CH-112

112 Summons to the Royal Court

The remaining journey to Levanci was less than two days away.

A carriage would certainly be faster than walking with the main group.

Thus, Shu Li chose to stay at the manor for a few more days.

Firstly, to slack off a bit longer and avoid catching up to the main group too quickly, which would mean walking to the capital himself.

Secondly, to observe if there were any other ways he could assist Viscountess Beverly.

Everything that happened in the prayer room was carefully orchestrated by Shu Li.

According to the law, both noble and wealthy merchant widows were entitled to a legal share of their deceased husband's estate.

However, if she was perceived as the cause of her husband's death, her inheritance would likely face significant obstacles.

Shu Li was very cautious about this.

Furthermore, Shu Li's actions were also meant to protect her inner peace.

He didn't want her to be burdened by guilt for causing her husband's death, nor did he want any future resentment to grow between her and her child.

After all, children are innocent and easily influenced.

If manipulated by others, the pain of a father's absence could easily turn into misplaced anger towards the mother.

Finally, this would also pave the way for Viscountess Beverly to remarry.

A wife who 'failed to protect her husband' would undoubtedly make many view Viscountess Beverly with fear.

For the sake of her reputation and future, even though Beverly was a witness to the murder, Shu Li would do everything possible to avoid having her testify directly.

This was partly out of consideration for her, and partly to ensure a smooth future for Caska.

However, two-thirds of the days spent at the manor were fasting days, meaning Shu Li couldn't eat meat.

Viscountess Beverly was truly at a loss. During fasting days, the consumption of beef, lamb, or poultry was forbidden, preventing her from offering proper hospitality. The best she could provide was fish or seafood.

Their family primarily dealt in maritime trade, so seafood in their coastal region was sometimes cheaper than bread.

This made Viscountess Beverly feel she was being a poor host, deeply ashamed of her inadequate hospitality.

As he enjoyed his seafood feast, he consoled her: "Madam, please don't worry. I'm very adaptable." With that, he took a large bite of butter-roasted lobster.

Before him were plump, glistening squid, razor clams, oysters, scallops, and prawns, all lined up.

The razor clams, placed on the grill for less than three minutes, began sputtering and releasing water, revealing their snowy white flesh. The savory meat simmered in its own juices.

Shu Li quickly placed more razor clams on the grill to cook.

One after another...

The Duchy of Sermon's economy and cuisine resembled that of Spain and Italy, with a preference for sauces.

Though there was no soy sauce, Shu Li used the local fish and shellfish extract, adding minced garlic, chopped scallions, and bird's eye chilies.

He had discovered the chilies in their garden.

The locals were more accustomed to traditional spices like black pepper.

Returning to the seafood feast, the razor clams were at least a finger long and packed with meat. Once grilled, they could be easily removed from their shells.

That hot, fresh meat dipped in the savory, spicy, and tangy sauce...

The moment it entered his mouth, he couldn't help but slap the table.

Absolutely delicious!

I could stay here forever.

After slapping the table a couple of times, Shu Li refocused and continued eating with gusto.

Viscountess Beverly had never met anyone so easily satisfied.

But watching him eat with such relish, she couldn't help but swallow her own saliva.

"Sir Shurik seems to love seafood."

"It's not that I love seafood," Shu Li corrected. "I love all delicious food."

Seeing Viscountess Beverly's longing gaze, Shu Li invited her to join him in the charcoal-grilled seafood.

Viscountess Beverly had previously found seafood rather fishy. But prepared this way by Shu Li, she found it fresh and delicious, possessing a unique flavor that even surpassed beef, lamb, pork, and chicken.

As she grilled a prawn, Shu Li prepared two dipping sauces for her: a refreshing lemon-garlic-butter sauce, and a creamy yogurt-mint sauce.

Usually, Viscountess Beverly preferred shrimp and crab, but she would only eat one or two because she disliked peeling them.

However, with these sauces, she unknowingly ate four or five prawns and still wanted more.

"Unfortunately, Kalan doesn't like seafood." Beverly tried to feed a piece of shrimp to Kalan, but he just turned his head away, refusing to eat.

Shu Li looked over at Kalan. "You could make some shrimp paste for the child."

Children aged 0-3 are often influenced by the shape of their food.

"What is shrimp paste?"

"Take raw shrimp meat. Mince half into a paste, and leave the other half in small chunks. Mix it with egg white, salt, lemon juice to remove any fishiness, and a little sugar for flavor. That's it."

This was simple enough to instruct the kitchen staff.

