"Yes, Your Majesty."

In truth, I had anticipated that unpleasant rumors might circulate.

Why would nobles go to the trouble of presenting such expensive, gaudy food—often tasteless, too—in their banquets?

It’s all to show that they are on a different level from the common rabble right there in the banquet hall.

But what if all those painstaking efforts were dismissed by the lowly commoners?

People would sneer, saying, "So, the nobles are so rich they can afford to eat this tasteless junk, huh? Nobles really aren’t anything special after all."

Of course, hearing something like that would set their insides …