The Queen of Sweets (End)

When he woke up the next day Victor was already lying in his bed while having a huge headache. Unfortunately, he didn't completely forget about everything he did yesterday.

He was quite ashamed that he couldn't control his emotions and actions to such an extent. This was a huge warning sign for him to avoid any alcohol in large amounts before his body developed to that of a normal adult.

Even though he had great physical talents his body was still limited. Hopefully Ashara wouldn't hold his actions yesterday against him. Nevertheless, his behavior probably caused quite a large shock to this young woman.

Obviously, he skipped his daily training this time, as he really was not even close to being in a suitable condition for advanced battles. When he appeared at the dining table a few hours later his family was already waiting. His parents didn't mention anything as he was already in a much better condition.

Diane and Giulia kept talking about chocolate and frequently answered question to Ashara and Victor. Both little girls had many new ideas and flavors they wanted to try with chocolate. Especially the thought of chocolate ice cream kept them awake at night.

Ashara didn't show any obvious signs or reactions to yesterday's kiss. She behaved quite normal but avoided direct eye contact with Victor, who truthfully already expected that.

Having his first kiss with a drunken ten-year-old boy far away from home was probably not the way she imagined it to be. But her behaving normally was already quite a good sign for Victor, as she now only needed some time to get accustomed to the situation.

Ashara spent the next few days in the kitchen with Victor's sister and his mother. They created many new dishes and varieties of chocolate. Not only the production process of chocolate from cocoa beans was getting improved by her, but she started experimenting and planting with the cocoa trees.

In the days Ashara and Victor tried to create the first chocolate together Victor already told her about the place the cocoa trees were planted and what he wanted to do with the island. When Ashara learned that he wanted to conquer a whole island and cause the death of thousands of people she immediately vetoed this behavior. She listened to some of Victor's reasons and certainly understood, but she still didn't like it.

In the end she came up with a compromise. Victor could use his armed forces and announce the oncoming war, but only as a play for the outside world. They would travel to the Summer Islands with large ships and many weapons but tried to peacefully gain a place on one of the three islands.

This way they could avoid a large war and further gain access to many more resources, like the large number of humans they would need to grow and harvest all the cocoa trees. When Victor thought about the large manpower, he would need to plant and harvest all the cocoa beans he felt a little afraid.

If he truly killed many people of the Summer Islands and would be involved in a long-time fight growing large amounts of cocoa trees would probably only be possible in the far away future.

Honestly, he never really gave up the idea of conquering the summer islands by himself, but he needed to admit that he simply didn't have enough manpower nor a good enough foundation on the Summer Islands to rule and control even one of the three large islands. The total cost he would need to invest was simply not proportional to the gain, if there was even any gain left after all the resources invested.

The large amount of success he had in the previous year's made have made him a little too overconfident, trying to achieve something that even the Valyrian empire didn't achieve. He was quite happy that Ashara disagreed with him and even gave him a valuable option he could choose instead.

This was the first time he found a new perspective when looking at things and a helper that could truly bring change to some of his plans in a better way. Ashara Dayne considered problems in his plans and offered solutions he would probably never think of, because he simply wasn't really raised in this world. His mother nor father were not able to install the mindset the people of Westeros or Essos had into him, because his character was already formed from the start.

As a result of his overconfidence, he decided to not intervene in the affair of the Summer Islands or the cocoa trees for the time being. He wanted to just watch how Ashara would use the resources of House Di Natale to secure a foundation on the Summer Islands and spread the influence of chocolates in the Known World. This would truly be a story of how the naive little girl, that fled in panic after being kissed for the first time, turned into the glorious Queen of Sweets that everybody in the Known World knew of.

Victor decided to put his focus back on Westeros as he needed to prepare his layout in King's Landing to rescue Elia safely in the future. He already had a person in mind when thinking about his plans. A person with a close connection with Lys, most likely even born there. A person that would be a valuable partner in the future and could provide Victor with immense help and information for any plan he might have.

How to develop a relationship of trust was not yet decided, but the young heir of House Di Natale already had an idea. To really, he would most likely need to step on the land of Westeros by himself for the second time. But this time not in Dorne, where his safety was pretty much guaranteed, but maybe in King's Landing, where anything could happen.

He first decided to visit his friend Oberyn Martell at his current residence in Sunspear. There were still some details he needed to talk about, and he wanted to give his wedding gift for Princess Elia directly to her. He would never appear at her wedding banquet and step in front of the Mad King, so giving the gift to her while she was still in Dorne seemed like the most mindful decision.