TGS - Chapter 74
Chapter 74: A Matter of Taste
In the myths familiar to the Solancians, the God of the Sky joined with a snow mountain, giving birth to the sun, moon, and rivers.
Here, the snow mountain was not a goddess, but simply a mountain—Mount Alitu in northern Solancia. Clouds and mist wreathed its waist, frozen snow covered its peaks, and glaciers hung like jade belts.
The Yilu River originated here; the glaciers and snow on its peaks were the river's main source of water.
Lotus's "mother" was such a beautiful snow mountain.
At first glance, it seemed to have no connection to Suojia.
But in the legends of some northern regions, Mount Alitu was originally an incarnation of the Goddess of the Earth, standing tall to support the heavens.
Although this legend wasn't widespread enough to be recognized by the mechanism of divine birth, if one were to round up, Suojia could be considered the mother of the Yilu River.
Not only Lotus, but the Sun and Moon Gods would also have to call her "mother."
Understanding the Princess's train of thought, the corner of Lotus's eye twitched slightly.
She'd better explain a little. She didn't want to gain a mother out of thin air.
However, just as Lotus was recalling this, Alyuin picked up a cookie and took a bite without any warning.
Lotus was startled. By the time she tried to stop her, it was too late.
Alyuin: "..."
The overwhelmingly sweet taste assaulted her senses, from the top of her head down to her throat, causing the Princess's expression to go blank for a moment.
She slowly lowered her head, looking at the beautiful little cookie, her expression gradually becoming inscrutable.
Lotus couldn't help the corner of her mouth from curling up, but concern ultimately overcame her amusement. She brought a cup of water and handed it to the Princess.
Alyuin took it and, with composure and grace, took three large gulps.
"I must say, the things Suojia makes are completely at odds with a normal person's palate," Lotus said, shaking her head. She reached out to close the lid of the box. "Don't worry about these anymore. I'll dispose of them."
Alyuin: "Wait."
She glanced at the remaining cookies and, as if having made some important decision, finished off the large piece of cookie in one bite.
"So they were handmade by the Goddess Suojia. No wonder the taste is so novel and unlike any other food."
The Princess's expression was calm, completely unruffled.
Lotus couldn't help but doubt her own judgment. Could it be that this flavor also had its fans? On second thought, the God of the Sky had eaten them quite happily at the banquet.
"Then these..."
"Please, you must leave them for me," the Princess said decisively.
Lotus was silent for a moment. "Eating too many sweets isn't good for you."
Especially since the Earth Goddess's special recipe was exceptionally sweet; who knew how high the sugar content was!
Thinking of this, Lotus added cautiously, "You can only eat one piece a day. No, half a piece. The bottle contains sweet wine, and you can only have two sips of that each day."
"Won't they go bad like that?"
Alyuin looked at the box. At this rate, she'd probably be eating them until next summer.
Lotus manually added a layer of preserving ice to the box, and a chill emanated from it.
"I'll eat them with you. We can also share them with Lena and the others."
Alyuin didn't reply. She pushed the veritable icebox behind her, determined not to let the Deputy Commander or the Captain of the Royal Guard know of the snacks' existence.
The ownership of Suojia's gift was settled. Lotus then casually asked about the results of the Princess's discussions with the various parties in the city.
The city lord's current state, the nobles' blustering inquiries, and the head maidservant's intentions—these were all immediate problems.
"The city lord was frightened during the avalanche. What a pity." Alyuin chose one topic to start with, her expression showing neither pity nor surprise. "According to his advisors, he's now lying in the lord's manor, unable to leave his room, and sometimes spouts nonsense."
This distant royal relative had also received excellent training. However, whether because he was overly spoiled by his elders or because he was used to a life of luxury, his spirit was not strong—it could even be called fragile.
Beast fights—this was a spectacle the city lord was used to watching. The blood of gladiators splattered the arena, and beasts lowered their heads to gnaw on the still-twitching bodies of slaves. He had seen much of this and was accustomed to applauding.
But when the city lord himself had to enter the fray, the casual ease he displayed while seated high in the VIP section vanished completely.
