Meat buns

Florence stared into his dreamy eyes that held unlimited amount of affection and dedication towards her. Her brain was lagging...

Did she just heard a confession?!

"He confessed! AHHH I told you!" The angel appeared on her right shoulder once again.

"I'm telling you he's plotting a trap!" The devil warned.

"Shut up!" The angel kicked the devil out.

The moonlight shone as the room filled with a tensed atmosphere. Tensed, but not uncomfortable. Florence knew Irvin was being sincere and honest. She needed that reassurance and loyalty, especially after the crazy events she went through.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give you a chance" Florence played with his soft black curls. "It's a bit too late to reject you anyways, so why not."

Hearing her response, Irvin's nervousness died down and was replaced with utmost joy. He wasn't the type with much patience in him. Irvin liked being bold and speaking his mind. Pulling Florence into his embrace, he inhaled her intoxicating scent. "Alright, I will arrange our wedding ceremony. I will make it the grandest the Kingdom had ever see. I will have the prettiest dress and jewelries for you. I want everyone in the Kingdom to know you are my Queen."

Leaning against his chest, Florence said, "I don't need such extravagance. A simple dress and wedding will satisfy me, I don't want something so big that it will burden you."

"Anything related to you will never be a burden to me," Irvin's heart melted hearing her being concern for him. "Besides, I can't let the people of my Kingdom look down upon my wife. Don't worry I will arrange everything with Mother Queen, you can relax and spend time with our twins."

"How will I ever pay you back," her voice grew quieter as her drowsiness took over.

Irvin chuckled seeing his beloved sleeping "I'm the one who's in debt to you, silly." He continued to embrace her and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

———————

The twins have finally started their lessons, with their grandmother being their teacher. They started learning about the Calascione Kingdom and its history. Lawrence was on full scholar mode, learning and putting every information into his head while Lillian was... passing.

Even though they were her grandchildren, Mother Queen didn't go easy on them.

"Lillian this is only the third day of class and you're already complaining!" She laughed.

"Grandma! Why do I need to know about the Black Sea Pirates and their history of stealing? I don't need those knowledge to get through everyday life!" Lillian spoke her mind.

"You are the Princess of the Calascione Kingdom! You will need these type of knowledge to get through YOUR daily life!" Mother Queen reasoned. "Lillian, you know very well your life isn't going to be the same after your father marry your mother. You and Lawrence will be having a coming-of-age party, so on and so forth. You need to have a strong and unwavering mentality. Being a royal isn't as easy as it seems."

Seeing his sister's dejected face Lawrence joined in, "grandmother's right. Being a royal you have to act like one. If you get ridiculed, they will blame mother for not teaching us right. Do you want mother to shoulder our burdens?"

"No! Mother went through too much before, I don't want her to be hurt again."

"Then try your best to learn. It won't hurt to learn some new things every day," he patted her head. "Just take it slow if it's hard for you."

"Okay," she picked up her book and started reading about the Black Sea Pirates.

Mother Queen smiled at the scene before her. These twins will be the pride of Calascione.

Meanwhile, Florence didn't need any etiquette lessons because she was once a Princess herself. Not wanting to disturb her twins' lessons, she just went to the library to look for history books on the Calascione Kingdom on her own. After some time Florence became hungry and craved one of her meat buns. Searching for the Head Butler, she asked him if she could cook in the kitchen.

"Milady, do you want to eat something specific? I will order the chefs to cook it for you. You don't need to do such works," the Head Butler suggested. When this vampire first came here he put up a friendly demeanor to hide his disgust. The Head Butler had served the late King and now is serving the current King. Knowing the vampires poisoned the late King, he had a distaste for them. But Irvin came back with a full blooded vampire for a wife, he could only clamp his mouth and cursed within himself.

"No, I wish to make my old meat buns I used to make at the bakery," Florence replied politely.

The Head Butler can see this lady was a warm and honest person, unlike his personal image of a vampire. Still holding onto his own suspicions, he lead her the way to the kitchen.

The servants were busy in the kitchen, running around to do their duties and chores. They stopped, seeing the lady coming into the kitchen, it was the same lady their King came back with.

"Head Butler, what do you need?" One of the chefs came up.

"Milady here wants to cook, so spare her a stove for her" the Head Butler stated before leaving ever so casually.

"Good afternoon, sorry for the disturbance" Florence said.

"Not at all Milady! You can use the stove over there. There's more space over there and use whatever you need in that storage room," the chef pointed.

The servants looked at her awkwardly, not knowing how to feel towards this lady. She seems so down to the earth, being in the same space as the servants. People of nobility would punish the servants for just accidentally touching their costly clothing. So they didn't expect her to walk in here and cook with her own delicate hands.

The servants went back to their work, secretly observing the lady making her meat buns.

In the storage room, there was a hep of ingredients. Seafood, bunks of meat, vegetables, so on and so forth. Florence took some meat and started making her filling, then made her dough. Used to be in the kitchen with unstop incoming customers, Florence unknowingly made a little bit too much meat buns. So she decided to share with the people in the kitchen.

Munching on the meat buns, the one of the chefs said, "this is so flavorful! Milady sure has hands for food."

"It's delicious!" The servants chimed in.

"Eat more if you like, I made too much" Florence smiled making the people in the kitchen mesmerized by her beauty. Their original thoughts of her vanished, only replaced with kindness of a loving mother.

Packing the rest of the meat buns in a basket, Florence waved goodbye and left the kitchen. Walking around the palace she encountered the Head Butler again.

"Head Butler! Would you like some meat buns? I made a lot!"

Before he could reject a maid came up to them and said, "thank you for the meat bun Milady! It was delicious!"

'She gave some to a mere maid?' The Head Butler thought.

"You're welcome!" Florence smiled back. She reached for a meat bun and handed it to the Head Butler before strolling away.

Holding a warm meat bun in his hand, the Head Butler contemplated if he should it eat. Smelling the savory aroma, he decided to eat it. The taste was irresistible, it was damn delicious!

"Good to know there's no poison," he murmured to himself. Taking out a handkerchief he cleaned his hands and walked away unknowingly with a smile.