BXBX NOVEL Chapter 67.7
“I am Mia Luna Tearmoon, Princess of the Tearmoon Empire. It is my greatest pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
The one who was leading the Tearmoon students was no other than the VIP of VIPPs, the great daughter of the Tearmoon Emperor, Princess Mia herself!
Oh no! Deep breaths… deep breath… I need to calm down… Rania, do not panic now.
“The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness. I am Rania Tafrif Perujin, Third Princess of Perujin Agricultural Country. I thank you for coming to this party. Please enjoy all these delicious foods from my country, Perujin.”
She tried to hide her panic by making a deep bow. However, when she looked up, she could see Princess Mia’s deep blue eyes. Mia was staring straight at her.
“Hyaa… Uh… uhm…. Your Highness?…”
“Ah! Oh, my apologies. Please do not mind me.”
Mia’s cool response failed to calm down the hard beating of Rania’s heart.
It seems like she saw through me…
It was then that Rania remembered something important. The well-known Princess Mia Luna Tearmoon had another title. She was also called as the Wisdom of the Empire.
Was she able to see through my prank? That cannot be, surely. But what if she did… She cannot possibly know. I mean it is only one food out of all these delicious dishes, she surely won’t get to choose that one… hopefully…
Rania’s thought was racing as fast as her heart. She looked at all the different dishes that were on the tables. There were so many of them – probably as many as the butterflies she feels in her stomach.
“Ah! Oh, my apologies. Please do not mind me.”
After staring at Rania’s face for a while, Mia shook her head. She observed that Rania has a beautiful tan, and she had a charm that matches with it. She had dark hair like the night sky, and she had green eyes like a summer forest.
Right! Like this, I can easily remember her features. Now that I have seen her up close, I won’t forget again!
Mia was feeling satisfied with herself after being able to take note of the details of Rania’s face.
She remembered a memory from her previous timeline. It was during the year when the Empire has been struck by a great famine. During that time, Ludwig has been working hard trying to import enough food for the empire.
“Your Highness… if I may be allowed to speak frankly about the source of my irritation…”
The past Ludwig said with a vein throbbing in his temple out of anger.
“W…well, you may not…”
Mia stammered as she fears Ludwig’s expression.
“We were about to negotiate with the country that can really help us, right? And the princess attended the academy at the same time as you, right? Then, why is that YOU— CAN’T— REMEMBER— WHAT— SHE— LOOKS— LIKE?!”
“I-I did just say ‘you may not’!”
Ludwig ignored Mia’s protest and continued with his lecture…
“I am sure that you are aware that the reason why the children of nobles are sent to Saint Noel’s Academy is to build relationships and diplomacy for future events, right?”
“O… of course I know that. I feel sorry for what happened…”
What happened was a failure of negotiations because of Mia. After a series of invites and talks, Ludwig was able to finally invite Perujin to come over for a negotiation deal. The Third Princess of Perujin arrived with the delegate. However, when Mia arrived at the negotiation table, she said something that instantly sealed the negotiation into a failure. It was when she looked at the Princess and asked, “Oh my, and who might you be?”
Ludwig once again looked at Mia. Mia, for once, looked like she was really repentant of what had happened.
“Oh well, they probably did not really want to trade with us and was just waiting for us to commit some sort of mistake.”
With wide surprised eyes, Mia looked at him…
“Really?”
“I won’t be too surprised if they were. It isn’t only our Empire that has been struck by the famine. All throughout the continent, the harvests have been terrible. Everybody needs food, probably even Perujin themselves. Even if they were willing to meet and talk with us, they might have just been looking for an excuse to refuse us.”
It was very rare for Ludwig to offer sympathy to Mia. But what followed was…
“Having said that, it is still inexcusable to forget the faces of royalty and powerful nobles of the other countries and kingdoms. Especially if you have seen them a lot of times at the academy before. You better reflect on your mistakes, Your Highness.”
“I…I am already sorry for what happened. You don’t need to keep on telling me…”
For the rest of the day, Mia choked back her tears as she has to endure the nonstop lecturing from a very irritated Ludwig. Since that day, Mia started making a genuine effort to know the figures of political importance and she tried her very best remembering their faces.
…It was good, of course, but not really worth bragging.
“It is my honest desire that this wonderful even will join the Tearmoon Empire and Perujin Country closer. So shall we begin the party?”
At Rania’s command, the party began in earnest. It was sort of a hybrid of a buffet party and a tea party. The food on the tables were mostly snacks and fruits. The drinks were different kinds of black and herbal teas. The whole party had an atmosphere of a calm, refined afternoon break.
Mia looked around the displayed food. She couldn’t help but be attracted to the cakes… then to the tarts… then to the…
All of these are a great selection! They surely live up to their name as an Agricultural Country.
Mia was deeply impressed, and so were the children of the marquesses and counts that joined her, also voiced their admiration and praise for the foods. Even the girls, who want to belittle the food, cannot help but give in to the temptation of good sweets and pastries. Well, the fact that Mia was the one to lead headfirst into the tasting tour of all the foods might have been a factor.
It wasn’t Mia’s intention to change the mindset of his fellow Tearmoon nobles. It just happened this way. Her real and only intention was to stuff her face with food.
After having visited all the tables at least once, Mia’s interest was drawn to a particular plate that was off to a side.
“My… my. Are those cookies?”
The cookies looked nothing exceptional. Surrounded by the different colors of fruits and pastries, the only thing that was exceptional about the cookies were how bland and normal they looked.
“Ah no! Wait! That’s…”
Rania was madly dashing forward towards Mia with a panic-stricken face. Rania couldn’t care less about elegance as she ran towards Mia. The cookies were more important.
Mia heard and saw Rania coming over. Mia noticed that she seemed perturbed by something, she doesn’t know why. But for now, the cookies were more important.
She picked one up… popped it into her mouth…
Ahhh… I know this… this taste… this is it!