The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia could only sigh out in relief as she held her knife and chopped up some vegetables. The rest of the day went exactly as she expected it would, with her brain practically swelling with knowledge and her will thoroughly sapped out of sheer boredom for the subject matter she was being taught.

Granted, everything that she just learned was obviously going to be useful in her quest to survive the trials, it still didn’t change the fact that learning random jargon was just as boring as the last time she went and tried to listen to one of her numerous tutors back when she was a kid.

“Remember, lay off on the salt this time,” Osman tutored her. “And what’s the distinct characteristic of a falling leaf?”

Xenia sighed as she let her hands do her work while she responded, “A falling leaf can avoid anything that might come to it by virtue of letting nature run its course.”

“Exactly,” the admiral smiled. “You’re well on your way to surviving a few things in the Forest. Your Majesty?”

“What kind of element is best used to avoid dying of lighting?”

Xenia’s mind churned, answers both right and wrong almost mixing together as much as the thing that she was trying to cook. “Earth?”

“Correct,” Darius hummed. “And by association, a rod of metal can be used to redirect said lightning so long as it is located in a high enough place for the lightning to hit it.”

The princess could only smile as she kept on cooking. Somewhere down the line, she had volunteered to try cooking again. Seeing Darius eat up everything she cooked had been so rewarding that she wanted to do it again, and it didn’t matter to her if Osman constantly reminded her that her taste was a bit too salty for his tongue.

She didn’t care. At least Darius thought her cooking was great.

“Mind the onions there, Princess,” the admiral reminded her. “On that topic, why do onions make us cry?”

Her mind stalled at that. She had a feeling that it was a nonsensical question, and yet there was also a part of her that told her that it had actual merit to it.

She didn’t really know…

“Onions make us cry because we cut into them?” she hesitantly answered, just in time for her knife also cutting through the literal subject-matter on the cutting board.

“Yes and no,” Osman chuckled. “There’s an actual reason as to why cutting onions up makes us cry, but I’m sure the fairies would like your answer, so that’s fine enough for me.”

Xenia let out a sigh she didn’t know she had. She was actually tearing up, and she didn’t know if that was because of the onions or if it was because her brain was starting to leak out of her eyes.

Absently, she continued on with her cooking, hoping that neither of the men behind her would throw her another curveball while she was making sure that the rabbit she was cooking wouldn’t burn in the pan she was frying them in. The use of oil in cooking was something that she didn’t even think was a thing. She just thought that the cooks just basted meat in butter and that gave them their oily goodness.

Yes, she was that horrible back then. But she was different now. Honest!

“That’s some nice rabbit you’ve got there,” Osman complimented. “You’re adding in the aromatics first, yes?”

“Yeah,” Xenia hesitantly replied. “The garlic and onions first, then the meat.”

There was something here… Why were the two of them silent when they were just throwing her questions left and right earlier? Surely… Surely…

“Why are you tensing up, Xen?”

Huh?

Xenia blinked, almost standing still during the most critical juncture of the cooking process. Was that supposed to be a question? An actual riddle?

“You’re burning the meat, Princess!”

Oh shit!

Jolted into action, Xenia stirred the pan, thankfully saving the dish as it rolled around the saucepan. The scents all kicked up into the air, its flavorful goodness wafting and letting her know that it hadn’t completely burnt yet.

“Sorry about that,” she sighed.

“It’s fine,” Darius hummed. “Still, what’s wrong?”

Absently rolling the pan around, she replied, “It’s nothing. I was just too nervous about the next question.”

“Oh? If that’s the case, you can relax already,” Osman smiled. “I’m officially closing your training for today. Just focus on cooking our dinner so that we can eat.”

Xenia smiled at the good news. Immediately, her overworked brain sang her praises as she just let herself enjoy the process of cooking. While it was her first time cooking in such a way, the instructions she got throughout the procedure were intuitive enough that she didn’t have any problems with any of the more complicated stuff.

By the end of it, she was finished with her sauteed rabbit… whatever that word meant anyway.

“It smells delicious, Xen,” Darius smiled at him as she served him. “I didn’t think you had it in you before, but you’ve proven yourself to be a fine cook.”

“Thanks,” she beamed. “At least you appreciate my taste. Unlike somebody here.”

Osman simply faked a whistle as he looked away, and she couldn’t stay mad at him anyway as she gave him his portion of their dinner.

“Here,” she chuckled. “If you still think it’s salty, then your tongue has a problem.”

“I think I’d rather say that it’s your tongue that’s abnormal here, milady,” Osman teased. “I had to drink an ocean to get rid of the taste.”

Xenia rolled her eyes as she put her own portion on the plate. After all was said and done, she sat down and began eating their respective meals. She smiled at the taste of her food, her own tastes being thoroughly serviced as the succulent rabbit meat almost melted in her mouth.

“Good as always, my love,” Darius smiled as he took in another bite of his food. “I might just have you cook our meals for us starting now.”

“If you want to, then sure,” she smiled. She didn’t mind, and she most certainly still had a lot to improve.

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August 20, 2022, AN: Unfortunately, school will start again. My daughters will have online classes but hopefully, they will alternate it to face-to-face at least twice a week. For those who don’t know, this author is a full-time mother of three kids (9, 6, and 4 years of age). This might affect my writing schedule since being a full-time mother is honestly more tiring than being a full-time worker (not sure though if it’s the same case for others. lols) So I’m not sure if I can still manage the daily updates of 2 chapters for the months of September onwards… but I WILL TRY my best to keep it.

The mass release rate will remain for Golden Tickets and Supergifts goals. 5 chapters in total for the day on every hundred (100s) Golden Tickets and extra 1 to 2 bonus chapters for every Super gift. But, for Powerstone goal we’ll have 5 chapters for the day every 2000 PowerStones (PS) instead. I might give extra bonus of 1 chapter whenever we reach 1000 Powerstones. Thank you for your understanding… *kisses and hugs*