Chapter 3 Green Turtle

The goodies that the old maester ordered the kitchen to prepare were not that good: a small portion of barley bread, a corner of hardened cheese, a shrunken green apple, a small portion of turnips cooked in butter, and a bowl of thick broth with a strange fishy smell.

"What kind of meat is this?" A loud question came from the side. On the left, a round-faced fat man in a light yellow thin shirt was staring at the thick soup in front of him with his dark eyes, and his butt was moving restlessly on the bench.

"Is it rat meat again?"

Another thin child with golden red hair on Renly's right was originally holding a table dagger to pick up a few peas floating in the thick soup. When he heard this, his movements suddenly hesitated, and he looked at the old man sitting across the long table with suspicion.

"This is certainly not rat meat." In the small room, Maester Cressen looked at the three fat and thin boys in front of him with a kind look. "There are no more rats to catch in the castle."

The little fat boy in yellow clothes is from the Ethmond family of Greenstone Castle. The long-dead mother of the three Baratheon brothers is from this family. Because they are of the same age, he was sent to be Renly's playmate a year ago.

The other thin boy with golden red hair is from the Dondarrion family of Black Harbor. He happened to be in the city when Storm's End was besieged, so naturally he couldn't go out.

They are all vassal descendants of the Baratheon family of the Lord of Stormland, and they are also very good children considered by Maester Cressen. Due to Renly's special "aloofness", during the siege, the maester would create opportunities for them to get together and play whenever there was a chance, and this is an example.

However...

"If Master Renly needs it, I can arrange an experienced nun for you to teach you the etiquette on the table."

The two children followed the words of the old maester and turned their attention to the black-haired boy, and found that he had just woken up from a dream and retracted his gaze from the fat man beside him, and blinked his eyes innocently.

"I'm sorry," he stuck out his tongue and said, "but it looks interesting."

The emblem of the Estermont family is a greener turtle on a green background, which usually attracts his attention, but the reason now is naturally not simple.

It's just that this cannot be told to others.

"I think so too!"

The little fat man immediately patted the family emblem embroidered on the chest of his clothes and said loudly: "They are not only beautiful, but also edible! When the tide comes, we can't eat them all. My grandfather said that as long as we eat more, the sons we give birth to will sooner or later be like them in groups!"

After saying that, he suddenly thought of a problem, so he turned sideways and looked at the boy opposite Renly over: "Disgusting Beric, your family's Black Harbor must not always thunder, otherwise how could you be the only one?"

The family emblem of the Dondarrion family is a forked purple lightning on a black background, and several flashing four-pointed stars.

"That's because my father died early." The other rolled his eyes, but didn't pay much attention to him. Instead, he lowered his head and stared at his thick soup, frowning and asked: "If this soup is not made of mice, what else could it be?"

"It's cat meat."

Before the old man spoke, Renly, who was no longer distracted, answered casually: "The horses and mules in the castle have been eaten up long ago, and even the hunting dogs and hawks raised by my eldest brother are no exception. Master Cressen's crows have been missing for a while, and the group of people outside won't even let us in a fly. After all the calculations, there can't be anything else except those black cats used to catch mice."

"Smart." The maester nodded in agreement, so the two children breathed a sigh of relief and started to eat after obtaining the maester's consent.

But Renly declined.

He didn't forget that he had touched the cats in the castle with his own hands not long ago, and because of the memory that did not belong to this world, he was naturally resistant to eating cat meat.

"Can I give my broth to Jomi?"

Jomi is Renly's personal servant, who is responsible for taking care of his daily life.

The old scholar was a little stunned when he heard this, "Why give it to him?"

"No matter how full I am, I can't help guard the castle, but Jomi has the ability." Renly answered seriously. Only children will admit that they are picky eaters.

Experience has shown that a hypocritical child can always achieve his goals easily, and this moment is no exception. Even some "extra gains" have been made.

The old man was very pleased with this, and the golden-red-haired Beric Dondarrion next to him was even more thoughtful when he heard this. Then he pushed away the thick soup in front of him, stood up, and didn't even plan to eat other food.

