In the Magic Kingdom, if one seeks the origin for most customs or etiquette, they would largely trace it back to the Royal Court, or even the Queen herself.
As the saying goes, "If the king likes slim waists, many starve in the palace." Although the Queen of Rose Palace doesn't impose her preferences on others, her fondness for sweets is indeed well-known. Naturally, many nobles of the Royal Court take the initiative to cater to her tastes, not only inventing various confectionary crafts but also standardizing a whole set of dining utensils designed solely for eating sweets.
Eventually, this dining etiquette was also conveyed to the people of the Kingdom. In the process of top-down emulation, not only did sweets themselves beco the most popular and well-known category of als in the Magic Kingdom, but "the ability to skillfully use dessert utensils" also beca a mark of one's living standard.
Regrettably, as a Magical Girl from an ordinary family, who had experienced early family misfortunes and also had a disability, Mo He clearly never had the chance to experience "high-level kingdom living" in her early years.
Erald Sparrow originally thought that by inviting her to such a restaurant, she might have encountered so relatively luxurious material life in her subsequent twenty years, but it seems that it was just her own assumption.
"...This is a layering clamp."
Holding the utensil in her hand, Erald Sparrow demonstrated to Mo He while explaining, "Before cutting the cake with a dining knife, to prevent the layers of the cake from spilling or falling off, we can use this layering clamp to secure it."
"Ah, yes, yes."
Mo He watched Erald Sparrow's movents with seriousness, imitating step-by-step like a primary school student: "Alright, I've secured it."
"Good, and now the dining knife."
Erald Sparrow pointed to the five dining knives laid out on the table: "These knives are the Frost Leaf Knife, Fla Leaf Knife, Nut Knife, Filling Knife, and Pudding Knife. You can flip them over to see the part of the blade; the shape and color of the blade parts should all be different."
"I, I see," Mo He responded hesitantly.
"Then we need to identify the kind of cake in front of us. The waiter emphasized when serving us that this is a hazelnut chocolate sweet coffee mousse cake."
Erald Sparrow pointed to the plate in front of her: "So inside, it would be mousse and hazelnuts, you understand this, right?"
"Um..." Mo He nodded.
"So we use the Nut Knife first."
Erald Sparrow picked one with a silver blade and a longer handle from the five dining knives: "The role of the Nut Knife is that, when it touches hazelnuts in the cake, the blade can split them with the least amount of vibration, ensuring it does not press down and sink along with the nuts, preventing damage to the cake's structure."
As she said this, she gently sliced off a small piece of cake. Then, putting the Nut Knife aside, she picked up another knife with a whitish blade:
"This is the Frost Leaf Knife, its blade has a certain cooling effect, generally used for slicing ice cream, mousse, and such structures. We've cut the cake open already, but this is not enough; we need to use the Frost Leaf Knife to cut along the incision again, so that the mousse is cooled to get the best texture."
"This is the Nut Knife, this is the Frost Leaf Knife..."
Mo He murmured softly, selecting among the dining knives and then, following her earlier mory, picked up a silver dining knife, positioning it over the cake...
—"Wait a mont."
Erald Sparrow, also watching Mo He's movents, initially felt sothing was amiss and when she noticed the utensil in Mo He's hand and her actions, she imdiately intended to call a stop, but it was a step too late.
"Puff," "Ding——"
A series of odd noises startled another table not far away, causing them to look over.
At this ti, the cake in front of Mo He was completely "pressed" into two halves; even the previously added layering clamp couldn't protect the pitiful mousse filling that was now a shattered ss on the plate.
As for Mo He, she was now looking at Erald Sparrow with a bewildered and innocent expression.
"...You picked up the wrong thing. This is a butter jam knife, used for spreading jam on bread, not a dining knife."
Erald Sparrow sighed helplessly: "And your angle while cutting the cake was too slanted; you completely pressed down with the butter knife, causing everything inside to squeeze out."
She didn't an to criticize Mo He for this, because in her view, such so-called dessert utensil techniques and dining etiquette were not knowledge that normal people needed to master. If the other party wants to know, she could explain; if the other party doesn't care, then one might as well act as if these things don't exist.
