Chapter 90: Ch 90. Drinks in Eldoria

Selena sat quietly while the five kings had left, allowing her to rest again. Vee tidied up the table, handing the items to several servants to take away while she remained with Selena to keep her company.

"Your Majesty, do you think the Dragon King really has no interest in continuing to be your husband?"

Selena looked at her, and Vee immediately clamped her lips shut. She realized she’d made a mistake by asking something so personal.

"It’s up to him. I have my own plans for them anyway. If he has absolutely no interest in continuing to be my husband, that’s actually for the best," said Selena, then looked at Vee calmly. "I want to go out today—I’m getting pretty bored of drinking plain water every day. Are there any delicious drinks here? Come with me so we can try them."

"Your Majesty, if you want delicious drinks like that, I can invite the makers to come to the palace. As Queen, you don’t need to go out just for this," Vee replied, but she still followed Selena, who had already walked away.

"It’s fine—just have them get ready because I’ll be coming. If you know where the place is, take me there. I want to add more varieties of drinks to the palace so it doesn’t get monotonous. Why don’t those kings ever make other drinks or bring them to the palace as part of the menu?" Selena muttered, a puzzled look on her face.

"Actually, there are quite a few types of drinks and foods, Your Majesty. But usually, those foods and drinks are only served during major events or official occasions. As for everyday drinks, it’s just plain water and honey water—that’s simply the custom among the people of Eldoria," Vee explained, causing Selena to raise her eyebrows.

"So drinks like that aren’t commonly enjoyed?"

"Not really, but they’re not forbidden either. If you want to drink something like that, you can just go to a place that serves it, like a restaurant or somewhere else," Vee said.

Selena nodded in understanding but said nothing more. Of course, this world was different from the human world; Selena wasn’t even sure if things like syrup or soda existed here. There might not even be such a thing as coffee, even though it had been quite a while since she’d last had any.

Back when she was still human and living in the human world, she’d drink coffee almost every day before work to stay awake. But here, she didn’t need to drink it because if she felt sleepy, she could just go to sleep—she had no job other than tending to her five husbands.

"Let the kings know I’m going out; don’t let them think I’ve run away or fled the palace," Selena told the fox servant she’d made her personal messenger.

The girl nodded obediently and walked away after Selena climbed into the horse-drawn carriage. As a messenger and information carrier, it was also her duty to carry out tasks like this. Ever since she became a messenger, she no longer had to work in the kitchen or clean the palace.

That was a relief for her, but she still liked to help her friends at the fox palace when she didn’t have any work.

***

Selena had deliberately come without anything flashy; she’d even asked that no one greet her as if she were the Queen because she couldn’t stand all that annoying, rigid bureaucracy.

Upon entering the private room that the restaurant owner had prepared for her, Selena was warmly welcomed by the rabbit beast who ran the restaurant, which was famous for serving a wide variety of delicious drinks.

"If there are any drinks that suit my taste, I’d like to request that the recipes be sent to the palace. I’d like to enjoy them at certain times without having to come here," said Selena after speaking for a while with the restaurant owner.

Veyna Rabba smiled; as the restaurant owner, she naturally felt honored that the Queen liked one of her restaurant’s drinks.

"I hope there are some samples or drinks you’ll like, Your Majesty. I’ve already selected a few types of drinks that would suit you. Perhaps there are some you’ll find to your liking. If not, you can tell me what kind you’d like and what flavor you prefer—the mixologists in the Rabbit Clan are quite skilled at crafting them from scratch specifically for those who request them," said Veyna, making Selena smile.

"In that case, before I try any of the drinks, can I tell you a few flavors I’d like?"

"Of course. The drinks will be served shortly. You can tell me what kind of drink you’d like. I’ll make a note of it," said Veyna, then took out a notebook and a pen that still needed its ink ground on a stone.

"I’d like a light drink—tart or sweet—with fruit as the main flavor. Like lychee, melon, strawberry, or something like that. Do you know what lychee, strawberry, or melon are?" Selena asked, causing Veyna to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Lychee, melon, and strawberry? This is the first time I’ve heard of fruits like that. Do you know what they look like? Maybe you could describe them to us—who knows, maybe there’s a difference in the names that’s preventing me from recognizing them," said Veyna, causing Selena to let out a heavy sigh.

It really was quite a hassle in this world—besides longan, it seemed the names of other fruits were different. Did Selena have to describe their various shapes and sizes just to help Veyna figure out what they were called?

It’s quite a hassle when you think about it; Selena was already feeling lazy herself.

"Do you have a fruit plantation?" asked Vee, noticing her Queen struggling to provide the information.

"Not a plantation—I just grow a few fruits on the upper floor of the restaurant," said Veyna, then looked at Selena. "As far as I recall, King Phoenix is the king who has expanded the fruit business the most. In Eldoria, his territory has flourished thanks to the fruit business, and most of his wealth comes from fruit."

"King Phoenix owns countless fruit orchards with all sorts of shapes and flavors. If you want to explore and taste those fruits, you can visit the orchards that are open to the public—though for ordinary people, there’s an admission fee. For about two silver coins, you can sample many fruits—both rare and common—there," Veyna added, causing Selena to raise an eyebrow.

"Really? I’ve never heard of that before," said Selena, then looked at Vee.

"I’ve heard about it before, Your Majesty. But today it didn’t cross my mind, and I didn’t remember to tell you. Would you like to go there? The coachman probably knows the way," Vee said, causing Selena to fall silent for a moment.

"Sure, after we’ve tasted a few of these drinks, we’ll go there. I want to take a look at the different kinds of fruit."

Vee nodded. "I’ll send someone to let them know—"

"No need—I just want to come as an ordinary person," said Selena. Just then, several restaurant servers arrived and served various drinks in clear teapots. "I’d like to look around anyway, so there’s no need to reveal my identity. Besides, not everyone in Phoenix needs to know me, so my identity isn’t important to them."

Vee was about to protest, but then she realized what Selena’s goal was after this. This woman truly didn’t want to be regarded as Queen, since it wasn’t certain that the residents or members of her husband’s clans would even acknowledge her as such.

Becoming the Queen of the Five Kings was certainly a complicated matter, even though Eldoria had said it was officially recognized by law and wasn’t all that unusual. But with her exalted status as queen, Selena naturally found it difficult and burdensome to bear the identity of the Five Queens on her shoulders.

For the next few minutes, Selena simply focused on enjoying the various drinks brought to her by the servants. There were about 15 varieties, and Selena only liked three of them—those with fruit flavors and one that was a type of tea.

Although the flavors weren’t as strong as they used to be in her real world, Selena could still savor them, and since it had been quite a while since she’d had drinks with these kinds of flavors, everything tasted absolutely delicious to her.

"Please prepare samples of these three drinks and list all the ingredients; send them to the United Palace," Selena said, then looked at Vee, who immediately reached into the pouch she’d brought and pulled out gold and silver. "How much do they cost? You can tell Vee."

Veyna smiled gently. "For the trial run and the first shipment, I won’t charge a price, but for the second and subsequent shipments, we can discuss the price if you’re satisfied with the flavors they’ve created," she said, causing Selena to raise an eyebrow.

"I’ve already tasted them, and I’m quite satisfied with the drinks. I won’t suddenly decide I don’t like the taste," said Selena, unwilling to accept it for free.

"It’s all right, Your Majesty. Just consider this a tribute; I’m so glad you’re still alive and have even risen to become the Healer of Extinction. So, as a gift, I’m giving the first shipment to you for free. Please accept it—it’s my gesture of goodwill."