"Huh?"Mag had just re-emerged from the test field for the G.o.d of Cookery, and he hadn"t even really come to his senses before such a spontaneous question was thrown at him.
He looked at the curious Amy, as well as Anna, who was just coming down the stairs, and he finally realized what had to have happened. The two girls must"ve discovered Sally sleeping on his bed, and then jumped to some premature conclusions.
Considering the terrible outcome that a misunderstanding of this nature could lead to, Mag hurriedly shook his head with a smile, and replied, "Of course not. I went out to do something last night, so I asked Big Sister Aisha to stay behind and look after the two of you. After I came back, I slept on this chair for an entire night, so I didn"t sleep with Aisha."
"I see." Amy was rather disappointed at the sight of the blanket draped over the lounge chair.
"Big Sister Aisha tucked me into bed yesterday, and she must"ve fallen asleep as well because she was too tired," Anna chimed in with a nod and a sympathetic look on her face.
"Alright, I have no choice but to believe this, then." Amy nodded before turning to Mag with a curious expression as she asked, "What are we having for breakfast, Father?"
Anna also turned to Mag with antic.i.p.ation in her eyes upon hearing this.
"You can order anything you like from the menu, and I"ll make it for you." Mag heaved an internal sigh of relief. Thankfully, Amy was a little foodie who was easily distracted by food. He could only hope that she would"ve already forgotten about this by the time they met Irina again.
Upstairs, Sally was adjusting her clothes while walking out of the room. Her cheeks were still quite flushed, and her mind felt quite fuzzy. She"d never been in a situation like this before, and she didn"t know what kind of strange things the two little girls were going to say, so she had to go and stop them.
"Clack…"
Sally had just emerged from the room when the door of the room across from this one also opened, and Babla emerged as she rubbed her bleary eyes. Their eyes met, and both of them instantly froze on the spot.
Babla"s eyes roamed over Sally"s disheveled hair and clothes, then settled on her flushed cheeks, and her eyes gradually widened as if she"d just discovered an unspeakable secret.
Sally looked on as Babla"s eyes gradually widened, and she was only growing more fl.u.s.tered as she scrambled for a way to explain herself.
The two of them stood across from each other, and the atmosphere was quickly becoming very awkward.
After a long while, Babla finally broke the silence as she asked in a quiet voice, "Big Sister Aisha, did you sleep with Boss?"
Sally had a mental breakdown…
…
Mag was finally able to resolve this fiasco after vehemently and truthfully denying the notion that he"d slept with Sally. However, the atmosphere at the breakfast table was still rather awkward,
Sally, who sat across from Mag, ate her fried rice with her head lowered. She had already reverted back to her normal calm expression, but she was still avoiding Mag"s gaze.
Amy and Anna were completely immersed in their food and eating to their hearts" content, but Babla was a different story. She was staring at Mag and Sally with a judgmental look on her face, trying to identify any signs that were even slightly suspicious.
Thus, the usual cheerful atmosphere at the breakfast table was absent, being a little gloomy and subdued instead.
Yabemiya was eating a roujiamo, and she"d also clearly noticed the strange atmosphere. Her golden dragon tail swished behind her in a slightly nervous manner as she asked, "What happened? Why are you all so quiet?"
"Last night, Big Sister Aisha—"
Amy, who had just swallowed her mouthful of tofu pudding, was about to say something, but she was cut off by Mag. "Aisha came back quite late last night, and even though she already had some sleep, she"s still a little tired. Today is the first day of our restaurant"s reopening, so we might be quite busy; please mentally prepare yourselves."
Mag didn"t know what Amy was going to say, but he wanted to stamp out this rumor as effectively as possible. Otherwise, if it were to spread, disastrous consequences could result.
"That"s right, Big Sister Aisha came back really late last night, and Anna says that she brought back many elves with her. Big Sister Aisha is a hero." Amy turned to Sally with admiration in her eyes.
"It"s really great that Aisha"s finally back. We"ve been so worried about you." Yabemiya also turned to Sally with a smile on her face. She"d been constantly feeling a little uneasy during the past few days when Sally had been away.
"Indeed, we"re very glad to have you back." Mag nodded with a smile.
Seeing the concern in Yabemiya"s eyes and the gentle smile on Mag"s face, Sally was feeling a little better. Besides, she already knew that Mag wasn"t the type of person who would take advantage of her, and that he"d clearly only taken off her shoes so she could sleep more comfortably, so there was no reason for her to continue to feel so awkward. With that in mind, she smiled and nodded as she said, "It"s good to be back."
The awkward atmosphere melted away with Sally"s smile, but there was still a slightly peculiar look in Sally"s eyes as she looked at Mag.
After breakfast, the restaurant was finally open for business again. Two long lines had appeared outside well in advance, amounting to a total of over 100 customers eagerly awaiting a meal.
"Thank heavens Boss Mag is back. I was this close to going to Rodu to find him."
"I know, right? I was worried that the king would force him to stay in the palace as a royal chef. I"m really glad he came back."
"Boss Mag must"ve intentionally lowered his cooking standards during the royal banquet. Otherwise, with his cooking skills, there"s no way that the king would let him come back. If I were the king, I"d make sure that Boss Mag stayed even if I had to lock him up in the palace!"
All of the customers were discussing among each other with excited expressions on their faces; it was quite a rare sight for the sweet and savory factions to be coexisting in harmony like this.
"Who says Boss Mag lowered his cooking standards? My brother-in-law was present at the royal banquet, and he sent me a letter from Rodu yesterday. He says that Boss Mag received the best dish award at the royal banquet, but he refused the king"s offer to become the head chef of the royal kitchen. He refused this opportunity that all chefs dream of!" a young man in a set of lavish robes in the line announced, and he was spurred on by the widespread attention he immediately received as he continued, "Do you know what excuse Boss Mag used to reject the king?"
"What was it?"
All of the customers were quite curious.
"Boss Mag told the king that he has a bunch of customers waiting for him back in Chaos City, so he refused this brilliant opportunity and insisted on coming back!" The young man suddenly raised his voice in a vehement manner.
The customers outside all fell silent in unison for a moment before a loud commotion erupted once again.
"Boss Mag gave up on such a fantastic opportunity for our sake! I"m… I"m so touched!"
"Mamy Restaurant for life!"
"Boss Mag really is a good man."