Still, seeing Mo He's sowhat disappointed expression, she ultimately divided half of her plate's cake for her, then, with a spoon, she scooped so of the shattered cake from Mo He's plate.
"It's not a big deal, you can try it; actually, my half and your half taste no different."
As she said this, she dug a spoon into that pile of shattered mousse, stuffing it into her mouth: "So-called etiquette may add so non-condint flavor to the food in spirit, but that's all; it's not that important."
Erald Sparrow thought explaining this might help Mo He feel a bit better. However, she realized that swapping that half of the cake didn't seem to brighten Mo He's expression; instead, it appeared even more bewildered.
"...What's wrong?" So she had to ask her that.
"Captain."
Mo He pointed at the half piece of cake that Erald Sparrow had given her, with a voice carrying so indescribable emotion: "Just like that ti."
"That ti?" Erald Sparrow puzzled.
"Yes, the ti when you left."
Mo He gazed at Erald Sparrow, her calm voice unexpectedly soft: "You gave part of yourself to , then took sothing away from ."
Erald Sparrow fell silent.
She realized what Mo He was talking about, but the scenario Mo He described was also deeply connected to the past that she had tried to forget, making it impossible for her to respond normally.
"Ah."
A mont later, she could only reply stiffly: "Indeed."
"So, Captain, can you this ti give a serious answer?"
Mo He looked at Erald Sparrow, her eyes filled with an intense emotion so dense it seed it couldn't be dissolved, nearly brimming over: "After that, were you happy?"
Erald Sparrow pursed her lips, unwilling to et her gaze or say anything more.
The two fell into a bizarre standoff for a reason neither could explain, one that continued until a rumbling noise erged from Erald Sparrow's purse.
"Sorry, I need to take a call."
So Erald Sparrow imdiately stood up, even skipping the step of checking who the caller was and directly left with her purse from the dining table.
Only Mo He was left beside the dining table.
Soon, a waiter from the restaurant approached the dining table with the next course, silently cleaning up the ss caused by Mo He cutting the cake, and placed a copper pot emitting white steam, along with several strange tal spheres on the table.
"Hello, this is your chocolate fondue, and the ingredients for the fondue."
"...Chocolate fondue?" Mo He asked curiously.
"Yes, put the ingredients in the pot, dip them in lted chocolate, and then enjoy," explained the waiter.
The waiter politely spoke: "If you would like to adjust the flavor of the chocolate, we can also help you with that."
"Thank you." Mo He nodded: "I understand."
Obviously affected by Erald Sparrow's departure, the novelty in the restaurant nonetheless aroused her intense curiosity. Under this emotion, she began to explore the chocolate fondue ntioned by the waiters.
The pot contained lted chocolate, she had known that already, but what about those tal spheres?
Mo He picked up one of the spheres and scrutinized it, looking from left to right, barely able to see the seam on the sphere, though it wasn't very obvious.
She tried to split the sphere but its structure didn't budge, she then tried to twist the sphere open, but still, there was no reaction. After struggling for a while with no result, she started to look for other thods.
Could it be relating to the cutlery next to her?
This idea popped up in her head and quickly beca uncontrollable.
Mo He began to sort through the pile of utensils, identifying among the collection of needles, forks, knives, and cutting boards, looking for components that might be related to the tal spheres, until finally, she noticed a dining knife which blade shimred in red.
This appeared to be the "Fla Leaf Knife" that Captain previously ntioned.
Mo He retrieved the related content from her mory. At that ti, Erald Sparrow had only explained the functions of the Nut Knife and the Frost Leaf Knife, without ntioning what this dining knife was specifically for.
Should she give it a try?
Mo He was still pondering the rationality of this action in her mind, but her hands moved before her brain.
——"Crack!"
Half a minute later, when a waiter attracted by the strange noise ca to the dining table, what he saw was just a tal cooling sphere punctured with several holes but still not opened, and a dining knife broken into two segnts, still emitting a faint chill.
And of course, there was a Magical Girl, who was obviously the chief culprit in the incident, but still trying to pretend as if nothing had happened, folding a napkin at the table.
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