Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [Cecil x Rui]

Rui almost snapped back in order to argue how was in fact not a moron and how his hands were perfectly safe, but he immediately realized that any attempts to do so were futile, as it would require disclosing information that Rui was simply not willing to disclose at the moment. So he sighed and took the scolding with stride,

"Oh...well, okay!"

The only issue is that he really had no idea how to wash out something like this. He was an acceptable cook, but had little to no experience in cleaning. There were usually others to handle that. As a result, he did nothing more than wipe down the area with soapy water and then wipe it dry.

"What were you thinking? I swear..."


Somehow, things managed not to be too eventful for the rest of Rui's visit. Cecil would reappear from time to time, but mostly stayed in his room, interacting a little but mostly being burnt out on dealing with anyone at this point.
It was as peaceful as it could realistically be until Rui left.
Perhaps their visit might have lasted longer were Cecil not forced to face the terrifying thought of Princess Rui...
Who knows?
But hey, at least the cake was good. He had no shame in going through as much of that as he could get his hands on.

Rui did admittedly feel a little bad when the rather dazzled Cecil seemed to stumble into the room, eat some cake, and then stumble out. It seemed to Rui like Cecil really had the spirit drained out of him by a demon. As pleasant conversation with the other members of the Erinforth family, a thought came to Rui before he left the room.

Yes, he should leave Cecil something. He left on the table a note to Cecil, simply listing all of the ingredients of the cake, which happened to include several splashes of vinegar throughout the baking process. Also the suggestion, surrounded by hearts, that Cecil put all of his "love" into the batter as the secret ingredient. Followed by an asterisk that led directly to a footnote that said "but not like that, okay!"

Rui left after a fairly nice meal, still slightly marveling inside at the fortuitous nature, at least for one person, of the coincidence of the Erinforth siblings.

[EXIT]