That Soup… Rather than calling it soup, it was more like a slowly writhing chaotic fluid, attempting some unknown, whispered summoning ritual.
Its base color was an indescribable, swampy green, like ink that had settled at the bottom of a marsh for a hundred years.
On top floated charred, unrecognizable chunks—some of them still sporting suspicious, half-plucked feathers… Liang Lai suspected this was the Elder Hen from the backyard, the one that always clucked at Motifiel.
This was definitely an act of calculated revenge!
A rainbow-hued sheen glimmered on the soup’s surface, refracting eerie colors under the light.
Several objects that were probably vegetables slumped half-floating, half-sunken; their colors stewed into a soul-leaving shade of grayish despair.
But that wasn’t even the most shocking part.
Right in the middle of the soup, an entire unpeeled onion stood proudly upright—roots, dirt, and all.
And orbiting around this onion, slowly rotating, were several plump, round, thoroughly-stewed… eyeball-like things.
Well, in truth, they were some kind of mushroom, but their form was uncomfortably realistic.
As the soup wobbled, they quivered gently.
Liang Lai kept feeling as if those were the Eye of the Demon, staring straight at her.
A smell beyond description aggressively blanketed the entire dining room.
It was a multi-layered assault.
First, it hit straight at the skull—a scorched plastic stench, mixed with the reek of expired nail polish.
Then came a middle note, so cloyingly sweet it was sickening, like… industrial flavoring? Liang Lai suspected Motifiel had dumped in every juice and jam she could find.
The final undertone was heavy, tinged with rusty iron and the earthy reek of mud.
The visual and olfactory impact of this soup…
This wasn’t dark cuisine; this was an offering to an evil god! Yet the scene was gripped by a deathly silence.
Dolosa reacted first. She instantly stepped back half a pace, her exquisite face twisted with pure, unfiltered disgust.
She even reflexively waved her hand in front of her nose, frowning so tightly she could pinch a fly to death.
“Yue……”
A dry heave forced down by sheer willpower, but her face said it all.
Even a dog wouldn’t eat this!
Asterys’s smile froze in place, lips twitching as she tried to maintain her cheerful curve, but her eyes were already lifeless—a practiced smile that didn’t reach her heart.
She quietly tugged on her younger sister’s sleeve.
Liang Lai seemed to understand her silent plea: Save me, save me, please save me! If she ate this, she’d reincarnate into another world on the spot, right?
That’s certainly how Liang Lai felt.
Delucia’s reaction was even more direct.
Her small body trembled violently, like a startled rabbit, and in a flash she shrank into her sister’s shadow—completely hiding herself, showing only half her face and two terrified eyes, staring at the soup as if it were some unspeakable entity poised to consume her.
Motifiel’s smile stiffened.
Instinctively, she glanced at Illucy, the most agreeable of the children.
But as soon as Illucy met her gaze, her little face went instantly pale—paler than she ever got from shyness.
She stumbled backward, nearly tripping on her own dress, hands clamped tightly over her mouth, eyes already rimmed red.
“S-sorry… I just remembered I forgot to water my mushrooms…!”
Her voice trembled as she fumbled for an excuse, desperately trying to escape the dreadful table.
She retreated with tactical precision and finally fled from the scene altogether.
Dexilensi managed her expression a little better, but even her usual, slightly twisted smile vanished completely.
Her face was iron gray, her sharp gaze swept over the soup, then flicked swiftly toward Liang Lai.
Clearly, her instinct to maintain her so-called proper image before Liang Lai was in fierce conflict with her desperate urge to get far away from this biochemical weapon.
In the end, the former barely won out.
She forced herself not to step back, but her body was rigid as stone as she squeezed out a frigid sentence through clenched teeth.
“No need. I have no interest in… innovative cuisine.”
But inside, Dexilensi was cursing up a storm.
Is this thing meant for humans? Is this idiot trying to poison us all so she can have the Saintess to herself?!
For a moment, every gaze—including Delucia’s from within the shadows—snapped toward Liang Lai.
Liang Lai: “…”
She deeply understood the children’s reactions right now—she almost wanted to give them a thumbs-up. The destructive power of this soup was on par with a major psychic contamination.
But! She was the mother! She couldn’t crush the children’s enthusiasm! Especially not Motifiel’s bright eyes—though she had no visible pupils, they now radiated an unmistakable “Praise me, praise me!” light, staring at her unblinkingly.
Liang Lai felt as if the weight of the world pressed down on her shoulders.
This wasn’t about tasting food—it was mine-clearing, self-sacrifice, a glorious act to maintain family peace and the children’s fragile hearts.
