chapter 26-The date of Marques Helio Argento and his beloved Marchioness

Earlier in the morning, a little before Rhydian and Sophia set out for their date...

"How are you my dear and the baby?" asked Helio to the half asleep Melody. "Alright, I suddenly crave fried chicken and ice cream, oh and some street foods... Oh how I miss the Lamian hand pulled noodle shop on Ichinose street, oh my I especially miss the spicy beef noodle soup one..." was her reply as her stomach growled and she hid her face under her pillow.
Helio chuckled and reminded her that she had an appointment with the palace gynecologist after breakfast and after that promised to take her out on a date.

They both had a steamy bath and headed to the dining room of the palace to eat their breakfasts with everyone. A handsome breakfast it was indeed for it made Melody nearly drool, she was very satisfied as the table was filled with black tea as morning tea, honey french toasts that had a crispy exterior and a soft chewy interior, chocolate waffles with clotted cream and strawberries where the berries were freshly picked right before sunrise from the palace gardens, the clotted cream sweet and makes one feel at home, rich and fluffy, the waffles both crispy and soft, the white and dark chocolate on top make the perfect contrast as the dark chocolate is bitter so it makes a good contrast with the sweetness of the other ingredients. The strawberries juicy and slightly sour, the Lemon and sugar pancakes that were ever so chewy in one's mouth, the freshly baked croissants, bread and butter and cheese, herbal scones and fried eggs with salt, pepper and fried onipns sprinkled on top and it's yolk ever so creamy and piping hot when cut, the pistachio and almond très lèches cake with it's green almond flavoured buttercream sprinkled with powdered pistachios, soft, sweet, aromatic and melts in the mouth, the coconut-cheese-grilled cumin biscuits; fondant and cheesy, biscuits that are sprikled with desicated coconut and sesame seeds on top that baked to a beautiful golden brown in the oven and the grilled cumin biscuits; long and thick, baked on very low heat for a long time so it is very crunchy and stayed white in colour. The banana tarts were the main dish of this breakfast as it has a savoury and crunchy tart crust and the inside, a wonder of cooked mushed bananas in milk and some other ingredients, a thick, sweet, soft, creamy and juicy banana paste indeed it was and it's tart crust was simply other worldly.Melody couldn't contain herself at the sheer joy of seeing and eating all these foods that she had to hold back tears, she was not only eating for herself but her baby as well, hence had a huge and wholesome apetite and ate for the fetus in her stomach as well.

After the palace gynecologist took a look at her, as promised Helio took her out in town. Lari who looked at them longingly from her bedchamber window and sighed. "Why the long face sister?" asked Kai who came to show her the latest news from the commoners' papers which she had always been so interested in since childhood. "Rhydian is out on a date with Princess Sophia, now Marques Helio took his wife on a date and she's with a child, how exciting isn't it? Prince Yusha took his Fiancee lady Kristina on a date as well, only the two of us remain here, idle on such a holiday while all those lucid festivities are going on in town." replied Lari glumly. Kai laughed and patted her shoulders "sister, you do know that we are starting all preparations for your wedding starting tomorrow right and you'll be wed by the end of next week, we'll all be here with you till then and set sail again, I said we cause I am going with them. If you so wish to see the festival in town, then why don't you and I go on a sibblings date, what do you say? you'll be married soon and won't have time to spend with me again and will go live in Leisenburg kingdom, ah how sad it makes me for I shall always miss your cheerful banters."
with that Lari smiled with tears in her eyes and hugged her brother Kai tightly and nodded her approval for the sibblings date and off they went after getting ready, even brought Jasmine; their fluff ball of a fat and small grey cat for a walk with them.

the horses trotted slowly in the town's streets and the carriage stopped by a fabric and dressmaker shop. There Helio bought some new matching fabric for himself and his beloved wife and chose a design that was comfortable, easy to walk in for a hike. Next they went to an outdoor flowershop that was on the wooden docks of the lunyy-svet river. There were a lot of blue and purple hydrangeas, pink peonies, pink, red and yellow roses, orange and white bougainvillea, Red and purple Tulips and so much more. There was also an old painter who was actually the owner of the flowers and he indicated Melody to take a seat on the Victorian chair in front of the blue hydrangeas and indicated Helio to stand beside her so he could paint them. Melody had a very beautiful light brown skin complexion, rosy cheeks, she always smelled like the Panicle hydrangeas; Hydrangea paniculata. Her skin was silky, soft and shiny, her voluptuous body shape enhanced her beauty, her wide almond eyes and grey iris, her small face and pointy nose and her beautiful straight raven hair in a most exquisite braided updo finished with beautiful silver and blue saphire hair ornaments and her refined teal blue coloured long Edwardian dress made her look like a mermaid or a princess living in a hydrangea garden. She was outstandingly beautiful and her skin tone really matched the blue hydrangeas. In fact that was her favourite flower, back at the Argento manor, Helio made sure to have the east gardens full of blue and purple hydrangeas especially for her to hold her tea gatherings for her friends the ladies in afternoons. It was her garden, her space, but she also planted peach blossoms, the flowers are not only mesmerizingly beautiful but the big trees also provide shade.

The painting turned out to be very realistic and captured the soft loving gaze in Melody's grey eyes and the fondness and tenderness in Helio's Saphire blue eyes. Melody's silver brooch and other silver ornaments always had the saphire stones in them as they were not only a gift from Helio, but some of which she herself purchased because the saphire always reminds her of Helio's eyes that always look at her tenderly with warmth and blue was also her favourite colour. And Helio always wore silver brooches as it reminded him of Melody's crystal grey eyes and matched his ash blond hair. They had the painting wrapped and sent by post to the Imperial palace's hall of purity where they were staying and went off to buy some lanterns, wrote their wishes which were "I wish everyone living person a life full of blessings and prosperity" and released them in the river.

The thousands of floating lanterns floating on the lunyy-svet river, the ones floating in the crisp air of the night, it was a sight to remember, a sea or fleet of lanterns. shininga and floating beautifully. The people who gathered there, Prince Yusha and lady Kristina were releasing their lanterns as well and they caught Prince Rhydian and Princess Sophia coming back with empty glasses to buy lanterns too, Prince Kai and Princess Lari were there too, they all met up after releasing their lanterns and laughed gayly altogether. They had more street foods for their dinner before heading back to the palace. The fireworks which started earlier before Rhydian and Sophia were back continued. The bright purple, blue, green, pink, firery red, golden colours that sparkled in the night sky reflected down in the river water. At last there was a huge bonfire where it was tradition for anyone at the festival to throw in things related to their worst memories of the year in order to burn away bad luck and bad omens. and the people would hold hands in a circle and dance around the bonfire till it went out. They danced merrily to country songs, then there was a waltz to which our three couples and the Kai and Lari Alles Lazlo pair danced merrily till a little after midnight. They then headed back to their carriages to go back to the palace but to their dismay they had wanted to see the bonfire out however tomorrow a full day of wedding preparations awaited them so they needed some sleep in order to function properly the next day.