Wobbuffet and the others arranged the brought desserts into the display cases one by one, and before long, the display cases were filled to the brim.
After the aesthetically pleasing desserts were categorized and placed neatly, they were a feast for the eyes.
Meanwhile, the two Golett placed the imported fine wines into the wine cabinet one by one.
These wines included white, red, and beer, with each variety having a dedicated wine cabinet, looking equally pleasing to the eye.
There were also juices and fruit wines, which were placed in the refrigerator to chill.
Once the preparations were done, the dessert shop officially opened for business.
Downstairs, taking advantage of a brief break, Ange walked into the hall and said to the customers:
"Everyone, the second floor of Munchlax Home is officially open for business starting today. If you want to purchase desserts and drinks, feel free to go up and take a look. We guarantee you won't be disappointed!"
Regarding the dessert shop on the second floor, Ange had already given the customers in the shop a heads-up beforehand, so everyone was mentally prepared.
As soon as Ange's voice trailed off, someone immediately spoke up, saying, "I trust the little boss's goods one hundred percent. I'll go check it out later!"
"Me too, me too! I feel like if I don't go, I'll miss out on something very important!"
"Now that you mention it, I have that feeling too!"
"It looks like I have to go as well!"
...
The customers began chatting animatedly about the dessert shop. Seeing this, Ange returned to the kitchen with a smile.
The reputation of Munchlax Home had long been established, boasting a solid customer base, and it could now easily command a following with a single call.
Today, Melony and Ange had come as well.
Ange asked Melony somewhat apprehensively, "Melis, would you like to go look around the His Highness's dessert shop with me later?"
Melis was Melony's nickname, and only those close to her were permitted to call her that.
Ange had liked Melony for so long, and their relationship had finally made a substantive breakthrough.
"I was just thinking of doing that. Let's go take a look after we finish eating," Melony replied.
"Really? That's great!" Ange's ear tips turned red with excitement, and he couldn't help speeding up his breakfast-eating pace.
Melony glanced at him and said, "Watch out you don't choke!"
Just as her voice fell, Ange began coughing violently. He had shoved a whole milky mantou into his mouth, getting it stuck in his throat.
"See, I told you!" Melony hurriedly handed a cup of water over to Ange.
"Cough, cough, cough~~" Ange's face flushed red. After gulping down a mouthful of water and forcefully pounding his chest to swallow the mantou, he grinned sheepishly at Melony and said, "Acc... accident, it was all an accident!"
Hearing this, Melony shook her head helplessly.
After lunch, the two youths arrived at the second floor of Munchlax Home as promised.
By the time they arrived, quite a few people were already on the second floor, with couples making up the majority.
The desserts here could be taken away to go or eaten directly in the shop.
Ange looked around the shop. When he saw a boy feeding a piece of dessert directly to his girlfriend's mouth, his face turned bright red in an instant.
He... he was actually doing such an embarrassing thing!
Yet, he couldn't help looking over a second time. Seeing the girl gazing lovingly at her boyfriend, Ange felt a trace of envy well up in his heart.
He couldn't stop himself from imagining the scene of him feeding Melony desserts.
If Melony looked at him like that...
For a moment, Ange's brain overloaded, and his face turned as red as an Octillery!
At that moment, Melony's voice pulled Ange back from his fantasy into reality.
"Ange, which kind do you want?"
Ange walked up to Melony and said in a soft voice, "You pick. As long as you pick it, I like it..."
Hearing this, a slight blush flashed across Melony's face. "If I pick it, don't say you don't like it afterward!"
"Mm~~" Ange said bashfully.
If the students at school could see Ange looking like this right now, they would probably be floored.
Ange usually acted arrogant, looking down his nose at everyone. Who could have imagined he would look like this when staying with his crush?
While Melony was picking out desserts, Ange suddenly noticed the wine cabinet not far away, where rows of wine bottles in various colors were neatly displayed.
He suddenly thought of something: Melony's father, the Azoth Minister of Agriculture, seemed to enjoy wine and had a hobby of collecting it.
Should he... buy a bottle?
With this thought in mind, Ange walked over to the wine cabinet and observed it carefully.
In reality, he knew nothing about wine. After staring at it for a long time, he only felt dizzy because the wines brewed by Passimian came in a vast variety of categories.
Just as he was struggling, Wobbuffet walked up to him.
