Capítulo 24: Out with the prince
Raziel and Luciana walked in the market close to each other as they checked out different stores.
"Did you see anything that catches your fancy?" He asked her, and she shook her head.
They checked through more stores, cloth stores, shoes, jewelries, but Luciana didn't pick anything. She just looked at them to pass time, and occupy her mind with something else.
Just when they were about leaving the jewelry store, Luciana turned back as something caught her interest.
"Give me a moment your highness."
She then walked to a jewelry stand and picked up a blue necklace that came with a bracelet and earrings.
"You like those?"
"My sister would love them." She then turned to him. "I will give them to her when I see her. I want to be optimistic. Having hope is better than this feeling of emptiness."
Raziel only nodded to her. He too hoped that she would find her sister, because he knew that she would be really broken if she doesn't. She's suicidal, and she might take her life for real.
The shop owner walked up to them when she saw that Luciana was interested in the jewelries. The young looking woman sized Luciana up and down. The clothes she wore were neat, but were commoners clothes. And from the wound in her hands and how pale she looked, it was obvious she was a poor commoner. Most of the jewelries were bought by nobilities.
"That is too expensive for a person like you."
Luciana turned to her surprised.
"I thought you came here to tell me the price."
"I would, but it is obvious you can't afford it."
"Do you go around speaking to your customers in this manner? You are only a shop owner and you already look down on others."
"Are you human?" The shop owner asked. The answer was already obvious because of her wounds. If she was supernatural, the scars would not be there.
"I believe you already know the answer to that." Luciana answered with the same rudeness the seller spoke with.
"You know humans like you are mostly humble because of how fragile you are." The woman's eyes turned slightly golden yellow, before turning back to their normal colour as a warning to her. She was a werewolf. Luciana wished she had some wolves bane, or she had develop something that could be harmful to them.
"Why are you revealing your specie to me. This isn't the first time I am seeing dogs."
Meanwhile Raziel had moved back to let Luciana handle the case. He chuckled at what she had just said.
"You are calling me a dog?"
"Is that your name?"
When the seller raised her hand to slap Luciana, Raziel was quickly over there and he caught her hand. The woman let out a scream from the way he squeezed her hand. Then he left her.
"Who are you? How dare you..."
Before she could say more, Raziel brought out a pouch from inside his cloak and placed it on the seller's table.
"This is a hundred gold coins." And the sellers eyes widened.
He brought another out.
"This contains ten crowns."
He brought another out. "A hundred gold coins and a hundred silver coins. There are more. How much is the jewelry again?"
The seller looked between Luciana and Raziel, completely confused. At that moment, she knew she had misjudged them and they were rich.
"Fif... fifty gold coins my Lord."
Raziel smirked. "Only fifty?" He shook his head. "Well I would have loved to buy from your store, but since you insulted my woman..." He shrugged.
Luciana turned to Raziel in shock. Did he just refer to her as his woman? And he looked dead serious saying that. He even looked offended.
"I'm... I'm sorry my Lord."
"You should be. But that is not enough. No one insults my woman and go free."
The woman bowed her head. "I am sorry my Lord, but you can't punish me. I didn't do anything wrong."
Raziel pulled his cloak back a little, just so she could see his face. "Look."
When she looked at him, the shock on her face was evident.
"Your... your highness?" She quickly gave a deep bow.
"You are sure I can't punish you?"
"I am sorry your highness. I didn't know she was your woman." She then turned to Luciana and offered a deep bow. "I am sorry my lady. I didn't know you were with the prince."
"So I don't deserve to be respected if I wasn't with the prince?" Luciana asked sternly, purposely scaring the woman.
"I will show respect to people now. I promise. Humans or not."
"You should come with us first." Raziel said and she fell on her knees.
"I am sorry my prince."
"I don't like being delayed." Raziel packed back his coins and put them back inside the pockets of his cloak. He then took Luciana's hand and walked out. The woman had no choice but to go with them.
