It had been a long time since I had walked along the main street of the royal city.
The autumn evening sun was dazzling and with my hat on straight and deep, I pulled Katherine’s hand as she walked a little behind me.
“Miss, you’re going too fast. Please walk a little slower.”
“The education officer is very strict about being home by five o’clock.”
“Isn’t the curfew too early?”
It was the first time for Katherine to come to the royal capital to visit me.
So for my part, I want her to buy a lot of cutting-edge dresses and accessories from the royal capital and bring them back to Baral.
Since it has been so long since we last saw each other, I’d like her to stay longer, but she can only stay in the royal capital for five days. I heard that Baral is busy with many things right now.
I’m also busy preparing for the wedding and this is the only time I can leave the palace. From next month, I’ll have even less free time to spend.
“You’ve bought enough. Let’s go back to the palace.”
“One more shop to go. I really want to go to the fabric store. Don’t worry about the money. The salary for a royal court magician was quite high.”
To tell the truth, I’m unemployed now.
One day about six months ago. Suddenly, I was fired from my job as a royal court magician.
On top of that, I was kicked out of the dormitory.
Instead, I was given a very luxurious room in the royal palace, where I’m undergoing rather rigorous training from the education officer every day.
I opened the door of the store I wanted and entered.
When I took off my hat, I was relieved to find the store empty and the three saleswomen inside started to make noises at once.
“It’s Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess!”
To be precise, I was “Her Royal Highness the crown princess (candidate),” but since the jousting competition, my face was widely known throughout the city.
“I want to buy some lace fabric for my lady-in-waiting. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Yes! Of course!”
The vendors nodded with big smiles on their faces.
I sat down on a chair in the store and looked through the laces that the vendors brought to me one after another.
Some were made by machine, some by hand, some with more than one color of thread.
As one would expect from the most popular lace shop in royal capital, the laces were not monotonous, but delicate and made with fine threads, making it hard to take my eyes off of them.
However, I couldn’t find anything that really caught my eye.
I asked the lace vendor, who was spreading out the lace, what she thought of it.
“It’s not that I want the most expensive or the most luxurious thing in the store. If you were going to buy something for the most important woman in your family, which lace would you choose?”
The sellers’ eyes widened and they pondered for a moment. Then they headed to the back of the store and returned with a piece of lace in their hands. This time the three seemed to agree.
It was a piece of lace with a pattern of a robin with a small round fruit in its mouth and dancing snowflakes.
Although it was supposed to be a scene cut out of a winter scene, gazing at it, I felt a strange sense of nostalgia.
The threads were carefully handled and from one end of the lace to the other, no two pieces were alike.
Gently holding the fabric in my hands, my mouth naturally dropped into a smile.
“It’s nice. I like it. How about this one, Katherine?”
I looked up and looked at Katherine, who was sitting next to me, was absolutely stunned. She was looking at me, her eyes bright red.
“What’s wrong?”
Tears streamed down her eyes. Immediately after, she sniffed, and with a small smile, she muttered emotionally.
“When did my little missy become such a caring woman?”
“Katherine……”
“It’s a complicated feeling that makes me kind of happy and a little sad. The young lady no longer needs me to watch over her.”
Unable to resist, I reached out and hugged Katherine.
The door of the store was opened with a bang.
“I finally found you! In a place like this!”
I let go of Katherine’s hand and looked at the entrance of the store in surprise to see Mac out of breath.
He strode toward the door, but realized that the black cloak of the Royal Guard was caught in the door, and he was pulling it out with one hand in a messy manner.
What is he doing here? I ran up to him and he looked a little scared.
“Fifteen minutes to curfew! What are you doing? His Highness has been fidgeting since 4:30, trying to leave the palace several times to see if something had happened to you! Just now, orders flew to the Royal Guard to search for the crown princess.”
There was no time to rush in and say that I wasn’t the crown princess yet.
After paying for the lace, Katherine and I were dragged out of the store by Mac.
“Get on the horse. I’ll ride behind you. I’m warning you, we’re going to fly.”
There was another member of the Royal Guard outside the store, and Katherine was placed on the back of his horse.
As the horse started to ride, Mac said from behind.
“No matter how much Katherine is visiting you from Baral, if you’re going out of the royal palace, you’ll have to take the guards with you.”
“The guards are to escort royalty. I’m still Liesel Crow, remember?”
“You’re not going to be Crow next month. –The royal guards are still guarding the royal family. The curfew is five o’clock. The first incident must have had an effect on him, he’s overprotective of you.”
“But still, how did you know the lace shop?”
“I may not look it, but I’m observant.”
“If I were Cynthia, I’d be in love with you, Mac.”
“Please don’t say that in front of His Highness. I’d get killed …….”
He blasted his horse and somehow jumped into the royal palace grounds. As I slid down with Mac’s help, I heard the distant sound of bells signaling exactly five o’clock.
We didn’t break the curfew.
Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the crown prince appeared from the main entrance of the building.
His normally warm brown eyes were set a little grimly. He spoke first to Mac.
“Mac, you’re a Royal Guard, after all. You work fast.”
“I managed to get there in time.”
“Liesel. Please, don’t make me a loser. I’m so worried about you that it’s interfering with my official duties. If you don’t keep your curfew, I’ll be your guard from now on…”
“I’ll protect you!”
Katherine, her hair a mess from being rocked by the horse, dismounted from the horse and walks up to the crown prince with a dizzy gait.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. It was my fault.”
He looked at Katherine with deep emotion and smiled softly.
“Katherine, I have many gifts for you. When you return to Baral tomorrow, please take some gifts for Sir Crow and Ethan.”
“Arnold has some too! It’s the most advanced muscle training product in royal capital and I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic!”
“Thank you, Sir. They’ll be delighted.”
Katherine’s sincerely happy smile makes me happy, too.