I don't own hetalia.
A/N: Thanks to invisiblemanda for being so kind and took the time to edit and reviewed this chapter.
"Sumimasen but I don't really understand what's written here." The shy Japanese, as Gilbert had informed Mathilda when they were given their seats by the window, asked as he placed the French menu on the white sheet of the round table.
The three blonds and a silver one all turned their heads from the menu to look at him with shock in their eyes.
"Right," Ludwig said as he moved his chair to get closer to Kiku as he bowed his head in apology. Mathilda was rather surprised to found out earlier that both of the princes knew how to read and spoke French. "It was a requirement for us when we were attending court." Gilbert had nicely explained to her a while ago.
As Ludwig explained each of the dishes on the list, Mathilda looked at her own menu and scanned it with dull eyes.
Her stomach might be hungry but most of it was not very appetizing to her.
When the waiter came to get their order and Mathilda still didn't know what to get.
"I'll have an Aligot and beer." Said Gilbert in fluent French as he returned the menu. He turned his red eyes to look at the small plant decoration on the middle of the table.
"Steak au poivre for me and red wine." Francis said and returned the menu as well. He looked at Mathilda for her turned. She returned her eyes to the menu and heard Ludwig placed his order. His thick German accent was noticeable, even in French.
"Andouillette for me and a glass of beer." Ludwig said to the waiter, who was writing and nodding at the same time
"And Quenelle for him." He pointed to the blushing Japanese and returned the menu.
Mathilda didn't have any excuses to her sudden loss of appetite, so she ordered the first thing she saw. She felt uncomfortable as all eyes were truend to her wondering why she was taking so long.
"Pistou." She returned it as well. The waiter confirmed their orders and left the party behind to serve others.
"Cold soup?" Mathilda turned to look at her shocked uncle. The chatter of the restaurant had suddenly softened but she knew that they weren't really paying them any attention.
"It's a hot day." It was a poor excused but Francis let it go when her soup was served. The white porcelain bowl was nicely place on a larger saucer with three slices of baguette. The soup, which smelled of garlic and basil, was not really a good idea to order after all, but she didn't want to worry her uncle. She took a spoonful and drank the cold brownish liquid. The cold did not please her stomach.
Gilbert raised his brows at her and said in a humorous voice.
"You sure you like that?" She turned to him and just nodded her head.
"Its… tasty. What to try?" With a smirked, Gilbert surprised her and everyone on the table as he took the offered spoonful to his mouth.
With a blushed on her face, she shakily returned her silver spoon back to the soap.
"Well, it sure fights the heat." Gilbert swallowed with a face on unspoken disgust.
The waiter served the rest of the food a few minutes later.
Gilbert ate his Aligot happily. It consists of mashed potato mixed with melted cheese and partner with roast pork. Ludwig ate his Andouillette that looked a lot like a long and large wurst. Kiku began to eat his Quenelle, that was black and egg shape, with curiosity in his brown eyes. Francis savours his red wine and ate his butter coated steak with his usual like grace.
After their lunch, Gilbert request that Mathilda to eat at least a few sweets.
"You cannot be full just the soup." Gilbert pointed out as he called for the waiter for the menu again.
"I'm quite full already, Gilbert." The other three just watched the two bicker with each other. It was mostly Gilbert talking as Mathilda's soft voice was barely audible.
"That's can't be. Look at you." His emphasized with his hand as he motion up and down her body.
"You're so thin. And you've been growing thinner since we left London." Mathilda blinked at him. She wasn't aware that all the vomiting she did had caused her to lose some weight. But she was more shock that Gilbert even noticed.
"He's right, Mathilda. You had grown thinner since you kept on getting sick." Her uncle countered.
The waiter returned and Gilbert took it and ordered some Profiterole.
"Bruder, you should ask Mathilda if she wanted that." Ludwig said as he stood to pay for their meal. Gilbert just smirked at Mathilda.
"I doubt anyone would deny those cute little creams of puff." He turned to Mathilda for any sign of argument but she was just looking somewhere else.
