CH 77

After cruising on the Volly River for more than half a month, Xia Zuoyi has adapted well. The bearing capacity of the three beasts and Brown Sugar was also very good.

Because of the smooth sailing, no seasickness occurred.

On one occasion, Xia Zuoyi even saw Snowball standing up with his front paws on the side of the ship, looking down at the fish jumping out of the river, his tail swinging behind him, and looking curious.

The fleet approached the Anas Empire.

Udit held a stack of carefully selected clothes and softly said to Xia Zuoyi, “My lord, it’s time to change.”

In order to be cool, Xia Zuoyi, wearing a wide shirt and suspenders, collapsed in his seat and enjoyed sunbathing, “…Can’t I change later?” 

The little lord raised his eyebrows, looking pitiful and hot.

The answer is naturally no.

Udit gently refused.

—You are Lord Desinia. How can you appear in the port of the Anas Empire in disheveled clothing?

The dignity of the nobles is—even if the weather gets hot, they must be buttoned up to the top, meticulously wearing vests, rigorous coats, and boots.

Xia Zuoyi had no choice but to follow the responsible butler Udit to the cabin to change clothes.

—A soft shirt is woven of fine linen and a belted black trouser, of which the waist is spliced with dark brown fabric. There are crisscrossing thin ribbons tied outside, in a less obvious transition, binding a thin waist.

On his feet are leather short boots exposing his ankle, making his legs look longer. 

As for the jacket, it’s a short cardigan small suit. On the suit’s right chest is a badge in the style of thorns and roses, with a silver chain below. The overall effect is refreshing and unconventional.

But no matter how elegant and noble, after wearing it, only a word can describe it—hot.

The weather after May has reached the point where people are sweating.

Xia Zuoyi stood on the deck enjoying the river breeze, and finally saw the distant imperial port and the crowd as the fleet slowed down.

Tosi Cavendish deliberately accepted the task of coming down to the port to meet Desinia from the hands of the king.

He drove away the idlers in the harbor ahead of time, cleared the obtrusive ships, lined up knights in armor on the shore, and waited for Desinia to frustrate and destroy his spirit and prestige.

Suppress him at the beginning, to let Desinia understand that in the empire, a small lord can only be controlled by others.

Tosi arrived early, the weather scorching hot.

The standard aristocratic dress of long shirts and trousers made him sweat. Even if the servant kept fanning beside him, it was of no avail.

Not to mention the knights standing on the shore of the harbor wearing chain mail, their whole bodies wrapped tightly. Only their faces and hands are exposed, their sweat dripping, almost to the point of coma.

But they can’t afford to fall because they will definitely be held accountable by the marquis.

It didn’t take long.

Just as Tosi was pacing impatiently by the port, Grand Duke Archiayoli arrived.

Although he was the illegitimate son of the king, and even a marquis, Tosi didn’t dare to put on airs in front of the archduke.

He’s jealous of the other party, but he could only hold his breath and honestly say hello.

Why did the Grand Duke Archiayoli come here?

Orville, dressed in simple clothes, looked at the river in the distance with a focused expression, his hands behind his back.

He brought few people, only his close staff and entourage, and Robert was one of them.

Orville didn’t like Tosi. He’s always too lazy to answer his questions, so Robert often did it for him.

Robert: “Lord Marquis, His Grace came to the port to pick up Lord Desinia as a guest in his residence. His Grace is responsible for all the arrangements of Lord Desinia during his stay in the empire.”

“This is not appropriate.” Tosi said stiffly: “His Majesty the King ordered me to receive…”

Orville looked at him coldly, “His Majesty let me do it.”

Tosi’s face was instantly blue and white, extremely ugly.

It wasn’t the first time that he had been refuted by Grand Duke Orville without giving him any face.

After all, in the Anas Empire, the Archiayoli family holds great powers.

Orville inherited the title of grand duke even at a young age and was highly valued by the family. Even his Majesty would give him three points of face.

To put it harshly, an illegitimate child like him is simply not qualified to show his presence in front of Orville Archiayoli.

But Tosi, an illegitimate son, can let the king put him in the open, which means that he still has a lot of means to please people and knows better who can’t be offended.

So he suppressed the surging anger in his heart and wanted to say something to Orville genially, when Robert suddenly pointed to the river in the distance and shouted, “Your Grace, Lord Desinia’s fleet is here!”

Tosi subconsciously turned his head to look—

—The fleet of ships with the flags of thorns and roses broke through the sparkling river and came to the harbor. Under the dazzling sunlight, it seemed as if the entire fleet was plated with a dazzling golden halo.

Flocks of waterfowl hovered around, and there seemed to be an eagle’s screech from the sky.

The next moment, the waterfowls scattered and flew high, like slowly unfolding a dynamic picture, directly jumping into people’s hearts, making people want to sigh.

Countless ships approached, slowly lining up as they approached the port.

Fortunately, Tosi drove all the ships in this port ahead of time in order to give Xia Zuoyi a blow, otherwise, parking would be a problem.

A lot of people are sighing.

