Let's Start A Bakery!

Chapter 31

Walking back to the kitchen, I felt excited. I opened the door and found Alina walking around nervously. When she looked up at me, I saw the obvious relief on her face.

Come on, I'm not going to get hurt from a short walk. I didn't even leave the property.

"The bread still has about twenty minutes until it is done," Alina told me.

I'm getting bored. If this were my world, I probably would be watching a movie while waiting for this bread.

I picked up the alchemy book again, now more than halfway through. My favorite potion that I learned about so far was probably the one known as the "Energy Boost Potion" which was really just coffee. It was literally made by brewing dried coffee beans and water.

I can't believe their first thought when drinking coffee was that it was magic. I guess it can be magical for people who can't stay awake in the mornings...

This opened my eyes to new recipes. If I could get my hands on some coffee beans, I could use it for lots of different pastries and treats. I never liked tiramisu very much, since the bitter taste of coffee never sat right with me, but many older adults seemed to enjoy it since tiramisu isn't as sweet as other pastries.

I stood there, staring at the same page of the book, once again lost in my imagination at the thoughts of cream filled pastries.

I'm craving chocolate right now. I wonder if I can get that here as well.

As I was leaning against the counter, thinking about melting chocolate and piping bags, Alina moved to the oven.

I waved away my thoughts and asked, "Is it time to take the bread out?"

"Yes!" Alina, said excitedly. She put on the oven mitts and lifted the Dutch oven out. She flipped the bread over onto a large wooden board , and set the Dutch oven down in the sink.

"Should we take this outside now, Lady Corvalia?" Alina looked at me.

"I'll carry the drinks," I said, trying to lift up the pitchers.

"Ah, wait!" Alina stopped me. "You should carry the bread, since it's the main part of the party, right? The pitchers are quite heavy, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Oh, okay."

I held on to the sides of the wooden board, the bread sitting perfectly in the center. Steam rose off the surface of the bread. As we walked towards the garden, the smell of the freshly baked bread hit my nose and my mouth started watering.

As we neared the table, Sir Leonard was sitting at one of the seats, conversing with my siblings. I couldn't hear, but all three of them were listening to Sir Leonard's words raptly, eyes wide and shining with interest.

Sir Leonard looked up and saw us walking. He stopped talking and stood up out of his chair to help with the food Alina and I were holding.

"Lady Corvalia, let me help you with that," he said, while taking the board from my hands and setting it down in the center of the table. Sir Leonard also helped Alina with the drinks she was carrying.

"Thank you everyone, for coming," I said, after the others had sat down.

What do I even say, I've never hosted a tea party before. This is too formal.

"I made some food for all of us to enjoy. This is sourdough bread," I said pointing at the bread in the center of the table.

Of course it's bread! I thought to myself. Anyone with eyes can see that, why did you feel the need to point it out?

"Anyways, let me help serve it to you."

I picked up the bread knife and moved to cut the bread.

Alina jumped up, "Lady Corvalia, let me do that for you! Please put down the knife!"

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt myself from cutting bread," I responded, already slicing down the center.

Alina hovered over me nervously watching as I used the serrated bread knife. I placed a slice of bread on everyone's plate as I desperately thought of what to say next.

How do I make this conversation more interesting? I have no idea what to do...