The moment the dessert came, Mathilda's mouth watered for those bake goods. Gilbert laughed as Mathilda ate the heavenly soft sweet dough.
"What did I say bruder." He teased. Ludwig just rolled his eyes and ate his portion.
They left the restaurant a little later than expected because Mathilda had asked for more of those cream puffs.
"I didn't know you like sweets like your sister, Mathilda?" Francis asked as they walked down the warm streets of Paris. They planned to buy some new clothes for Mathilda and Kiku. Since the young Japanese male was enjoying sightseeing more that anyone else here, they gave him the privilege to go Bois de Vincennes first.
"Uncle Francis, we aren't supposed to be here right?" Mathilda asked as they walked towards the opened field training ground of a park. Francis just shook his head and they kept on walking on the pathway.
"Nonsense. Monsieur Napoleon III had made this park opened for public." He waved his hand towards the large lake in front of them. Some couples were enjoying the afternoon sun in the cool of the lake.
Gilbert was bored the moment they left the restaurant but his became happier as they neared the park. He hooked Mathilda's arms and moved her way from the rest of the party to the other side of the park. Kiku was startled at this and once again asked.
"Is Mathilda-san Gilbert's newest conquest?" He had been living in the Beilschmidt household for almost a year now and he had learned that the oldest son was more of a playboy than his father.
Ludwig just sighed and gestured them towards the former training ground so the Japanese man could learn more about the Western history to write his book.
The couple went north and Gilbert stopped as they neared a huge lake with a castle behind it. Gilbert gave a low whistle.
"Château de Vincennes." Gilbert turned to Mathilda as she said the name of the white stone castle.
"You knew this castle?" without taking her eyes away from the castle she nodded her head.
"Well, I learned about it in books and what stories Uncle Frannie told of it." Gilbert smiled and patted her back.
"You like stories?" Mathilda nodded her head eagerly.
"Oh yes. I adore them."
"Really?"
"Yes. When my sister and I were young, I used to pester Uncle Francis to tell us a tale of any kind, but he usually told stories of old France. What I like the most was the story of Joan of Arc." Gilbert was not really surprised by that.
"And how the mighty Queen Elizabeth of England ruled all her subjects." The Prince smirked.
"I assumed you know the history of this castle as well." Of course he was only jesting. He was taken back when, without a hesitation, Mathilda surprised him with her knowledge.
"It was first built to be as hunting long back in the old days." Mathilda spoke with jovial expression as she recall her time in the town library, reading and studying the history of Europe.
"Three kings of France were born here as well." She turned her violet eyes to his bewildered scarlet ones. He had only met a few intelligent women thruoughout his life and one of them was Yue. Now, another promising woman was in front of him and he had the mettle to let her go.
He cleared his throat and grabbed her hand nearer to the lake as he saw something interesting to him.
"Wait, Gilbert. I do not like swimming in the lake." But he didn't stop until their shoes was inches away from the cool water. Even though the weather was warm, the air that swept by the lake had given them the idea that the lake was freezing.
"Shh. Look." Mathilda turned her eyes to where Gilbert was pointing at. There was a beautiful white swan with its long elegant neck crane up high, paddling on the middle of the lake.
"Is a swan!" Mathilda explained. Gilbert chuckled and pulled her down on the grass.
"Have you heard of the story of the 'Ugly Duckling'?" Gilbert sat crossed legged while Mathilda folded her legs sideways and shook her head at him. He smiled at her and continued his story about the tale that he knew would be a popular one for the future generation.
"It was written by a Danish poet. Hans Christian Andersen." With wide eyes, Mathilda was so into the story that Gilbert laughed.
"I can let you borrow his book. I have a copy back in Prussia." Her eyes had grown sparkles in it.
"That will be great." Then she remembered.
"Is it written in Danish?" Gilbert blinked then shook his head.
"No. it's in Ger—oh. Right. I guess I have to find a tutor for you." She then grabbed his hand shyly.
"Wouldn't you be my tutor?" his heart had suddenly beating wildly in his chest. He never met any woman to ask them to be his anything other than bed mate. There was Elizabeta but she left him in pieces.
