The food storage was quite cold. It had mana stones with temperature-lowering functions embedded throughout to preserve the ingredients for longer. Even I, who rarely felt the cold thanks to my thick, dense feathers, felt a chill. While Eden casually put on one of the coats hanging by the entrance, I hopped off Theo's arm and approached a mana stone.
I guess I really am stuck in a romance fantasy novel. Seeing mana stones and all. It just looks like an ordinary rock, but the closer I get, the stronger the chill becomes, just like an air conditioner. I wonder if they'll put one of these in my bedroom during the summer?
The Artes Empire originally had long summers. It was because of the Essence of Fire, a divine object given by Ignis when Artes founded the empire.
The divine object, filled with pure fire mana, is passed down from the previous emperor to the new one upon their enthronement. There's a very peculiar setting here: if the new emperor has a strong fire aura, the power of the Essence also increases, pushing back winter and shortening its duration. This is because Ignis, the god of fire, and Prina, the god of winter, are not on good terms, so he pushes back Prina's domain.
If the emperor's fire aura is strong, the power of the Essence also increases, which in turn gives the imperial citizens a purer fire aura. That's why the emperor's martial prowess is directly linked to the nation's power. In fact, there are records of neighboring countries counting the days of winter in Artes to decide whether to fight or surrender.
On average, the season that could be called winter usually lasts about two months, and the current emperor, Theodore's father, was born with an exceptionally strong aura, so this winter was only about a month and ten days long. Now that we were just emerging from winter, the sweltering heat would soon begin in earnest.
Can I survive the summer with these dense feathers…? It seems like I'd be okay with that mana stone during the summer…. I suddenly became greedy and got closer to the mana stone, sniffing it and gently touching the tip of my beak to it.
When I was far away, it was just cool, but when I got close enough to touch it with my beak, I definitely felt a chill. I hope my beak doesn't get stuck to it like your tongue sticks to a super frozen ice cream.
Eden turned pale as I lingered near the mana stone. He seemed worried that I might damage the expensive stone. He was already spaced out, so I tried to step back out of consideration, but Theo gently pushed me towards the mana stone.
"Mana stones are very hard, so ordinary people without mana or aura can't even scratch them. So feel free to touch it."
Oh, it looks like just a rock, but it's that hard? Suddenly curious, I took out my claws and stabbed the mana stone. Let's see if it even gets a scratch…
Crack-! Shatter-.
It does…? Theo's explanation was rendered meaningless as the mana stone crumbled like sand beneath my feet. The sound was so weak that I wondered if it was defective, but the fact that the chill disappeared as soon as it broke confirmed that it was real.
I was so surprised that I turned around with my beak wide open. Did I just cause an accident…? Theo seemed momentarily taken aback, but he burst out laughing when he saw my expression.
"It's okay. I forgot that our Shuian has those fierce claws to protect me."
Get a new one. Orca closed his eyes tightly at Theo's indifferent addition, which lacked the warmth that could melt even the north wind and snow.
"Screech…."
"I said it's okay."
I'm sorry to Orca, not you…. Theo picked me up and brushed the mana stone dust clinging to my feet with his bare hands. He even stroked my back, comforting me as if to tell me not to worry, but it seemed like Orca was the one who needed comfort.
Held in Theo's arms, I went further inside and saw rows of raw and smoked meats hanging from the ceiling like in a butcher shop, the second section had vegetables, and the third had fruits sorted by type.
"See if there's anything you like and pick it out."
He carefully put me down on the floor. Afraid of causing an even bigger accident than before if I flapped my wings, I kept them tucked tightly to my sides and walked diligently towards the meat section first. It was hard to tell what was what since it was already butchered, and it seemed more gruesome than I thought, so I just glanced over it and came back outside. Too timid for an eagle…. Anyway, all meat is delicious, so let's just skip this!
"So you like everything, I guess?"
"Screech."
Eden, who had been staring blankly at Theo and me talking, snapped out of it when Orca urged him to quickly write down the ingredients that Shuian seemed interested in and took out his notepad.
Next was the vegetable section. I didn't particularly enjoy eating them when I was human, but for some reason, I was even less inclined to eat them after becoming an eagle. Is it because eagles are carnivores…? The smell isn't great either. It wasn't so much that they were poisonous, but simply a matter of taste.
Still, just in case, I approached a vegetable that looked like lettuce and sniffed it.
"Screech…."
