It had been a very long time since I last had set foot inside of Ria’s house, but from what I remembered, it hadn’t really changed much. Apart from that everything had gotten smaller, it still looked a lot like your normal stuck up and very rich family home, including the giant painting of Ria’s mom and dad greeting you in the income hall. Yep, I very much preferred Em’s house, by a lot.

“Do you want me to take your jackets?” Ria’s dad asked as he was already approaching Alessia.

“No, thank you, we will be keeping them on.” Alessia denied the request with a smile.

“Alright, please follow me, the dining room is this way.” I could tell by the look on his face that he got kind of butthurt because of that. Even though he was trying really hard to hide it. “Please excuse me for the lack of servants. We fired our servant last week.”

Geez, I wonder why. From what I heard from Ria, the pay was okay, but definitely not worth the attitude her parents threw at them almost constantly. I would actually be surprised if they fired the person, it’s way more likely they quit instead. At least I could count on my girlfriend for having been nice to them.

“I don’t think I even remember firing one of my attendants.” Alessia replied. That struck yet another sore spot.

“You must give me the number of the company you use as a middleman then, we can’t seem to find good workers.”

“I do all the hiring myself.” If I didn’t know any better, it is as if Alessia was deliberately trying to pick a fight. But it was probably a way to lay on the pressure.

Ria’s dad stayed quiet for the short way left to the dining hall. When he swung open the door to the dining hall, we were greeted by the bright lights of the fancy chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The table had been lit with candles in silver candlesticks. From what I could tell, all the tableware was made out of silver too.

But my eyes didn’t stay on that for long as they immediately shot to my girlfriend sitting on the other side of the table, next to her mother. Ria was wearing a beautiful blue dress.

They both stood up as we walked in, with her mother taking the word. “Nice to meet you, Lady Gattilusio. We are honored by your presence here today.” She bowed. Ria bowed along. “This here is my daughter, Corelia. Say hello, dear.”

“Hello, Lady Gattilusio, nice to meet you.” Ria bowed once more.

“Nice to meet you as well.” Alessia returned the bow. “You look marvelous. That dress really suits you.”

Ria blushed slightly, “Thank you, my Lady.”

“I’d introduce my daughter to you, but you already know each other, don’t you? That’s the reason why we are here, after all.” Alessia turned her attention back on Ria’s mother and father. In the meantime, I managed to sneak in a small wave to Ria. While she generally managed to hide her reaction, I did see a little smile and a tiny bit of blushing appear. I noticed that her gaze was occasionally being drawn to the necklace I was wearing as well.

“I-it was all a big misunderstanding.” Ria’s mom stuttered as Alessia just stared them down. “We didn’t mean to come across like that at all.”

“Exactly, my dear.” Ria’s father supports his wife. “We… we have always treated Au… Lady Aurora with the utmost respect.”

“Is that so? I’ll be very interested in hearing about what you think is respectable conduct.” Alessia doesn’t give them a second off the grill. “Over a nice dinner, of course.”

“Of course, of course!” Ria’s mom agreed.

“Or did you ‘fire’ your chef as well?”

“No, we hired this one purely for this occasion…” Ria’s dad probably didn’t think his reply through very much before answering. He turned red the moment he’d said that.

“I see.” Alessia pointed at the couple of chairs in front of her. “I take it, my daughter and I can sit here?”

“Y-yes. As you wish.” Ria’s dad pulled back the chair for Alessia, after which he did the same for me.

“Thank you.” I replied with a smile.

Yet, Ria’s dad did not respond.

I had been seated right across from Ria, which was pretty nice. It definitely beat sitting directly across her parents. Although it must be said that the rather deep cut in Ria’s dress made it somewhat hard for me to stay focussed. What made it worse is that Ria was fully aware where my eyes were wandering off too. Confirmed by how blushy she got.

“Ahum.” Alessia coughed, she must’ve noticed as well, luckily Ria’s parents were none the wiser. “Shall we discuss the rest over dinner?”

“Yes.” Ria’s father agreed. Glad that he’d gotten at least a little bit of respite. “The food should be done momentarily anyway. It would be a shame to let it go cold, wouldn’t it?”

“We can very much agree on that.” Alessia nodded. I got the feeling that she was lulling them back into a false sense of security. Just like how to make metal brittle, by repeatedly heating it up and cooling it down again. She was on the road of breaking Ria’s parents completely in the talks to come.

“We have instructed the chef to make Moules frites for us today, I hope this is okay for you?” Ria’s mom asked the both of us, although her question was clearly more directed towards Alessia than to me.

“What do you think, Aurora?” Again, Alessia played perfectly against their cards.

“Sounds good to me.” I replied with a big smile.

The forced smile on Ria’s mom’s face was priceless as she stood up and walked towards the door. “Gabriëlle, you can bring the food.” She called out into the hallway, which I recalled wasn’t very far from their kitchen.

In the corner of my eye, I could see the slightest hint of a smirk appear on Alessia’s face. I wondered why but that question was answered the moment the chef walked through the door.

“Ah, Gabriëlle, long time no see.” Alessia smiled at the chef.

“Lady Alessia! What a surprise!” The chef smiled back the instant he saw her.

Alessia then started speaking in Greek with Gabriëlle while Gabriëlle rolled in the dishes on a cart. Both Ria and I were surprised by this sudden turn of events but I think it is fair to say the people who were surprised most of all, were Ria’s parents.

“Lady Alessia, you know this man?” Ria’s dad asked.

“Gabriëlle? Yes, back in the day, I helped him launch his career.” She turned around and smiled. “Anyone who would insult him or his cooking would bring a direct affront onto me.” Alessia stared pretty much directly at Ria’s mom, who just gulped. Alessia then turned towards me. “And this is my daughter, Aurora.”

“Nice to meet you.” I smiled at the chef.

“Nice to meet you as well, Lady Aurora. I hope you will like the food.” He took a plate with one of those silver bowls and handed one over to me. “If you would, please hand that over to Lady Corelia.”

“Thank you.” Ria smiled as she accepted the plate from me.

“I added a little bit more pepper, as you requested.” His smile towards Ria was definitely genuine. Ria must’ve been the only one here who’d been nice to him as well. Ria, you’re such an angel. I don’t know how you come forth from the devil spawn sitting next to you. It’s honestly a miracle of the Goddess herself. Gabriëlle then continued handing out the plates to the rest of us, so we all had a silver domed plate in front of us.

“Have a nice meal. I hope you enjoy the food.”

“Thank you, Gabriëlle.” Alessia replied before the two elder Du Bellay’s could. It almost seemed as if Alessia had taken over hosting the meeting in their own house. When Gabriëlle left the room, Alessia and I waited for Ria’s mom and dad to retake the initiative. They both seemed really thrown off-balance. But Ria’s dad managed to recover first.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” He lifted the cloche off his plate, to which his wife followed. Alessia, Ria and I joined in as well. The wave of deliciously seasoned mussels crashed into me like a tsunami. With the golden brown and visibly crispy fries next to it and some good old home-made mayonnaise… This was going to be a terribly delicious meal. It made me happy that I’d somewhat learned to eat while I wasn’t hungry, because it would be a cardinal sin to let this go past me. That having been said, the only thing that I found a bit strange is that mussels generally, as far as I knew at least, don’t get eaten with a knife and fork, but with your hands. It’s doable, but definitely a bit weird.

-And now that I think about it… mussels used to be poor people’s food, weren’t they? I’m surprised Ria’s parents would even dare to eat such a thing… even if that reputation had long since changed…-