NOVEL NEXT Chapter 403
A familiar little crown moved according to Mary’s guidance.
Alicia sat quietly in her seat, trying to suppress the urge to fidget her shoulders.
And waited.
In her heart, she longed to greet everyone and dive straight into the fried apples like before.
But every time she thought of it, Rosetta’s advice came to mind.
At first, the words were difficult for her to understand, but thanks to Rosetta’s gentle persuasion, Alicia quickly grasped them.
If you want to eat more, instead of demanding it outright, you should ask the host if it’s okay to have more, and if they say no, then just stop at that moment.
You shouldn’t sneak into someone else’s place but should write a letter in advance asking if you can come by.
Above all, she said you shouldn’t take goodwill for granted.
That would be a great rudeness to the one who offered it.
Thus, Alicia restrained herself from devouring the delicious homemade snacks that Karem and Mary had prepared after a long time.
“…”
“…?”
“…?”
“Ah, excuse me. I’ll serve it right away.”
Mary, puzzled as to why Alicia wasn’t taking any, recalled a letter that Catherine had received earlier and immediately served up the Golden Apple Fried Dish.
The source of temptation on the plate shook Alicia’s steadfast resolve that was suppressing her bubbling desire.
“This is… a doughnut?”
“It’s a dish made by frying golden apples shaped like rings.”
“I see.”
Surrounded by a bumpy exterior, the fried dish retained its perfect round shape as sparkling sugar particles were sprinkled over it.
Just inhaling, she could smell the rich aroma of apple and cinnamon.
Though it was encased in a fried batter, it felt like the delicious scent was amplified, and she was face-to-face with a perfectly baked apple pie.
Just as she was about to give in and let her hand move, Rosetta’s other advice popped into her head: she shouldn’t eat until the host gave permission or before she made the first move.
Poppins had said the same thing.
Crisp—
“Mmm! Wow, I made this, but this is…”
“So thin yet tastes just like pie!”
Internally cheering, Alicia quickly picked up the Golden Apple Fried Dish and took a big bite.
Crisp!
The fried coating surrounding the flat apple ring resisted just for a moment.
But then, she was startled by an entirely opposite sensation.
Moisture exploded in her mouth.
The apple, showing off its faint golden skin, was thin like the batter, but the juice it held was more than she could imagine.
She took a big bite, but it was just one bite.
No matter how much the batter preserved moisture, how could it flow with this much juice?
Even the thin apple slices inside the crispy batter continuously released juice until they completely disappeared.
The density of flavor and moisture left in the batter met the sugar and cinnamon, leaving her mouth as rich as if she were eating a slice of well-baked apple pie.
“Is this how all fried apples taste…?”
“This apple is special.”
“Special? Oh, I can see the skin glowing with gold, huh?”
“The golden apple doesn’t change color when heated. But I didn’t expect it to have such a luxurious taste.”
The flesh of the golden apple inside the batter had become concentrated due to the moisture loss during frying, resembling caramelized fried apples.
Even so, there seemed to be quite a bit of moisture left, as sticky apple juice surged forth from the bite she took.
Not wanting it to overflow, Alicia quickly tilted the Golden Apple Fried Dish to catch the juice that was about to spill over, then took another bite.
Crunch!
“Ughh!”
A gust of joy, as sweet as cinnamon-flavored apple juice, burst forth through her nose like wind.
None of the apple desserts Alicia had eaten before were like this.
Apple pie, apple pasty, apple crumble, apple tart, apple souflé.
Even syrup-simmered apples didn’t overflow with juice to the point of being mistaken for juice!
Gulp—
“This, this is golden apple…!”
“Indeed. The saying, ‘Frying can make even leather taste delicious,’ is truly reflected in this situation.”
“I’ve never heard that before. Kitty, who said that?”
“It was Catherine, not Kitty! More importantly…”
With a nod from Catherine, Karem subtly raised his hand.
While that saying was close to being truth in the culinary world, Alicia didn’t have the time to contemplate its meaning in the current situation.
After already taking a sip and biting into two pieces, juice began to pool on the surface of the Golden Apple Fried Dish as if a dam had broken.
It was like extracting only the liquid from the filling of an apple pie.
Despite Rosetta’s advice and Poppins’ teachings, Alicia found herself hastily biting into piece after piece.
There was no other choice. If she didn’t, the juice would have all dripped to the floor!
Of course, a dish was placed beneath to prevent any mess below.
But she couldn’t just lift the plate and lick it clean—
Drip—
As Alicia tilted the Golden Apple Fried Dish to take a bite, juice overflowed from the opposite side, running down.
The juice that spilled over dissolved the sugar that had fallen on the plate and absorbed into the batter.
Drop—
Alicia flinched at that moment.
Karem felt like he saw something around Alicia snapping as if it were breaking.
“You’ve endured for long.”
“Contractor?”
Catherine’s words served as a signal.
With her pupils relaxed, Alicia finished the last of the Golden Apple Fried Dish, starting to lick the plate clean.
