Hansel’s Enchanted Fairytale: Fill Me Up With Magic! - Chapter 30
Even with her new clothes, there was only one thing Hansel could do: follow him around everywhere.
The hours she normally spent attending school, studying, or practicing magic were now completely empty.
Since she needed him to access the house, she couldn’t even explore the layout on her own.
Given the circumstances, Hansel decided to observe how he spent his days. It was an opportunity to study the daily life of the world’s most powerful being, the Witch of the Gingerbread House, and to look for a chance to escape.
The first place he went after leaving the dressing room was the kitchen—not the dining room, but the actual kitchen.
He began baking there.
So, he wasn’t lying when he said he kneaded dough by hand.
“That’s what flour looks like…”
Hansel muttered, almost in a daze.
To her, ingredients were things she’d only ever seen as illustrations in books. She recognized them, but under normal circumstances, she never would have encountered them in real life.
As she stared blankly at the bowl of flour, he glanced down at her platinum-blonde head.
Watching her closely, he spoke softly.
“It’s for making bread.”
The fact that she didn’t even know what flour was convinced him further that she had truly lost her memory.
With surprising patience, he explained the uses of the cutting board, rolling pin, and other tools.
Hansel half-listened to his explanations, responding only occasionally.
After finishing his introduction, he mixed the flour, salt, sugar, eggs, the starter he’d made himself, and milk into a dough.
Hansel became increasingly captivated as the sticky mixture transformed into a soft, elastic dough.
When he pressed or poked it with his fingers, the dough clung to his hands like a living thing, but as soon as he pulled away, it left no trace behind.
It reminded her of brewing magical potions.
“It’s getting stickier. This is bread dough, right?”
“Yes.”
In truth, Hansel had read quite a few baking books. The process of baking was similar to magic—transforming raw ingredients into something entirely new with a different purpose.
As he kneaded the dough with practiced efficiency, he glanced at Hansel, who was so focused on watching him that she unconsciously pouted her lips like a little chick.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“Try it.”
“…What?”
He measured flour into an empty bowl and pushed it toward her.
“You said you’re good at cooking.”
“……”
She did say that, didn’t she?
Resisting the urge to smack herself on the lips, Hansel hesitantly approached the worktable.
Let’s think positively. This is a chance to try baking for real after only reading about it.
Hansel carefully measured the flour into the bowl, adding the sugar, salt, and starter without overlapping them, then began mixing cautiously.
“You’re good at this.”
He murmured approvingly as he watched in silence. Hansel shrugged in response.
But the real challenge came next.
Kneading the dough was much harder than she’d expected.
As she strained, her forehead broke out in beads of sweat, and her lips pursed tightly in concentration.
It seemed like it would take forever to turn the sticky mess into smooth, elastic dough. Her arms ached, and her shoulders throbbed.
When she heard a faint chuckle, Hansel froze.
He was leaning casually against the worktable, one corner of his mouth quirked upward in amusement.
“You’re not good at this after all.”
Hansel’s cheeks burned bright red, like a baby’s after being exposed to the winter wind.
“Fine. I’m terrible at it.”
“……”
She pulled her hands out of the bowl with a wet squelch.
“So terrible that I should just throw this away. Where’s the trash can? I’ll take it there myself.”
“That bad?”
“Apparently, I can’t even knead bread dough properly. Sorry for wasting your flour and ruining everything.”
She slumped into the chair by the worktable, effectively declaring a strike, and turned her head away from him entirely.
Silence lingered between them for a while.
He stared at her sulking figure, then at the dough in the bowl.
“No need to throw it out.”
Rolling up his sleeves, he revealed his muscular forearms.
Hansel had been struggling to knead with all her might, but for him, it was effortless.
He worked the dough for over ten minutes straight without breaking a sweat.
“Look.”
After some time, he lifted the bowl to show her the smooth, perfectly rounded dough he had finished.
Hansel stole a sideways glance at it.
“Perfect, isn’t it?”
Even though she knew he had done most of the work, she didn’t feel upset.
As her expression softened, he peered into the bowl himself.
Lost in thought for a moment, his gaze grew serious, then he muttered as if something had just occurred to him.
“Soon, it’ll look like your butt.”