That’s right!
She was a good, understanding mother who respected her children!
She took a deep breath, forcing a smile that tried—however weakly—to be gentle and kind.
“Wow… Little Mo, this is… really creative! It looks… very special!” In truth, her language centers were already in chaos from the smell.
Motifiel’s eyes sparkled even brighter, and she eagerly pushed the soup closer to Liang Lai.
“Liang Lai Mama, hurry and try it! I stewed it for so long! I put in lots of good stuff! Like the hen from the backyard who always makes noise at me! And the prettiest mushrooms I found, and sweet juice, and…”
Listening to Motifiel recite the terrifying list of ingredients, Liang Lai’s stomach started cramping in anticipation.
The other children’s expressions only grew more colorful.
The arrow was already nocked—there was no turning back.
With the resolve of a martyr, Liang Lai picked up the spoon, hand trembling slightly, and reached toward the still-writhing… soup? Maybe it was just steam? Hopefully, just steam.
She prayed to God in her heart.
Her movements were as slow as bomb defusal, spoon skirting the mighty onion and the staring eyeball mushrooms, laboriously fishing out a small spoonful from the viscous broth—mostly that inky green liquid, a bit of indescribable fibrous matter, and a tiny, probably physical-chicken-skin something.
Dolosa averted her face, unable to watch.
The twins squeezed their eyes shut in unison. Illucy watched through the glass, then promptly covered her mouth.
Dexilensi stared intently, her gaze unreadable.
Liang Lai shut her eyes, braced herself, and put the spoon in her mouth.
Time seemed to freeze.
Liang Lai’s body visibly stiffened.
Her expression locked into one of extreme shock and bewilderment, eyes flying open, pupils dilated and unfocused, as if her soul had been blasted out of her body by that single spoonful and was now circling three feet overhead, bewilderedly looking down at the vessel still enduring this tastebud apocalypse.
The sensation on her tongue was beyond the scope of human language.
It was as if she’d been knocked out by the stench of stinky socks, then tossed into a bottomless pit for the ultimate experience.
A barrage of extreme, contradictory flavors ravaged her nerves with utter abandon, every taste screaming for dominance, overwhelming the Saintess’s brain to the point of crash—she simply couldn’t process the chaotic information overload.
After a full ten seconds, Liang Lai’s eyes finally, slowly rolled a little, and a wisp of her soul seemed to drift from her parted lips.
Yes, she’d just had an out-of-body experience.
“…Mm, ugh.”
She uttered a faint, wispy sound, as if from another dimension.
Motifiel leaned in eagerly, face anxious and smiling.
“So? So? Liang Lai Mama? How is it… does it taste okay?”
That call seemed to pull Liang Lai’s floating soul back a little.
She mechanically, slowly chewed once, then managed a ghostly, world-weary smile.
“…Good. Delicious.”
The two words were barely a whisper, utterly unconvincing, and matched by her face of utter defeat, the effect was frankly horrifying.
“Wow! That’s great!”
Motifiel nearly jumped for joy and turned to serve the other children.
“Everyone, come try some!”
For the first and only time, all five children responded with perfect unison:
“No, thank you!”
Their reaction was unprecedentedly neat and swift.
Dolosa immediately retreated three meters.
“I’m full!”
Asterys tugged her sister back.
“We’re suddenly not hungry!”
Delucia shook her head frantically from within the shadows.
Illucy turned and bolted for the back garden.
Dexilensi’s face grew even paler.
“I… need to perform a pre-meal prayer—a very long one.”
With those words, she turned and left at once.
Liang Lai looked around at the now-empty table—aside from her and the excited Motifiel, all the children had vanished without a trace.
She looked at the still-ominous soup, then recalled the world-shaking aftertaste still lingering in her mouth, and felt her soul starting to drift again.
Meanwhile, Motifiel had happily served herself a big bowl and was gulping it down with zero mental burden, even sighing contentedly.
Liang Lai: “…”
Perhaps… this child’s taste buds were constructed differently from normal humans.
She looked down at the spoon still clutched in her hand, glanced at Motifiel’s innocent, beaming face, and silently swallowed the words, “From now on, I’ll do the cooking.”
“Liang Lai Mama, it’s really tasty!” Motifiel grinned at her.
Liang Lai forced a smile, giving a thumbs-up despite her conscience.
“Mhm! Little Mo is amazing!”
Let’s hope she wouldn’t be struck by lightning for this.
Still, Motifiel seemed truly happy at being praised.
Well, as long as the child was happy.
Liang Lai let out a long sigh.
It’s just… the price for this happiness was a bit much for a mother to bear.