### Chapter 52: The Dance of Flying Flowers and a Moonlit Soulmate
No surprises here, the golden-haired queen stood gracefully to the left of the kitchen door, in front of the long dining table.
At this moment, she had shed her extravagant armor, donning a pure white, form-fitting chiffon dress, draped with a light blue velvet shawl, which elegantly highlighted her beautiful neck and clearly visible collarbone. The folds of her dress flowed like the moonlight cascading onto the ground. Her crown was removed, and her golden locks were tied up with a sprig of gorse, with two small braids coiled at the back of her head, a single lock falling gracefully over her chest, her complexion like refined jade.
As I descended the stairs, she was lost in thought, gazing at the dinner spread on the table, standing there like a translucent ice sculpture.
So beautiful…
This thought flickered through my mind just as Victoria lifted her head to look at me.
“You made this?” She pointed to the dishes on the table, her eyebrows slightly raised in question.
“Uh… yeah…”
I nodded as I reached the bottom of the stairs, feeling a bit happy.
She came all by herself…
“What method did you use?” she inquired.
“…The Pei family method.”
“What?”
“I mean… it’s my own method!”
“Is it edible?”
Victoria sat down at the dining table.
I rushed to the kitchen to fetch a kn*fe and fork, ran back to hand her a pair while I kept another, casually quipping, “If you want to complain, don’t eat it,” while pulling out the chair across from her to sit. To my surprise, Victoria said, “Sit next to me.”
Her tone was still that familiar commanding style.
“Why?” I asked.
“Convenient for talking.”
…Isn’t it more convenient to sit across from each other?
But looking into her unwavering gaze, for some reason, I suddenly felt a little flutter in my heart and instinctively pulled out the chair right next to her, obediently sitting down.
After taking a seat, I looked at the plates before me—none of which could be described as appetizing—except for the salad and beef bone soup, the rest resembling a dark culinary experiment of some sort. My heart inexplicably tightened.
I haven’t even tasted these dishes yet…
What if they taste bad…
I didn’t dare invite Victoria to try first, so I speared a piece of scrambled egg and stuffed it into my mouth, chewing quickly, telling myself that if it was bad, I’d stop her from eating it. To my surprise, it wasn’t half bad! Sure, this world lacked a lot of spices, but the familiar taste was there.
After finishing a piece of egg and gaining a bit of confidence, I cautiously pushed the tomato scrambled eggs towards Victoria, squinting my eyes in a grin, “Give it a try!”
Then I stood up to serve her a bowl of beef bone soup, stealing a glance at Victoria as she poked the tomato with her fork, her movements elegant and deliberate as she savored it. I secretly observed her expression… well, she didn’t show much of one.
I wonder if she likes this flavor…
I placed the bowl of soup in front of her, then served myself one, casually mentioning, “If the soup cools, it won’t taste good,” but inside I was wondering: why isn’t she saying anything? Is it really bad…
Even if it’s bad, she shouldn’t say it…
Victoria had finished the scrambled tomatoes and took a small sip of the soup. After swallowing, her mouth was still moving as if savoring it. This made me a bit anxious, and I craned my neck to watch her.
“You…” Victoria pondered for a moment, looking at the beef bone soup with a slight frown, “What did you add into the soup?”
“N-not tasty…?”
I shrugged my shoulders, my smile freezing as I felt my heart sink a bit.
“Tell me what you added.”
“Beef shank, radish, sunchoke, salt, pepper… and…”
“And what else?”
“Oranges…”
At this, Victoria put down her spoon.
“The orange is unnecessary,” she stated, glancing at the plate of scrambled tomatoes. “How did you make this?”
“Fried it…”
I still think the orange wasn’t unnecessary…
“Fried?”
“Like…”
I thought for a moment and mimicked frying gestures with my fork, moving it back and forth, “Like this… and like this… fry.”
After demonstrating, I blinked and stared at her.
Victoria stared back, as if looking at a fool.
“Teach Sharman that method.”
Huh…
After saying that, Her Majesty the Queen stopped paying me any attention and continued tasting the other dishes. Although she didn’t say anything, her expression remained unchanged, but it seemed… she was eating slightly faster than usual.
