Chapter 5 –– Dining Table

I was so shocked to the point that I flinched so hard and dropped my towel. I accidentally flashed myself in front of someone.

The person in front of me was wearing a maid uniform. She must be someone working in this mansion.

I hurriedly put my towel back on and tried to play it cool. Dammit. That was embarrassing as fuck.

“Wh–who are you....?”

“Lord Dawoud sent me to be your handmaiden. You can call me Syifra, my lord.”

She bowed at me solemnly. Even though she just saw me naked, it didn’t faze her at all, as if she didn’t have any emotions or something.

“Lady Rochlin had prepared some clothes for you. Would you like me to help you get dressed?” she said, offering to dress me while I was naked.

“Uhh.....”

I covered myself with the towel I’m wearing and stepping farther away from her. I feel uncomfortable being naked with someone else in my room.

“Worry not, my lord. I am also an omega.”

That doesn’t change anything!!! It’s not that I was afraid of getting molested, I’m just uncomfortable with being naked with people!! Isn’t that what's normal???

“J–just leave the clothes on the bed. I will get dressed by myself,” I told her, declining her offer.

“Very well. If you need any help, just ring this bell and I will come for you.”

She left a bell on the table along with the clothes that Lady Rochlin prepared for me. If ringing the bell was all I needed to do to summon her, her hearing must be incredible. It’s not like the bell is telepathically connected to her, is it?

I took a look at the clothes that Lady Rochlin prepared for me, lay on the table by the handmaiden. I see. This was a typical Caninus Tribe clothing. I guess they wanted me to try on some of their clothing to get me used to the culture here. That sounds nice. I like wearing other tribes’ costumes.

After I was done putting on the clothes and getting myself ready for dinner, I went to the dining room, accompanied by my handmaiden who showed me the way.

The moment I entered the dining room, I saw a long rectangular table with a lot of seats. I couldn’t even count how many seats there were since there was so many.

Everyone else was already seated at the table, with only one vacant seat left. I was told that, aside from the Chieftain, his wife, his daughter, and his son; there were other members of their extended family at the table, including the Chieftain’s siblings and their children, as well as his wife’s siblings and their children. It was a truly big family.

“Oh, Lord Noam! Please, have a seat here!”

Lady Rochlin told me to sit close by her, with her son sitting beside me. I guess she wanted me to eat next to her son. I did as she told me and took a seat beside Dawoud.

Moments later, the servants started serving us dinner on our plates. The first meal was the appetizer. It was soup with slices of mushrooms on it.

Before we began to eat, Dawoud's father–– Lord Hamza–– stood up and asked for everybody's attention. Everyone then fixed their eyes towards Lord Hamza.

"Starting today, a guest will be staying in our mansion for the Bluemoon Festival. Everyone, this is Dawoud’s intended*–– Lord Noam Dabau from Hyaena Tribe.”

Everyone stared at me after Lord Hamza introduced me as Dawoud’s intended. Damn. I was not prepared for this.

I awkwardly got up from my seat and introduced myself. I was stuttering because of the nervousness. I don’t have much experience in public speaking.

“M–my name is Noam Dabau from Hyaena Tribe! I am an omega male spotted hyena. A p–pleasure to meet you!”

I bowed to them the people at the table. Dawoud’s parents chuckled at my introduction, finding my clumsiness cute or something. They then gave a round of applause for me.

I felt so embarrassed. That was terrible.

Across my seat, I saw a man showing his thumb at me, appreciating my effort for the introduction. He smiled at me to show his support. I just smiled back at him awkwardly.

After I returned to my seat, my suitor whispered in my ear.

“You look cute in that.”

His whisper made me flustered. I was still shaken by my introduction earlier that I didn’t notice he whispered something to me.

The outfit Lady Rochlin gave me was a tight-fitting short-sleeved beige shirt and a pair of brown shorts. I was also wearing a bow tie with a matching colour and some black suspenders. It seemed like it was something common to wear in this mansion, judging by how many people were wearing the same outfit as I did, just in different colours. The colour of the outfit I was wearing perfectly matched the colour of my spotted fur on my tail and ears.

“Thank you. You look handsome in that too, Lord Dawoud,” I replied, returning the compliment.

Unlike me, Dawoud was wearing a different type of outfit. He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with a blue vest and a matching blue tie. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, giving him some kind of semi-formal look. For the bottom, he wore a pair of long blue trousers.

“Just call me Dawoud,” he whispered to me.

I don’t know why he keeps whispering. It made me blush every time he did it.

I looked around and noticed that everyone in the room seemed to know the proper table manner etiquette. My suitor next to me noticed my strange behaviour and said something to me.

“Just follow what I do.”

He started taking one of the spoons to scoop up some of the soup. Since there were so many types of spoon on the table, I wouldn’t have known which one to use if he didn’t tell me to imitate him. I picked up the same kind of spoon that he did–– which was the spoon for soup–– and exactly imitated his manner of eating. I kept taking glances at him in order to be able to fit in.

The way he ate was so majestic. Despite his energetic and extroverted behaviour, he did seem to have proper manners at home. When his lips touched upon the soup, his lips were dyed with some orange pigment, making his complexion look brighter.

