Intentional or Accidental

After Ning Wentao finished his introduction, he withdrew to the side and waited for the three of them to taste the dishes.

Wriothesley picked up a piece of fish and placed it in his mouth. The flesh was tender, soft, and delicious, yet unlike any ingredient he had eaten before. It carried a faint fishy scent, but none of the saltiness of seawater; instead, it had something like a fruity flavor.

After one bite, a trace of surprise appeared in Wriothesley's eyes. "I never thought you could actually cook Sea Soul Beasts into dishes—and make them taste this good. Was that on purpose, or by accident?"

If this had been his previous life, Wriothesley would never even have imagined it.

And on Douluo Continent, he had only eaten land soul beasts before, never Sea Soul Beasts.

Let alone something this delicious.

"Indeed. Heaven Dou City is more than a thousand li from Vast Sea City; just transportation and preservation alone would cost no small amount. This dish must not be cheap, yes? Even with precious ingredients used to cover it up, its value is still obvious."

Xue Qinghe was different from Wriothesley.

As the crown prince, and also Ning Fengzhi's disciple, he had a very thorough understanding of the prices of such foods.

After "wine" had gone around three rounds and the dishes had passed through five flavors, Xue Qinghe also steered the topic toward the main subject.

There was no helping it. Wriothesley and Sigewinne were far too eye-catching in Heaven Dou City. It would make no sense not to recruit them!

As the emperor of Heaven Dou, Emperor Xueye could not possibly take the field personally. That would be far too beneath his status, so naturally, Xue Qinghe had to be the one to step forward.

Though this could perhaps also be considered entrusting the task to the wrong person.

If he knew his son had been done away with over ten years ago, Emperor Xueye would probably cry himself unconscious in the toilet.

Bestowing noble titles was originally one of the empire's methods for winning over geniuses and powerful individuals. It made them seem more approachable, and made it easier to earn the other party's goodwill.

Wriothesley's title of Duke itself had nothing to do with nobility. When Xueye heard Sigewinne constantly calling him "Duke, Duke," and then saw the abilities of Sigewinne and Wriothesley, the thought of granting them titles arose.

But a duke.

The rules of the Heaven Dou Empire were that one did as much work as one had authority. Every noble title came with real power, so granting a ducal title would be too much.

Take Xue Xing, for example. Although that fellow did not do much proper work and acted like an idle prince, his authority was very real.

One had to know that Ning Fengzhi, as the sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, held the positions of imperial preceptor and crown prince's grand tutor in the Heaven Dou Empire, yet he was only a marquis.

If Wriothesley were given the title of duke, what was Ning Fengzhi supposed to think?

Even when someone was granted the title of king, there had never been a precedent of giving a duke title to a king of a different surname.

So this was also why Xueye had remained troubled.

If he gave one, he did not know what to give; if he did not, that was also somewhat difficult.

But he could not simply let such outstanding talent slip by!

Wriothesley and Sigewinne were not fools. They guessed Xue Qinghe's meaning at once.

Wriothesley smiled and said, "Thank you for your kind intentions, Your Highness, the Crown Prince, but Head Nurse and I currently have no intention of accepting noble titles."

Besides, what use was a noble title from Douluo Continent?

Anyone a bit stronger would not care how high one's status was. Everyone had two shoulders carrying one head; who was nobler than who?

Moreover, whether it was Fontaine, where Wriothesley had once stayed, or any other nation in Teyvat, nobles had been hanging from lampposts for who knew how many years already. Their original titles had all become honorary citizen designations.

When Xue Qinghe heard this, a look of disappointment appeared on his face. Though he had expected it, he had not expected both of them to be unwilling to accept titles. But soon after, a smile flashed across Xue Qinghe's face, and he said, "Since the two of you are unwilling to accept noble titles, I will not force you. However, there is still one gift I would like to give you!"

Hearing this, Wriothesley opened his half-narrowed eyes and looked at the exquisite box beside Xue Qinghe's hand. He said, "This is?"

Xue Qinghe took out two patterned rings from the box and said, "These are two storage Soul Tools. There is also a small sum of money inside. Miss Sigewinne provides free consultations without charge, which I admire greatly. But the Duke and Miss Sigewinne live in Heaven Dou City, where every inch of land is worth gold, so your circumstances must be rather tight. Please accept these two storage Soul Tools, Duke and Miss Sigewinne."

With that said, he handed over the two storage Soul Tools, one black and one white.

Xue Qinghe also knew where Wriothesley lived. Compared with a true "duke," that place was no different from a slum.

In fact, aside from two rooms, everything else where they lived had been converted into medical rooms.

Wriothesley did not even glance at the storage Soul Tools, because he knew they were Soul Tools. They had no Soul Power, so they could not use them at all.

Besides, were they short on money?

With his and Sigewinne's current net worth, buying a house in Heaven Dou City would not be difficult.

However, there had to be someone who knew the value of their things.

What he and Sigewinne had on them were fixed assets, not those worthless circulating currencies.

And most of it was still medicine Sigewinne had gathered.

So Xue Qinghe's words truly left Wriothesley speechless.

He had already refused this much. What else could he do?

"Then we'll thank Your Highness, the Crown Prince, for now." Wriothesley accepted the black-and-white storage Soul Tools.

Xue Qinghe nodded slightly. "You are welcome. Being able to become acquainted with two such chivalrous individuals is also a great honor for me. In the days to come, I will have to trouble the two of you to look after me."

Seeing Xue Qinghe being so generous, Sigewinne directly put the ring on her finger.

But after moving around a little, Sigewinne sighed somewhat regretfully and took the ring off.

"Head Nurse, what's wrong? Does it not fit?" Wriothesley asked.

"No. It just feels like wearing a ring isn't good for my fingers, and it's not very convenient for treatment either." Sigewinne waved both her hands, then took a white cloth pouch out of her pocket and placed it inside her own pouch.

Then she put the cloth pouch into her pocket, followed by another bout of fussing.

Xue Qinghe glanced at Wriothesley, the corners of his mouth curving into a confident smile, and asked, "Does Miss Sigewinne not like wearing these little things on her hands?"

"I like keeping things on me, because if they're on my hands, I'm always worried they'll fall to the ground," Sigewinne said honestly.

The main reason was that Sigewinne treasured these hands very much. Although she missed her former little round Melusine hands, having a pair of human hands had also added a different kind of life for her, and made work much more convenient.

So she did not want these hands to suffer even the slightest injury.

Wriothesley nodded, then looked at Xue Qinghe.

Xue Qinghe understood what Wriothesley meant, so he explained, "If Miss Sigewinne doesn't like them, please don't force yourself. Just consider these two Soul Tools a small memento from me to you both."

"Huh? Ah? It's all right! You don't have to be so polite! These are really nice~"