Yep, it stinks…. I flinched and took a step back, and heard Theo laughing behind me. Embarrassed, I quickly moved to the fruit section. I had been eating fruit in the forest and often in the palace, so I would probably like most of them.
Whenever there was a fruit that was pretty or had a sweet smell that I liked, I looked up at Theo in front of the fruit. When Theo nodded slightly with a proud face, the chef quickly wrote it down in his notebook, showing good sense.
"Record it well and serve it as dessert with every meal. Take extra care of what Shuian eats, and if there's even a hint of poison, you'll pay for it with your life."
"Yes, yes! I, I will keep that in mind…!"
I glanced sympathetically at Eden, who was trembling and looking pale, and then looked over the fruits again. Then I stopped in front of a very red and round fruit that looked like an apple but was the size of a watermelon. It smelled sweet and looked delicious. I was so curious that I was staring at it when Theo came up beside me.
"That's a salmon fruit. Is this your first time seeing it?"
"Screech."
"Would you like to try it?"
"Screech!"
When Theo heard my answer, he gestured to the salmon fruit, and the chef quickly picked it up, prepared it, and brought it back. Theo nodded in satisfaction as he saw that it had been cut into bite-sized pieces for me to eat easily, and only then did the chef breathe a sigh of relief.
"Here, try it."
I took the fruit that Theo offered and ate it. The texture and taste were similar to an apple, but it was much sweeter and more delicious.
"Screech-!"
"You seem to like it."
He offered me another one to eat as much as I wanted, so I stared up at Theo. It was more delicious and to my liking than I thought, so I wanted to feed it to Theo too, but I couldn't put something I had stepped on into his mouth again.
Instead of bringing my foot over, I pointed to the fruit with the tip of my beak and then turned my head back to Theo. He should understand this much by now, right?
"You want me to eat it too?"
"Screech."
Of course, Theo was the owner of this palace, so he would have tasted everything here, but still, wasn't it the heart of a person, no, an eagle, to want to share something delicious? Theo smiled brightly and put the piece of salmon fruit I offered into his mouth.
"I don't like sweets, but it tastes good because you offered it."
Oops, sorry. I didn't know you didn't like sweets. I have to remember that. Is it a rule that villains don't like sweets…?
"Lord Shuian, won't you give me some?"
Orca interjected, seemingly annoyed by the sight of the two of us, but I just glanced at him and picked up the salmon fruit. Sorry, but this is mine. Theo sneered at my cynical attitude.
"Don't think you and I are the same."
"You're really too much…."
Regardless of what Orca was grumbling about, I sat on Theo's arm and ate as much salmon fruit as he fed me. This is truly a blessed new life.
After leaving the food storage, we looked around the tea leaf storage. There was nothing I could eat, but I just wanted to look around. After seeing what had happened so far, Eden realized who he needed to impress and began to explain things to me.
He occasionally made a hollow expression at his situation of diligently explaining things to an eagle, so I tried to listen hard, but Theo seemed proud, thinking that I was interested.
"The tea that His Highness the Prince enjoys is stocked in larger quantities than others, and the tea that he doesn't enjoy is stocked in smaller quantities. After all, tea leaves themselves are expensive, and the taste and aroma change depending on the storage method, so we have no choice but to differentiate them."
I didn't enjoy drinking tea, so the only teas I knew were green tea and corn silk tea sold in tea bags, so to be honest, his explanations didn't really register in my ears.
"And the tea leaf storage is usually managed by the mistress of the family, but since there is no Crown Princess yet, Orca is currently managing it."
I glanced at Orca. Orca really does everything…. The more I learned, the more sorry I felt for his workload. Eden, seeing Theo's satisfied expression, began to explain even more enthusiastically. He seemed to think it was a chance to score points.
"His Highness the Prince enjoys Assam tea and Earl Grey. He tends to put more bergamot oil in his Earl Grey than others, and he prefers to drink it with thinly sliced lemons."
I've heard of Earl Grey here and there, but what's Assam tea? Still, I should listen carefully since Theo likes it. I tilted my head towards the tea leaves, which were divided into wooden boxes, to smell them.
At that moment, an unpleasant odor that stung my nose wafted by. It was the same smell I often smelled in the forest, the smell of poisonous herbs. I immediately grabbed the source of the smell with my beak and threw it to the floor. It was definitely poison.
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(t/n : unlock chapter 41-50 for only $0.99 on my ko-fi shop^^)
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