Animosity
Himari’s expression drastically changed.
When she shifted her attention to the person who spoke, she was enraged to see that it was Solomon.
She then dug her fingernails into the table so hard that they almost began to bleed.
She was filled with indescribable hatred for him, causing her to grimace in rage.
After all, he was someone that she had spurned but ended up proving her wrong.
Nevertheless, she didn’t dare protest further. From then on, she sat gloomily at the table until the feast
had ended, not daring to do anything else hasty.
At the end of the banquet, Ichika’s grandfather announced that they were taking their guests to Ichigo
River, just as expected.
Ichigo River?
Sasha had never heard the name before. Hence, she turned to look at Sebastian.
“Sebby, what’s that place? Are we going for a stroll?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Sebastian nodded as he helped Sasha put on her jacket.
To him, it was just a lousy river. At most, they would just take a walk there.
However, Sabrina’s eyes widened in disbelief when she heard about it. After all, she had done her
research on the famous tourist spots of Jetroina before the trip.
“My God! Ichigo River? Did I hear it wrong? Are we really going there?”
Devin asked, “What is it? What’s so special about the place?”
Jonathan and Rufus also turned to look at her, curious as to what she had to say.
Finally, Sabrina explained, “That’s the river that the royals visit to have some fun. I heard that it is filled
with rare and ancient lotus flowers. In fact, legend has it that some came from our country in the olden
days. Also, the riverbed is littered with river oysters. Wherever one picks them up, one would easily find
priceless blue pearls within them.”
“Blue pearls?”
Everyone was shocked to hear about it.
Even Jonathan, who had seen many treasures within his lifetime, was intrigued.
“It seems the Minamoto family is treating us as distinguished guests, considering they are taking us to
such an exclusive place.”
“Yes. It’s really great,” Rufus added.
As for Sabrina, she was already overwhelmed by the excitement the moment she heard they were
going there.
Half an hour later, when Ichika’s father led the entire group to the palace entrance, someone was
already waiting there to welcome them.
“Thanks for waiting for us here.”
Even though Giichi was the head of a noble family, he still thanked the staff respectfully for their work.
It was evident that the Minamoto family enjoyed the special status there.
When the Hayes family realized the fact, they followed behind Giichi obediently. Soon, they arrived at a
river that glistened beautifully underneath the moonlight. It looked so beautiful that one could be fooled
to think it was paradise.
Only then did everyone begin to loosen up.
“Wow, Mommy! Look, there are so many lotus flowers!”
Vivian was the first one to exclaim at the stunning sight. Running up to the river bank, she saw a
massive swathe of lotus flowers on the surface of the gentle river.
She was so excited that she clapped her hands in joy.
Ian and Matteo were equally delighted as they followed Vivian from behind. Even the two-year-old
Jaena couldn’t contain her excitement in her father’s arms.
“Flo-wers… Flo-wers…”
Considering she was still a toddler, she could barely enunciate properly.
Nevertheless, she could recognize how pretty the flowers were.
Not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, Devin carried her over.
More than ten minutes later, everyone boarded a yacht where a variety of pastries were served.
Aoi had joined them on the trip. When she saw the food being brought out, she began to entertain her
guests as the host. “Everyone, please give them a try. They are an assortment of our local delicacies.
You can enjoy both the scenery and the pastries at the same time.”
Ichika leaned over to Solomon and whispered, “Darling, these have been prepared by the palace chef.
You have to try them, as you can’t get them anywhere else.”
Solomon instantly froze.
As he had drunk some wine earlier, his body was feeling warm. When Ichika’s breath suddenly blew in
his ear, his breathing began to hasten.
Then his entire body began to burn.
“Hmm.”
He quickly picked up a small piece of cake and stuffed it into his mouth.
Soon, the yacht arrived at the center of the river. There, the children had discovered the secret of the
large river oysters.
After that, they began to prepare themselves with the equipment provided on the yacht after receiving
permission to do so.
“Mommy, I’ll catch one huge oyster and make you a beautiful pearl necklace.”
“Okay.”
“Mommy, me too. I’ll help you make a bottle of pearl powder so that you can use it during your facials.”
Matteo didn’t want to be left out.
Only Ian began to harvest the oysters diligently as he put them into his bag.
When Sabrina saw them, she stomped her feet at once. “Pearl powder? Facial? Do you know how rare
blue pearls are? You’re just letting treasures go to waste!”
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