Shu Li placed a thick iron pot on the grill and pan-fried the shrimp paste with butter and parsley. He shaped them into circles, triangles, and even little stars.

Of course, Shu Li had to admit his shrimp paste shapes were a bit ugly, but the child was absolutely delighted.

Before they were even cooked, Kalan's drool had already dripped onto Viscountess Beverly's hand, leaving her both amused and exasperated.

Afterwards, she laughed for the first time in a while, and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Watching her beloved child carefree and happy was the best cure for the soul.

As the Chinese saying goes, "A mother becomes strong for her child."

Viscountess Beverly would surely overcome this difficult time.

After discreetly observing everyone's state, Shu Li said: "I can't stay much longer. I'll write down some child-friendly recipes over the next few days. Feel free to use them as you see fit."

Hearing this, Viscountess Beverly understood he had to attend the successor selection and naturally didn't dare keep him longer. "Besides the carriage, is there anything else I can do to help?"

Shu Li hesitated, then hesitated again, before saying quietly: "Ahem, I noticed your kitchen has some dried squid."

Such large pieces!

Grilling them over a fire would be absolutely delicious.

Slurp.

Viscountess Beverly was puzzled. "You like it?"

Shu Li's throat moved, but he was reluctant to admit his gluttony. Instead, he raised his fork to feed Kalan. "This piece is cooked. You can eat it now."

Seeing Shu Li offering him food, Kalan ran around to Shu Li's side and climbed onto his lap, wanting to be fed.

Shu Li had been accustomed to looking after young children for a long time and was very practiced. The child was particularly fond of him, and after being fed the shrimp paste, Kalan would accept anything Shu Li offered, even eating carrots.

"Good boy."

Shu Li smiled and stroked the child's head, murmuring: "It would be nice if we could meet again someday."

Viscountess Beverly clasped her hands and said softly: "Everything for us must start anew now. My hospitality has been rushed and inadequate. When we meet again, I will formally repay your kindness."

Shu Li was momentarily taken aback, then chuckled softly. "Just live your lives well, with a clear conscience. Don't make me feel my intervention was unnecessary. That will be repayment enough."

Viscountess Beverly immediately understood his concern. Deeply touched, her eyes reddened, and she nodded gently.

"I will remember your words."

Viscountess Beverly spoke softly.

Her tone was steady, and her expression became solemn and resolute. In her heart, Viscountess Beverly had already buried this debt of gratitude deep, waiting for a future opportunity to repay it properly.

Shu Li, meanwhile, continued his enthusiastic assault on the seafood buffet!

*

After bidding everyone farewell and leaving the manor, Shu Li thought to himself—

Actually, since this path likely led nowhere good, maybe he should just leave!

But he feared that failing to check in at the royal palace would still cause trouble for Viscountess Beverly.

After all, his name was registered with the knights.

Others might be forgotten, but Shu Li's face and name would certainly be remembered. What if they retaliated by taking Kalan as an offering? That couldn't be allowed.

The carriage had barely traveled a few hundred meters when three youths suddenly jumped aboard.

To Shu Li, Claude's appearance was not surprising.

After all, he held Claude's crucial ring.

Since Claude hadn't retrieved it yet, he couldn't just give up and leave on his own.

What was unexpected, however, was that Kyle and Phillips hadn't left with the main group either.

To be honest, calling them friends was absolutely out of the question. An introvert's definition of a friend is very strict. These two were merely acquaintances.

Yet, they had both waited for him to depart.

This puzzled Shu Li.

The most likely reason was convenience.

Traveling with the main group probably meant continuing on foot. But by waiting for him, they could ride in the carriage.

On the other hand, when the three jumped onto the carriage, Kyle and Claude exchanged glances but said nothing to each other. Phillips clearly sensed Claude's ill intentions, but he lacked the courage to make him leave, let alone push him off.

In fact, they had encountered Claude three days prior.

It was precisely because of him that Kyle and Phillips hadn't actively sought out Shu Li, waiting instead until the critical moment of "if we don't meet him now, we'll have to chase the carriage on foot."

They hadn't expected Claude to be so fixated on Shu Li, persistently watching for an opportunity when he was alone.

Initially, after things had settled down, the two of them had planned to stay with Shu Li and enjoy a few easy days at the manor. Instead, they ended up having to keep an eye on Claude, which delayed them until the very end.

Of course, when they saw Claude had already jumped onto the carriage, they weren't about to run behind it. So, one after another, like dumplings into a pot, they piled into the carriage.

However, Shu Li inside the carriage was completely unsurprised by their arrival.

A flicker of surprise crossed their minds, but they didn't find it strange.