Does this mean she likes it?
Suddenly, I felt particularly happy watching her delicately savor her food, like I had accomplished something extraordinary, smiling proudly, but not wanting Victoria to catch on to my smugness, I quickly looked down to drink my soup… I took a sip, but my smile immediately faltered—the rich bone soup mixed with an odd sweetness spread through my mouth, nearly causing me to choke.
She was right…
The orange was unnecessary.
“Next time, use less oil.”
After a while, Victoria set down her utensils, wiped her mouth, and said to me.
“Oh…”
Next time you want me to cook? That depends on my mood…
“Viki.”
“Mm.”
“About those people earlier… Rect, what happened to them?”
“The royal palace is having a banquet.”
Huh?
Does that mean they’re all off to the banquet?
So…
“Aren’t you going?”
“You made dinner.”
Victoria said softly, casting me a faint glance.
“……”
…What was I so happy about!
I felt my expression almost crack under the pressure…
“Was it smooth sailing this time?”
To cover up my indecipherable delight, I quickly changed the topic.
Since I thought she’d be back quickly, looking so spirited and even kissing me in public, I assumed everything must have gone smoothly. But to my shock, after I asked, Victoria suddenly fell silent.
“…What?”
In that instant, many thoughts whirled through my head.
Like she might have sustained serious injuries, or the fortress didn’t really fall, and the so-called ‘triumph’ was a hoax, or that old duke had some sinister plot that led to severe losses for the defenders and the church knights, or she could have run into formidable heretics…
Just as I was getting more convinced that things weren’t so simple, Victoria suddenly curved her lips into a smile.
“It went very smoothly.”
That smile was somewhat mournful.
“The defenders took three days to capture the Fortress of Fleirske, Lex jumped from the fortress and became meat paste. From now on, there will be no Clive Family in Ethanbel… for the royal family, this is the best outcome.”
“……”
Indeed, that is the best outcome.
But Victoria didn’t seem to be happy about it.
I gazed at her stunning profile beside me, watching her slowly lift her head. She peered through the large windows of the dining room at the clear moonlit sky outside.
The first time we met, Victoria had been so affectionate, hugging and kissing me, making me panicky. After coming here, my focus had been entirely on dinner, and until just a moment ago, I hadn’t really looked at her face seriously. But now, I finally noticed that a subtle change had already occurred within her.
It was an invisible transformation that was hard to describe in words.
If I had previously compared the Victoria I knew to a proud, somewhat aloof white swan, difficult to approach and almost regal, at the core, her presence had screamed ‘stronger’ far more than ‘royal’—these are different concepts. True, Victoria was smart and strong, but back then, I had compared her to my father and discovered she was still quite immature—this wasn’t merely about the difference in strength.
But now, that hint of ‘immaturity’ had faded away.
It was like… that white swan finally learned how to hide its feather’s bl**d under its wings.
Thus, she no longer spoke to me about the expedition.
“On my way back, I instructed Sharman to build an aerial garden between the two residences, with a hall underneath. From now on, as more people come and go, there will be many things we can’t discuss at the palace, so I can talk about them here. When the night deepens and those petty matters no longer trouble us, you and I can just sit on the terrace, smelling the flowers, admiring the moon, and drinking… let’s settle this matter.”
As she spoke, Victoria turned her head to look at me with her starry eyes.
I wanted to refuse.
But remembering her earlier smile, the words fell from my lips: “If you say to build it, then let’s build it…”
“Mm.”
Her Majesty the Queen nodded calmly, as if it were the most natural thing, which took me by surprise.
I believe Sharman must have told her about my firm stance on this matter before. Yet now, when she brought it up again, I immediately agreed, which even puzzled me… Why did I agree so readily? I shouldn’t have agreed… however, for something that surprised even me, Victoria seemed completely unfazed, as if she had known I would readily agree all along.
Her attitude of being totally sure of herself made me a bit annoyed, and my cheeks puffed up. Just as I was about to ask her why, Victoria beat me to it.
“I know you won’t refuse me.”
“……”
Suddenly, I wanted to take back my agreement.
