The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 702: The Easy Escape

Once the dance ended, the Royal Family retired to their main hall for a ridiculously large formal dinner.

There were thousands of guests in attendance, and with it being the King’s birthday, the spread was even more elaborate than usual. Not more dishes, that would just drag it out unnecessarily, but everything that they were making was some rarely made delicacy that the Nobles wouldn’t normally expect.

It was a way for the King to show off that things were going well in the Kingdom, and that at the very least the Palace could still get even the more obscure of ingredients.

Now, if they had more trolls, they could grow most of this in the Royal Greenhouses.

The number of rare plants that grew in Wistover Manor was incredible, and they grew the most wonderful coffee, that would normally only grow far up into the mountains.

Interestingly, it looked like the coffee that they were serving was Wistover grown coffee. Dominic recognized the particular scent of that dark roast.

He didn’t think much of it, but everyone else at the table seemed to be pleasantly surprised by the beverage.

"You’re not a coffee fan, Your Grace?" The Earl Tarleigh asked when he noticed that Dominic wasn’t drinking.

"I am actually a very big fan of coffee."

"Then..."

Dominic gave a pointed look toward Alexis, who was glaring at her cup. The midwife had told her not more than one small coffee a day.

And she had one this morning.

"It’s a party, I’m sure that a second cup won’t hurt. You can switch to tea in the morning and say you had tomorrow’s early if you’re too worried." Dominic suggested.

Alexis gave him a hard stare.

"Right, early mornings in the palace to get ready for the family breakfast. That does require coffee."

Alexis picked up the coffee and took one slow sip, before sighing in relief.

"Don’t tell Beth."

"I’m sure that she already knows, and has planned for it. There is nothing about our dietary preferences that old woman doesn’t know."

With that as permission, Dominic picked up his cup, while the other Noblemen chuckled at his understanding of the rules. Drinking the good stuff while the wife was prohibited might not be a social faux pas, there were all sorts of restrictions on Royal pregnancies.

But the Paladins went through coffee like it was water.

Going from that to zero was a bit like asking them to give up water or breathing.

Dominic nudged Alexis as the staff brought out bowls of potato bacon soup, an unusual dish for the Palace, which usually went for more elaborate flavours. But the soup was a favourite of both Chef Beth and the trolls.

"It seems that the King enjoyed his time in Wistover. This recipe is on that Chef Beth favours." Dominic explained to the Nobles on the other side of the long table, who could see the look that he shared with Alexis.

"Ah, that’s just right. You managed to poach both one of the family chefs, and the head of the Royal Forge when you were promoted.

How is that working out?

From what I heard, that old Dwarf is happy simply making tools and housewares all day long." Earl Arburgh asked.

"Actually, that’s precisely what we needed him for. With so many people showing up, half the population needs new housewares and farm tools. But he’s also been doing a fine job of working to make equipment for the factories, and that has been more valuable than any of us could have imagined." Dominic agreed.

It wasn’t that Pops was overly picky about what he made, he simply didn’t like making weapons because people asked for too many of them, and it messed with his ability to make other things.

But making a one-time special order for a new factory build was a challenge, the sort of thing that a Master Smith lived for.

Alexis made her excuses the moment that dessert was over, and went to hug her father before retiring for the evening, an advantage of her "condition". Meanwhile, Dominic knew that he would be here for at least another hour before it was polite to leave the event and head to bed.

Unfortunately, when he finally did make it back to the room, he found that Alexis was already fast asleep, snoring softly and sprawled across the bed.

"You know what, I think I’ll sleep on the cot. I get the feeling that waking her up now might be detrimental to my health." Dominic whispered to the maid on duty.

"No, head to bed, she gave instructions that even if she fell asleep, you were coming to bed later. Something about needing you to help with cold feet."

That didn’t make things much better.

For some reason, when she was sleeping, the Princess had ice-cold feet, and found him entirely too convenient as a way to warm them.

The maids knew that perfectly well, but they also knew that Dominic was actually interested in knowing just what a Royal bed felt like. He had never spent a night in one here at the Palace before, and the mattresses that Alexis had brought with her to Wistover were from one of the Nobles as a wedding gift.

As it happened, they were nearly identical, and Dominic suspected that the Noble who gifted them the ones for Wistover was the same one who had the Royal Commission to make them for the King.

He likely should have seen that coming.

All in all, it wasn’t bad, though. The bed was familiar, the castle was not so quiet that it felt creepy, and until someone rudely opened the curtains on them in the morning, it was quite easy to sleep.

"Must you do that?"

"Put your wings away and stop growling at me every morning, and I will stop opening the curtains to chase you out of bed," the veiled maid retorted.

"Fine. But no guarantees about tomorrow."