I who went to the market was overwhelmed by the foodstuffs I saw for the first time, the energy and the unique ambiance of the market.

Fresh vegetables and fruit, meat and fish… peculiar fragrances of spices and herbs. The high-spirited exchanges between the shopkeepers and customers… everything was strikingly stimulating.

While looking around one by one in high spirits, I became a bit hungry and decided to eat.

To let the Duke’s daughter eat food from the stall… I somehow persuaded Miria who was showing an apparent disapproval.

Enveloped in a delicious smelling fragrance, my feet immediately stopped before a small street stall.

「What a nice smell…」

The person who tended the stall was a boy with a foreign-looking face.

「Welcome. Our Okpal is delicious!」

It was a food covered in a brown sauce giving off a fragrant smell. It didn’t look like sweets from the smell, but its round shape was cute.

「May I have one?」

When I nervously said such, the boy smiled while saying「Thank you for your patronage!」, served the food in a container with a wooden stick for piercing and handed it over to me.

「It’s hot inside, so make sure not to scald yourself, okay!」He smiled again.
「Thank you very much」

I received it with a smile. I could tell it was piping hot from the container I held in my hands.
Miria ordered the same thing (I have to taste it first for poison! She was enthusiastic about it), she finished paying, and although it’s bad manners, we decided to sit at the edge of a nearby fountain.

「It looks very yummy…」

The warmness and the steam was stimulating my appet.i.te.

「Cri…… Ojousama, I will try it first, so please wait for a moment」

Saying such, Miria took the stick in her hand, pierced one and carefully placed it in her mouth.

「… ! Hot!?」

Because she stuffed her cheeks with the piping hot object, Miria was taken aback by the hotness. Seeing such Miria, was it perhaps really poisoned…? Cristea stiffened for a moment, but she was relieved with Miria’s next words.

「…! Wafu, it’s hot, but it’s bery delishouus…! … Fuu, Ojousama you mustn’t scald your mouth, so please eat after it cools down a little」

While saying such, Miria was already piercing the next ball with her stick.

「Seeing Miria eat so deliciously, there’s no way I can wait!」

Saying such, I stuffed my cheeks.

「…!」

Hot! Hotness is raging in my mouth. This might be my first time eating something so hot. But, it’s delicious! I stuffed my cheeks in a daze. I ate something so delicious for the first time since being born…! …? No? I feel… like it’s not my first time…?
Even though I was supposed to eat this for the first time, why… does it feel so nostalgic?

Then, I felt something within me bursting open.