I was so focused on trying to imitate him that I forgot to pay attention to my own food. I forgot to blow on the soup and got my tongue burnt the moment it touched my tongue. I accidentally dropped the spoon and spilled some of the soup, making a mess on the floor.

“I–I’m so sorry...!” I exclaimed loudly.

I took a napkin on the table and tried to wipe off the soup that was spilled on the floor. Before I knelt to the ground to clean it, my suitor grabbed my arm and stopped me.

“It’s alright. Our servant will clean it for you. You can continue eating.”

He said while smiling. His smile was so sweet that I felt like I was gonna melt by it.

Thankfully, nothing was spilled on my clothes. That would have been very bad since Lady Rochlin lent this to me. I couldn't possibly imagine the thought of ruining this outfit.

After we were done with the appetizer, the next one was the main course. It was subsheep steak with some mashed potatoes on the side. For the drink, we were served some wine for the adults and grape juice for the minors. I was initially served wine but I requested to swap it with grape juice instead, since I don’t have any experience with alcohol yet.

So this is the famous subsheep steak that he told me, huh. I finally got the chance to eat it.

Now that i think about it, I have never eaten a steak before, actually. I don’t know how to eat it.

Dawoud saw me unable to hold the cutlery properly and showed me the way. He told me to hold the fork using my right hand and stick the meat with it and to use my left hand to cut the meat into pieces using a knife.

I imitated exactly what he did. It was a whole lot easier than I expected. After I successfully cut a piece of the steak, I put it in my mouth to taste it.

It was amazing. The meat was so tender that it felt like it could just melt in my mouth. It was very well seasoned as well, with the right spices and the right temperature. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted meat this deliciously before. Complimented by the grape juice, the meat flowed down the throat straight to my stomach very smoothly. It was incredibly exquisite.

Damn. People in Caninus Village are really living the luxurious life, huh.

Right when I was in the middle of eating the steak, a servant came and served an additional small plate on my table.

“Here’s your request, Lord Dawoud.”

“Thank you, Syifra.”

It was my handmaiden who put it on my table. She put a small plate of stir-fried button mushrooms.

Oh. That was a nice gesture of him. He remembered that I told him I liked mushrooms, so he added a special request for me. How nice of him.

After we were done with the main course, we finally got to the dessert. Damn. Does this family have a full course meal every dinner? That sounds a lot.

This time, the dessert was a berry pudding. It was some jello with pieces of berries inside of it. We ate it with a small dessert spoon.

While we were eating dessert, some people on the table asked me some questions.

“How is it like in Hyaena Village?” one of Dawoud’s relatives asked me.

Oh. That reminded me of something. Now that I looked around the table, I just realised that there was no one else from outside of Caninus Tribe in this table except for me. I'd heard the rumours that this tribe was not very fond of accepting outsiders as part of their family, but I never thought that literally none of their family members who mate with someone outside of Caninus Tribe. This must be the first time for some people at the table seeing someone outside of Caninus Tribe on this table.

“It’s not as big and as crowded as this village, but it’s very cozy,” I told them.

I know. I’m not good at pointing out the attractive points in my village. I’d rather show it in person than talk about it, so....

“What do you eat there?” another person asked.

“We have holepig skewers and deep-fried oyster mushrooms....we also have lotus root cakes and beetroot juice....”

The moments I mentioned some of the popular dishes from my village, their eyes glistened with excitement. It seemed like they didn’t have such dishes here. The were quite intrigued by the descriptions I gave them about my village.

“Are people from Hyaena Tribe all pretty like you?”

“E–eh?”

A kid took my by surprise by asking a random yet innocent question. I’m sure she wasn’t trying to mock me or anything since she seemed genuinely curious. Still, she took me by surprise. I was so flustered that I didn’t know how to react.

Some of the adults chuckled at her question and my flustered expression. They didn’t expect such a question would come out at the dining table. Regardless, they found it refreshing and amusing.

“Just like in here, not all people from Hyaena Tribe as pretty as Lord Noam. That’s why Dawoud picked him to be his mate. Isn’t that right, Dawoud?” Lord Hamza jokingly answered on my behalf who was too stunned to speak.

“Exactly. I chose the prettiest boy in the village,” he answered, going along with Lord Hamza’s joke.

Everyone at the table laughed at the conversation. Urgh. I feel so embarrassed. I couldn’t stop blushing because they kept making fun of me.

We then talked about the differences between Caninus Village and Hyaena Village, such as differences in customs and cultures. It was really interesting. I just learnt that the reason there were barely people from outside who lived in the village was because once a Caninus tribesman or woman found a mate from another tribe, they usually settled outside of the village instead of living with their mate here. There were several members of the family who mated with people from other tribes, but they left the village and settled in their mate’s village. They did come by and visit sometimes, especially during holidays.

After we were done having dinner, we returned to our respective rooms. My handmaiden accompanied me to my room even though I already knew my way there. I let her anyway because she was probably just doing her job.

After I arrived at my room, I changed into my pyjamas to get ready for sleep. I’m not sure what I’m gonna be doing tomorrow, but nonetheless, I’ll try to wake up early.

After I got changed into my pyjamas, I heard someone knocking on the door to my room.

“Noam, may I come in?”

That’s Dawoud’s voice. I wonder what he wants from me.

“Sure. Come in.”

He then came into the room to talk to me.

I don’t know why I’m suddenly getting nervous.