𝕾𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖊//𝖂𝖊𝖓 𝕵𝖚𝖓𝖍𝖚𝖎

Chap. 4

Sometime after that, you find yourself on the streets once again but this time with a maid frantically fretting over everything; if your gown got dirtied from dust flying around after a palace guard on a horse breezed past, if you wanted to add to your collection of fifty shades of emerald, if you were tired, if you were ─

Her jaw drops to the dirtied ground, as she would call it, at the approaching commotion. The sound of foot stomping and orders to make way hit the air as a group of men in blood red and white march down the street, their presence bringing about whispers among the people.

"At it again, they are," the only person who has broken the trance that comes with the royal guards says whilst she rearranges the stack of oranges on the racks of her stall, "can't have a peaceful day without them getting in the way of business with their child recruitment."

"What do you mean 'child recruitment'?" You turn to the woman whilst your maid stands on the tip of her toes to look over the forming crowd up front as they watch one of the guards get swallowed into the alleyway of sorts.

"The crown prince has given orders," she glances up at the flock of red though you doubt any kind of crimson is visible through the throngs of people, before dropping her attention to inspect which lime fruit is ripe and which is not by pressing the peel, "for any orphan child that wishes to be trained as a knight to step forward every day at noon when the guards are doing their rounds."

"Before, there were just a couple guards passing by now it's a whole troop," then, she smiles back up at you with an amiability so opposed to the one when she was referring to the guards with, "Oranges, miss?"

"Um..."

Hushed tones break into startled shouts as the people scurry away in haste, the sound of heels on ground growing louder and in the commotion, you get pushed backwards, the back of your knees hitting the edge of the racks. Your balance gets distorted and in the fleeting moment between falling and landing on your behind, you think of the hard frown of the woman you talked to; she won't be offering you oranges with a kind smile after you make a bed out of her fruit stocks.

The crash never came, nor does the horrified sound of chaos of your undoing.

"Are you alright, miss?" A familiar voice brushes your eardrums that you can't help but pry your eyes that have been screwed shut to embrace the impact, open.

"I am," straightening your spine after realizing the pairs of eyes you, or rather, your timely savior has captured, you attempt to retreat a few steps backwards before word got out how such proximity you are with one of the guards but find the edge of the very thing that almost sent you free falling restricting you from doing so, "thank you, I would have fallen and made a fool of myself if not for you."

"Lucky I caught you in time," a pair of front upper teeth grazes his lips as he grins at you and falls back bowing slightly before your maid joins your side, looking far more distraught and you who almost plunged into social embarrassment, "ain't it?"

"My lady," her exclamation falls deaf on your ears but not on Junhui's, "oh my, are you hurt?!"

"Fret not," Junhui turns to her, shutting her up, you suspect not only with his authoritative air but also his smile which has no doubt captured you in a trance, "the lady is quite alright, if not a bit shaken."

You nearly miss your maid's relieved thank goodness upon gaining your wits. Most of his comrades are out of sight as only a few remain searching in nearby alleys where children without a home could be at.

"Good day then," with a final bow to you and a nod to your maid, Junhui has gone off to reassemble with the rest of the guards who seem to be waiting on him rather than your initial assumption that they were doing their own searching not too far away, before moving forward.

"...my lady?" Your maid's voice cuts through your reverie as she eyes your trance-stricken form curiously like a child's first gaze of the sunset.

"Do me a favor, Eunha," her shoulders jolt in surprise at your firm grip and set pair of eyebrows; the falling of her face already giving away the dawning of what said favor may be and she's already dreading the outcome, "tell mother we got sidetracked while shopping and wait for me at the back of the bakery."

Before she can even blink, you're already treading down the street where the guards disappear to with the my lady! calling now far behind. Vendors and buyers are bargaining for a reasonable price, some appealing with the lowest price as though no men from the palace has disrupted their activity, no trace of them even here and that everything was a figment of your imagination.

The sign pole with multiple arrows beckons you over once you reach a cross between the farmland up ahead, the slum on your right and smaller paths between buildings to get to another street at the end of it. Your skin crawls at the thought of the stale air farther down the scarce street. Unlike the one you are on right now, the route to the slum, Hollow Street, is completely vacant save for a robed person tumbling out of a pub as though it's a path to a different universe.

The guards can't possibly go through here, can he? Though Junhui knows there are plentiful of orphans in this side of the town, the guards will be just as useless as the police here despite their carrying the crown prince's noble cause. The children will be well fed, or better than they are on the streets, in exchange for their loyalty to the crown which the people have already been doing anyway thought without a close approximation to the castle...

The double storeys are familiar to an extent. You've memorized the route back but you don't know how further you can go without feeling your stomach begging for you to turn back. Just as you thought of turning around, a voice cements you into the ground.

"Curiosity," Junhui steps out from the shadows like a dot of red within a sea of darkness, footfalls echoing off these walls acutely as though each step is calculated, "was what killed my cat, my lady."

"First a noble, then a commoner and now a guard," as though under a spell, before you can register it, your feet are already carrying you forward to cover half of the distance, "you cannot expect me to not be slightly interested."

Just like moth to a flame, you're drawn to him and without knowing it, the corners of his lips stretch wider when you meet him in the middle.