"W-Well." He starches the back of his head and turned his eyes back to the lake. He shook Mathilda to let her look as well. Mathilda turned and saw that the swan earlier had now at least five young cygnets and another much smaller swan behind it.
"I'm guessing they're one big family." Gilbert then turned to Mathilda's somewhat teary eyes. Then he started to panic.
"What's wrong?" he was on his knees and cradle Mathilda as she suddenly cried in his chest.
The moment Mathilda saw how the baby swans were happily following their father and their mother was behind them, the reality set in that she was with child and her husband didn't even wanted to be hers.
What would she do to let Gilbert fall for her?
Eventually her crying had turned to hiccups and she was shaking violently in Gilbert's embrace. She didn't what to move of fear that he would let her go.
"Feeling better?" Gilbert asked softly as he moved her wavy blond hair away from her face.
They just spent the rest of the afternoon, lounging and talking in the lake side bed and observing how beautiful nature was.
"You will see more of this back in Thuringia." Mathilda had moved to give him some personal space and was plucking some grass beside her. She smiled at his comment.
"I'm sure I will love Prussia as much I have love France and America." Smiling with each other they turned their heads as Francis was walking slowly behind them.
With a knowing smirk in his eyes.
"I see that my niece had a fun time with her husband." He helped Mathilda up and was devastated at the grass sticking on her pale pink dress.
"oh mon pauvre nièce look at your dress! We must definitely go to a seamstress at once."
Mathilda blushed and tried to brush the grass away. She was only able to get a few and was hurried out of the park into the late afternoon of Paris.
Most of the shops were closing but they were able to find one still open.
In private, Mathilda told one of the female workers to give her a dress that would be fit someone twice her size. Not wanting to argue with a customer, she nodded and get some stocked dress for her.
Mathilda knew her uncle will suspect something about her taste of clothes when they were delivered to his house later but she just had to hide the two plus size ones in her chest before he scanned them.
That night, they ate at Francis' house and complimented him on his cooking.
They enjoyed their night together in the Paris streets, as it was light enough to see its beautiful glory. Many couples walked happily around the well light streets.
The next morning, they quickly ate breakfast and readied for a whole day on the road. Mathilda groaned at the idea on the road for days. But lucky for her, she was not sick to her stomach that morning and it must be that she had eaten those somewhat, she craves cream of puff.
Before leaving, she took a couple of random books from her uncle's study to read her whole trip to Prussia. Which, Gilbert said would take four days to go.
A/N: As I written above, special thanks to invisiblemanda for being my personal editor in this. Thank you!
I know how much hungry I was after finding this French foods in the internet, never really tried it personally (expect cream puff, they are like heaven) but I assumed they are tasty and delicious.
Steak au poivre or pepper steak is a French dish that consists of a steak, traditionally a filet mignon, coated with loosely cracked peppercorns and then cooked.
Andouillette is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork (or occasionally, veal), intestines or chitterlings,pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings.
Pistou sauce, or just pistou, is a cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil.
Aligot is a dish traditionally made in L'Aubrac region in southern Massif Centralof France made from melted cheese blended into mashed potatoes, often with some garlic.
Quenelle is a mixture of creamed fish, chicken, or meat, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding.
profiterole, cream puff (US) or choux à la crème is a choux pastry ball filled with whipped cream, pastry cream, or ice cream.
I also assumed that everyone knows the story of "The Ugly Duckling" by a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen(1804-1875)
Of course this story was first published in 1843, November 11 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Along side with the story of 'The Angel', 'The Nightingale' and 'The Sweethearts; or the Top or the Ball'. (I like all of his stories and I grow up reading them and knowing it by heart. But of course the Ugly Duckling is just happens to be the one on top…)
Then about the Bois de Vincennes, was really a park where Napoleon opened for public after being used as Military training ground in the French Revolution. Its had four large lakes and the one on the north hasChâteau de Vincennes an 14th century royal castle. And three kings did born there, Louis X(1316),Philippe V(1322) andCharles IV(1328). It's one of the main tourist attractions in French Parks.
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