Book 19: Chapter 26
“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.