“Melissa, His highness… “When will he be back?”
Julia asked Melissa, who was fixing her hair. Melissa pursed her lips with a troubled expression.
“Well, it looks like you have a lot of work to do. “In the past, when you were busy, you were always late in returning home.”
“… okay?”
Julia let out a small sigh of her own. Two months had passed since he did not return.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t get rid of the thought that the reason he didn’t come back for so long was because of me.
“I… “Her Highness, what is your schedule today?”
“… “Well, I guess I’ll just read a book in the study.”
Julia answered darkly. After Bennet flatly rejected her garden repair work, she found herself unable to find anything else to do.
But she didn’t have enough people to invite to a tea party or social gathering.
Before her marriage, she was rarely in social circles, so she had no one she could say she was close to.
Above all, she felt that Fernan might dislike her if she spent the money that was involved in hosting a social party.
So all there was to do was read a book in the study or take a walk around the castle.
“Why don’t you go downtown with me instead? “You’ve never toured the estate before.”
As Melissa gently encouraged her, a small light appeared in Julia’s eyes.
As Melissa said, she had never really been around her estate since she got married.
“I like it, but… “Melissa, don’t you have a lot to do?”
“Ah, serving His Highness Rain is more important than anything else!”
Melissa smiled brightly and finished fixing her hair. Her hair style, with the sides loosely braided and rolled down into one piece, matched Julia’s very well.
“Then I will assume you are leaving and call a carriage.”
Julia smiled softly as she watched Melissa leave her room. I was grateful to Melissa for trying to make her feel better in this way.
That’s how Julia left her castle for the first time. The destination where the carriage was heading was the largest shopping district in the territory.
Eventually, the carriage stopped. As She slowly walked outside, the first thing that caught her eye was the clock tower in the center.
There was a large fountain around it, and the street was crowded with people sitting on benches and people moving around.
Julia took a deep breath. Just by going out like this, she felt lighter inside.
“Your Highness , where do you want to go first?”
After thinking for a moment, Julia pointed to a street lined with markets.
“Shall we go over there?”
“great!”
Melissa took her hand and led her. There was warmth in Julia’s eyes as she looked at her clasped hands.
She’s never made friends, but when she does this, it feels like she’s hanging out with her friends.
While I was walking down the street for a while, a small flower shop caught my eye. Julia stopped for a moment.
She then quietly looked at the flowers neatly decorated in front of the store.
She looked at the lily of the valley placed to one side for a while and smiled a little bitterly.
Her biological mother was the daughter of a merchant who ran a flower shop. Maybe that’s why she particularly liked flowers since she was young.
Although she stayed with her biological mother until she was about seven, her memories of that time now barely come to mind. One thing I remember clearly was this lily of the valley.
‘Baby, someday when you get married, Your mother will make you a bouquet of lilies of the valley.’
All other memories of her were vague, but the words she whispered to her in a sweet voice remained clear even as time passed.
Melissa, who was looking closely at Julia who was lost in her thoughts, asked vaguely.
“Now that we’re out, shall we buy a bunch of flowers?”
“No, it’s not necessary… .”
“It’s because I want to buy it. “Come on, let’s go in!”
Julia, who entered the flower shop under pressure from Melissa, eventually came out holding an armful of flowers.
It was a beautiful bouquet of white lily of the valley and pink roses.
“and! Let’s go there too!”
Not only that, Melissa led her straight to another place. Seeing Melissa as excited as her child made her burst into laughter.
Every time she passed by a street vendor, it was difficult to ignore the words of the merchants trying to solicit customers.
As she bought this and that, captivated by the horse’s possessed feet, before she knew it, her hands were no longer left.
Melissa sighed and complained, her hands full.
“ha… “I guess I should have brought a porter.”
“Give it to me. “I’ll take more.”
“Oh no!”
While she and Melissa were arguing, a wagon approached from the front.
They hurriedly took refuge inside, but the merchant standing next to the wagon blatantly bumped into Melissa who was standing outside.
“ah!”
Melissa, who had let go of everything she was holding, hugged her shoulders. She was frowning as if she had been hit hard.
“balm! are you okay?”
“Yes, but the items… .”
Melissa cried as she looked at the scattered items on the floor. Julia grabbed Melissa’s arm and carefully helped her up.
“Don’t worry about nothing. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
As she was examining Melissa’s body here and there, a merchant suddenly approached her and spoke to her.
“Oh my, what should I do with this? “Everything is broken.”
The merchant rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. She smelled a terrible smell of alcohol coming from him.
The merchant who came close looked at Julia and Melissa’s bodies at the same time and gave an unpleasant look.
As Julia, sensing her rejection, retreated to her side, she tapped the wall the merchant had placed behind her.
The merchant who forcibly blocked her path spoke to her slyly.
“I will compensate you in full, so will you follow me? “If you go past this alley, you’ll find our store right away.”
“… no. I do not need it.”
As Julia tried to escape to the other side, the merchant grabbed her wrist with his firm grip.
“Don’t do that, just follow me. “I think they are quite expensive items.”
That merchant looked her up and down again and smiled, the corners of her mouth splitting open.
“Hey, let go of this.”
Julia, whose complexion turned white from the smell of alcohol coming from so close to her, shook off the merchant’s arm with all her might, but it was no use.
A little distance away, Melissa, who was as frightened as she was, clenched her teeth and grabbed the merchant’s arm.
“Here, someone help me!”
When a loud noise was heard, people who noticed the oppressive atmosphere started buzzing and paying attention.
The merchant, conscious of her gaze, carelessly threw away the hand that was holding Julia. Julia, who had been swayed by the recoil, fell to the floor.
“Well, if a person is trying to show sincerity with a good heart, but they ignore it like this, it’s bad.”
The merchant, clucking his tongue, staggered and approached the wagon as if running away.
And at that moment, the police officers who discovered the commotion and rushed over blocked the merchant’s path.
“Well, what! “Why are you like this!”
Only after checking her articles did Julia relax, clutching her shaking hands and catching her breath.
Meanwhile, someone kicked the merchant so hard that he fell to his knees. He then mercilessly slammed the groaning merchant’s head to the floor.
“Ugh!”
Yulia’s eyes slowly widened as she saw the overbearing man pointing a knife at the back of the merchant’s neck.
“… majesty?”
At her low voice, Fernan turned his gaze from his deathly glare at her merchant and looked at her.
He carelessly threw away the merchant who had become a bowl of porridge and came striding towards Julia.
“What are you doing here?”
While Fernan looked down at her with narrowed eyes, his lieutenant Lloyd approached her.
Lloyd, who was trying to see something about her, saw Yulia fallen and his eyes widened.
“uh… “Your Highness, I will send that guy to the security forces.”
Fernan did not even respond to Lloyd’s words and did not take his eyes off Julia.
“I asked what you were doing here.”
“that is… “I went out for a while.”
Julia, who answered obediently, tried to get up but fell down again. She may have sprained her ankle and was unable to stand up on her own.
Fernan glared at her and scolded her dryly.
“I would have told you to stay in the bedroom.”
His eyes lightly scanned the objects on the floor.
“Seeing you running around so excitedly, I guess what I said was quite funny.”
