Chapter 405: No Vinegar?

She looked back down at the empty table in front of her.

She recalled the way Adrian had gotten so angry for her. How he had killed a man and fired every single person inside the mansion except for Damian. It was a kind of protection she had not experienced for decades until then.

And ever since that moment, things had only gotten better.

Yes, he did have a track record of getting distracted and doing his own thing instead of spending time with her. But as she recalled all of the time she had spent with him over the past two years, she couldn’t help but smile. Compared to her past life, this life was something that she never wished to lose.

She clenched her tiny fist and looked at Serena.

This was the same girl she had lost in her past life. But seeing her here right now, laughing, talking to people confidently and comfortably, it was something Aria had never expected to see. Aria just watched the way Serena looked at Adrian. It made her feel a little smug. It was almost like witnessing her two most favorite people in love.

And it was no different for Claire.

Aria looked straight down at the table. She could use her mana to sense exactly how Claire’s legs were moving beneath the wooden table. The way Claire’s foot rested on Adrian’s foot, playfully rubbing against him with her toes, all while Adrian acted like there was nothing going on.

Aria knew everything and she just acted like she didn’t.

Seeing the three of them talking and being right there, right next to her, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of extreme, pure happiness. It was a feeling she had never felt in her past life.

Luckily, even though Claire was someone who had taught the Hero how to use a sword in her previous life, she had died before the Hero fought the Demon King and won. Thanks to that, Claire was someone who had not actively gone against Aria at all in the previous timeline. While Aria had no real image or knowledge about Claire from her past life, she had interacted with her enough in this current life to know that Claire was one of the many people she liked a lot.

Seeing some of her most favorite people sitting right there, she couldn’t help but smile. She leaned over and looped her arm around Adrian with a wide grin, looking up at him.

Both Claire and Serena turned to look at her, and so did Adrian.

Aria just beamed up at him. "Papa, I am really, really thankful that you took me with you two years ago."

Adrian just stared at her for a second. Then, he smiled softly.

"Of course I was going to take you with me. You are my cute little angel, after all."

He patted her head gently.

Right as he did, the waitress walked over to them and placed four huge plates on the table. Each plate was filled with thick slices of fish coated in a crispy batter.

Adrian looked at his plate, and then noticed a small bowl sitting on the side. It was filled with a clear liquid... and in other words, it looked exactly like clear water.

Adrian stared at it.

’Wait, is this vinegar? How the fuck did this guy know how to make vinegar? Well, she did say that his dream was to become a chef or whatnot, so maybe he did know how to make vinegar? Ah, I don’t know... whatever.’

He picked up one of the pieces of fish. It was very long, almost the length of his hand. He dipped it into the small bowl of clear liquid that he assumed was vinegar and popped it into his mouth.

But the flavor that hit him wasn’t the sourness or the acidity of vinegar at all.

Instead, it was basically just a thin broth that was both spicy and salty. Adrian frowned a little, but he didn’t exactly hate the taste. He dipped the rest of the fish into the bowl and took another large bite.

He looked at the waitress.

"Tell the chef that I really liked this," he said.

The girl nodded quickly.

"Yeah, that is about it," Adrian added. "If we need something else, we will call you."

The girl bowed and walked back toward the kitchen.

Adrian looked at the others and noticed they were all staring at him.

Serena was the first to speak. "I didn’t know that you were this hungry. You ate half of that huge piece in just two bites."

Adrian blinked. He looked down at his own plate. The fish piece was the length of his hand, but it was only around the thickness of two fingers.

He looked back at them and shrugged. "Well, it is pretty tasty if you try it out. Also the dipping thing is kind of spicy. I like it, but I don’t know if you guys can handle that."

The girls basically acted like they did not hear him. They each took a piece of fish from their plates, dipped it in the spicy liquid, and took a bite.

Contrary to Adrian’s expectations, they did not devour it. He had expected them to eat well, but they were no different from the girls he had seen on Earth when eating in public. Both Claire and Serena took very small, polite bites.

Aria, meanwhile, was basically exactly like him.

She took one huge bite, to the point where her cheeks puffed out entirely with just that single mouthful. She leaned back in her chair, put the half-eaten fish back on the table, and just started chewing happily.

As she chewed, she started bouncing in her chair, bobbing her head side to side to a rhythm in her mind. She didn’t even look at Adrian, and nor did she look at the other two girls.

Seeing this, Adrian just chuckled and focused back on his plate.

’It would’ve been nice if we had vinegar and stuff... unfortunately I don’t know how to make those. Hmm... maybe Wang Lei might.’