Malaya couldn’t help but sigh. ‘This day was not for me.’

‘Darren. Huh? I can’t blame his anger on me. He became a young duke at the tender age of fourteen because of me. Not only that…’ Malaya smiled bitterly as her trail of thoughts continued.

‘Some relationships, no matter how hard you try, can never be simply repaired. That was the case for us. Not because I’m the villainess. But it’s a matter within the family and not in the novel.. And I tell you disputes inside the family is one of the difficult things to fix.’

Malaya walked forward. ‘Actions speak louder than words. Though I tried to talk to him, it was all for naught. We’re both hurt. No, the death of our father and Jules hurt the rest of the family. That is why, instead of reasoning, I’ll show them through my actions how I regret that day.’

*Flick!*

“Ouch!” Malaya scowled at Rein as he flicked her forehead. “Why did you do that?” She rubbed her forehead and pouted.

“How much longer will you sulk? We’ve tried calling you, but you aren’t answering.” Rein peered at her, intently. His brows furrowed.

“You don’t need to flick me,” Malaya retorted. ‘He is only the butler that I know that bullies his master like this!’

“Wahh! My lady! If I have the chance, I’ll also hit master Darren!” Dorris hugged Malaya.

‘Geez, these two.’ Malaya gave them a wry laugh. “I’m perfectly all right. And if you do that, Dorris, you’ll be fired.”

‘Sigh. It’s no use dwelling on the past right now. What happened was already done.’ Malaya turned to Seraphina. “I apologize for the trouble. That must have made you feel uneasy.”

“It’s ok. Hahaha. It seems if I were around you, I could always witness a lot of drama.” Seraphina laughed.

“Yeah, right.” Malaya smiled. ‘My new life is indeed full of drama.’

The place that they were heading was a huge storage room that was close to Malaya’s personal kitchen. Although Darren, kept reprimanding Malaya, he never meddled with her affairs. Well, he was already busy with the dukedom, to begin with.

“My lady we’re here.” Malaya’s trail of thoughts was cut off by Rein. They finally halted and stood outside a huge brown door of the storage room.

“Let’s do now, what we intended to do here.” Malaya turned to the door and pushed it to open. Rein then snapped his fingers and Flara lights lightened the inside.

In this world, they don’t have any sort of fluorescent lights that can be powered by electricity. ‘Flara lights are some kind of white crystals and if you want to know how they work, checked my glossary auxiliary volume lmao. And if I might tell you, they are expensive that only nobles and wealthy merchants could afford them.’ This just showed how much wealthy the Marina dukedom was. Even just their storage room they used Flara for their lights.

Malaya and the others walked inside. There were a lot of barrels and craters wherever one looked. As Seraphina observed the place, she saw the refrigerator and the boxes of cans on the side. ‘So this is where those items got transported,’ she thought.

“Here are the items you asked me to prepare my lady. Different kinds of wheat.” Rein lead them to a table where there are different kinds of wheat.

“Why do we have lots of animal feeds here?” Seraphina asked in wonder.

“I know this one! This is the kind of wheat used for making bread, cakes, and all those delicious cookies.” Dorris clasped her hands. “Are we going to bake my lady?”

“Kind of. But we are not going to make any bread. We are going to make some pasta.” Malaya raised her fist, her eyes flaring with passion.

‘This world has bread and all other sorts of food that requires meat or dishes! But they don’t have a single kind of pasta here or noodles! I really miss that dish the most! Those instant noodles are the ones that accompany my life when times I’m so broke and living by myself alone on Earth. And this will be one of the perfect food to bring in sea voyages since they could last for a longer period of time!’

“Pasta?” Both Dorris and Seraphina asked.

“Yes.” Malaya nodded her head with enthusiasm. As she glanced down to the table below, she couldn’t help but be amazed at how Rein gathered all of these grains. Especially, these orange-amber grains. She smiled.

It was similar to the Durum wheat grain on Earth, perfect for making any kind of pasta. It had high protein and fiber. You wouldn’t need eggs since it would already make your pasta chewy and sticky.

Seraphina looked at Malaya with a complicated gaze. “I understand the other kind of grains but these orangey ones, this Undum wheat…I don’t know, we kinda used it to feed the chickens.”

“It’s alright.” Malaya tapped Seraphina’s shoulder. “Pasta is the best using the different kinds of wheat grains we have here especially with these orangey.”

‘So this is called Undum here.’ Malaya pondered. Well, anyway…”Let’s all grind this now into flour!”

—⚓⚓⚓—

After an hour of grinding, Malaya wore an apron and started her task. She went to the kitchen nearby and started creating pasta of different kinds. Dorris helped her out, the same with Rein. Seraphina just watched on the sidelines with curiosity and anticipation.

