“Hungry?” Scroll wiped her hair dry and retied her braids, “It will soon be time for dinner, so we should go to the hall now.”
The living room was located on the first floor, the long wooden eating table was filled with all kinds of dishes. Roughly counting, Evelyn saw six pots of meat, as well as egg soup, vegetable soup and roasted mushrooms, which was not much worse than yesterday’s welcome feast.
Waiting until all the other witches had taken their place, they all started together. She soon noticed that apart from the knife and fork some people were also using a pair of wooden sticks to eat their food. The same was also true for His Royal Highness, the times he picked up the knife and fork was even less than the others, and the way in which he moved his hand while using the wooden stick looked very flexible. The food served at the table also had no big steaks, whole chicken or ducks — different from the commonly seen food in the taverns, the steak was already cut into many small pieces, while the wild boar legs had already been freed from the bones, allowing it to be eaten by simply picking it up.
When the dinner came to its conclusion, the Prince suddenly clapped his hands and announced, “I recently developed two new things and I plan to spread them around as merchandise, but I’m still not sure about its result. So I want you to try it in advance and afterward give me your opinion.”
“What is it, something to eat?”
“Alright, I’ll try it!”
“Me too, goo!”
The witches of the Witch Union immediately cried out in approval. Seeing their reaction, Evelyn turned with a shocked look on her face to Scroll, only to see the latter smile and then explain, “His Highness creates some novel things, such as the perfumed soap you used previous, and perfume, chopsticks, Ice cream… Before he puts them into production, he will always let us test them first.”
“Cough, cough,” the Prince cleared his throat, “The first thing is a wine, which compared with the typical ale and wine’s taste is much more mellow and rich, but also more intoxicating. Therefore, the minor witches aren’t allowed to participate.”
“Your Highness, this is prejudice!” Lightning shouted, “I can drink a lot more than the adult sailors!”
“Even though it is still out of the question.”
“Oh…” The little girl pursued her lips, but Roland was still unmoved and instead told the attendants to serve the good liquor to the adult witches.
In front of Evelyn were placed three cups — looking at the sparkling crystal glass cups she saw that they had all been filled with different drinks. One cup was filled with a colorless liquid, which looked similar to water, one cup was milky white, while the last cup was a shiny orange. Within the vibrant candle light, she could see some small objects floating in the last cup, which conversely seemed to be an unfiltered fruit wine.
“They are white wine mixed with apple juice, white wine mixed with milk, and finally, pure white wine,” Roland introduced, “Ice can be added according to your tastes, but the more you put in, the more the wine’s flavor will be diluted.”
He then smiled to Evelyn, “You have been staying in the capital’s pub for a long time, and you also have the ability to make different kinds of drinks, I hope to hear your evaluation of this new type of wine.”
Evelyn could not stop her heart from dancing for a little while, she picked up the cup with the orange drink, pursed her lips and swallowed a mouthful. And sure enough, just as His Royal Highness had said, the flavor of the white wine was far more intense than that of ale. It even burned her throat somewhat. It tasted bitter at the tip of her tongue, but the apple’s taste also diluted its impact. Lastly, there was the wine’s own rich and mellow aroma — the succession of several flavors resonated inside her mouth, forming an excellent wine like she had never tasted before.
The white wine mixed with cow milk was a little milder, almost completely covering over the bitterness. Besides the cow milk she could also taste something which must have been honey or perhaps sugar. This sweetness formed an entirely new flavor together with the aromatic wine.
Turning to the last cup, Evelyn’s heart was already filled with expectation she readily took a small sip, then a burning hot sensation immediately rolled all over her tongue and down her throat — just like she had already anticipated it, it had no other flavor, only the pure flavor of wine. First burning hot and then followed by a bitter sweetness.
“All the tastes of these glasses of wine are… unforgettable,” she put down the cup and took a deep breath, “Your Royal Highness, some people may be unable to accept its strong and irritating flavor. But I think that people who truly love to drink wine, will be unable to resist possessing wine with such a mellow and rich flavor.”
“Is that so?” Roland laughed, “That’s good to hear, but it wasn’t the case that the cup contained the strongest of white wine. I’m sure that I can improve its rich and mellow flavor even further, so when that times comes I want you to sample it for me again.”
Uh, did he pick me to test the new wine for him? Although Evelyn was somewhat confused, she still opened her mouth to reply, “Yes, Your Highness.”
When the cups and plates were removed, the Prince ordered his attendants to bring over a pile of boxes and place them on the long table.
“These are my second creations, and also a little present I’m going to give you,” he paused, “it is a piece of special piece of clothing.”
Chapter 261 Gifts
After dinner, Nightingale returned to the bedroom while holding the unopened box in her hands. She was followed by Lightning, Maggie, Lily, and Mystery Moon, who also entered after her, keeping their attention focused on the box the entire time.
“How is it?” Wendy couldn’t stop herself from teasing them, “Would you like to take a look at what’s inside?”
Except for Lily, the three others nodded again and again.
“His Highness is totally biased!” Lightning muttered, “First he doesn’t let us taste the wine, and now we don’t even get a gift!”
“He said that it was only for the adult witches, ah,” Lily sighed, “Just wait until you are old enough, if you asked him then, you would also get one. Furthermore, I’m not interested at all about what kind of cloth is inside, so why did you drag me over here?”
“Hey,” Mystery Moon looked amazed, “I merely called you, no one pulled you along, ah.”
“I—“
“Stop, that isn’t the important point!” Lightning shouted, “Mystery Moon is already of age, and Maggie is also an adult, but they both didn’t get it!”
“That’s right, goo!” Maggie pushed the white hair which covered her face to the back and raised her chin in protest, “I also didn’t get it, goo!”
“This… His Royal Highness surely has his own reasons for doing that.” Nightingale also felt that it was a bit strange, previously Roland had never treated anyone differently, so why did he do so this time? “For now, let us just look at what is inside.”
When she opened the box, all she saw was a strange piece of “clothing” — it looked like something made out of a few bands and two pockets. When she touched it, it felt very soft and had evidently been made out of the highest quality silk fabric, but no matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t understand what kind of cloth this should be, it was simply too small.”
“There is a piece of paper under it,” Lightning suddenly shouted.
After spreading out the sheet of paper, Nightingale discovered that it not only contained a description and usage for the gift, but also a diagram describing how it should be used.