Carpaccio. One of Lady Conchita's favorite dishes. I looked down at the octopus awaiting the sharp cut of my knife. There was a strong, unpleasant smell wafting from the carcass. I furrowed my eyebrows in disgust. Once, I would make excellent Carpaccio out of venison, pork, and tuna for Lady Conchita, but now…
I am Keitjan, the fifteenth chef to Bianca Conchita. I know not why there have been so many chefs before. The young attendants, Rayne and Lillian, simply said 'They did not meet Lady Conchita's standards, and were removed from their positions.' I had assumed 'removed' had simply meant fired, but I am becoming suspicious of other means of their 'removal' due to Bianca's sporadic aggressive behavior.
Even though I was developing a feeling the poor quality of this particular octopus could get me removed also, I continued with my repulsive task. After thinly slicing the tentacles and the body, I looked around the kitchen for the ingredient Conchita had requested for the sauce. A pumpkin. I gave a shudder. A Carpaccio of Octopus and Pumpkin? Disgusting. Who would ever actually want to eat such a monstrosity? With much disdain I completed the task as swift as possible. Setting it on the serving cart, I looked over my other creations. Among many, many, other dishes, there was fried and raw onion salad, a pathetic excuse for an eggplant grill, and a peculiar looking giant loaf of bread.
I rolled the catastrophe out into the Dining Hall, which consisted of one enormously long banquet table, with a single chair at the head of it. In this seat was Lady Conchita. To anyone who had no idea who she was, she would seem quite beautiful. She had light brown hair that framed her face, a fair complexion, and a shockingly beautiful figure. But she had a menacing aura about her, and her eyes were cold, and openly displayed her insanity. She widened them when she saw me.
"About time! What do you have for me now?" She demanded excitedly. I began setting out the food. "A main course of Pink Octopus Carpaccio accompanied by many appetizers which are meant to please your exquisite tastes, My Lady." She smiled gluttonously at the fare and began to consume it.
In just a few minutes, half of the appetizers were gone. Bianca eyed the Carpaccio. She bit into it ravenously. As she chewed, her face slowly contorted into a grimace. She spat it out onto her plate and turned to me in a rage. "What have you done to this? It tastes like rotted sewage!" I froze. I had known Conchita would taste the poor quality of the octopus. With downcast eyes I apologized. "Forgive me, Lady Conchita. I will remove it and prepare something more suited to your tastes." Strangely, the anger seemed to disappear from her face. Even though it seemed as if she had recovered, I could tell her indifferent demeanor was masking her boiling rage. As I leaned in front of her to clean up the dish, I could feel her eyes trained on my face. Something told me if I met her gaze I would be removed as the other chefs had been.
Suddenly, Bianca grabbed my arm. Instinctively I turned to look at her, and immediately regretted it. Her eyes were on fire with insanity, and her mouth had formed a dangerous smile. "Oh, you won't have to worry about that, Keitjan. I have a much better idea. How about I try something that no one has yet the pleasure of tasting?" She stood up a quickly grabbed a carving knife from the table. I paled in horror of her intentions. I tried to pull away, but her grip was that of iron. She leaned close to my ear and whispered, "If you try to run away, I'll gut you like a fish." And with that, she brought the knife down on four of the fingers on my right hand. I yelled in pain and sunk to the floor, shaking. Bianca still had my arm on the table, and was tracing bloody lines in it with the blade tip.
"You have such nice hands… They'll be delectable with some radishes and lemon brown sauce," Her head turned slowly from my maimed arm to look at my face. "Let's begin the meal, shall we?" She brought the knife down upon my chest, and I knew no more.
Rayne and Lillian huddle near the entrance to the dining hall, Rayne covering his sister's eyes with a shaking hand. He gazed around the corner of the door as Conchita consumed her revolting meal. Blood covered the table cloth, the food, and the floor, but mainly herself as she ravaged at the remaining meat from what used to Keitjan's limbs. It took everything that Rayne had to not retch. As Bianca licked her lips in satisfaction of her meal, she lazily leaned back in her chair. "Rayne, Lillian, don't think I don't see you there. Come clean this mess up before I dispose of you, too." Hurriedly, they stood up and ran to get rags from the kitchen. As they bent to clean the gore splayed across the table, Conchita sighed. "You know what?" Lillian and Rayne paused. "Y-yes My Lady?" Lillian stuttered. "I do not believe I am quite satisfied with my meal yet. Do you have any suggestions for me Lillian? Something completely new and delicious?" Lillian downcast her eyes as Rayne took his place beside her. They both remained silent. Conchita shook her head as if she were disappointed. "Well, that's not what I had hoped to have as an answer." She rose slowly from her seat, carefully holding the carving knife in her right hand. She smiled wildly as she forcefully brought it down on her target.
Bianca Conchita roamed through her castle aimlessly for hours. The interior felt quite hollow. She was the only one who remained in the void palace. Bianca felt a desperation growing inside of her. An animalistic desperation. A desperation to devour. Yet there was nothing to do so to. She paused in front of a giant mirror, and looked over herself. She moved her eyes down to her own hand. There was still something that she had yet to eat…