However, such an astonishing and shocking scene made Tosi’s expression difficult to describe. No one knows how to describe it. The butler tried his best to reduce his sense of existence and didn’t dare to touch him for fear of bad luck.

In the end, Desinia’s fleet neatly lined up in the port.

The long wooden plank was put down and two rows of soldiers appeared on both sides of the ship under the leadership of Fernandi and Walker. The new light, thin, and silver armor with red and black undercoat protecting vital body parts was not cumbersome at all, but more imposing.

Tosi bit the twitching soft flesh inside his cheeks and forcibly raised the corners of his mouth. But as soon as he’s about to speak, he saw a half-large black panther jump out of the deck.

Immediately, three huge beasts also suddenly crossed the springboard to the ground, instantly causing a burst of exclamation and panic.

The people around him kept retreating towards the back. The knights clenched their weapons tightly. Because Tosi was closer, the sudden appearance of the beasts made the blood on his face disappear, and his lips quivering.

When he retreated in panic, he accidentally bit the flesh in his mouth. His face immediately became distorted and funny because of the pain.

Orville’s expression remained unchanged, even wanting to take a step forward.

Finally, he was stopped by Robert, who was also pale—Your Grace, don’t you see the beasts’ sharp teeth and claws?!

Briquette roared at Brown Sugar as if educating a disobedient child. Brown Sugar stopped and turned back, but hid beside Snowball.

This was entirely because when the ship docked at the port, the hull was unstable. Brown Sugar was originally lying next to Briquette and chasing his raised black-and-white striped tail. As a result, one didn’t pay notice that his paws slipped and was being gnawed upon1. 

Xia Zuoyi slowly walked down the plank at this time.

Fernandi and Walker led two rows of soldiers, following him.

Samuel didn’t go after them, just stayed on the ship to stand by. The soldiers on the other ships didn’t go down either. The springboard was lowered and several soldiers were assigned to guard on both sides of the ships.

The two columns of soldiers who followed Xia Zuoyi alone are comparable with the knights Tosi had brought.

Although he’s a young boy, he’s tall, has long legs, and has a beautiful appearance. Xia Zuoyi was still thinking about which nobleman the Anas Empire would send to receive him, but he didn’t expect to see an “acquaintance” when he came down.

“Your Grace, long time no see.”

Xia Zuoyi completely ignored the frightened marquis and nodded to Orville, “You’re arranging my accommodations?”

Orville: “Please come to my residence.”

“Okay.” 

Although Xia Zuoyi was a little surprised, he wouldn’t refuse. Living in a mansion of a grand duke would save him a lot of trouble.

Tosi took a step forward with an ugly face, “Desinia, it’s me…”

The big golden lion happened to cross in front of him. With a flick of his tail, it almost hit Tosi in the face.

Tosi retreated two or three steps backwards, his legs soft, and the butler supported him by his arm.

He faced Xia Zuoyi’s puzzled look, and just wanted to speak again, but Orville suddenly stretched out his hand and put it on Xia Zuoyi’s shoulder, swung him around, and walked away.

He heard Desinia asking from a distance ‘Who was he?’

Orville: Don’t care.

Tosi: Fuck.

…

Tosi Cavendish smashed a lot of things after he went back, but it won’t be mentioned for the time being.

After Xia Zuoyi was arranged by the grand duke, he sent someone to the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce to find Boris.

He came early, eight days before the queen’s birthday dinner.

Xia Zuoyi intends to fully lease the port where his fleet stops and prohibits others from entering the harbor. This port belongs to the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce, it’s just right to discuss it with Boris.

Boris asked, “What do you want to do?”

Xia Zuoyi: “Naturally, it’s business. The aristocrats of the Anas Empire shouldn’t be short of money.”

Boris was puzzled, “Conducting business?”

“There’s no shop of the Thorns Chamber of Commerce in the royal city. What are you going to do? What’s more, doing business should have nothing to do with leasing ports…”

“You’ll know by then.”

Faced with Xia Zuoyi’s insistence, Boris nodded and agreed. 

The next day, the port where the Desinian fleet was docked changed.

The shore where the ships docked was beaten and knocked by many soldiers carrying wood to build simple booths. In front of each stall was a conspicuous wooden board with the name and price of the things to be sold.

Lemon candy, rose candy, syrup-wrapped skewered sliced fruit, various shapes drawn on the smooth chopping board using syrup…

Fashionable and beautiful women’s ribbons, hats, novel decorations…

Put the dried rose petals into the jar, then add salt, honey, etc., stir evenly, and seal.

After the time of two hourglasses, open it and pour out the excess water, then add more sugar, stir it and seal it again. The fermentation time is ten to fifteen days. The fleet can just take it out after arriving at the Anas Empire.

Put the marinated rose jam in a small bowl. The color is bright and attractive, permeating the air with the aroma of rose and the sweetness of sugar.

It seems to be even more popular than lemon candy.

Xia Zuoyi ordered people to prepare the bread and spread the jam between two slices of bread. It’s a delicacy that is hard to refuse.

Of course, the price is prohibitively expensive.