"I will also give mine to Lord Stannis, he will need them more than us!"

He declared so, as if he realized some virtue from Renly's words, with a serious face. The scholar persuaded him for a long time, and this guy reluctantly sat back, lowered his head and ate the coarse bread reluctantly.

"If you don't want to eat, can you give them all to me?" The little fat man asked expectantly, but no one paid attention to him.

...

Renly was very hungry, so although some changes in himself attracted him deeply, it did not affect his ability to fill his stomach.

He successfully gave away the cat soup, but he accepted all the other food. Rough barley bread, sweet and bitter cheese, and butter-cooked turnips that looked like soup...

Turnips are delicious. This radish-like thing is commonly known as kohlrabi in my memory, but after processing, it tastes like potatoes, soft and delicious, with a long lingering flavor. The light milky aroma of butter cooked into the turnips lingers in the nose and mouth with this lingering feeling, and it refuses to dissipate for a long time.

It was not until he ate his share of the wilted apple that the lingering fragrance quietly dissipated from his lips and teeth, making him sigh with regret.

The lunch did not last long, but the old maester hurriedly left because someone summoned him. He did not return for a long time. The three children who were not supervised were a little confused after eating.

The thin bamboo-like Berri suggested going to the courtyard to see if there were any knights training, and the fat boy Alyn thought it was more attractive to go to the Godswood to play the castle game, but Berri thought there were ghost faces on the trees in the Godswood, which was scary, so he insisted on not going.

Renly did not comment on this, but stared at the green turtle on the front of the fat man.

In the eyes of others, the emblem embroidered on the robe is normal, just a dark green turtle lying on a green background, made of dyed silk thread. But in his eyes, this turtle can move!

Originally, it grasped the "ground" with its four limbs and did not move, but after the change, it struggled to get rid of the seemingly heavy turtle shell on its body, squatted down like a naked little man, and the turtle face was flushed, leaving a little black mark on the green ground, and then got into the "clothing" again, and continued to return to the original lying motionless appearance.

In this way, the originally normal emblem became a dark green turtle lying on a green background, and a small black dot with an imaginative shape next to it.

If you stop observing at this time, there will be no new changes, but when Renly continues to watch, everything that just happened will repeat itself again in a wonderful way.

Crawling, kicking off the turtle shell, squatting, and the second small black dot appears. Retracting into the turtle shell, crawling, kicking off...

The lines embroidered on the lapel kept wriggling and rolling, as if it was a short pantomime made of dyes and lines, which was played repeatedly, and the people who watched it became more and more confused.

Until the little guy who was stared at by him felt a little uncomfortable.

"I will invite you to eat turtles on the Isle of Ethmon someday, I will do this!" Fatty told Renly loudly, but he was faced with the other party's inquiring eyes.

"Did you... not wipe your butt?"

This made the little fat man stunned, and then his round face turned red quickly, his voice became less loud, and he became stuttering.

"Nonsense, nonsense! Ethmon's Erin always wipes his butt when he poops, if you don't believe it, go ask Pate!"

Pate was a servant who took care of Erin's daily life, but in a hurry, the little fat man obviously forgot that his servant was a mute.

Even a fool could see that he was lying, but Renly had no interest in exposing this guy, because his mind had already drifted elsewhere.

Psychic emblem...

He thought about his special ability thoughtfully and didn't say anything for a while.

The little fat boy was relieved when he saw this, but then he found that the thin bamboo pole was winking at him, so he glared and shouted: "You annoying Bailey, why are you looking at me!"

"Don't call me annoying, you are the annoying one."

"Call me, I will call you!"

"Then I will call you stinky ass, stinky ass Alyn!"

...

They were arguing, but they found that the black-haired boy who had been very quiet suddenly turned around and walked out of the house.

"Renli, where are you going?" The thin bamboo pole asked hurriedly when he saw this, and got rid of the fat man's angry eyes.

"I'm going to find Coach Wilder." The other party replied.