They walked together toward the carriage and entered one by one. Jarvis, one of the knights who guarded the princess, closed the door and told the coachman to continue their journey.
"What's the name of the village, Lady Liz?" Rowena asked after the carriage was moving again. She opened the window and looked outside, hoping to see the last glimpse of the lake and meadow.
"It's Almere, Your Highness," Lady Liz explained. "It's actually a small town."
"Almere," Rowena nodded her head. Then she looked at Lucent on her lap. "Next stop: Almere. Are you excited?"
Lucent screeched and pecked its beak on her arm. It was its way of telling Rowena that it was indeed feeling excited, just like her.
"Good," Rowena nodded happily. She looked at her phoenix seriously. "When we are there, you can explore from the air. Don't let people see you. They have never seen a phoenix before. They might try to capture you and you will be in danger."
Lucent screeched again. Then, it closed its eyes and took a nap. Rowena laughed heartily at seeing her adorable pet. Lucent was her only friend and she would do anything for it.
The princess was glad she could share her happiness with Lucent earlier today while she was enjoying the beautiful meadow. She couldn't wait to explore Almere with Lucent too.
After they traveled for another one hour, finally the carriage arrived in Almere. The small town was bustling with people and attractions. They were having a three-day festival.
It had been a tradition held by the townspeople for centuries after every great harvest and many people came to visit from afar. Inns and restaurants were filled with guests and the town center was transformed into a big venue for the town fair.
Merchants from neighboring cities would come with their goods to sell to the festival-goers. Artists and performers filled every corner of the town with their specialties. They all hoped to score big from this annual fair.
"Be careful, Princess," Jarvis said as he helped Rowena get off the carriage. He could already see the young girl's eyes were filled with excitement at her surroundings. "We will protect you secretly, but we still need you to be careful. There might be pickpockets and conmen here."
"Understood, Knight Jarvis. Thank you," Rowena nodded without looking at the knight. Her eyes were distracted by the sights around her.
Rowena's eyes bulged when she saw a magician taking out a rabbit from his coat pocket to her right. Not far from the magician, she saw a sword swallower showcasing his talent.
She winced and looked away when the sword entered the man's mouth.
Uff…!
It looked so scary!
"Be careful," Jarvis repeated his words.
"Yes, yes, I will," Rowena replied impatiently. She reached out her hand and called Lucent who just woke up from its nap. "Let's go, Lucent! We have arrived!"
The phoenix perched on Rowena's arm for a few seconds, then it flew high above the town. Once she saw Lucent was already high in the sky, Rowena took her hat and wore it again, ready to go.
"Let's go, Lady Liz."
"Yes, let's go."
Lady Liz nodded at the four knights and took Rowena's hand to walk inside the festival venue. Two knights followed them discreetly, while the other two spread around and secured the perimeter to make sure there was no danger lurking that could harm their princess.
Rowena hummed happily when she saw the festivities. She asked Lady Liz to visit the magician's stall to see the rabbit up close. The magician was now demonstrating how he could make visitors' gold coins disappear and reappear.
"It's amazing," Rowena whispered to Lady Liz. "He stole their coins before their noses and they didn't mind."
Lady Liz furrowed her brows at Rowena. "Stole their coins? But he gave them their coins back."
Rowena shook her head. "No. He pretended to make the coins disappear, while he switched their gold coins with the fake ones, and then he make the fake coins reappear – they didn't know their coins were now worthless."
She quickly added, "Well… not really worthless, but they were now only worth copper."
Lady Liz looked at Rowena with a newfound appreciation. She did guess that the magician was playing tricks on his audience, but she couldn't really tell what the magician did exactly.
"How did you know?" she asked curiously.
Rowena shrugged. "I can see the real gold coins and the fake coins have slightly different colors."
This was news to Lady Liz. She didn't know Rowena had such a sharp vision.
"Well… don't speak about it loudly. If those people heard that you know they had been cheated, they would blame you for not giving them a warning." Lady Liz stole a glance at the magician. "But if you did give them warning, the magician might come after you. Better not get ourselves involved."
Rowena nodded. She agreed with Lady Liz. They continued their walk and saw a merchant selling all kinds of sweets in a stall. Rowena's steps halted. She swallowed her saliva when she saw the sweet cakes, and candied fruits being sold by the merchant.
She was not allowed to eat sweets.
"Do you want one?"
Rowena turned to Lady Liz with a surprised look when she heard her governess ask her.
"N-no…" Rowena shook her head heavily. "I don't want sweets."
Lady Liz looked at the candied apple and Rowena alternately. Then she made a decision to break the rule just this one time for Rowena's sake.
"I will not tell His Majesty if you don't," she said seriously. "Do you want it?"
Rowena bit her lip and looked at the sweets stall again. Finally, she nodded shyly.
"Which one?" Lady Liz asked. "The candied apple is really good."
Rowena smiled and nodded. "I want a candied apple."
"Very well." Lady Liz took out her coin purse and gave the merchant money for one candied apple.
.
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From Missrealitybites:
It looks like Lady Liz suddenly grows a conscience.
