Altered Mordred

Chapter 5.2 *NEW*

*Sizzle*

In the dead of night, a former priest turned royal advisor was busy cooking up a midnight snack for himself. It had been a few days since his new status and the position unnerved him to no end. Doubts of his incompetence in meeting the expectations of his king haunted him.

Kenelm knew next to nothing about politics and the abundant laws of Britain. The huge modifications and creations of new rules that accompanied the regime change made understanding those laws nigh impossible.

His people skills were also not that advanced. He was by no means a shy person, his violent display in court a few days ago was proof of that. In one word, Kenelm would describe himself as average--nothing too special that made him unique to anyone else amongst the crowd.

To calm his nerves enough for him to sleep, Kenelm always found cooking to be quite soothing. As the advisor of King Mordred, he had the opportunity to live in the royal palace and he gladly took it. There was nothing pleasant left in his home village, only the tragedy that was inflicted on his family.

The royal pantry was, in Kenelm's mind, the greatest aspect of the palace. By his own request and permission from his king, Kenelm held free rein over the kitchen to perform his own cooking on the constraint that he didn't hinder the other workers.

Tonight, he was busy preparing a snack made from wheat bread that's flattened into a plate so that it could be wrapped around a small heap of melting cheese, scrambled eggs, thin strips of potato, and diced leftover pork from today's dinner. With the addition of simple spices, the fragrance drifting in the air was heavenly to his senses.

And a certain blonde agreed.

"That looks delicious." Kenelm jumped out of fright from the female voice he heard behind him.

"Yooo." King Mordred entered the kitchen in her royal attire. Her overbearing workload as the new king kept her up late and hungering for a decent meal that wasn't either overly oiled or awfully bland. It was a coincidence that a delicious smell just so happened to catch her attention and guided the monarch to the kitchen Kenelm was occupying.

"Hello, your majesty." Kenelm recovered enough from his surprise to squeeze out a greeting. He noticed Mordred was intensely glancing at his plate of food. If he was to take a closer look, a bit of drool was slightly creeping from her lips.

To test his theory, he slowly picked up the plate and moved it to the side. His king's eyes followed the motion. The two stood in silence, where one would move the plate and the other never lifted her gaze away from the plate.

A loud stomach growl from the monarch was all Kenelm needed to confirm his suspicions.

With a long sigh, Kenelm presented the food to his king, which Mordred graciously accepted and devoured in two bites. The snack he prepared for himself was gone in an instant.

"Got anymore?" She asked, while licking her fingers. Her mannerisms were barbaric, that he would not deny. As her advisor, he would need to fix that habit of hers in the near future because a king must never been seen doing such childish things.

"Well, I ca-" Kenelm tried to refuse because he prepared enough ingredients for just one plate.

*GRUMBLING*

"I will see what I can do." He relented at the second wave of demands from the monarch's stomach and searched the area for more ingredients.

And hey, he really enjoyed cooking for other people. Seeing their joyous faces as they ate his food was heartwarming...Like the times of the past when he ate with his mother and little sister.

He drizzled some oil into the pan to start up a new plate of food. It didn't take long for the fragrance of the spices and meat to refill the kitchen in a new pleasant meaty smell.

"I am glad I chose you as my advisor." Mordred proudly announced.

"Is my cooking my only redeeming quality?" He joked back.

"Of course." An instant response from Mordred before she realized her mistake and tried to take it back. "I mean...you are also a...a... a good man?"

Mordred failed to find a compelling excuse and became flustered by her predicament. 

"Then I will become the best cook and advisor for your majesty." Kenelm chuckled. Surprisingly, his king's response didn't discourage him; it motivated him. Perhaps it was the blatant honesty from Mordred that shattered his doubts. Kenelm was rejuvenated.

He would be the best advisor King Mordred ever had, even if it meant becoming the best chef along the way.