Clementine also received a gift from her cousin. It was a large jar of Tunisian-style candies, made by binding cashews, Moroccan nuts, and crushed dates with honey and sugar to form short sticks, with an exceptionally sweet and delicious taste.
She was utterly unable to resist the temptation of the candies, and as soon as she smelled their sweet aroma, her eyes lit up, and she forgot all about being reserved, reaching into the jar to pinch off a piece of candy and popping it into her mouth.
“Mmm—”
The crispness of the nuts mixed with the sweetness of the honey made the little girl so happy that she squinted her eyes in delight.
“Thank you so much for the gift, my dearest cousin!” She wanted to curtsy to Joseph again, but found her fingers were sticky with sugar and she couldn’t pick up her skirt, so after a moment’s thought, she simply grabbed a piece of candy and stuffed it into her cousin’s mouth.
Joseph was taken aback, wanting to say, “It seems you haven’t washed your hands,” but it was already too late. All he could do was silently tell himself, “It’s not clean, but eating it won’t make me sick,” as he chewed reluctantly.
“Dear cousin!” At the side, the parrot perched on Charles’ arm imitated Clementine with a comical voice.
“Wow! It, it can talk!” Charles, nearly 4 years old, immediately widened his eyes and exclaimed in amazement.
Louis XVI and Queen Mary were also drawn by the talking parrot and put down what they were holding to gather around.
“What else can you say?” Charles pouted and looked at the parrot, “Sweetie pie!”
“عاشتجلالةالسلطان!” The parrot said an Arabic phrase, and even bowed its head toward Louis XVI.
Everyone looked at each other and burst into cheerful laughter.
“It knows quite a few languages.”
“It’s really amusing!”
“Joseph, do you know what it’s saying?” Queen Mary asked her son.
Joseph spread his hands:
“I don’t understand it either. But whatever you want it to say, teach it a few times and it will learn. Cape Parrots are very intelligent.”
“Cape Parrot! I love Mr. Cape Parrot!” Charles hugged the colorful parrot, as big as a pigeon, and joyfully spun around the room several times.
Clementine shook her head to correct him from the side:
“Cape Parrot is its species. You should give it a name.”
“Is that so, then what should I name it…”
Charles bowed his head in deep thought, then suddenly caught a glint of something under the table eyeing this way. With a start, he grabbed the cashmere tricorn hat his father had casually placed on the table corner and thrust it forward with all his might.
The next moment, a black and white blur flashed over and bumped right into the hat, letting out a disgruntled “meow.”
“Monsieur Mustache?” Clementine was immediately startled and hastily looked for her maid, “Rosalia, why is the cat…”
What she’d forgotten was that recently Princess Therese had gone to visit Spain, and Monsieur Mustache’s “girlfriend” had gone with her, so he took the opportunity to slip out for a walk while the maid wasn’t watching.
And here he had discovered a plump “pigeon pastry.”
The cat’s long-anticipated strike was blocked by Charles, who cast a greedy glance at the parrot and, with his body again drawn taut, leaped with a “meow.”
From a young age, Charles had been educated by Queen Mary about the “spirit of the knight,” and though he was somewhat afraid, he still summoned up all his courage, lifting his little leg to kick at Monsieur Mustache.
“Ow.” The cat didn’t seem to know if it was hit, but terrified, it let out a scream and sought comfort in Clementine’s arms.
The little girl soothed the cat, protesting to Charles:
“Your Highness, you almost kicked Monsieur Mustache.”
Charles, clinging to the parrot, retaliated:
“That bad cat, it wanted to eat Mr. Parrot!”
“I apologize on its behalf, but you already ‘snagged’ it with your hat, there was no need for an extra kick!”
“I thought it necessary!”
“It wasn’t necessary!”
“It started it first!”
With her hands on her hips, the little girl said indignantly:
“There is no doubt, your behavior just now was very rude!”
The little boy could not win the argument, and suddenly noticing the Moroccan nuts on her candy, he recalled the atlas he had studied before. An idea struck him, and pointing at the nuts, he asked:
“Do you know how those are harvested?”
“Ah? Harvested?”
Charles said with a smirk, “The locals will drive sheep up the trees to eat the green fruits, and the nuts in their droppings are these!”
“Gross!” Joseph turned pale, feeling nauseous.
Clementine looked at the delicious candy and then at Charles, suddenly bursting into tears and crying:
“It’s not like that, you’re making it up…”
The servants and maids quickly gathered around, embracing Charles and consoling the little girl, creating a mess of the scene.
Louis XVI looked helplessly toward the royal biologist standing at the doorway.
The latter hurried over, bowed to everyone, and explained:
“It’s true that there is such a method of harvesting as His Highness described, but the edible part is the kernel inside the nut, separated by the shell, and it definitely won’t be coated with sheep droppings. Moreover, such high-end candies are likely to be harvested by hand.”
Joseph finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the little girl’s crying gradually subsided.
Queen Mary, after soothing her younger son, diverted the little girl’s attention by stroking her head:
“That’s right, Clementine, haven’t you always wanted to hear your cousin’s adventure stories in North Africa?”
She looked towards Joseph, “Dear, why don’t you tell them the story.”
Immediately upon hearing this, the two children stopped fussing and turned their attention.
Joseph instinctively wanted to decline, but then he thought that he shouldn’t always be treated like a child by the Queen.
With the development of France, he would definitely be undertaking larger and deeper reforms, as well as dealing with more diplomatic affairs in the future. He needed to obtain greater authority to avoid being hampered in these endeavors.