The Cursed King

"Your friend is very kind, " Elise commented after Loriel closed the door behind him and went back to the dining table.

"Well, he is kind to ME," said Loriel with a shrug. "I told you I saved his life once and he has been feeling indebted to me ever since. He owns a small business downtown and is ready to help me anytime. So, you see.. my situation is not so dire that I need to sell my loyalty points."

He chuckled when he remembered Elise's suggestion to make extra money by selling his points. First, of all, there were no such points. He made up everything.

Second, even if he badly needed money, he would never resort to such actions. He could just sell the artworks or whatever stuff he had in this penthouse. He was lying when he said they were too valuable to him that he would never sell them.

Living for over fifteen centuries had taught him one thing, that was, material stuff was meaningless compared to people. At the end of the day, the people he loved would always be more valuable to him, than mere possession.

So what if the artworks he had in his collection were worth a lot? They meant nothing to him as compared to Elise.

Just like home was not the house, but the people we shared our life with. Home was not a place, but a person.

Real wealth was not our material possession, but the people we were blessed enough to have in our life. To Loriel, such people were very few in number.

Aside from Elise, he only liked Marc and his family.

Other people could all burn in hell, for all he cared.

"Well, then… I should thank you for introducing me to Marc and making him hire me, despite my lack of experience…" said Elise.

She didn't even have a high school diploma. It would be impossible for her to get a job in any office without at least a diploma. So, she had Loriel to thank for it.

"Don't mention it," Loriel said with a sweet smile. "Now, you have to eat more so you can look fresh for tomorrow. We haven't even eaten the veal."

"And desserts!" Elise exclaimed.

"Yes, desserts. Very important!" Loriel replied.

Humming, he went to the kitchen to prepare the veal and came back five minutes later with two plates of piping hot dishes that smelled amazing. 

"This is really good," said Elise after she tasted his cooking. "Gosh.. you are so talented."

"Thank you," Loriel was smiling ear to ear when he heard her compliment. He would toil in the kitchen and cook for her every day if she wanted him to.

He would gladly do it, just to hear her compliments and see the smile on her beautiful face, like tonight.

"You should teach me how to cook," said Elise. 

"Definitely! We can start whenever you want," Loriel replied. "As you can see, I have quite a flexible time. I am not busy." 

"That's so kind of you," said Elise. She seemed to think of something for a moment and decided to ask Loriel something. "What about baking?  Can you bake? I am very interested in baking. I love bread and pastries."

Loriel pouted. No, he hated baking, so he didn't learn the skills.

Besides, it was so easy to get bread and pastries that suit his taste around the world. He didn't see the need to learn it.

But it was the skills that Elise wanted to learn?

Okay, he could ask Marc to find a place where Elise could learn baking. It should be easy. He made a mental note to ask Marc about it tomorrow.

"I know a good place to learn baking for you," he said. "You can learn from them. And from me, you just learn cooking. What do you think?" 

Elise sighed. "Hmm… I don't think I have the time to learn baking somewhere else. I have to work."

"Ah, don't worry about it. You can just do it on the weekend or after office hours. Courses like the baking course are usually done on the weekends anyway."

"Oh.. then, it sounds good," said Elise who became excited again. "Thank you, Loriel."

"Don't mention it," Loriel poured more wine into their glasses. "Eat more."

They continued dinner in a very pleasant atmosphere.

Loriel talked to Elise about trivial things. How he learned cooking, what were his favorite things to do, and the beautiful countries he had visited in the world.

Elise seemed to enjoy their conversation so much. She found Loriel to be a very interesting person.

*** 

It was finally time for Elise to go to work.

After the events of last night, having dinner with Loriel and Marc, Elise woke up early to prepare.

When she padded outside of her bedroom fully dressed and ready to leave, Elise found Loriel already awake and at the dining table. The man was on his phone and looked up to see her.

"Ah, good morning Elise. Would you like some breakfast?" Loriel greeted.

"Oh," Elise said. But before Elise could say anything else, she suddenly heard a couple of mewls. Two cats appeared from underneath the sofa and came out.

The two cats finally approached her timidly. One cat was black, and the other one was brown. They were both fat and had long fur. At a glance, they looked like two fur balls.

Loriel scratched his cheek. "When you first arrived, they were a little shy to come out, but it seems like they've finally started to get more familiar with you."

A bright smile crossed Elise's lips as she crouched down and held out her hand. One of the cats walked bravely over and sniffed her before it then licked her. Elise giggled and looked up, "They are so cute!! What are their names?"

"Oh, these are…" Loriel chuckled and replied, "Pot and Pebble."

"Ahh, is that so? They're nice names…" Elise said and paid more attention to the cats.

Loriel wanted to laugh at her reaction. Elise was truly pure at heart. She didn't think those names ugly nor funny.