Chapter 594: The Royal Family of Theonia (I)
Chapter 594: The Royal Family of Theonia (I)
Cheiristoya became happy after hearing that. She then placed her head on Davos’ robust chest and said softly, “I’ll leave it up to you…”
“It’s already late; we should go sleep…” Davos patted her, and the two soon fell asleep…
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The following morning, Davos got up and went to the courtyard for his morning exercise. By the time he returned to the main building, the place was already bustling.
Morina, the head maid of the rear yard, was commanding the female slaves to wake up the children and have them wash up and dress…suddenly, she heard a lot of complaints and crying in the main building, but Morina remained unperturbed. After seeing the child who doesn’t want to get up, the slave girl has no choice but to go straight into the room and pull her by force. Even though she was facing Theonia’s princes and princesses, Morina dared to do so because Cheiristoya gave her the authority.
Eight years ago, Azune married Aristias with the help of Davos and Cheiristoya and had to leave Davos’ residence naturally. And Cheiristoya noticed that Morina, a female slave from Thessaly who was the baby’s wet nurse then, was more decisive and even more daring than Azune, so she had her take Azune’s place. And with the increase of children over the years, Morina’s orderly management of the rear year proved Cheiristoya’s vision, saving her a lot of trouble.
After Davos finished rinsing, he walked into the dining room and saw that everyone was already sitting at the dining table.
“Where’s Aviya?” Davos asked after glancing around. Aviya is his third daughter, born to Agnes, and was only four years old this year.
“The crybaby still wouldn’t get up, so aunt Morina went to wake her up, but Aviya shouted at her, causing mother Agnes to go upstairs.” Brillantes answered loudly. Brillantes is Davos’ fourth son, born to Cheiristoya and was only six years old.
But he was immediately criticised by Cynthia, “Brillantes, Aviya is your sister. But you are just complaining instead of helping her when she encounters trouble. That’s wrong, you know!”
“Sister is right. Brillantes is just annoying.” Eunice, born during the War in Magna Graecia and was already ten years old, also complained.
After getting criticised by his two sisters, Brillantes felt wrong, so he turned his attention to his second brother, Crotokatax, for help.
Crotokatax then looked at Cynthia and said, “Little Bri didn’t mean to speak ill of Aviya, and he should now realise his mistake.”
“Alright, your sister would forgive you, but it would depend on your future actions!” Said Cynthia using a child’s tone.
Brillantes nodded hurriedly.
Apox, his third brother opposite him, made a funny face which caused Brillantes to smile. Apox was born to Agnes at the end of the war in Magna Graecia and was over nine years old this year.
Davos and Cheiristoya, on the other hand, just sat quietly without bothering to interfere with the children’s little conflict. In fact, they had always done so because Cynthia and Crotokatax would eventually resolve it satisfactorily. And Davos also wanted the children to learn unity, friendship, tolerance and compromise while resolving the conflicts on their own.
At this time, Agnes entered the dining room with Aviya.
Aviya, who had big red eyes and tears on her face, was holding a small puppet in one hand while getting led forward by Agnes in the other.
“Little Aviya, take your seat so we can take our breakfast.” Cheiristoya said softly.
Cheiristoya’s words worked well as Aviya gently gave a soft “un”, released her mother’s hand, sat in her seat and placed the puppet behind her. Then Agnes sat down beside her.
Due to common Greek families usually eating simple food, it would already be enough for them to eat without a table, just sitting on the floor or standing outdoors with food in their hands. On the other hand, Greek nobles and wealthy people would have a much more formal meal; they had a dining room equipped with dining tables depending on the number of people and had slaves waiting on the side to clean their masters’ hands at any time. (They usually eat with bare hands.
While the dining situation in the kingdom of Theonia is very different because Davos invented the dinner knife, fork and spoon, so the people no longer need to eat with their hands*. And even though they still have a divided dining system, it has already become popular for many families to eat at one table. Still, only a few families do not even separate men and women, which was said to be influenced by Davos. (T/N: Phew, I thought he would invent chopsticks instead.)
With the increase in family members, Davos asked a skilled carpenter to make a large round table, which they then placed in the centre of the dining room, and everyone would sit around to eat without a difference in the distance between each other and making the atmosphere lively. Moreover, it is also beneficial to developing the children’s friendships and the importance of family.