Surviving under the claws of a beast, the earth shaking, the snow collapsing... these events had broken his spirit.
Yesterday, when the advisor told Alyuin this news, his face was filled with bewilderment.
"You've won, Your Highness," he said with a bitter, mournful smile. "The city lord refuses to step out of his room. At the slightest disturbance, he hides under his blankets, his voice trembling as he mutters 'Your Highness'."
"Your Highness," the title that had been the stake of their bet, had been uttered more than a hundred times since then.
Alyuin said nonchalantly, "You seem to be in a difficult position."
"We were brought here to assist the city lord. If something happens to him, we cannot escape the blame."
"I, on the other hand, think that for this city, a mad lord is far better than a sane one. Don't you want to give it a try?"
The advisor's head bowed low. "Your Highness, we are merely commoners."
The city lord was ignorant and incompetent, arrogant and domineering. The advisors were responsible for nearly all the city's affairs. The lord would occasionally glance at things, offer a string of nonsensical opinions, and in the end, they would have to work hard to fix his messes.
It was no exaggeration to say that the greatest hope of all the advisors was for the city lord to amuse himself from morning to night and stay out of their affairs. That would be far more helpful than his blind meddling.
Before, although he caused trouble, it was still within tolerable limits, and the advisors could accept it. But this time was simply too absurd!
Regardless of whether it was the Princess or the city lord who met with misfortune this time, the advisors would be held responsible—perhaps a few of them, or perhaps all of them. The ones who instigated discord within the royal family were treacherous villains; what did it have to do with the city lord?
The city lord's father was His Majesty Horst's own brother, his blood relative.
And for low-ranking officials like them, who came from the commoner class, it was already difficult enough to achieve their current status. Swallowing their pride and bearing the injustice was the best choice.
Alyuin frowned and confirmed, "You are all of common birth?"
"Yes."
—Horst.
Alyuin sneered inwardly, but her face showed no mockery. She asked calmly, "I am merely offering a path. Whether you take it or not is for you to decide."
The advisor: "But, those nobles, His Majesty's eyes and ears..."
"I will handle them."
This time, the advisor was silent for a long while before bowing.
"Please allow me to return and discuss this with my colleagues. We will give you an answer within three days at the latest."
In fact, it didn't take until the third day. The day after this conversation, the advisor visited again.
They would conduct a purge of the lord's manor, conceal the lord's mental state, and provide him with good food and drink until the day it could no longer be hidden.
In any case, the city could continue to run smoothly even without the lord. Until then, the advisors would do everything in their power to ensure their own safety.
Lotus listened quietly as the Princess finished, then said gently, "There will eventually be a time when he needs to make a public appearance."
For example, the religious festival held once every eight years. Of course, Horst wouldn't wait until then to notice something was amiss; this was the nephew he had personally placed in this major city.
"I'm afraid Horst doesn't value this nephew as much as he appears to. And Horst's own brother, the one who truly cares about his son, is still stationed on the southern coast. Who knows when he'll be transferred back." A faint chill lingered in Alyuin's eyes before vanishing before the goddess could notice. She blinked, her tone turning wheedling. "The most important thing now is the city's stability. Even if it's discovered later—"
Oh, the advisors put the city lord under house arrest and usurped his authority. What does that have to do with a princess who was just passing through a few months, or even a few years, ago?
The Princess merely had a duel with the city lord, a contest between royal warriors.
Lotus met Alyuin's gaze with a knowing look.
The Princess was perfectly composed. "The old city lord's notes taught me."
...Taught you how to usurp a royal's authority?
Alyuin promptly changed the subject. "And then there's Kurda. She wants to leave with us."
Kurda was the name of the head maidservant.
"She has some knowledge of medicine. When she learned our next stop is Disimeng City, she insisted on coming along."
Disimeng, the epicenter of the earthquake.
It was also the last stop on the caravan's original route before reaching the royal city.
Lotus: "She's very worried about you."
"Kurda sees me as a continuation of my father's and the old city lord's spirit," Alyuin said calmly. "But she is indeed capable. It's a waste to have her stay at the villa handling miscellaneous tasks."
