"It is fine there is no need to thank us. Your actions in helping this kingdom are already enough." Prince Lance replied and even bowed his head slightly. He then raised his head and gave Adel a big smile. "My dear sister, I think you should be heading back, should you not? His Majesty, our father, is waiting for your report."
"You!" Adel's expression turned complicated. She stomped her feet before throwing her arms around me and hugging me tightly once again. "I will be off. As my brother said, I do need to return to the castle to report to my father. But Faith…." Adel leaned her face closer to my ear and whispered in a not so low voice: "Watch out for my brother, he is a playboy. Do not let him sweet talk you."
"My dear sister, I can hear you. Faith, do not listen to her. I am still as pure as the day I was born. I am keeping myself clean until the day I meet my true love."
"Pure? Clean? Hah! Let me tell you right now, Lance Gravos, if you dare do anything to my cute Faith, I will hunt you down with everything I have!" Adel yelled out while shaking her fist and snorting.
"My Faith!? Humph! We will see!" Prince Lance glared at Adel as he spoke.
I guess as the bystander, I should stay quiet, but I do not understand why these two are fighting over me. It's like two male leads in an otome game staring each other down, waiting for the other to mess up. If this was a manga, there would be projections of mighty beasts behind the two with bolts of lightning shooting out of their eyes. Kinda wish I had some popcorn to watch the show.
After saying my goodbyes to Adel, who looked like she was about to cry as she left in the carriage, I stood there and looked down the long city road ahead of me. I could have gotten a ride, but I decided against it. I wanted to take a good look at the city I was going to be staying in for a while. Unfortunately, I can not see the floating island which hovers over the lower part of the city.
My only issue was the young man standing beside me with his hands behind his back with that same stupid smirk on his face. I guess old habits die hard. "Prince Lance, is there something I can help you with?"
"Me? I figured I would walk around with you a bit if that is okay?" Mr. Smirks smiled at me and caused me to want to kick him. Why would you want to follow me!? Sadly, I can not ask such questions since Adel is not here, so I have no one to protect me from getting my head chopped off. I wonder if this was his way of punishing me. He was taking revenge for my comment earlier.
Nevertheless, no matter what the reason is, I can only sigh and reluctantly nod my head. "If Prince so wishes…."
"Good! We should also stop to eat. I know a wonderful place." And with that, my day was suddenly decided for me. I do not know why it is, but this bast… Ahem…. This prince is just as arrogant as the ones I read about in stories. I do not know what kind of favor he is expecting of me, but he seems dead set on bothering me for the time being.
"Then I will let Prince take the lead." This is all I could say. To be honest, I was not hungry at all. Just before arriving at the city, I had already eaten lunch with Adel. She had made some delicious food, and I kind of gorged myself. Her cooking was just too good. When she gets married in the future, she will make her husband a happy man. Sadly then, I will not be able to eat her cooking as much.
But I do hope whoever Adel marries will treat her well. Because as her friend…. No! As her sister, I must protect her from those evil people, even if it means crushing an entire kingdom in the process. Although I am sure it will never come to that, at least I hope….
"Faith, these stores here are not too bad even if they are in the lower section of the city. They have many items you can not find anywhere else. I do stop in to buy trinkets here from time to time. Everything is made by the owners as well, which makes them even more unique." While I did not wish to be walking the streets of the capital with the crown prince himself, I had to say he was quite knowledgeable about the place. I really did not expect him to know so much. And the shop he pointed at was kind of run down, so It was surprising that he even goes there. As for these so called unique trinkets….. I am not sure what kind of animal that stuffed toy is supposed to be with its fat stomach and strange head with different size eyes sewn into it with a really creepy smile. But I can say this…. This prince's tastes were a bit unique indeed.
"I see…" I did my best to keep a smile. But we drew a lot of attention, and the girls on the street were glaring daggers at me. I really wished to say I am not doing this because I want to! I am being forced to play along! Also, yay for being single forever! Don't worry, you want him, take him! This, of course, could not be said out loud, or my neck would have one less heavy thing on top of it.
It's not that I did not find the prince attractive, it is just that I do not want a relationship. Just thinking about it puts me in a sour mood. But I can do nothing but force a smile and try not to lead the smirking prince on. "Here we are! Fillios House Of Meat!"
Really? This is the place you bring a girl to? Maybe I was thinking too much. There is no way any man who is taking a girl he likes out to a meal would bring them to a place like this. I mean, this was basically just a meat shop! It reminds me of the sandwich shops back on Earth.
Surprisingly or maybe not, when we walked in, we had all kinds of eyes staring at us. None of them were from anyone who would look like a noble of any kind, only commoners. And there was no staff here besides those standing behind the counter. There was even a small line waiting to put in their orders. It was definitely a busy place.
After five minutes, we finally made our way to the front, where a middle aged man and his teen son were working. "Your order?"
"Ummm, give me two large barandalia and cheese with the special sauce. Give us the works." As I stood there while the Prince ordered his food, I Iooked at the menu to see what I wanted. All the names were strange, so I did not really know what was what. But before I could even decide, Prince Lance grabbed my hand and began pulling me away.
"Huh? I haven't ordered yet." I said in confusion. Was he not taking me here so I can eat? I may not be all that hungry, but I can still take it to go if I do not finish it!
"Order? I already ordered for us."
Wait! What the hell do you mean you already ordered for us!? Why would you order for me!? I wanted to scream, but the only thing I could do was quickly take my hand back from the prince and sit down at the table, feeling a bit disappointed. Although it should be mentioned that the food here did smell good. I would need to inspect this place more when I was on my own.
But right now, I had to deal with the matter at hand. In other words, deal with a prince I did not wish to deal with. If it was not for the way he was doing things, I would not mind walking the streets with him, but currently, he is acting a little too friendly for having just really met kind of like those domineering CEOs I read about. Well, this is my take on it as I have read many novels on romance in the past. And this was usually how those arrogant male lead types worked. Which was never my cup of tea. I always yelled out, kick him where it hurts! But now I kind of understand why they couldn't. When dealing with someone of a higher status, things were not so simple. Oh, how I wish Adel was here to save me! But then again, they might start fighting again. I kinda wondered if the women of this world like it when guys acted like this. I, for one, do not!
