"Your Majesty, these are fruits from Lobelius," Irene served the refreshments.
Irene instantly bowed and greeted respectfully to the Emperor when she noticed Ferdinand.
Arabella gulped at the sight of various sliced fruits from Lobelius.
It had been so long since she had eaten any of these. And these were her favorite fruits.
'Aletha is the best after all!' Maybe, Arabella would have hearty meals in this lifetime.
Her mouth watered as Irene served the sliced fruits on the table. Arabella missed these very much.
For the first time in so long, she was eager to eat. But, she held back since her husband was around.
"Aletha brought these fruits with her using magic tools to keep them fresh," Arabella introduced the fruits to her husband one by one since a carnivorous man like him barely had any fruits.
As far as she knew, her husband only had what was required to maintain a healthy body. Most of the time, Ferdinand usually ate what was made by the chef which was usually a lot of meat and less to no fruits or vegetables.
There were barely any ladies who reside in Ferdinand's palace aside from Arabella and the maids. It was because Ferdinand had no siblings and his parents were long gone. The maids were just recently brought in too due to his marriage with her.
The butlers who had been serving just Ferdinand and his knights wouldn't know how to serve her so the Head Butler suggested getting maids to have people to attend to Arabella's needs.
But they didn't hire female chefs so no one knew what to feed a light weight lady like her who do not eat as much meat as the men do.
In her previous life, the chefs slowly learned through time, probably from the maids' suggestions, but they still failed on a lot of things so she just ate without any comments.
Moreover, Lobelius fruits were not sold in the empire since fruits usually got damaged or get rotten while being delivered.
Aletha was able to bring fruits due to magic tools which were very much costly. Arabella surmised the expense was covered by the Lobelius Palace's budget.
[She looks eager. She must really like these fruits.]
Arabella flinched when she heard her husband's thoughts. 'Was I too obvious?!'
She realized she had slipped up just because of her appetite. It had been a while since she wanted to eat something so she got too excited.
After her son passed away, every food she ate barely had any taste. She only ate to keep her body alive so she could get her revenge.
She wondered if she had the appetite to eat now because she had already succeeded to avenge her son. After all, she had already ruined Ferdinand and Valeria in her previous life.
"Go ahead and eat. Don't mind me," Ferdinand's voice brought her back to the present. He didn't show any sign of leaving.
'Does he intend to watch me? How can I enjoy these if he is around?'
"Thank you. You should have some too," Arabella still ate though since her mouth was watering.
'Mm~ So good! It feels so nice to eat these again. They're light to the stomach and doesn't give a heavy or bloated feeling.'
Arabella ended up picking one slice after the other and just ignored her husband who was silently watching her. Her fruits were more important right now.
[Are these that good? I've never seen her eat a bit quicker than how she used to chew the food so slowly.]
"They're good," Arabella picked up one with a fork and just thoughtlessly offered it to Ferdinand. Her husband stared at it like she was feeding him something weird but he ate it anyway.
[This is the first time someone ever fed me. Do couples often do this in Lobelius?]
Arabella was wide-eyed when she realized she just fed her newly-wed husband. No wonder he stared for a while before eating the slice.
'I have to be more careful of my actions.'
She was still used to playing her act as a seductress from her previous life. She used to spoon-feed both Ferdinand and Icarus on various occasions in her previous life when she was acting all sweet to get what she wanted.
"It's good. This is the first time I eat a Lobelian fruit," Ferdinand said and surprisingly, he ate the fruits with her. Arabella was still mainly the one who finished the fruits though.
[Would these fruits survive here if they were planted in the garden? I'll ask the gardener later. If they do, perhaps I should have some of these planted nearby so in the future my wife could eat some when she wants to.]
'!!!'
Arabella was delighted at such thoughts. The fruits might survive as long as it was carefully maintained.
But since when did Ferdinand care about something like this? Was he truly with a different personality this time? He even wasted his time and ate fruit with her instead of training with the knights or doing some work.
In her previous life, he only visited her at night so they could copulate to produce an heir. They do not even eat their meals together. Why would he loiter around her now?
Ferdinand finally left her study after spending much more time with her than Aletha did. Only then did Arabella finally get the chance to read the letters from Lobelius.
Her parents and her brother Benjamin were all doing well. They sent her a letter each congratulating her on marriage and saying that they hope she was doing well too.
The letter from her parents had the same contents as the ones in her previous life. They told her that Benjamin just had a concussion and was already fine. They just panicked.
Benjamin's letter had the same contents as well. He congratulated her without mentioning the accident he had.
However, when Arabella read the letters from the maids, all of them told her not to worry about her brother since he was already well. (She did not get the chance to get letters from her maids before since it was only possible because Aletha brought the letters for them.)
'That's weird. Why would everyone tell me the same lines as if it had only one source?'
And when Ferdinand came to sleep in her room again when night came, Arabella learned the truth from his thoughts.