The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 799: It Went Well

The party was going well, by Katerina’s estimation.

She had made new friends, got a gift from Advisor Morgana that she couldn’t immediately identify, and all the adults were being very nice to her after the incident with the snacks, which she now understood was actually an attempt to harm the King.

There were Royal Guards and mages everywhere, and the attacker hadn’t even been a mage, so she hadn’t understood at first. But then, she realized that might have been the point.

Get close because people didn’t know that you were dangerous, like Amie did.

Of course, this guy wasn’t actually good at it, and he was as harmless as he looked. But it was a solid enough plan.

If you were an idiot.

That’s what Katerina assumed the issue was. Not a lack of planning, or a lack of available tools. Clearly, the attacker had prepared. The problem was just that he was dumb.

Even the boys in her new friends group were laughing at him. Apparently, there was someone known as a "Taste Tester" who would make sure that the King’s food was not poisoned.

That didn’t actually sound like a bad job.

Perhaps she would hire ... no, she couldn’t hire a commoner friend to do the job because part of the job was to find out if things had poison in them. If it was just tasting all the snacks, that would be different.

She would have to find a Trollish mage if she ever needed a taste tester.

All too soon, the fun part of the event was over, and everyone was led inside for the formal dinner part of the night that Katerina had completely forgotten about while she was perusing the assortment of snacks available.

It wasn’t her fault, they had all sorts of seafood snacks that they didn’t get at home.

Fortunately for her, that theme was going to continue, and there were local seafood dishes in the main meal as well.

She could smell them already.

Unfortunately, she could also smell a packed room full of drunk Nobles who had been moving about too much earlier. It was decidedly unpleasant, and she wondered if they would change traditions in the Palace if everyone had a nose like hers.

She definitely wasn’t the only one who noticed.

Dominic made a point of lingering by the balcony, along with that old Techno Witch and a few other people. It might have been a coincidence, but Katerina noticed that her father had put himself directly in the path of the breeze coming from the open doors.

She was seated with her parents, which seemed fine at first. Only, people kept talking to her when she was trying to eat.

It wasn’t polite to answer with your mouth full, and she had been warned to be on her best behaviour, so this resulted in her spending fives times as much of the dinner speaking to people as she did actually eating.

Inefficient.

The aging Duchess across the table, the wife of the major source of Katerina’s distress, smiled at the little dragonkin’s clear frustration.

"Husband, let her eat. You know how Princess Alexis was at that age, ready to stab you with a fork if you distracted her from her eating. And heaven forbid you bumped the table and her food was shifted out of place."

Alexis laughed. "I was an extremely organized and food motivated child. If it wasn’t for the Paladins taking me in, I might have become known as the chubby twin."

Katerina smiled. "So, it’s not just me? Food is important, the cooks work hard to make it, so we should eat it while it is the way that they intended for it to be served."

The Duchess nodded. "That is great wisdom for a five-year-old. Food should certainly be eaten while it is still warm. See, dear? The little one knows the important things in life."

The old Duke chuckled and shook his head, then looked to the head table.

He was expecting something to happen at the end of the meal that meant he wouldn’t have time to chat with the interesting new addition to the extended Royal Family. Not in a way that would indicate danger, but Dominic suspected that it was going to be something much larger than the rest of them expected.

As he recalled, while this Duke was a landless Noble, a Duke of the cloth, as they called them formally, he was on the King’s Advisory council. Finance or City Affairs. One of those boring topics.

Katerina wiggled happily in her chair as the dessert was brought, and she was presented with a huge slice of pumpkin pie, served with ice cream. It wasn’t one of her particular favourites, but it was a whole slice.

Normally, they gave her smaller slices of sweets.

Today was a most excellent day, and it didn’t matter how full she was when there was a whole slice of pie, plus ice cream, waiting right in front of her.

"If you can’t eat all that, give it to your father, he will finish it," Alexis whispered.

Katerina growled quietly, and moved her arms to protect her pie.

The old Duchess laughed just loud enough to attract attention at the next table over, but they couldn’t tell what was so amusing to her.

"She might be a Daddy’s girl, but she’s one hundred percent her mother’s daughter. I recall you growling at your nanny in nearly the same way. Though, I must say, I think that she’s better at it than you were."

Alexis nodded. "I blame her father. He is the growly one. He even growls at the staff when they try to get him out of bed in the morning.

Five years, and he still does it."

"And they still keep opening the curtains at the crack of dawn," Dominic noted.

The other Duke smiled. "It’s a good maid who knows the best way to wake her Lord. Most would give up, or make things worse until they are replaced."