"Wobb~"
Wobbuffet handed a beautifully bound book, which looked high-end and sophisticated, directly to Ange.
Ange took the booklet in confusion and flipped it open casually, his face instantly lighting up with pleasant surprise because the booklet recorded introductions to all the wines in the cabinet.
"Thank you, Wobbuffet!" Ange thanked Wobbuffet sincerely.
"Wobb~" Wobbuffet waved its hand to show it was no trouble at all.
Immediately afterward, Ange began choosing by matching the items with the booklet.
Soon, he had his eye on a red wine and a white wine.
According to the booklet introduction, this red wine had the effect of relieving fatigue, while the white wine had the effect of activating blood circulation and unblocking collaterals.
After pondering for a long time, he also picked out a fruit wine.
He planned to give the fruit wine to Melony's mother. According to the booklet, if consumed long-term, this fruit wine had skin-beautifying and anti-aging effects.
Ange trusted Ange's products quite a bit, and he didn't doubt the various effects introduced in the booklet at all.
In his view, someone as formidable as His Highness had no reason to run false advertisements.
Ange's father was the Azoth Minister of Finance. Because Ange had helped Azoth resolve the energy crisis and saved the country a massive amount of expenses, Ange's father showered Ange with unreserved praise.
It was precisely from his father's mouth that Ange learned His Highness had quietly solved such a huge problem for the country.
Looking at himself by comparison, he had actually gone to cause trouble for His Highness over some petty romantic squabbles back then. It was simply too shameful!
Now, Ange had become Ange's role model, and Ange aspired to become a person useful to the country just like His Highness!
After Wobbuffet retrieved the three bottles of wine Ange wanted from the wine cabinet, Ange thought for a moment and added, "Please get me another bottle of each."
He needed to butter up his future father-in-law and mother-in-law, but he couldn't forget his own parents back home either.
The wine at Ange's place was quite expensive, so even though Ange had a generous allowance, he still couldn't buy too many.
"Wobb~" Wobbuffet acknowledged, then helped Ange fetch three more bottles of wine.
Directly following that, Wobbuffet brought the six bottles of wine to Gothita, who packed the wine into exquisite packaging boxes.
Gothita was deft and clever, even weaving pretty decorative ornaments for the packaging boxes.
Just as Gothita handed the packaged wine to Ange, Melony walked over carrying the similarly packaged desserts, and slipped one of the portions into Ange's hands.
"Let's save the desserts to eat at noon!" Melony said.
Hearing this, Ange's eyes lit up. "Melis, you mean... we're having lunch together too?"
Melony raised an eyebrow and said, "What? Unwilling?"
Ange hurriedly said, "Willing! I'm willing!"
Melony turned and walked away. "Hurry up to school, or we're going to be late!"
"Coming!" Ange chased after Melony with a brisk step, wearing a goofy smile on his face that he hadn't even noticed himself.
Ange and Melony were not in the same class, so after arriving at school, the two went their separate ways.
The scene of them parting ways was caught right by Melony's best friend. As Melony walked into the classroom, the friend threw an arm around her neck and asked with a grin:
"You two came to school together again. Tell me honestly, are you guys secretly dating?"
Melony shoved her best friend away. "Stop talking nonsense!"
The friend looped her arm around Melony's again and lowered her voice to ask, "Then tell me, do you like him or not?"
Melony didn't speak; only the tips of her ears slowly turned red!
Her best friend looked surprised and said, "Not talking means you do like him, huh?"
Melony still didn't speak.
Her best friend shook her head repeatedly, wearing a look of deep regret as she said, "I can't believe it! You actually like a guy like Ange! What's so good about such an arrogant person?"
Ange was handsome, came from a good background, and possessed strong strength, making him a prominent figure at school.
However, don't think that meant many girls secretly liked him; the exact opposite was true.
Because of his arrogant personality, most girls kept a respectful distance from him, unless they were the vain type.
Melony, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. She had a good personality, treated others with warmth and politeness, and was pretty, making her the girl of many male students' dreams in the entire school.
Melony quietly replied, "Actually, he's pretty nice..."
Her best friend was speechless. "You call someone with that kind of personality nice? My dear, did he slip you a love potion or something?"
Melony said no more, only shooting her best friend a glare.
The morning passed quickly. During lunch break, Melony and Ange had lunch together as agreed.
After finishing the main meal, the two took out the desserts they had bought in the morning.