"I want you to show me another store that sell that exact same jewelry."
"It is very rare to see your highness, but I believe that store over there would have it." She pointed to a store a little far from there, and they walked there.
The seller watched as Luciana bought the jeweleries from the other seller, and Raziel paid triple the price. She deeply regretted her actions. How could she offend the prince? She was in deep trouble. And now she had missed an opportunity to make an extra money.
"You may go now. We would not be needing you anymore." Raziel said to her, and she scurried away, thankful that she still had her head attached to her body.
When Luciana and Raziel came out of the store, they both burst out laughing at the same time.
"You can admit that was fun right?" Raziel said.
Luciana nodded. "Of course it was." She laughed again.
"We should check out somewhere else."
"Okay."
Raziel stared at her for a moment.
"This is the first time I have seen you laugh." He said, and her mood dwindled a bit.
They then continued checking out different places. They came to a place where they were acting a live comedy drama, and they both stopped to watch. Raziel watched her reaction through out. Sometimes she would smile, sometimes she would chuckle, but she was mostly just focused. He saw it as an improvement.
After that, they went to a place where games are played. She knew how to play the games, as they had same in Wesborne. The players had to shoot at some buttons that contains hidden numbers. Any button that was hit would be picked up and turned to reveal the numbers. They were gifts attached to the numbers.
"Do you know how this one works?"
"We pay to throw the sticks."
"Do you know how much?"
"One stick cost ten silver coins back in Wesborne."
Raziel bent down and picked up a number of sticks and gave it to her without counting. She then threw one, but didn't hit any target. She groaned.
"I wished this were arrows."
Raziel chuckled, then he threw one, but he still didn't hit anything.
"I assumed you'd be good at everything." Luciana teased.
"Everything that involves taking a life." He responded jokingly.
She then took another stick and threw it, and she hit a target this time.
"Consider yourself lucky." He told her.
"No. When you were busy in your royal castle, people like me actually go out to do things like this." She teased him with a genuine smile, and Raziel couldn't help but smile as well.
She picked up the button and saw that they were to have a free meal.
"I won it. The meal would be just mine."
"Fine." He raised his hands in mock surrender.
The host quickly came to them.
"This way my lady, my Lord."
Raziel took Luciana's hand.
"Remember you are my lady for the day."
She stared at him for a moment before taking his hand.
"I would advise you to take the ribs. They make the best here." She said to them after taking them to their table.
"You two make a nice couple. You can't even hide the love between you." She winked at them before leaving.
Luciana and Raziel glanced at each other. Love? Now that was awkward.
They then ordered the ribs, and true to what the host said, it was one of the best they had ever had.
"I should try food outside the castle more often." Raziel said.
"Oh, I don't think you can get food this good just anywhere."
Raziel noticed that Luciana would smile now and then when she was eating, and he wondered how her life was before her family was murdered. Did she even realized that she finished her food? He believed she was not as dull as she was, even though she was still a rigid person.
When they stood up to leave, the hostess came again.
"You might want to see the sooth sayer over there." She pointed to an old lady in the corner, partly covered with curtains.
"I don't believe in sooth sayers." Luciana said.
"Neither do I. But it's a fun day, we should do it for the fun."
They both went where the sooth sayer was, and they entered through the curtain. She was sitting on the ground with her legs folded, and she gestured for them to do the same.
Raziel and Luciana sat on the floor, and the woman extended a wooden bowl where they are to deposit money. Raziel put some coins in it.
She then turned to Luciana.
"You child have been through so much." Luciana remained unfazed as she believed the woman was just guessing.
The woman played with some of her cards.
"Your life is going to be difficult, and how you play it will determine your end." She then faced Raziel. "Your destiny is tied with hers."
"Thank you for your time." Raziel said before standing up with Luciana to leave. But just before he stepped out, the woman spoke again.
"Your father is going to do more things to frustrate you."
Raziel then turned to her with a frown on his face.
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