The magnificent bathroom made Adina once again feel the gap between the nobility and the common people.
"What the hell is this... A pure gold mermaid statue is just a water outlet? The bone china bathtub is inlaid with gemstones. Too much..."
Adina thought to herself.
In the past, bathing once a week was a luxury, and most people would just boil a basin of water and wipe their bodies.
The spacious bathtub in front of me is big enough to accommodate three people, and hot water is slowly released from the vase in the hands of the mermaid statue.
The maid took off the servant's clothes that Adina was wearing temporarily, revealing her scarred body.
The two maids were horrified when they saw this. What on earth had this girl been through
But their professional ethics did not allow them to say too much, so they pretended not to see the tragic scene and continued to remain silent.
The bathtub was filled with fresh rose petals and a bucket of milk was thoughtfully poured into it. When Adina saw it, she gasped at the luxury.
Adina first tested the temperature of the bathtub with her feet and found that the temperature was just right. Apparently, this had been arranged long ago.
Two maids came forward and gently wiped Aitina's body with a sponge. Aitina was not used to being served, so she said,
"Or I can do it myself, sisters."
"Miss Adina, this is our job. Please don't make things difficult for us." The two maids said humbly.
"Okay. I want to ask, what kind of person is Marquis Hohen?" Adina asked tentatively.
"The Marquis is an expert swordsman and is friendly to everyone, but... he is single now," said one of the younger maids.
Another maid glared at her and cursed, "You are just a servant, why are you gossiping so much?"
The young maid stuck out her tongue playfully, and Adina continued to speak.
"This has nothing to do with her. I just want to know. I won't say anything."
The older maid remained silent and let the younger maid, who was not very worldly-wise, speak.
"The Marquis loves his beard very much. Many ladies have praised his blue beard for being very beautiful. Also, the Marquis likes reading. He has been reading Dante's poems recently. I think it's called the Divine Comedy?"
Ai Tina listened quietly. The little maid who loved gossip immediately told the Marquis some trivia like pouring beans.
But one sentence caught Adina's attention.
"I heard that the Marquis had five wives in the past, but all five wives disappeared later."
The careful Aitina noticed that there seemed to be some secret hidden in this sentence, but with the older maid beside her, she didn't dare to ask more questions, so she could only keep this sentence in mind.
After bathing, two maids used eleven complicated steps to dress Adina in a gorgeous red dress.
Ai Tina, who already looks very beautiful, becomes even more charming with this dress.
The bright red dress makes Adina's skin look even whiter.
The waistband highlights the beauty of the lines.
Her hair was tied up and pinned with an exquisitely carved, hollow jade hairpin.
Seeing herself in the mirror, Adina thought to herself,
"I wish Silas could see me like this now. I wonder if he is feeling better now?"
"Ms. Aitina, dinner is ready. Please go to the banquet hall to eat."
The maid's voice interrupted Adina's thoughts.
———
Silas recovered a lot under the effect of the potion. He could clearly feel a warm current flowing through his body, repairing the parts that were injured by the thugs.
I don't know what the medicine is made of, but except for some broken bones that have not been repaired, other internal injuries have gradually returned to normal.
The effect of the potion was very obvious, but the side effects were also very severe. The injured parts of the body would experience excruciating pain during the repair process, but Silas gritted his teeth and persevered.
After recovering almost completely, Silas picked up a hoe brought by the thugs, picked out the still burning wood from the campfire, and threw it into the pile of straw in the stable.
This fire burned not only the corpses of the animals, but also Silas's immaturity and innocence.
All of these turned to ashes in the fire. At this moment, Silas only wanted to become stronger.
He turned his back to the burning stable and limped away from this sad place.
The burning red night sky and a column of black smoke rising into the sky, along with the man's back, formed a lonely painting.
———
In the banquet hall
Although Adina sat next to Marquis Hohen, she did not eat when the food was served.
She thought about everything that happened today and how much she hoped it was just a terrible nightmare.
But the pain on her body reminded her that this was not a dream.
As she thought about it, Aitina's eyes were already filled with mist.
"What's wrong, Miss Aitina? Is the food not to your liking?"
Seeing this, the attentive Marquis Hohen asked as he cut the medium-rare beef ribeye with a knife and fork.
Adina shook her head. How could she eat after going through so much today
Margrave Hohen said disapprovingly:
"Even if you don't want to eat, you have to eat at least a little. No matter how sad things are, since they have passed, let them pass."
After saying that, he put a small piece from his silver plate on Aitina's plate.
"You need to face the future with a smile, understand? Try eating."
Adina understood that Marquis Hohen was trying to comfort her, and she could not refuse the kindness of her host in picking up food for her, so she could only pick up the steak with a fork and put it in her mouth.
My eyes widened when I took a bite. This delicacy was indeed very different from the food I had eaten in the countryside before.
Beef is a relatively high-end food. Ordinary people simply do not have enough wealth to buy a piece of beef, let alone the top steak of which only one piece can be obtained from a cow.
The upper brain refers to the area at the back of the cow's neck, where the fat and lean parts are intertwined to form a beautiful marble pattern.
With the exquisite cooking skills of the chef at the Marquis's Mansion, the meat is roasted to be tender on the outside and tender on the inside, with juicy texture and a soft taste.
The perfect grilling ensures that the outer layer of the beef remains chewy, while the tender inner part melts in your mouth, creating a sharp contrast in taste.
After chewing it carefully, the gravy locked in the tender meat by the high temperature leaves a lingering fragrance on your teeth and cheeks.
This portion of beef ribs is not marinated with too much sauce, as that would take away the original flavor of the beef.
The chef carefully sprinkled the beef ribs with powdered Himalayan salt, a specialty of faraway Pakistan.
This salt has a unique feature, its color is pleasing pink, so it is also called rose salt.
Since it was discovered by Alexander the Great, it has been used as a tribute exclusively for the royal family.
Paired with some freshly ground bay leaf powder, it adds a little bit of spiciness and bitterness to the beef ribs. This flavor covers the greasy taste of fat and stimulates Adina's appetite.
"Maybe the Marquis is right, I should eat a little." Aetina thought.
After all, Adina was just a girl, and it was normal for her to be greedy, so she started cutting the food on the silver plate with the unfamiliar knife and fork.
Marquis Hohenheim saw the girl in front of him start eating, and the corners of his mouth curved up into a beautiful arc.