Oops! My Escort Is A Mafia Don - Chapter 42: Chapter 42

"I've got a few other things to talk to you about later. Before that, could you get us something to eat first? She hasn't eaten for the whole day."
Joe gave Olivia another look, his tone softening slightly. "Nice taste. Is she Gravellian?"
Julian nodded. "Yeah."
Joe turned to Olivia and spoke in stiff, awkward Gravellian, "Hi, I'm Joe Hudson."
Olivia forced a polite smile. "Nice to see you, Mr. Hudson."
Joe continued, "Fuck! I'm so damn excited to meet you."
The smile froze on Olivia's face. She couldn't tell whether he had a problem with her or was just being weirdly passive-aggressive.
Julian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Grandpa, seriously, stop with the Gravellian. You're tired, and it's exhausting for everyone to understand you. Just speak Auralian. She understands that."
Joe switched to Auralian without missing a beat, and he could speak more fluently now, "My Gravellian's not bad, huh? Learned it from Julian's mother. She told me that was the Gravellian way of showing the highest form of respect."
Olivia forced a smile. "Your pronunciation is pretty accurate."
But she didn't finish her words. 'But the meaning? Let's not even go there,' she thought.
Julian explained, "My mom used to swear at foreigners in Gravellian whenever she got into arguments. But since she didn't want them to know she was cursing, she always told them she was giving them blessings, and that it was part of Gravellian etiquette.
Since they couldn't understand a word, they actually thanked her for it. Grandpa totally bought it. He started practicing in secret. Now every time he meets someone from Gravellia, he greets them with all the same 'blessings'.
"He looks so intimidating that no one dares correct him. They just smile and nod. It only reinforces his belief that he's being respectful. You know what, each single Gravellia he saw was once 'blessed' by him."
Olivia didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Julian chuckled. "Don't let his appearance fool you. He looks scary, and his manners are questionable, but his cooking skills are good. Let's get him to make us dinner."
Olivia remained silent, though she thought inwardly, 'Taking advantage of your grandpa not understanding Gravellian, huh?'
Julian added, "There are fresh ingredients in the backyard. Let's go pick something."
Olivia nodded, and Julian led her toward the courtyard. He clearly knew his way around well, and he also clearly wanted to avoid more of Joe's chatter.
The backyard was enormous, almost like a petting zoo. Sectioned off by wooden fences, each enclosure held a different kind of animal—chickens, ducks, geese, and even ostriches, peacocks, rabbits.
Some enclosures housed animals that were considered wild delicacies back in Gravellia. To Olivia's surprise, there were even crocodiles.
Olivia ended up picking a rabbit and a young crocodile. She'd never had crocodile before and figured it might be fun to try.
Julian helped her get the animals selected. But when Joe came to collect them, he went ahead and grabbed one animal from each enclosure to be processed.
As they passed the prep station, Olivia caught sight of Joe deftly skinning the rabbit. It took him less than ten seconds to pull off its skin. Even more disturbing, the rabbit's legs were still kicking during the process.
Olivia winced. "That's pretty cruel."
Julian smirked. "Yeah, and I want my portion extra spicy."
"Make mine spicy too," Olivia muttered, her eyes still a little wide.
Joe asked Julian to stay and help with the prep, suggesting Olivia go rest outside. But she felt bad being the only one taking a break, so she stuck around.
Looking around for a task, Oliva picked up a rock and knocked the crocodile unconscious with a clean hit to the head. The crocodile instantly passed out. Then, grabbing a knife, she began skinning it with focused movements.
Julian looked over at her, amused. "Didn't you just say this was cruel? You're way more brutal than Joe."
Olivia replied earnestly, "It's different. That rabbit was still twitching while it was skinned. I gave the crocodile a quick, clean knockout—humane and painless. It's practically a mercy kill."
Julian shook his head and chuckled softly, watching her with a mix of admiration and disbelief.