The two of them talked about the head maidservant, then the follow-up matters concerning the city's nobles, then the earthquake in Disimeng, and finally, the arena.
Lotus thought for a moment, then said softly, "That black panther that escaped..."
The Princess lowered her eyes. "The panther ran into the mountains. No one paid it any mind at the time. Yesterday, it came down and attacked a commoner, and was killed with arrows by the city gate guards who rushed to the scene."
Alyuin had heard this news from the arena's manager, who had come to visit. The man had a fawning expression and wanted to present the panther's pelt to her.
"The arena manager said that the black panther was sent here three months ago. It killed eleven people in the arena. Nearly half of them were mauled and eaten down to the bone in front of the audience."
"But I also saw before that the spot on its leg where the shackle was locked had festered. This isn't the native habitat for this type of panther. It probably only came down the mountain to attack people because it was starving."
"Lotus, if I had known two days ago how many people it had killed, I would not have let it leave the arena alive." Alyuin looked up, decisiveness and pity coexisting in the depths of her golden eyes. "But it, the beasts in the arena that have killed people, and the animals killed by gladiators—none of them should have been there in the first place."
Lotus stroked the Princess's hair.
The latter moved a little closer, quietly allowing the goddess to caress her.
Alyuin's voice was calm. "I detest gladiatorial shows. Killing is treated as a real-life drama for people's amusement, and no one thinks it's wrong. Would these spectators watch with the same relish on a battlefield?"
One only had to look at the city lord to know the answer—they wouldn't.
The Princess loved to fight. To a young woman who naturally possessed all the qualities of a warrior, fighting and killing were both beautiful. This beauty should be about awe, about power and skill.
Spectators could cheer, but that applause should never be born from the sight of blood and violence.
Sparring could lead to improvement, and killing on the battlefield was a necessity against enemies. But so-called gladiatorial combat was nothing more than a performance where a group of poor commoners and slaves, forced to become "warriors," and beasts acting on instinct, used their lives to provide sensory stimulation for an audience.
It was a defilement of both combat and life.
Back then, did her father the king hold similar thoughts when he restricted the opening of arenas?
Even he had not been able to truly end this absurd carnival.
But she would.
"One day in the future, I will put a complete end to this kind of performance. The arenas can be kept as stadiums for young people, where major competitions can be held."
Alyuin's lips twitched into a smirk. "I'd like to see if the audience will still look forward to the combatants dying in the ring then."
Lotus said in a deliberately light tone, "This is the second decision you've made in advance."
The last one was about making the people's lives better.
Alyuin: "This can be counted as part of that. With gladiatorial shows gone, there will be athletic competitions for them to watch. Raising the level of entertainment is also a sign of a better life, isn't it?"
Lotus chuckled, then sighed softly in her heart.
The audience for gladiatorial shows was never just nobles and wealthy merchants. Commoners, and even the poor, were often among the crowd shouting loudly as blood and flesh flew.
To say it was raising the level of entertainment was truly not wrong.
The sky had not yet grown dark when Alyuin decided to go back and rest.
She felt she had said a bit too much today. She carefully and subtly observed Lotus's expression, and only relaxed when she saw nothing unusual.
At that moment, the two of them were very close.
Just as Lotus was about to turn her head to say goodnight, a moist, soft, and supple sensation brushed past the corner of her lips, finally landing on her cheek. It was a genuine goodnight kiss.
Lotus froze for a moment.
Before she could even blink, the Princess picked up the snack box and, with composure but without looking back, tossed out a "goodnight" and went back to her room through the crystal curtain.
Lotus: "..." Is she shy?
On the other side, Alyuin was still holding the box, leaning motionlessly against the wall.
A moment later, she put down the snack box, covered her eyes with one hand, and took a deep breath.
This time, she had really only intended a simple goodnight kiss.
Why did coincidences have to happen so quickly at times like this?
Still, it was so soft.
The Princess remained in the pose of covering her eyes for a long time. Suddenly, she felt that she wouldn't mind a few more of these coincidences.
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