44. Cakes Galore!
**Chester**
I couldn’t reply, I could only stare.
Anna skipped over to her. “You bet! I made sure to have a light breakfast just for this moment. Do you think they’ll let us keep the cakes?”
Ester placed an arm over her shoulders. “Well, we did pay for larger samples. So everything you see here are ours.”
She glanced around at the large table topped with single-layer cakes and gasped. Her eyes were practically twinkling.
“Woah. I want to shove them all into my mouth. Oh, but…" She waved her hands. Not after you taste them yourself, of course!"
Ester chuckled. "As long as we all get a taste, I don't mind who goes first." She glanced over her shoulder. "Are you waiting on something, Your Majesty?"
Snapping out of my trance, I put a smile on my face. "Absolutely. And didn't I tell you to call me by my first name?"
The three of us stood side by side with Ester in the middle. A chef stood on the other side of the table with his hands behind his back. In front of him was a black chef's outfit that matched the one the man was wearing.
"Your Majesty. Your Highness. My Lady." She addressed us separately, bowing to each of us. "As you already know, I'm Millie Parker, the owner of Sunrise Bakery. I would like to thank you again for choosing our establishment for the upcoming wedding."
Millie gestured to the spread of cakes. "Here we have a wide array of desserts. You'll be happy to find that we have brought everything from the most favored flavors to the ones with a more unique taste. All of these were prepared by our top chef and his team, Chef Hamlet.”
Chef Hamlet took a step forward and lowered his head. “Greetings to the royal family and the future Crown Princess. I hope that you enjoy what my colleagues and I have created.”
Anna and Ester returned his greeting while I simply nodded.
Chef Hamlet retreated, allowing Millie to return to her place.
“Please don’t feel pressured to think that you need to try our cakes in order. If you like, We would happily cut the cakes for you and place them on a plate for easier consumption.”
I glanced over at the girls. Neither of them showed much of a reaction. Ester shrugged while Anna had a hungry expression. I returned my focus to the chefs. “There’s no need. If we have any questions, we’ll call you over.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Millie smiled. “Everything displayed here has a card that details the ingredients as well as the type. We'll be ready to answer any time you call for us."
Ester nodded. "Thank you, Miller. And thank you for your hard work, Chef Hamlet. I think we'll enjoy these."
And enjoy them we did.
The first cake Anna came in contact with was decorated in white icing. Anna picked up the card and read the golden letters on top.
“Oh~ This one is lemon cake.” She passed the card to Ester who read the words in black below the name.
And they use filtered water from the springs,” Ester said. “I didn’t know that bakeries filtered their own water.”
“From what I remember, they also own a water company called Sunrise Spring Waters. They also have branches going past the border into other countries,” I told them.
The day went better than I could have imagined. Anna and Ester became more relaxed as the time passed. Ester wiped some buttercream onto Anna's cheeks and did her best to block her cheeks and prevent Anna from doing the same. It warmed my heart to see them get along.
It was clear that the cakes were freshly made. I could smell their intoxicating scents. I broke off a piece of mixed berry cake with my fork and moaned when it hit my tongue. This! If I were to have a second wedding, this would be it.
Someone chuckled beside me. I turned to find Ester staring at me with an amused grin.
“I didn’t know you had such a sweet tooth, Chester,” she teased. “That’s your sixth slice.”
I smirked.
“Are you cake-shaming me?”
Ester laughed and shook her head. “How can I blame you? The desserts are really good. I love the citrus ones as well as the melon but it’s going to be hard to make a choice.”
After processing her words, I decided to ask her a question. Anna was chatting with Chef Hamlet about a green cake. “Are those your favorite flavors? Do you prefer ones that taste like fruits?”
Ester caressed her chin. “I think so. I remember when I was younger, my grandmother would take me to a friend’s orchid and allow me to pick as many as I wanted. Those trees always carried such a strong fragrance. It made me feel like I was in a magical forest picking the fruits that were grown by fairies.”
I chuckled. “Trust me, you don’t want to eat anything a fairy makes or grows.”
Her eyes widened, features displaying hints of curiosity. “Have you ever been given food by a fairy?”
Hm. Come to think of it, there is something I’ve never told anyone.
“When I was younger, around ten or so, my cousin and I found our way off the palace grounds without anyone knowing. We wandered upon a fairy circle made of mushrooms, and behold, there was a fairy on the outside of it. I didn’t notice anything alarming about them. I could instinctively tell that they were not of this world yet there were no thoughts telling me to run.
“My cousin tried to tell me to keep away from them, but I ended up walking to them when they offered me some purple apple-looking thing. It smelled great. I would have eaten it and followed them into the fairy circle if the knights hadn’t found us and dragged me away from them. The fae I saw didn’t have wings, just a paper-white body and irises that almost resembled a starry night. I was scolded by my parents hard that day. They told me that if I had taken the gift, I would have never been able to return home.”