After a few more hours, Malaya let the pasta dried. She was happy enough since there was durum wheat here, but with the other flour here, she was much happier. She could create other types of pasta as well. For different types of pasta, some would be great with hard wheat flour like the durum while the others such as one used for noodles, soft wheat flour that are grind thoroughly are best.

“Let’s cook this now.” Malaya cheerfully said. And after almost another two hours, the sky outside was already dark.

—⚓⚓⚓—

“This will be for our dinner.” Malaya presented the different types of pasta at the large table. The enticing mixture of sweet and sour smell flowed into the air. With the different types of dishes made from pasta, one couldn’t help but gulp. No matter what you looked at it, they absolutely looked enticing.

They offered a prayer of thanks for the food first before they started eating. At the first bite, everyone already squirmed. “This is so delicious!”

Malaya too couldn’t help but be teary. ‘How long since it had been since I’ve eaten this. I’ve searched the whole empire but none has pasta! But now, this is so good.’

Malaya was currently eating was a lasagna, she specifically made for herself. Covered with lots of cheese and meat sauce, each bite contained a sweet, juicy delightful feeling. Due to this, everyone completely forgot now the incident that happened between Malaya and her brother.

‘With this, all the food preparation for my voyage is complete. Father, Jules…little by little, I am nearing in fulfilling my promise to the both of you.” Malaya savored every bite of her meal.

—⚓⚓⚓—

Later that night, Malaya stayed in her room at the dorm. They used a teleportation talisman to went back there. Since her brother Darren was home, she really didn’t feel like staying at their residence.

Malaya rested her tired body on the bed. Her line of sight led to the ceiling of her room. A map of Heliyas’ entire continent was drawn there. Her gaze went to the red broken lines that surrounded the continent.

“The Red Current, huh?” Malaya shifted her weight to the left as she gradually closed her eyes. No matter how many times she regretted that day during the last four years, no one could turn the clock back. No matter how many times you wished to switch it back.

‘It may not be now, but I believe you will be able to realize your dream and pass the red current, someone that no one has done before.’ That was her, no Malaya’s father’s final words before his entire existence became a Lifa.

When living beings die in this world, none of their bodies were left. They dissolved into light particles and returned to the natural world, to the source of life.

“Father, Jules…I promised, I’d cross that line no matter what.”

┈ ✁✃✁✃✁✃✁✃✁ ┈

Extra Scene:

*Knock, knock, knock,*

“Who is it?” Darren questioned, without tearing his gaze away from the documents he was still examining.

“It’s me, Cynthia.” The door opened without waiting for Darren’s response.

“Malaya has already gone back to her dorm.” Cynthia stated.

“…”

“Mother also went back to her room to rest.”

“Better. It’s not nice that she exhausted herself for some trivial nonsense.” Darren responded this time, but he still didn’t bat an eye at Cynthia. That was why he didn’t realize she was already behind him and smacked him on the head.

“Malaya is not some trivial nonsense. She’s our younger sister.”

“Did you come here simply to lecture me about her? Sorry, but I didn’t regret anything I said to her.” Darren locked his gaze on Cynthia this time.

“No. I’m only here to offer you something Malaya wanted you to have.” Cynthia clapped her hands twice, and a maid arrived carrying a tray in her hands. She placed the tray on the table’s open space.

With suspicion, Darren examined the tray. There was a red dish with round-shaped objects on it.

“This is known as macaroni, and Malaya believes you will love it. Make sure you eat it. That’s all! See you later!” Cynthia hurried out of the room without waiting for Darren’s response.

*Bang!*

Darren stared at the dish, then disregarded it and returned to his job. But then the delicious aroma of the meal lingered in his nose. It made his stomach grumble. He realized he hadn’t had dinner yet.

“Seriously.” He took a fork and poked one macaroni. He took a closer look at it. “That girl keeps coming up with weird ideas.” He grumbled then took a bite. “Hmm.” Then he reached for another. “Not bad,” he commented as he reached again and again.

*Clang* The sound of the fork colliding with the plate exposed him to the fact that the plate was already empty.

“How did I…?” Darren was astonished that he had finished everything. He now wished there was more of it. “Tsk. It’s really irritating.”

Cynthia, who was observing him through the little gap in his door, laughed. Then she strolled in. “Don’t worry, Darren! Malaya made two large pots of macaroni just for you!” Cynthia flashed him a mischievous grin. “Eat everything to your heart’s content!”

┈ ✁✃✁✃✁✃✁✃✁ ┈