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There was a small port town near the imperial villa of the south.
It was such a small place that it’s difficult to believe that a magnificent palatial estate owned by the imperial family was just nearby. But in any case, it was always crowded with tourists in the summer.
This year was no exception to that rule. The town square was full of countless tourists.
Walking side by side, Sera and Helios were holding one each of RosĂ© and Ferre’s hands.
The twins’ eyes sparkled as they took in the sight of seagulls flying by overhead, of a beach that they were seeing for the first time, and a town square full of colorful wares.
There were street vendors everywhere selling ice cream, fruits and fish-shaped bread. There were long lines in front of them as well.
“Is it alright for Your Majesty and Your Highnesses to walk around like this?”
Sera became worried about the safety of the emperor and the young prince and princess, so she asked.
The siblings were cut above the rest in terms of looks, so it’s only natural that they were garnering stares from everywhere.
“Hm. It should be alright since it’s a holiday?”
Helios replied like so, though he still tightly gripped Ferre’s hand to make sure that the boy wouldn’t run elsewhere.
The children had come out of the palace for the first time in a long while like this, so they were totally entranced. They couldn’t focus because there were so many things that they could look at out here.
Just a little while ago, Ferre stopped in his tracks and just stared at a big shark-shaped bread for a long time.
“Our schedule was kept confidential, so outsiders shouldn’t even know. It’ll be alright. It’s also an important task to see the citizens of the Empire as they are.”
“But isn’t it possible that someone might recognize you, sire? Your appearance is quite well known through newspapers and magazines.”
The crowd was thick so it’s possible that he could maintain anonymity within it, but anyone who’d recognize him could definitely break his cover.
Sera scanned the street, trying to see if there were any people who were particularly eyeing their group.
“They’ll be more inclined to just think that I’m someone who looks similar. Besides, there’s nothing to worry about when the escort knights are working hard to keep watch from the shadows.”
“Aha. That’s true.”
“So, feel free to look around, Miss Popo.”
With a smile on his face, Helios took a step closer to Sera.
He peeked to the side and pointed out a nearby man who was wearing a hat.
“Over there, do you see? That’s Jean.”
The man tipped his hat and greeted Sera with a glance. Sera’s eyes went round when she found Jean. She didn’t even know he was there.
“Sera, look over there! I wanna eat ice cream.”
“Where? I wanna eat ice cream, too!”
It was only to be expected that a vacation was inevitably a food trip. Ferre and Rosé’s eyes gravitated to the local delicacies, and they expressed their excitement about the food without letting them pass.
Ferre vigorously struck Helios’s hand and promptly slipped from his firm grasp. Like a spring, his small hand popped out of the large hand.
Without giving anyone time to catch him, Ferre ran quickly and stopped in front of an ice cream stall.
Rosé looked up and gave both Sera and Helios a pleading look, asking for their permission.
“I wanna go! Me too, me too!”
How could he resist? Smirking warmly, Helios nodded.
As Rosé ran towards where her twin brother was, her silver hair and the collar of her sailor shirt fluttered behind her.
“RosĂ©, look at this! The color is so pretty!”
“Yeah, Ferre. It’s so pretty and so colorful!”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s going to be yummy, right?”
“I’ll be as sweet as its color!”
Rosé and Ferre stared at the ice cream with their mouths open.
Just before drool could trickle down the corners of their lips, Sera and Helios caught up to them.
The two children, who were left to their own devices for just a little while, were each soon given back hugs by Sera and Helios.
The twins went on their tip toes and gave the adults their best impression of a certain puss in boots who had a great pleading face.
“It looks so yummy!”
“Me and Ferre want to eat that!”
“But you can’t?”
“Uuuung? Please buy that.”
Sera and Helios gave each other a knowing look. They could almost catch a glimpse of tails gently wagging behind the twins as they nagged the adults rather than pleaded.
But the emperor didn’t bring any pocket money with him, so he shook his head despite his younger siblings looking very excited.
“I don’t have money right now though
?”
“What? Oppaaa.”
“Hyung, you don’t have money?”
RosĂ© and Ferre’s mouths gaped open as if in shock.
The ice cream vendor also seemed quite surprised to hear him say that.
And it’s only natural. He looked very much like a high-born aristocrat, yet he’s saying that he had no money.
Of course, expectations had also been formed already that he’d buy the ice cream for them. Still, even as it’s disappointing, his reason was understandable.
This was a situation where she could step forward. Sera quickly took out her small bag.
It’s a good thing she had the foresight to bring some money just in case.
“Four, please. How much?”
“One gold in total.”
“Pardon?”
For a moment, Sera just stared at the vendor in disbelief, wondering if she might’ve heard him wrong.
One gold. Four cones of ice cream were worth ₩100,000 (approx. $80) in this place. This was a tourist trap, alright.
Aristocrats seemed to frequent this place, and it’s likely that they were unphased by such a steep price regardless. So, the vendors perhaps raised the price on purpose.
Sera’s hand paused before she could open her wallet, then she glanced at Helios.
‘Thank you.’
His shapely lips mouthed the words silently towards her.
As expected. Sera laughed a little dejectedly to herself. This man didn’t seem to know that there’s a problem here.
She already had an inkling from when she first met him, but His Majesty really was lacking a realistic economic radar in him.
She pondered for a moment.
The price was evidently much too high for just ice cream, but it’s something that aristocrats wouldn’t care about since they had the money anyway.
‘Nothing I can do. His Majesty is here with me, so I can’t possibly haggle.’
“I
I’ll buy them. Four ice creams.”
Sera took out one gold coin from her wallet, exceedingly reluctant.
The weight of this single gold coin was exceptionally heavy today. She couldn’t believe that business was being conducted like this.
She wanted to curse at the vendor and shout that he should go bankrupt, but he just smiled good-naturedly back at her.
“What flavor would you like?”
After making a satisfactory deal, the vendor held up four cones and asked.
“Ferre wants melon!”
“RosĂ© wants strawberry!”
“Vanilla for me.”
“Then
 me, too
 vanilla please.”
The vendor prepared the twins’ ice cream cones first.
One glance was all it took to see that it’s not really worth one entire gold, but Sera was relieved to see that RosĂ© and Ferre’s moods had skyrocketed.
‘But he at least has a conscience, huh. Look at those cones being piled up so high.’
“Now, here are your two vanilla ice creams.”
Sera and Helios, too, received theirs.
As they were about to taste their same-flavored treats, the vendor laughed jovially.
“You two got married a bit early, eh?”