Everybody’s Meals. The Flavours of Bliss.
“This is caught from the ocean. It’s simple, but I assume that you want to eat dishes with unique flavours.”
The small eatery next to the port was probably intended for workers at the port. It was somewhat old and run down. Even the cups were cracked. The group sat at a table. Inside their paper bags was a piping hot shell type of animal. The soft white flesh inside and red sauce exuded an aromatic scent. On the table was also cut up fatty eel and a pile of cooked tentacles from something.
Liu Yue appreciated the youngster remembered that she wasn’t fond of fish when she mentioned it to him on only one occasion. When they placed their order, they skipped all fish dishes so that Liu Yue could eat with them. Honestly speaking, Liu Yue had to eat fish after Ying and Tanya’s training on the ship. She wasn’t too fond of fish, but she could eat a little.
“Wow, it looks scrumptious…”
Ying and Tanya glanced at the eager four Princesses. They took their plates from them. The four sisters cried out together. Liu Yue’s fur on her tail stood up, accompanying her rising frustration. She reacted similarly to a dog that had its food stolen. Ying and Tanya tasted their shells and then placed them back in front of the sisters.
All the four girls could do was look at the piping hot shells with steam coming from them with their puppy eyes. The baffled youngster separated the soft flesh from the shells and tossed the flesh into his mouth one by one. He was confused as to why the four sisters looked at the food but didn’t eat it. Ying and Tanya had a few and then stopped eating. He wondered if it was some sort of dining formality.
“I beg you. Can you not eat in our faces when we can’t?”
Liu Yue’s ears twitched due to the sound of the youngster chewing one after the other. Listening to it with her enhanced hearing was torture. She could virtually hear the sound of him crushing it in his mouth. The dish was something they’d rarely see in the Imperial Palace in the North. The sauce also had a unique colour. Unfortunately, the four girls had to wait. It was a rule in the Imperial Palace, and something their dad enforced, so they had to abide by the rule.
The rule was that, when eating outside the palace, they had to let their guards have a bite first. Then, they had to wait for at least fifteen minutes. If the guards were all right, then they could eat. The rule actually originated from Hilles City’s Royal Palace. The Valkyries tested for poison in the food Elizabeth ate. Troy never followed the rule, but he required his daughters to abide by it. That was the one thing he was most strict with them about; hence, they followed it to the T. The fifteen minutes were agonising, though.
“All right.”
Although the youngster was stunned beyond words, he stopped eating. Liu Yue irritably rubbed her ears, while Nona poked at the white and soft flesh. She struggled to hold back. While Daisy played with her long sword at her waist, her anticipatory gaze continued to go back and forth between the dishes. Vera sprawled herself out on the table. She blankly looked at Ying and Tanya, hoping and desiring. Regardless, Ying and Tanya were strict because they wouldn’t put their Princesses in danger to prioritise enjoyment. The owner was also puzzled. He thought there was an issue with the food, so he came over to ask if they needed anything, but the youngster shook his head.
After some thinking, the youngster ordered some gribble. The gribble was basically the same as prawns, except massive in comparison. In terms of size, it was roughly as big as large an Alaskan crab. It smelt so fragrant when stewed with flavouring and the juices of the gribble.
“Honestly, I’m not too fond of this sort of stuff,” remarked Liu Yue.
The shells were all right, although Liu Yue never had seafood with shells before. Ling Yue judged seafood to not be tasty from her smell, and she never let her daughter eat it. Of course, perhaps that was because foxes weren’t fans of the ocean.
Vera stated, “It’s actually easy to remove, but… but… I ate pre-removed ones in the Imperial Palace, so… I don’t know how to remove them.”
Daisy had used her knife to thrust it into the shell and opened the gribble using sheer brute force. The white flesh’s fragrance burst forth. Daisy gulped her saliva. Nona curiously scanned it and then quickly passed her plate to Daisy: “Daisy, Daisy, help me open them!”
“Oh, sure,” responded Daisy.
Daisy considerately helped her sister open the shell of the gribble. Liu Yue watched them then picked up her knife and stabbed it, but she only managed to make a small hole. She couldn’t open it. Bewildered, Liu Yue glanced at Daisy’s steaming gribble’s flesh and fell into deep thought.
“I suspect mine is uncooked.”
Vera passed her plate to Ying. Ying helped Vera cut it open. Tanya also commenced the challenge. Tanya was the general of the military team in charge of the mountains, so she had never seen seafood, either.
The youngster reached his hand out to Liu Yue. She looked back at him. He nodded: “Let me help you. If you haven’t blown it, it’ll be difficult to open. If you don’t find the key spot, it’ll be a struggle to open.”
Liu Yue nodded and passed her plate to him. He took her gribble, but then Ying and Tanya immediately shot him a cold look. He innocently looked up at them. Ying warned, “If you try anything funny, I’ll take your head on the spot.”
The youngster helplessly chuckled: “You don’t need to be that tense, do you…? We’ve lived together for so long already. If I wanted to do something, I would’ve done so long ago. Moreover, I’m making a request of you, so why would I harm you?”
Ying narrowed her eyes: “You, indeed, require our assistance, but you just need to keep the girls here. You could convince them to stay, but you could also resort to drugging them to lock them up here. I don’t think you’re that sort of person, but I’m a guard. A guard can’t trust anybody. Therefore, I can’t trust you, either. Besides my assigned mission, I also have to ensure the safety of the four Princesses, so please cooperate.”
“I can understand where you are coming from, but that still upsets me a little. Although I did do something I shouldn’t have to them before, I have reflected on it already. I promise that I won’t do it again, and I would never resort to unscrupulous means. My Queen personally conferred me the title of Knight, after all. I would never do something so unscrupulous! Furthermore, there’s no need to be tense here. It’s dangerous at Queen Vera’s place, but it’s definitely safe outside of the palace. Nobody wants to poison you because nobody knows who you are.”
Troy once went somewhere with good intention, only to be imprisoned because Sylvanas was drugged. That was why Ying was incredibly mindful of food and beverages.
The youngster heaved a heavy breath. Seeing Ying and Tanya’s unwavering gaze, he had no choice but to hopelessly give up. It didn’t bother him, though, for he was remorseful from the bottom of his heart.
The youngster easily and skilfully removed the shells. Liu Yue was impressed with the sight of him in action. Daisy could cut the shell and separate it in one go. That said, it required a lot of strength from her. The youngster, on the other hand, didn’t look as though he required any effort. Furthermore, it was a lot more aesthetic than Daisy’s brute force method. Also, he just needed to gently peel the shells off with his hand if there was nowhere to open it from the side.
“Here.”
The youngster didn’t waste a moment. He passed the plate to Liu Yue. Ying then extended her hand out. Hopeless, Liu Yue passed her plate to Ying. Ying had no intention of being lax in her guard duty so that was how they continued. Unfortunately, that reduced the joy factor… All was well in the end, though.
They couldn’t eat it, but they could eat the shell. If there was anything the ocean didn’t lack, it was shells. That was not to mention it tasted fabulous when combined with the spicy sauces. Despite not liking seafood, Liu Yue’s tail couldn’t help but move about. Her food brought a smile to her lips.
It wasn’t a posh meal since the food was cheap as dirt next to the ocean. The ground had the smell of the ocean, and they had to have plain water instead of fruit juice, but in spite of all that, Liu Yue oddly felt content and touched when she saw the expressions her sisters and her two expressionless guards wore. Of course, if you desperately want to make a case, Liu Yue didn’t ostracise the youngster, either.
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