System's POV

Chapter 1390: The Taste Of Perfection

"So... how’s your trip in that world called Solterra? I thought you’d stay there longer. You’ve finished your mission so soon?" asked William Von Ainsworth, Stella’s father and the current Emperor of the Ainsworth Empire.

He looked at his daughter with a soft smile. Probably due to his elven blood, he looked relatively young—no more than twenty—and could easily pass as Stella’s older brother.

"I-I’m just taking a short break from my mission, Dad," Stella replied. "I’ll be leaving soon."

"Is that so?" William looked a bit sad after hearing his daughter’s reply. "Alright then. Please stay here as long as you can. Your sisters, Maple and Cinnamon, are currently on one of those expeditions, and who knows when the two of them will return."

The two gluttons had told Stella where they had planned to go. William hadn’t been told about the specifics since the twins had gone to meet their future husbands, who were only around a year old at this time.

Yes. Their husbands were still babies in the current timeline. That said, they often asked their Godmother, Ella, for bottled milk to nourish them.

She was a Celestial Goat and had raised her father when he was young.

All of his father’s wives respected her very much, and all of her brothers and sisters loved their Godmother just as much.

"I’ll stay for as long as I can, Father," Stella said before glancing at her Mama Chiffon’s belly.

Since she couldn’t leave without Zion, she might as well remain until things cleared up a bit.

Stella’s repeated glances toward his wife didn’t escape William’s notice. Chiffon even had a mischievous smile on her cute face for some reason, piquing his curiosity.

"Are you perhaps hungry?" William asked. "You keep looking at Chiffon. Do you want to have lunch with her?"

"E-Eh?" Stella blinked. "Ah! Yes. I would like to have lunch with Mama Chiffon."

"I’d also love to have lunch with you, Stella," Chiffon replied sweetly.

The other beautiful women inside the room exchanged knowing glances.

Although they didn’t say a word to each other, an impromptu agenda was made then and there.

A few of them would drag William to the bedroom and make love to him for half a day, giving Stella and Chiffon some time to sort things out.

An hour later, this plan was finally put in motion.

Chiffon invited Belle and Stella to her private residence within the Royal Palace to have lunch together.

The rest of the ladies grabbed their husband, resolved to keep him company until midnight.

When they were finally in the safety of Chiffon’s personal residence, the adorable dwarf lightly tapped her stomach and coughed out the teenage boy she had swallowed earlier.

Stella hurriedly checked the unconscious Zion on the ground, ensuring he wasn’t hurt anywhere.

"So, how did he taste?" Belle asked Chiffon in a teasing tone.

"He tastes like bubblegum," Chiffon replied. "The good kind."

The dwarven beauty even licked her lips as if finding Thirteen’s taste to her liking.

Stella didn’t know if she should laugh or cry after hearing her mothers’ conversation.

Still, she pretended to not hear anything and lightly shook the unconscious teenager awake.

"Uh..." Thirteen groaned before slowly opening his eyes. "What happened? Where am I?"

A quick glance at his surroundings was enough to tell him that he wasn’t in the same place where he and Stella appeared earlier.

"You’re inside my residence," Chiffon replied. "Didn’t I tell you earlier? I’m very curious to taste your cooking, so please, cook us lunch!"

The corner of Thirteen’s lips twitched after hearing the cute dwarf’s demand.

First, he was teleported to a world that was millions of lightyears away from Solterra.

After that, he was knocked out in the middle of a conversation.

Then, after waking up, he was asked to cook lunch.

If anyone else were to be asked to cook something after experiencing all of that, they might have already flipped the table and stormed out in anger.

But Thirteen was built differently.

"Well, I’m also hungry, so I don’t mind," Thirteen said. "Where’s the kitchen?"

"Stella, dear, can you take Zion to the kitchen?" Chiffon asked. "Also, the pantry is always properly stocked. Feel free to use as many ingredients as you can."

"I am also looking forward to tasting your cooking, Zion," Belle commented. "Maple and Cinnamon are picky eaters, but they always praise your cooking. Now, let us put your skills to the test."

Stella wanted to tell her mom to not raise her hopes too high because no matter how many ingredients Zion used, the flavor of his cooking would always be bubblegum flavor.

"I’ll help you cook," Stella proposed.

"Sure," Thirteen replied. "You can help me cut the vegetables.’

The two beautiful women watched as Zion and Stella headed to the kitchen together.

It was very clear to them that the teenage boy didn’t look at Stella as if she was his lover.

But they didn’t miss the glance that Stella was giving him.

Although they couldn’t call it love, they were positive that she didn’t dislike him.

In fact, Stella looked and acted like a young lady experiencing her first crush, making the two women exchange knowing smiles with each other.

Nearly an hour later, Stella called her mothers to the dining room to eat together.

She had watched Zion cook the food earlier, and she didn’t see him add anything weird in his cooking.

However, she noticed that he cooked two different batches of the same dishes, making her wonder why he went to all that trouble to do it that way.

What Thirteen cooked was stir fried noodles with vegetables.

She had to admit that the smell was enough to make her salivate. However, she dreaded the fact that she would be eating it later.

No matter how good the food looked, or how fragrant it smelled, if it tasted like bubblegum, she might puke it out then and there.

Thirteen personally handed Belle and Chiffon their servings.

Stella noticed that he took them out from different pans, which made her frown.

Thirteen also served Stella a plate of the stir-fried noodles, and he took it from the same batch he had given to her mother, Belle.

As for himself, he served himself with the same stir-fried noodles from the pan where he took Chiffon’s portion.

After saying their thanks for the food, the four ate at the same time.

Belle and Stella dropped the spoon in their hands after taking a bite of Thirteen’s cooking.

Chiffon, on the other hand, looked completely shaken as if a hurricane had passed right in front of her.

"""D-Delicious!"""

The three ladies spoke in unison, looks of genuine surprise plastered on their faces.

As members of the royal family, they had always eaten delicious food on a daily basis.

But, nothing could have prepared them for such perfection!

"Zion, please take care of my daughter," Belle reached out to hold Thirteen’s hand. "She’s not perfect, but she will definitely give birth to strong, healthy babies. You have my word."

"It’s a shame my own daughters seem to already have found their husbands," Chiffon lamented. "If not, I would have married them off to you, Zion. Still, I am also Stella’s mother. Please, take her with you and make her happy."

"Mom!" Stella couldn’t believe that she was being sold out by her own mothers as if she was a product on the market.

A bewildered Zion shook hands with the two women, who grabbed both of his hands and shook it without his permission.

The reason why he cooked two versions of the same dish was simple

The first one he cooked to perfection.

The second one, he cooked in a mediocre manner.

Since the taste buds of normal individuals couldn’t handle the explosion of flavor that his perfect cooking could bring, he decided to "nerf" it a bit so ordinary humans could eat it without problems.

But who would have thought that his mediocre cooking was able to win both Chiffon’s and Belle’s approval?

As for Chiffon, she finally understood why her daughters declared that their "Big Brother’s" cooking was the best in the multiverse.

Unlike ordinary people, Chiffon was the Sin of Gluttony.

There was nothing she couldn’t eat, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t recognize if something tasted good or bad.

Zion’s cooking was the pinnacle of cooking, and from now on, she had joined her daughters in following the Zion Cult!

—-----