Despite everything, there was not a single drop of juice or crumb scattered around.
However, Karem agreed with Catherine’s words.
“You really did endure for a long time.”
And of course, the Golden Apple Fried Dish was insufficient in quantity.
At this, Mary nodded and began to serve up desserts that she had stored in the refrigerator.
Just in time, Alicia’s eyes widened at the sight of the Golden Apple Fried Dish disappearing from her hands.
Thanks to that, Catherine and Karem could leisurely enjoy their Golden Apple Fried Dish while watching Alicia’s self-control dissolve as Mary kept replenishing the empty plate.
“Catherine, can I be honest?”
“Go ahead.”
“Alicia really does eat happily, doesn’t she?”
From Karem’s perspective, the greatest joy for a cook was seeing the guests clear their plates completely.
An even greater joy was when guests cleaned their plates as if licking them!
That’s why Karem was honestly a bit disappointed.
While being polite is good, how much politeness can one exhibit?
Compared to the dining etiquette of the previous life, Europa was lacking.
Honestly, the dining manners of the upper class in Europa?
It was a lot cleaner and more polite to just have home-cooked meals in the past.
So whether it was sitting down to eat or not, Karem didn’t mind. It wasn’t like they were eating soup with their hands like serfs.
After focusing on the cake for quite some time, as Alicia finally finished a whole plate, Karem noticed her previously dilated pupils starting to tighten again.
As if she finally regained her senses, Alicia looked embarrassed like a guilty golden retriever.
“I, I just couldn’t help it since it was the first time I ate since Memorial Day!”
Karem felt relieved at that sight.
They say kids shift gears quickly with the right trigger, but when a person suddenly changes their behavior, it can be concerning.
“Well, you don’t need to be so fidgety.”
He chuckled lightly as if waving it off.
“Although I said I would send a letter in advance, well, just handle that on your own. If you can’t notify me in advance, then just wait in the lobby for Mary’s guidance.”
“Of course, sneaking in like before is out of the question, right?”
“That’s a given. Even if you can break through all of the Defense Magic, entry to the Wizard’s Tower is restricted to authorized personnel only.”
“Right, Grandma said sneaking in is totally off-limits. What a shame, it was so much fun… huff!”
Alicia immediately covered her mouth, glancing around.
“Should I be amazed at your talent, or should I be checking the defense measures?”
Catherine, looking incredulous, could only facepalm.
“I’m not buying that you won’t misuse Mary from now on.”
“Eh, Alicia has never played tricks on Mary.”
“Sneaking into the Wizard’s Tower was as good as playing tricks! But more importantly, did you come here only for snacks today?”
“Umm?”
At those words, Alicia blinked her eyes.
“Oh, right.”
“It seems you had some other business.”
“Indeed. There’s something very important I want to discuss with Alicia.”
Alicia’s expression turned serious.
Her hand was grabbing the Golden Apple Fried Dish, but…
“You may not know this, but Alicia asked Onager if she could have some meat.”
Crunch! Despite the lively sound, Alicia’s expression looked very serious.
“Mom said that’s not allowed, but I just couldn’t resist. Unicorn meat? Still, I asked after what Grandma said, but I got a rejection just like Mom said.”
Well, that was only natural.
It was common sense that one wouldn’t get a positive response asking if they could taste the meat of a sentient being that was perfectly normal.
Then Karem thought about Wales, who had graciously offered up his tail, but he immediately brushed that thought aside.
It was an unreasonable comparison between a sentient being who had presumably lived for at least ten millennia and Onager.
After all, the latter was a giant reptile while Onager was a mammal.
Their feelings would be different from the start.
“During all this, the wise old man suggested that since a unicorn looks like a horse, wouldn’t it make sense to taste horse meat?”
“The wise old man, you mean Sir Zigmeser?”
“Yeah? Yeah. So, since I’ve been treated to so much food by Kitty, Mary, and Karem lately, I want to treat all three of them this time.”
Now that was quite a commendable thought. Karem felt a mix of admiration and anticipation. After all, in his previous life, he had tasted whale and goose meats, but never horse meat.
Putting curiosity aside, recipes needing horse meat would need to circulate before he could decide to cook or not.
“So, I’m thinking of asking if you could spare some time for lunch tomorrow.”
*
*
*
After hearing the desired response, Alicia floated away on her fluffy cloud while Mary efficiently tidied up the empty tableware in the lounge.
“You shouldn’t have such high expectations.”
Catherine poured cold water over Karem’s heart.
“There’s a reason why horse meat doesn’t appear in the Great Hall’s feasts.”
“Huh? What, is it just terrible?”
“No, well… It tastes good. It’s similar to beef, but…”
Catherine cast a sidelong glance at Karem.
“You’ll understand what I mean once you taste it.”
“Your reaction seems a bit off. If it’s similar to beef, why does it seem strange?”
“Well… You’ll get it once you taste it.”
Suddenly, her anxious demeanor left Karem puzzled.