Seren continued to explore the merchant district, walking along several crowded streets until she realized she could no longer feel the strange energy coming from Drayce. That meant she was far enough from him. It made her relieved, even somewhat more confident than she ever was the past few escape attempts.
Sadly, the young queen was still not aware of the fact that Drayce could sense her energy too, even better than how she could sense the one coming from him. This ignorant little kitten had underestimated the powers of the devil.
Her two knights quietly followed her without noticing her intention, paying attention to outside forces that might cause trouble to her. Seeing the Griven royal knight among her escorts, most of the commoners preferred to clear the way for her despite being curious about her identity. Dusk was also following them while flying up in the sky.
As she observed the curious sight around her, Seren finally found something that made her smile inwardly.
‘An opportunity!’
She stood in front of a shop that was only meant for women and no male was allowed to enter. It was a perfect chance for her to get rid of her escorts as they would be forced to stand outside the shop.
‘It’s good that I didn’t allow Eva and Marie to come with me or they would have stuck to me everywhere.’ Seren looked at the two knights. “I wish to have a look inside. You two can wait here.”
Both knights were about to voice out their opinion, but immediately shut their mouths upon looking at the shop which was filled with women’s dresses. They had only females—both helpers and customers—inside, while several men who seemed to be escorts and servants of those customers were standing outside. They realized that men were not allowed there.
The two felt pressure to protect the Queen of Megaris, but they couldn’t accompany her to that shop. They wondered whether or not they should announce their identity and drove out the people outside so that the queen could shop all by herself. That would be safer for her, though it might be a little overbearing, but since she’s of royalty, it was her privilege. However, after spending days of traveling with her, they somehow understood the quiet temperament of this queen. She would absolutely not permit them to act like that, and they would be equally in trouble if they were to upset her.
If the King of Megaris found out they displeased her, he would surely slice them with his sword.
The knight from Griven and the knight from Megaris exchanged a knowing glance. They decided to gamble; a few minutes of Seren shopping on her own would not endanger her. After all, even though outside, they would keep an eye on the entrance.
“Your Majesty, if there is something, please call for us immediately,” Sir Rulf instructed.
Seren replied to him with a slight nod and went towards the shop’s outer gate. The knights decided to stand only a few feet away from its entrance and could only keep their eyes on the gate while many women passed in and out. Seren’s hair color and her veil gave away her identity so it was easy for them to spot her.
When Seren entered the main shop, she knew the knights were still keeping their eyes on her. She spent some time inside the shop going through various dresses, but her mind was busy observing around to see how she could get out of there without being noticed by the knights.
Soon after, Seren found a solution as her ears caught a middle-aged female who seemed to be the owner of the shop talking to someone. “The fabric we ordered is different from what you have sent us. Take it back and send the one we have asked for.”
The other woman standing in front of the shop owner bowed apologetically., “It was a mistake from our side. My apologies. I will make sure to send the right goods by the evening.”
“The wrong boxes are kept inside. You can take them away.”
Nodding, the other woman called for her servants and asked them to carry the stuff. They arranged huge packages on a hand cart and Seren found the chance to leave the shop while walking alongside the stack of those packages, easily hiding her small frame behind them.
The knights outside had been waiting for nearly an hour.
“Should we check?” Arlan’s knight asked Sir Rulf who also looked worried.
“I do not enjoy showing off in front of commoners, but I think we have no choice,” Sir Rulf replied.
“They won’t dare stop the royal knights from doing their duties,” the knight from Griven added.
Just as the two walked to enter the outer gate of the shop, they heard a commotion from the crowd on the street. Everyone started running as if fearing for their dear lives.
“What could that be?” Sir Rulf asked as he narrowed his eyes.
“I will take a look. Sir Rulf can go to Her Majesty,” the other knight told him as he hurried to check the situation.
Realizing that something had happened nearby, Sir Rulf felt it was a terrible decision to leave the queen on her own. No longer hesitating, he entered the shop.
One of the female staff blocked Sir Rulf’s way. “Pardon, mister, but men are not allowed to enter this shop.”
Sir Rulf glared at her as he gripped his sword. He showed the badge attached to his uniform. “I am a knight serving a guest of the Royal Family of Griven. Do you dare stop me?”
The female staff did not recognize the badge, and she could see this man didn’t wear the uniform of the knights from Griven, but she still could feel he was not someone ordinary. Hearing it was related to the royal family, the staff did not dare stop him but looked at the middle-aged shop owner instead.
The lady shop owner looked at Sir Rulf. As one of the famous merchants in the city, she had more experience than her staff; she immediately recognized that this knight belonged to the Kingdom of Megaris, and he seemed to be someone belonging to the upper ranks.? “Please come in, but let me accompany this sir to not alarm the customers inside.”
With the shop owner following him, Sir Rulf searched through the shop, causing a bit of commotion from the ladies inside, which the shop owner pacified in a timely manner. However,? the commotion outside brought back by one of the female staff caused the ladies inside to panic again.
“Madam,” the staff informed the shop owner, “there are two gigantic wild wolves on the street! We better close the shop and hide until they are captured by the city guards.”
Sir Rulf heard the report as well and recalled the two wolves that he saw at the merchant’s place where his king had gone to visit. This made his anxiety grow worse. Sir Rulf couldn’t find his queen inside the shop, and there was danger outside.
He asked the shop owner, “Have you seen a redheaded noble lady wearing a veil that covers the lower half of her face?”
“Apologies, sir, but I do not recall such a lady,” she replied.
“I saw her!” the female staff who had just returned with the news of wolves replied. “I showed her a few dresses, and later on, she left.”
“Left? Where?” Sir Rulf asked, his cold tone scaring the poor girl.
“I-I don’t know, sir. So many customers were in the shop so I did not pay attention.”
Sir Rulf hurried out of the shop and went towards the street as he searched for his queen among that scattered and frightened crowd.
The other knight reunited with him and informed him of the same news about the wild wolves. He paled when he didn’t see the Queen of Megaris with him. “Sir Rulf, where is Her Majesty?”
“Her Majesty purposely left us. We need to search for her!”
——
Drayce was sitting inside the merchant’s exquisite office in the shop that reflected how wealthy this merchant was. It was related to the new trading policies that would soon be in effect due to his marriage alliance with Abetha. Griven, as the kingdom between Abetha and Megaris, would be affected by the incoming exchange of goods. Normally, tasks like this would be relegated to the nobles specializing in diplomatic relations, but since Drayce was already passing by, he did not mind personally overseeing the work himself.
Though Drayce was busy talking to this merchant, half of his mind was paying attention to Seren’s movements. It was quite a difficult feat to monitor her within this crowded place. Between thousands of different sounds and noises, he was trying to focus on her voice alone, but the thing was, his queen didn’t talk at all.
Initially, he could still listen to Arlan’s knight who was introducing to her the local goods of Griven, but she later told the knight that there was no need and she merely wanted to quietly look around, thus, there was no one talking among the group of three. It made him restless, and the only relief was that he could still feel the energy coming from her.
‘She is still nearby…’
