"Good afternoon, Queen Renaldi and Ms. Helen~"
After all the guests had left, Mike made a circle with his right hand and bowed slightly, greeting the two ladies with gentlemanly etiquette.
Seeing Mike's "well-behaved" appearance, smiles appeared on both Queen Renaldi and Ms. Helen's faces. It has to be said that people with good looks can always gain the goodwill of others more easily.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Mike~"
Queen Renaldi returned the greeting, then turned to look at her granddaughter, who had a look of happiness on her face, and said dotingly: "Mia, take Mike for a stroll around the castle. It should be more interesting here than in the small town of Medford."
Mike's timely appearance this time gave the Queen the intention to let him continue to develop a relationship with her granddaughter. This is freedom of love...
As for how her granddaughter would "conquer" Mike, this philandering man, the Queen could only say she would do her best.
See, letting Mia take Mike to familiarize himself with the castle was creating more opportunities for the girl to be alone with him. In the Queen's view, it's not that hard for young people to cultivate feelings unless there's no spark between them to begin with.
And Mike and Mia's situation was obviously not the second case.
"Where do you want to go first?" Mia, walking in the castle corridor, asked, "The Queen's office, the castle tower, or somewhere else?"
Genovia's industry is not developed, so it still retains its medieval style. Among them, the most presentable is probably this magnificent royal castle. This castle, which occupies a vast area and has high rock walls, integrates functions such as military defense, residence, and administrative management, and has high historical and cultural value.
"You decide, I'm fine with anything." Mike, walking on the girl's left, answered while casually tugging at the collar of his formal suit.
This retro formal suit is indeed handsome, but the comfort level is really not that great. On the other hand, having helped Professor John complete the scientific research project, he had plenty of time to stay with the girl in Genovia. Therefore, Mike was not in a hurry to tour the entire castle at this time.
"Is that so..." Mia pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Have you had lunch?"
Hearing the question, Mike shook his head. Having rushed over to save the scene, he indeed hadn't had time to enjoy lunch.
"Then I'll take you to the kitchen to find something to eat first..." Mia suggested with a smile. At the previous banquet, to maintain royal etiquette, the girl actually didn't eat much either.
In the castle, the kitchen is not too far from the banquet hall. The two didn't walk long in the corridor before arriving at the kitchen entrance.
At this time, in the cubicle next to the entrance, many maids were enjoying delicious food. Judging by the richness of the food, it should be the leftovers just cleared from the banquet hall. The royal family members and ministers at the Royal Family Banquet wouldn't really gorge themselves, so the integrity of the leftover food was quite high. And this reuse of food could be considered a small benefit for the maids.
"Let's go to the food reserve area in the back; there's a lot of cooked food there..." Mia whispered after observing the situation inside the kitchen.
To ensure that royal family members who missed meal times wouldn't go hungry, the kitchen's food reserve area always prepared some food that was easy to store. Obviously, Mia had figured this out in advance.
Then the girl squatted halfway down, avoiding the maids' gazes like a thief, and sneaked into the kitchen. Seeing her skillful appearance, Mike had reason to suspect that the girl had secretly entered the kitchen to "steal" food before.
Mike, following behind, didn't disturb the girl's "elegance" at this time. Lightening his footsteps, he followed behind the girl with interest. The two's actions could be considered "the wife sings and the husband follows".
However, the kitchen is an important control area after all, so the surveillance intensity is obviously not low. Therefore, Mia and Mike's sneaky behavior was quickly discovered by the dining maids.
Okay, actually Mike and Mia's actions weren't very concealed, so being discovered was normal.
Seeing that the maids were about to call out, Mike pointed to Princess Mia in front of him, who was immersed in the infiltration game, and then made a shushing gesture to the maids.
The maids, understanding his meaning, showed knowing smiles and pretended to enjoy their food as if nothing had happened. However, these maids' gazes would still unconsciously glance towards Mike. That look of wanting to laugh but not daring to proved that they might have also discovered Mia sneaking into the kitchen before. It's just that due to Mia's identity, these maids probably didn't expose the girl on the spot before.
On the other side, Princess Mia, unaware that her behavior had been exposed, carefully led Mike successfully to the food reserve area.
"What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you." Mia, having completed the feat of "invading" the kitchen, breathed a sigh of relief while a look of pride appeared on her face.
And the food reserve area here was more like a cooked food storage room; in the windows next to it were various flavors of roast meat, bread, after-meal desserts, and various fresh fruits. To facilitate eating on the spot, a simple dining table was also specially placed in the room.
"You go get desserts and fruits, I'll get roast meat and bread..." Mike commanded.
Before long, several sumptuous plates were lined up on the dining table. It is worth mentioning that Mia also took a bottle of red wine and two goblets from the wine storage area.
Then, under Mike's gorging, Mia's appetite was also aroused, and she immediately joined the army of eaters. Not to mention, this place is indeed worthy of being the royal catering area; the various flavors of roast meat are not much worse than the special roast meat made by Meemaw, each having its own merits.
More than half an hour later, Mia, full of food and drink, rubbed her stomach and put the tableware on the dining table back in place, then carefully led the equally satisfied Mike out.
At this time, the maids who had tasted the delicious food at the kitchen entrance, considering that Princess Mia would pass by here later, still gathered in the room next to it. It could be considered artificially creating an opportunity for the princess's departure.
"Ha, next I'll take you to see Grandma's office." Mia, having successfully left the kitchen, seemed to be in a very good mood. Like having played a big "adventure".
Aside, Mike looked at the girl who knew nothing and was still giggling foolishly, and finally couldn't help but remind her: "Mia, you have now officially become the Kingdom's Princess, representing the face of the entire Genovia royal family in the future. So try to do less of those un-'ladylike' things like just now."
One should do things befitting their status. It might not matter much if the girl secretly did a little "bad" thing before becoming a princess. But since she has become the Kingdom's Princess, doing those things that lose dignity is a bit inappropriate.
Even, it might very well attract some unnecessary trouble for her. For example, that Prince Mabrey, if he knew Mia did something out of line, would definitely make a big fuss about it.
Moreover, Mia could completely avoid these messy things; as the Kingdom's Princess and heir, her power is actually very large. Even if she went to the food prep area to eat openly, no one would say anything about her.
"I know, I will pay attention in the future." Her carefree personality made Mia's mindset unable to adjust for a while. However, the girl was not stupid; after being reminded, she quickly understood the difference that should exist between a Kingdom's Princess and a country wild girl.
As a country wild girl, one can be carefree and follow one's heart, doing whatever one wants. But as a kingdom's heir, one represents a country, and one needs to think twice before acting. The public might tolerate a princess with insufficient ability, but they absolutely cannot accept an heir who acts "frivolously".
After coming out of the kitchen, Mike and Mia went together to the Queen's office in the central area of the castle.
In the not-so-large office, Queen Renaldi, Helen, and Mr. Joe gathered together, seeming to be whispering about something.
And at the office window stood three ladies with very different ages; the relatively young one wearing professional attire should be the secretary, the oldest one in the middle should be the nanny, and the youngest one on the other side with a cute appearance and wearing a maid outfit should be the personal maid.