After all, even if his helping someone find a lost purse in the stables or predicting the danger to the old lady and child could be attributed to luck, intuition, or keen judgment...

When they witnessed him simply cover the eyes of a man larger than himself, utter a quiet "Fall—", and watch the man collapse like a puppet with its strings cut, without any struggle...

That kind of shock couldn't be dismissed so easily.

Especially since such a debilitating act couldn't possibly be faked with the victim's cooperation.

This fundamentally ruled out any possibility of a staged performance.

For Claude and Kyle, who hailed from the metropolis, though they had witnessed the healing miracles of their classmate Audora, they had never seen such a direct, simple, and irresistible form of "dominance."

At that moment, they couldn't imagine how much others might fear Shu Li's abilities.

It was only the time spent together, seeing Shu Li's easygoing, carefree, and gluttonous nature, that tempered their awe of this young man.

Especially when they first climbed into the carriage and saw Shu Li happily devouring a grilled pineapple.

He looked up, his round, bright eyes making him look exactly like a cat caught in the act.

"Because the pineapple was still a bit sour," he explained.

Amidst their speechlessness, they had to acknowledge Shu Li's remarkable knowledge.

Besides his inherent abilities, his breadth of knowledge was also a source of great curiosity.

With maritime trade flourishing, many exotic ingredients had entered the empire, and most people didn't know how to prepare or consume them. Yet Shu Li always seemed to know exactly what to do with each item and the best way to enjoy it.

Take the pineapple, for example. They had only ever seen them at the royal court.

This pineapple was known as the "King of Fruits."

A single one could cost 400 to 500 silver coins – extremely expensive.

Common folk usually presented them as tribute to royalty and nobility.

When they saw the pineapple being loaded onto the carriage earlier, they assumed Viscountess Beverly intended for Shu Li to offer it to the King of Sermon to gain favor and attention.

Instead, Shu Li, without a second thought, unhesitatingly ate it as a snack, and even offered some to the coachman.

The coachman was overwhelmed by the honor, trembling with fear and gratitude. He only dared to take a tiny bite, planning to save the rest to share with his family back home.

But Shu Li urged him on, treating the precious fruit as if it were nothing special: "Eat up quickly, or it'll spoil."

He casually shared such a luxury, yet could create dozens of dishes from cheap seafood. This showed Shu Li could both enjoy life's pleasures and endure hardship, making his true background difficult to guess.

The four of them shared the carriage for two days and a night.

Though they weren't close friends, a certain unspoken understanding developed among them. The strangest part was that no one asked about each other's surnames or origins.

Shu Li knew that Kyle and Claude had special identities, so he naturally avoided asking to prevent lies.

As for Phillips, Shu Li couldn't tell if he was deliberately silent or simply lacked social skills.

Despite everything, the journey was rather pleasant.

The only thing that made Shu Li's heart twinge was the coachman, tasked with taking them to Levanci, remarking that the four of them seemed to have a good relationship.

"..."

I don't see it at all, okay?

Shu Li pretended not to hear this baseless rumor.

Regardless, Shu Li still prepared some parting words before they went their separate ways.

"Once we enter Levanci, we'll probably go our own ways."

Shu Li was quite serious about it, so although the other three initially didn't want to listen, they still turned their attention to him and perked up their ears.

Seeing they were willing to listen to at least a few words, Shu Li's tone grew a bit more sincere. "In the time I'm not around, try to be good people."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three of them unanimously turned and walked away.

Shu Li: "..."

They can't even listen to heartfelt advice. Hopeless.

The coachman, having watched the whole scene, burst out laughing.

Shu Li: "See? And you still think they have a good relationship with me?"

The coachman chuckled. "It looks like a very good one to me."

Hearing this, Shu Li decided this coachman was no good.

He resolved not to speak to this coachman anymore.

A few hours later, the gates of Levanci, the royal capital, appeared on the distant horizon.

And shortly after entering the city, a quiet order arrived—

Shu Li was to be summoned directly to the royal palace.

He wasn't surprised, and neither were the other three.

After walking a few steps towards the palace, Shu Li suddenly remembered something and stopped. He turned, his gaze landing precisely on Claude, who was watching him leave.

"Claude."

The call was clear and bright, like a sharp whistle or a fleeting shooting star.

As the word left his lips, Shu Li casually tossed something. A small, shiny object flew straight towards Claude.

Shu Li's aim was true, making it effortless for Claude to catch.

It was a cold piece of metal, yet it burned hotly in his palm.

Claude clenched the ring tightly in his hand.