sounding like the loving, overly caring woman he was used to. The Alicia in front of him was cold and bland.
BANG!
Aaron banged his fist on the table. "What are you talking about, mother!"
Alicia blinked and glanced around the room for a moment before settling her eyes on her son.
Several seconds passed before Aaron broke the growing silence between them. "What's the one thing you were talking about?"
"I don't know how true this is," she said, "but the villagers say the chieftain is a man oppressor. They say the chieftain hates men and uses them as slaves of her court."
Aaron leaned back on his chair once again, remembering what Elsa had said about the chieftain as well. It was the same thing Alicia was saying now.
"I see," he muttered.
"Why did she invite you anyway?" Alicia asked.
Aaron shrugged. "I have no idea," he said, continuing to eat his soup.
Alicia found Aaron's response to be unbelievable but didn't want to pester her son any further.
"That's weird," she said under her breath, digging her spoon into the sea of soup in her bowl.
****
Two days have passed since the dinner between the Winters where they discussed the chieftain.
DING DONG!
The doorbell of the Winters' home rang.
After a few seconds, it rang again and again after that.
CLANK!
"Who is—"
Aaron froze in his speech.
"What the hell are you doing here!"
The visitor flashed a smile at him and bent forward to rub Aaron's hair like he was a child, smooching her large bust on his face quite early this morning.
The lady was tall with long blue hair. Aaron recognized her. She was a member of the cabinet, the one who had handed him the invitation.
It was Blue Hair.
"How did you even know where I lived?" Aaron asked.