Davos sat facing the entrance of the dining room, with Agnes on his right and Cheiristoya on his left. Next to Cheiristoya was his eldest daughter, Cynthia, followed by his second son Crotokatax, then his second daughter Eunice, his third son Apox, his fourth son Brillantes, his third daughter Aviya, and if you include his eldest son Adoris, who was away on a campaign, Davos’ family has ten members.
While the head maid Morina just stood by without any other slaves in the dining room, after all, even the youngest, Aviya, was already four years old and could take care of herself. In addition, Davos always wanted the children to do things on their own without relying on the slaves’ service so as for them not to become wastrels.
“Let’s start eating.” After Davos finished speaking, Crotokatax brought in the food and the plates with Morina’s help. First, he set the tableware for each family member and then distributed the food, a task Davos arranged for the older children at home to train their awareness of serving others. And today was Crotokatax’s turn.
Crotokatax first gave their three parents’ portion of food and then to Cynthia. At the same time, Davos watched as his eldest son quickly gave Cynthia her share.
Cynthia then smilingly said, “Thank you, Cro!”
But seeing how Crotokatax walked calmly to Eunice as if everything was normal, Davos gazed at Cheiristoya with doubt.
Cheiristoya certainly knows what her husband’s gaze meant, but she didn’t expect Davos to want to confirm it on such a public occasion even though she just told him about it yesterday…
Cheiristoya winked at him immediately and gestured not to make it too obvious.
Davos, however, pretended not to understand and tried to open his mouth.
But Cheiristoya clenched her fist and struck Davos’ thigh, which resulted in Davos exaggeratedly gritting his teeth.
Seeing that, Cheiristoya almost sprayed her porridge on the table.
Agnes noticed something odd between them, so she turned her head and cast an inquiring look.
But Davos stretched his right hand to the root of her smooth and plump thigh, resulting in Agnes blushing slightly and immediately pinched him.
Thus Davos, once again, showed a fleeting pained expression.
Fortunately, the children didn’t notice the farce between their parents as their attention was focused on the food.
“Should I add a spoonful of honey-like before?” Crotokatax asked his sister with a smile.
But before Eunice could answer, Brillantes shouted, “Do you still have to ask? She is the only one who doesn’t like milk.”
In this era, many citizens of Greek city-states raised goats, so goat milk became a staple. Apart from using milk to make cheese, they would process it for direct consumption. Conversely, cows were used primarily for field work and transportation but not for milk production. But after Davos asked Bagul to start promoting the production, selling and drinking of milk from cows in the Lucanian area. However, since it had just begun to take shape, and only a few people consume milk, the production is still not big. Still, there is enough to supply the royal palace.
Today’s milk for breakfast is goat’s milk, which has a strong smell. Fortunately, Davos made the children drink a cup of milk every morning since they were young to make them grow tall and strong. Thus, the children, except for Eunice, have already adapted, including the youngest Aviya.
“What’s wrong if I don’t like drinking it?!” Eunice immediately stared at Brillantes.
Brillantes was unwilling to admit defeat at his sister’s threat, but he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just stiffly said, “It’s bad anyway!”
Eunice no longer paid attention to him. Instead, she turned her head to Crotokatax and said with a smile, “Brother, give me two spoons of honey, please!”
After Crotokatax gave Eunice’s share, he then gave Apox’s share.
Apox immediately cheered and said, “Nice, there are meat buns today!”
The Greeks baked bread with fermented flour, and Davos asked the chef to wrap chopped beef and mutton with the fermented dough and steam it in an iron pot. And since the steamed meat buns smelled so good, the children, especially the boys, liked to eat them.
Apox immediately held the hot bun with both hands and took a huge bite without regard to how hot it was. And after seeing Brillantes next to him had also gotten his share of food, Apox immediately said to his brother, “Bri, shall we play a game? Whoever wins gets a bite of the loser’s meat buns!”
“Not joining!” Brillantes vigilantly took the wooden plate with meat buns to his chest. After all, he lost every time he played with Apox, resulting in psychological trauma.
Just as Apox began thinking about how to convince Brillantes, he suddenly heard Eunice disdainfully say, “Bri, look how cowardly you are! Apox, here take this!” Eunice was satisfied at Apox making a fool of Brillantes, so she immediately broke half of her meat bun and gave it to him.
“Thank you, sister!” Apox immediately took it while Brillantes glanced at it greedily. He then remembered something, so he looked at Aviya and said, “Sister, this meat bun is too big for you to eat alone; why don’t you let your brother help you eat some of it, okay?”