The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 797: The Best Snacks

As threatened, there were entirely too many adults for Katerina to meet before she could go to the Garden.

She had to meet all of her aunts and uncles, most of her cousins, the Nobles who lived in the Palace, some of the senior staff, and yet through it all she wasn’t given time to talk to the interesting people.

Not that she met many of them.

The other Princes and Princesses were far too stuffy for Katerina’s preference, and even the other kids had been carefully coached to be on their best behaviour in public. They weren’t energetic like Katerina was certain that kids were supposed to be, most of them were standing rather stiffly by their parents, just waiting.

She supposed that if you did this often enough, you got used to the rules.

Boring rules.

She was polite through all the introductions to the new people, but Katerina was immensely relieved when she could finally go and meet the other girls in the garden.

"Ah, finally, we have escaped. Follow us and I will show you the best snacks. They don’t let us have the really good smelling juice. But other than that, we can have almost all the things."

Katerina laughed. "I’ve managed to sneak a taste of the good wine. It’s not as good as it smells."

The other kids looked awestruck. Trying to get away with sneaking wine from their parents would be nearly impossible.

"You really are capable. Did you start at the mage academy early? Or do you have a magitech item that lets you use mage hand?"

"I started early. Most people don’t start until they are ten or twelve, but I started last year. Both of my parents have a lot of magic, so they wanted me to start training early."

"Right, your dad is the Duke of Wistover, right?" one of the girls asked.

Katerina nodded, and she immediately noticed that the kids were mentally altering her social ranking.

They were all born of one Royal parent, at least in this small group. But the junior Royals didn’t hold particularly high positions, despite their lineage. Plus, those born to Princesses would inherit the ranking of their fathers, which were usually Dukes or Earls.

So, while about half of the girls were technically on the exact same level as her, her position was a bit special, as he was also a Governor, and therefore considered to be part of the King’s Council.

Those were the little details that Katerina hadn’t quite understood at first, just listening to her mother’s explanation.

At home, she was the Dragon Princess. But here, there were many other Princesses, from many other branches of the family. It was a curious thing to meet so many of them.

But she still didn’t want a little sister.

However, if she could get a little brother to pick on like those dumb boys from earlier, that could be fun. Perhaps she would ask her mother about requisitioning a brother.

Alexis would have laughed if she knew that her daughter viewed having a new sibling as some sort of business transaction.

The whole process had never interested her.

So, she never asked, she just assumed that when it became relevant, the information would be available. That’s how things usually worked.

Katerina’s nose caught the scent of something familiar, and she led her new friend across the garden toward a spot where a waiter was approaching the man introduced as her grandfather with a tray of snack squares.

"We must get those," she explained.

"Why those ones in particular?"

"They’re Dragonberry and plum cake squares. I can smell them from here, and they’re my favourites. Miss Beth makes them for me sometimes."

A number of the nearby Nobles turned when she mentioned Dragonberries, the restricted drug, but the little dragon was too busy dragging her friend through the crowd to worry about what others were doing.

She caught up to the waiter just before he caught up to the King, who was sitting with some strangers that Katerina hadn’t been introduced to.

They were in fancy clothes, and looked old, but boring.

Not mages.

As she had been taught by her mother, she made the gesture for the man to give her the snacks, but the waiter just ignored her, though she could tell that he saw her.

This man was starting to annoy her.

However, she had the ultimate blackmail tactic in her repertoire. The one that worked on everyone from her parents and Dave to Uncle Pops.

The waiter set the tray on the table in front of the King, and Katerina simply hopped up into his lap and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then grabbed a square in each hand.

"Thank you, Dragonberries are my favourite," she informed him, before popping an entire pastry into her mouth.

The King froze, and the Royal Guards immediately drew weapons as they surrounded the waiter. But Katerina didn’t notice as he offered one of the squares to her new friend.

"Do you like these? There are lots more of them here."

"You, he... That’s..." The other girl’s stammering meant that she wasn’t in the mood to snack, in Katerina’s hungry mind.

So, she just finished the other one and grabbed two more before climbing down from the King’s lap just as Dominic came over.

"How is my favourite troublemaker? Why are you getting so cuddly with His Majesty, your Royal Grandfather?"

"They have Dragonberry and Plum cakes."

Dominic smiled, and bowed slightly to the King before he sampled one.

"You’re right. They’ve got extra Dragonberry in them too. More than Miss Beth puts in them for you."

That was all the confirmation that the King and the Royal Guard needed.

A five-year-old might be mistaken, but Dominic definitely knew the difference between Dragonberries and any other flavour. He had proven that more than once, and everyone knew that he was immune to the side effects.

Now, the real question was who was trying to drug the King, as the berries were very much illegal to possess. Especially in the Palace.