GROWLL….
"Urgh!" Violetta sits up on her bed.
She pats her stomach. Looks like I'm hungry… She frowns. As a good girl, she usually would sleep like a log at night and so she's never been hungry at night.
'Hmm… should I call my maids or someone to serve me a meal at night?'
She sits on her bedside, thinking about what to do. Scrolling through her memories, she gives a mischievous smile, one that a person would never expect from an innocent girl like her.
Creak, the door slowly opens and the small, blond princess tiptoes out of her room. She sneakily walks down the hallway, carrying a lamp. Remembering these adventures from some novels she read, she decides to be a 'bad girl'. Her heart pounds as she feels excited.
The sensation makes her feel so happy, as she pushes open the nearest door to the kitchen. Turning on the lights in the small kitchen for baking snacks, she pulls out the book that Justine gave her and the bag of grounded peppers.
Following the instructions, she makes an easy small dish of 'MaPo Tofu', which is literally a bunch of cut tofu, cooked in the spicy pepper, spices and oil. She decides for a concentration of a quarter teaspoon and immediately adds it in. After twenty slow minutes, the bright red color fills the plate, shining in the dim light of the kitchen. Princess Violetta's first time ever cooking is a success! The jiggly tofu covered in red and a couple of elaborate spices arouses her interest. The salty, unique aroma arouses more of her hunger.
If any chef were to see the Princess's perfect dish of MaPo Tofu, they'd bang their head on the wall. First of all, it's a rare dish only somewhat discussed in the book she's reading. Second, as one who's never touched cooking utensils, she used them perfectly. She controlled the heating perfectly, mixed perfectly, and served perfectly!
If a stranger were to come up to her, they'd think she's a five star chef that's practiced for at least two decades or so!
Violetta picks up a small spoon and dips it into the dish. She puts the fragile, spicy tofu into her mouth and muffles a squeal.
So hot! Ahh! She fans herself as her face turns red, her lips swell and becomes numb. She starts to cough, and tears drip down her face. She walks over quickly and grabs a cup of water and gives it a sip. Only, it turned even more spicy?! She dumps the entire cup of water into her mouth, gulping it down without a second thought. She was in such a rush that some of the water dripped down the side, over her cheek.
"Ah!" she sighs in relief.
Finally, the spicyness is gone. She walks over to the mirror to examine her face. She is greeted with an amazing surprise.
Caressing her face she asks, "Is this really me?"
Her red lips, numb from the spice are still quite red and alluring. Her face bright with alertness, showing off her pale skin. Her pastel-pink colored eyes are wide open, showing her as wide awake. Although there were tears from the spicyness, she was nonetheless, way more beautiful than the submissive girl from before. Instead, the dominating beauty was much more to her liking.
She glances back at the plate of MaPo Tofu. Picking up her spoon again, she only takes a quarter of the spoon, making it less spicy for her, allowing her to be more tolerant.
"Mmm…" she savors the strong spice with pleasure.
She takes another couple of spoons, leaving only half the amount cooked left.
She frowns. 'I can't finish this right now!' she thinks. She rummages through the kitchen and finds a little glass container for snacks.
Carefully pouring in the liquid, she seals the container along with the spoon, puts the plate into the sink along with the other dirty utensils and heads back to her room.
The next morning, she awakens again, like any other day. The maid nonchalantly, calls out in a sweet voice, just like any other day.
This time, Violetta immediately remembers what happened last night. She awakens quickly and climbs out of bed. She scrambles to the mirror and stares at her complexion. It returned to normal! I guess the food only works for a short amount of time.
Like any other day, this day is filled with Violetta's studying and practices, followed by visiting the gardens and, of course, tea time.
The gentle breeze blows, as Violetta moves her loose hair behind her ear. The autumn walks were her favorite. The beautiful multicolored leaves around brought an amazing scene to the Royal Gardens. She meets her mother at the pavilion in the middle of the garden.
The trained maids serve top quality tea for them, this time earl grey, her mother's favorite. As usual, they discuss Violetta's studies and the kingdom's affairs in a 1000 IQ conversation, successfully astounding the maids and butler who loves to eavesdrop.
After tea time, her father calls her to his office.
She curtsies in front of her father, "Father, you called?"
The King clears his throat and points to a professional looking man beside him, "Ahem, this is the messenger from the Jun Empire. The marriage has been decided, and the set date is in two weeks. You will have two weeks time to go wherever you want. That is all."
"Thank you, father," she says, showing courtesy without expression.
However, a glint of excitement flashes over her eyes quickly. She turns to leave.
"Ah, also, Emperor Damien is very popular and handsome. Do not cause trouble to him and naturally, those around him. He has promised not to cause trouble to you," the King warns.
"Yes, father."
Though they said these words, both of them knew that Princess Violetta probably would not cause trouble with a personality as shy and sheltered as hers.
She could care less. All that is on her mind at the moment is her journey to the Demigod Society. Her plan is to report her trip to her family at dinner and get ready to leave the day after tomorrow.
'Hmm… I'll guess I'll bring a couple of maids and the lady mage.'
She visits the knights station and picks out a couple of lady knights to accompany her on her voyage.
Little did she know how different her life will be after this one small journey…