Ezran's POV:
The warriors guarding the prince wore leather armor-plated with metal, their feet encased in wooden sandal-like footwear. Long thin swords called katanas were sheathed around their waists and each warrior had a long and short sword attached to their belts.
They stood still, their faces impassive and unreadable but I could sense the discipline beneath their stoic expression.
It intrigued me on how these...samurais fight when at war. They have never been seen on Western soil and mostly they are just guards to royalty and delegates.
"The Prince Oshu has requested to see the lady responsible for tonight's feast," Belmont announced using the Ryuen language to the warriors who promptly stepped aside to let us in.
The Ryuen Prince's room was also well-appointed as Belmont's with its cream colored wallpapers and elegant furnishings.
The Prince was dressed for bed in his white silk kimono embroidered with birds flying through a mountainscape, his pretty face was scrubbed clean and his raven hair was braided to his right side with silk ribbons.
We bowed slightly while my wife curtsied as he approached us.
Once again, a hot trickle of jealousy scorched me when I saw the foreign prince's gaze lit up upon seeing my wife.
I can see his gaze trained only on her.
"Rise, sweet lady." His voice sounded gentle, unlike his usual critical intonations. When I saw him reach out towards my wife, I tried hard not to think of dismembering him when his hand merely took a lock of my wife's long blonde hair and knelt down to her as he pressed a kiss to it. "Your food has appeased me greatly, lady duchess. I would love to reward you for your efforts. Name your boon and you shall have it."
My wife was taken aback at such an odd greeting when his slender fingers dropped her hair but she looked to Belmont for an explanation since Prince Oshu spoke in Ryuen.
"He was pleased with the feast and wished to reward you. He says to name what you want and he will give it." Bel translated.
"Oh..I-I am happy that he loved it but I don't need a reward." She calmly smiled.
But as Bel translated for us. He looked frantic in wanting to give my wife something.
He was very adamant to reward my wife but she was looking a bit at a loss at what to ask for when I asked Bel to translate to the prince if he can procure certain cooking ingredients only grown in the East.
Silence ensued for a while before I saw my wife's expression of surprise which turned to joy.
She loved my idea.
Alaina's eyes immediately sparkled as she politely asked if that was possible.
The odd request surprised Prince Oshu at first but his dark eyes comprehended something I was not aware of as he bowed once again and kissed the hem of her skirt, vowing to grant her boon.
This confused my wife once again.
"In Ryu society, Unmarried men cannot touch the body of a married woman. By kissing her hair or clothes; he is showing Lady Alaina his utmost respect and admiration." my friend whispered when I frowned at the foreign prince's actions yet again.
My confusion cleared up and after a few more minutes. Prince Oshu smiled as he promised to import the ingredients my wife wanted.
The radiant smile from Alaina's lips dazzled the foreign prince, whose cheeks turned red for a while as she curtsied.
YOU ARE READING
My Lady Chef { La Vita Series } - Volume 1
RomanceElena Valdez was an award-winning chef and a successful food entrepreneur. She had everything; a loving family, good friends and a food empire. Her life was perfect. Until an untimely death landed her not in the gates of heaven but into the body of...
