Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 117: Cooked Meals

Chapter 117: Cooked Meals

"Your Majesty, can we also bring cooked food since Alwin can teleport it?" Arabella suggested.

The thought of all those people, especially the children not being able to eat clean and proper meals for a few more days bothered her.

"Preparing all the food supplies to be sent to them would take time so maybe we should give them cooked meals so they would be able to eat proper meals as soon as possible.

"After all, once you catch Dempsey’s men, no one would bring them food. They must be tired from working in the mines all the time as well. And even cooking must be difficult with all other resources not present.

"We have a lot of chefs in the palace. If the food they make is not enough to cater to everyone, then we can focus on giving meals to the children first," she explained to convince them.

[Her Majesty cares so much! Everyone would be overwhelmed to be able to eat twice a day. They would be touched that it was the Empress herself who thought of giving them ready-made meals too.] Nadia was delighted with her suggestion.

But Arabella gulped when Ferdinand and Raymond turned silent and stared at her.

’Did I overstep? Did I seem too confident because Ferdinand had been asking my thoughts earlier? Should I have suggested only when we are alone?’

Even if Ferdinand had been listening to her, they had to take care of his image. Listening to her all the time might make him look like a loser to others especially since to everyone, she’s just an eighteen-year-old naive and sheltered princess.

Arabella reminded herself not to suggest things in front of other people since she doesn’t have a credible enough reputation yet for the people to think her suggestions should be listened to and followed.

[Right. Why didn’t we think of that? I can go on for several days without food even in this human body so I tend to forget humans need food three or more times a day. It’s so embarrassing that my wife had to suggest it because we didn’t think about such an important matter to be addressed. She wouldn’t think I’m truly too heartless, right?]

Arabella was relieved Ferdinand was just overthinking things again and wasn’t against her suggestion nor thought she was overstepping.

[Why didn’t I think of that?] Raymond had a similar thought to Ferdinand.

[From what Alwin showed me, the people in Safiro were not in good health. And from Lady Nadia’s story, the people were probably barely holding on in order to survive. With how rundown everything looked, they probably don’t even have the necessities for cooking. I should have thought of this matters too. Thankfully, Her Majesty suggested it.]

"That’s a great suggestion, Your Majesty. We should indeed send cooked food," Raymond was the first to speak.

"Yes, of course. We shall have the palace chefs prepare meals for them," Ferdinand approved but not after a glare at Raymond for speaking before he did.

[Everyone will be elated to have a proper meal for the first time in a while! And it’s even made by palace chefs!] Nadia was delighted.

But then. . .

[Wait! Everyone’s so used to eating soup with just a bit of vegetables. If they see delicious meals prepared by the palace chefs, they would be too elated and would eat too much. But they would likely vomit it as I did at first. Our digestion is no longer used to complete meals. The children would probably be elated at the sight of delicious food and would overeat.]

Arabella learned from Nadia’s thoughts that the children would eat too quickly because of their eagerness. It was because of not eating anything other than soup and sweet potatoes.

Feeding them a complete meal poses the risk of possible choking from the food, and vomiting because their stomach was not used to it. Their body would be surprised at the sudden change as well.

Nadia experienced it herself. While on the way to Riva, she kept vomiting the food that was being fed to her the first three days because her body was used to eating so little.

"Nadia, what do you think would be best to eat for your tribesmen?" Arabella asked for Nadia to voice out her thoughts. Nadia hesitated but finally spoke out.

"Uhm, Your Majesty, it would be best to feed them soup and a bit of bread on the first two to three days since everyone’s bodies are used to eating so little. Suddenly eating a complete meal would surprise their body. Moreover, the children won’t be able to stop themselves from eating once they see good food. They might keep eating even when their stomach cannot take it anymore."

"Oh, that’s right. Thank you for informing us. We will have soup and bread prepared first then," Arabella smiled.

It was agreed then that soup and bread would be distributed on the first day and light meals and soup on the second day. On the third and fourth, they would try complete meals and if it works well, they would keep giving complete meals until the food supply was delivered.

Ferdinand then left to prepare the knights and Raymond went to oversee that preparation of all the things to be brought to Safiro would begin quickly.

With a signed edict from Ferdinand, Arabella sent instructions to the kitchen to begin cooking for as many people as possible.

She also instructed them to order more ingredients since they would be cooking for a lot of people probably for a week or more until the supplies are finally sent to Safiro. Alfredo and all the palace chefs would be incredibly busy.

Nadia meanwhile was still processing everything due to disbelief.

[I’m really dreaming aren’t I? How can this be true? All of a sudden, all the problems in Safiro would be solved soon. This is too good to be true. I must have been overthinking the past few days so I’m even dreaming of something this grand from happening.]