He was about to ask the reason for their fight, but Cari's stomach growled loudly at just the right moment.
Thinking the timing was perfect, Qiong Xing decided they would all eat dinner together.
As expected, when they ordered food from the inn, the meals for the master and the servants were separate.
Because they were known to be beastmen, the food served to everyone except Qiong Xing was terrible.
"One hard piece of bread and water…"
"Being given food at all is better than nothing. In worse cases, they're only given water in a trough, like the kind horses drink from."
"That's not even treatment for people anymore."
"That's normal here."
What an unpleasant common sense.
Luckily, the food prepared for Qiong Xing was enough to feed several people, so he decided to share it with everyone.
It seemed that many kinds of food were always prepared to suit the selfish nobles.
If someone ate whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, the only result would be becoming overweight.
"Come on, don't hold back. Eat."
He said that to the three of them, who were hesitating and not touching the food at all, but none of them moved their hands.
With no choice, he let out a sigh, then lifted Cari, who was sitting beside him, and placed him on his lap.
"Cari, say ahhh."
"!?"
"!?"
"…A-ahhh… it's tasty!"
Thinking that meat might be too heavy on his stomach all of a sudden, Qiong Xing chose soup instead.
When Cari happily said it was delicious over and over again, Qiong Xing smiled back, relieved.
"Come on, you two as well. Ahhh."
When he held out the spoon to the other two in the same way, they ate it shyly but looked happy.
The elaborate food was delicious, but the flavor was strong, so Qiong Xing could not eat very much.
Still, there were several people, so it worked out just fine.
After that, they fed each other and managed to finish everything.
"Alright, then let's solve the problems from earlier, one by one."
After finishing their meal, Qiong Xing sat down on a large and luxurious sofa.
Cari sat on his lap, while Leander and Elias sat on either side of him.
At first, they had been sitting separately, but Qiong Xing thought it would be hard for small Cari to sit alone, so he had put him on his lap.
That turned out to be a mistake.
Leander and Elias started arguing, saying it was unfair and tried to sit closer to Qiong Xing.
When they almost grabbed Cari by the neck again, Qiong Xing hurriedly stopped them and they all sat back down together on the large sofa.
"As for Elias, you don't need to force yourself to speak politely. I don't mind, so you can talk the way you normally do. Of course, Cari too."
"What about me?" Leander asked.
"Leander, you've been speaking the same way from the start, haven't you? Can you even change it?"
"..."
Silence was probably his answer.
Qiong Xing decided to leave the self defeated Leander alone and continue.
"About what you two mentioned earlier… what does 'mate' mean?"
"A mate is a partner. For humans, I guess… a spouse? Someone you spend your whole life with. Humans, well… if they don't like their partner anymore, or start to dislike them, uh... this might sound bad, but they often change partners easily, right? Beastmen aren't like that."
Qiong Xing still did not fully understand the common sense of this world, but thinking back to his time in China, he could not deny it.
Compared to the past, many young people saw marriage and divorce as lighter matters.
As long as both sides agreed, people could marry, divorce, and remarry if they found someone else.
It might not be easy, but it happened often enough.
Listening to Elias's explanation, Qiong Xing found himself thinking that humans really did treat relationships lightly.
He himself had never been married, so he could not say much.
Still, if he had to choose, he would like to live happily with one person for his whole life, even if they argued along the way.
Of course, that was only an ideal.
"Beastmen, in general, once they decide someone is their mate, they stay with that mate for their entire life. Of course, there are exceptions. And among those mates, there is something special called a destined mate."
"A destined… mate?"
What made it special?
As Qiong Xing waited for him to continue, Elias suddenly leaned closer and sniffed the side of Qiong Xing's neck.
For a brief moment, Qiong Xing panicked.
But the body he had been given was fresh and young, still in its teens. He is a 16 years old boy now.
Even so, he had been walking around all day, his body was sweaty, and he had fallen and gotten dirty in several places. Being sniffed like that was not something to be happy about.
He tried to move away quietly, but Elias grabbed his waist, stopping him from moving.
"You smells good."
"No, no, no. It definitely smells like sweat. Please move away."
Qiong Xing felt slightly disturbed as Elias looked intoxicated while breathing in his scent.
"Unlike humans, most beastmen have very sharp senses, like smell, hearing, and sight."
"That's even more reason not to sniff me."
"I've only heard about it myself, but they say you can tell your destined mate by their scent. I knew right away. I could smell it even from outside the room, and then you appeared."
I see.
That must be why Elias had looked so shocked when he first saw him.
"That's enough, get away from him! I stayed quiet and listened, but just because he's your destined mate, Qiong Xing is not yours yet!"
Yet?
If it was destiny, wasn't it already decided?
When Qiong Xing looked at Elias and confused, Elias clicked his tongue and glared at Leander.
Hey, hey, you two. No fighting again.
"He's right. Not yet."
"What do you mean by that?"