He's not a Merman

Chapter 3 Give The Man a Shirt

Chapter 3

I tightly fold my arms over my chest so I have an excuse not to hold hands with Carter while we walk through town. Whenever I notice him trying to sling his arm over my shoulder, I always find an excuse to dodge his attempts at physical contact. I would either run to a stall, pretending to like something or I would pretend to trip and fall. I even scraped my elbow after the fifth fall.

At this point, I am running out of excuses to avoid him. I am already biting my nails, just thinking of new 'clever' ways to avoid him.

The townspeople here are aware of who we are, so disguising ourselves as one of them isn't the purpose of wearing casual attire. I only wear it because it is more comfortable to move around in—and mostly to show Carter that I am not going to make an effort for him to look good on this date.

Our kingdom is near the shore, so there are a lot of stalls selling sea accessories, sun dresses, hats, and sea food. There are stores much closer to the palace where most nobles shop, but for today, we decided to visit the lower part of the capital. I was the one who suggested it because I know Carter hates sea food.

I notice Carter fanning himself with his hat and is moving close to try to hold my arm, but I decided to run towards the kids when I saw them playing with some balls made of straws.

"LET ME PLAY!" I wanted to sound cute and friendly, but because I was disgusted with the idea of making skin contact with Carter, it came out very aggressive and demanding. When I got there, the smaller children ran away. It's fortunate that there are older kids there who didn't run away.

"Wait, are you the princess?" One of the older children, a boy with red hair and tanned skin, asks. He seems to be the older one in the group and most likely the leader.

This is perfect.

"Yes, I am." I smile and make a gesture for the little kid to come closer. "What's your name?"

"Tony." The child answers and gets closer. He looks calm and curious with the way he is raising one of his brows.

I grab a coin from my pocket, a gold coin, and press it onto the palm of Tony, making it as discreet as I possibly could.

"Do you mind pretending to play with me until the creepy guy behind me goes away?"

Tony's eyes widen upon seeing the gold coin, which could help them live for two months without working. When Tony looks up at me, he looks concerned as he closes his small fist on the coin. "Princess, are you in trouble? Should we call the palace guards?"

Yikes. These children are smart. At this rate, I might get Carter falsely accused of kidnapping. My father wouldn't like that, but I would. However, there's a time and place for that.

"Uh, no. He's Carter."

"Duke Carter?" One of the smaller kids behind him walks over to ask. It's like a smaller girl version of Tony, so she is probably his little sister. "Isn't that the name of the princess's fiance? Lady, are you really the princess or are you a mistress—" I cover the mouth of the little girl to silence her.

What kind of language are these little girls learning?

"I am the princess and that guy is unfortunately my fiance. Can you please just keep me busy and help drive the Duke away? I'll just tell you right now that the gold coin is just a downpayment." I wink secretively at the sibling. Their eyes couldn't shine much brighter than they already were, and I know that they agreed before they spoke.

"We have a better idea, your highness. Abby, go get the others." Tony looks at his sister, Abby, and nods. The siblings share devious looks with each other before Abby looks back to get her friends. Soon, about seven little midgets are running to where Carter is, bouncing and screaming as they ask him to play.