Melony sliced off a small piece of cake with a fork and put it into her mouth, whereupon her eyes lit up brightly.
"As expected, things from His Highness's place never disappoint!"
The instant the cake entered her mouth, the fluffy cake base and the sweet cream blended together, feeling just like clouds in the sky.
The cream used to make the cake came from Alcremie, and Alcremie's cream made the eater experience a sense of happiness.
This feeling was hard to put into words, yet it left Melony deeply captivated.
Hearing this, Ange also tasted the dessert in his hand.
In truth, he didn't really eat desserts, but after tasting the cake in his hand, he instantly changed his previous impression of desserts.
It was too delicious!
Just as the two were enjoying the delicious food to the fullest, Melony's best friend suddenly arrived.
"Aha! So you two are hiding here sneaking a snack!"
Her best friend twitched her nose slightly, inhaled the sweet fragrance lingering in the air, and couldn't help saying, "It smells so good!"
Melony still had quite a bit of cake left, so she simply handed all of it to her best friend.
"Here, take it and share it with the classmates. This is dessert bought from His Highness Ange's shop."
Melony felt that since His Highness Ange's desserts were so delicious, it would be too wasteful to enjoy them all by herself. It was a good chance to help His Highness advertise at school.
After taking the desserts, her best friend gave Melony a bear hug. "Melis, I love you to death!"
At this moment, Ange extended the remaining dessert toward the best friend and said, "You can have mine too!"
Her best friend stared at Ange for quite a while, making Ange feel a bit creeped out.
Ange asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Her best friend shook her head. "Nothing, I just suddenly feel like you're actually a pretty good guy!"
With that, she took Ange's dessert and ran off, leaving Ange completely bewildered.
Of course he was great, did it take her to say so?
After Melony's best friend distributed the desserts to the classmates, she indeed received unanimous praise from everyone, and they eagerly inquired where the desserts had been bought.
Thus, the best friend relayed Melony's words.
Because of this incident, the desserts from Ange's shop became quite popular in Melony's school. From then on, students would patronize the shop every single day.
Couples especially loved to sit there for a while after school, enjoying delicious desserts, watching the sunset, whispering sweet nothings to their lovers, and acting all lovey-dovey. It couldn't be more romantic.
After lunch, seeing that there was still time, Ange took the wine he bought in the morning and headed to the place where his father worked.
Their school wasn't far from where the ministers had their offices.
Besides, the guards knew Ange, so they readily let him pass.
At this moment, the ministers were also having lunch. Seeing his son walk over, the Minister of Finance pulled his son into a corner and asked in puzzlement,
"Why are you here?"
After Ange muttered a few words to his father, he handed the wine in his hand over to him.
After listening to his son's words, a smile appeared on the Minister of Finance's face. He patted Ange on the shoulder and said,
"Don't worry, Dad will definitely get this sorted out for you!"
The Minister of Finance was well aware of his son's liking for the Minister of Agriculture's daughter, and he was happy to see the young couple succeed.
The Minister of Finance weighed the wine in his hand and said with gratification, "Looks like you have a conscience, kid. You didn't forget your mom and me!"
Although he wasn't an alcoholic, he still liked to sip a small cup on occasion.
"Dad, I'll leave this to you. I still have classes, so I'm heading off!" With that, Ange bolted away!
"This kid..." Watching his son's retreating figure, the Minister of Finance smiled and shook his head. "He grew up in the blink of an eye!"
Immediately afterward, humming a little tune, he returned to the cafeteria.
The ministers had a dedicated cafeteria, and they generally ate their lunches inside.
When the Minister of Finance returned to the cafeteria, he spotted the Minister of Agriculture still dining at a glance, so he hurried over and said,
"Care for a drink?"
Seeing the wine in the Minister of Finance's hand, the Minister of Agriculture's craving for alcohol instantly flared up.
Being old colleagues, the Minister of Agriculture didn't stand on ceremony with the Minister of Finance.
"Then let's have two cups, but not too much. I still have work this afternoon!"
"Of course!" the Minister of Finance said. "I know my limits!"
With that, he asked the cafeteria staff for two wine glasses and ordered two side dishes to go with the drinks.
The moment the wine bottle was uncapped, a rich fragrance began to pervade the cafeteria.
"Where is that wine aroma coming from?" someone asked.
Someone with a fondness for fine wine immediately declared, "Good wine! Now that's good wine!"