บท 86: A Tryst Is A Date l
Thanks to the letter, Raya and I did not need to wait in line or pay the entry fee. Life was a lot more palatable if I didn't have to waste it on useless things. I stretched my legs—followed by my arms, neck, back—the moment I got of the horse. One of the guards brought it away for us as I didn't want it in the city. Raya yawned, coyly hiding her open mouth behind her hand. She straightened her hair, an act quite easy, ever since her father shortened it.
"What do you want to do now?" She asked me and wiped a tired tear off her eyes.
I looked at the sun. "Is it the afternoon? I can't tell. If so, we still have some time before the evening." I then looked around me. "Also, don't you think it would be a waste not to enjoy this day?"
The whole capital exhuded a merry atmosphere. Countless colorful banners greeted us as flags hung on windows and fluttered in the wind. We had entered a wide street with the most handsome houses and inns, the most spacious one I had seen yet. Still, all was hidden behind the people ponies and dogs, waves of them, high tides washing over the shore, and the festival was the moon bringing this flood. A completely different scenic from the silent city a few weeks ago.
"It is amazing here," a dazed Raya uttered.
Her eyes jumped from one place to another.
First she looked at some acrobats the group of half-naked men performing skillful tumbles and balancing acts, then the black-clothed preacher holding a sermon about the holy virtues his face red from shouting, afterwards at the merchant pushing through the crowd with his wares, next the workers carrying jugs of milk, not to forget the female dancer, and the tricky magician, and also the juggler.
"Have you never been in the capital?" I asked the girl who was about to burst from childish excitement.
"How would I ever have time to come? I've been here maybe only three times in my lifetime." She clicked her tongue. "Something you should have known, if your dull mind would care for something other than yourself."
"ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴜɴғᴀɪʀ, ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʙᴀᴅ."
"Eh, who cares, it can't get any worse, anyway," I said, "is there anything specific you want to do?"
"I want to see a play and an orchestra, buy some clothes, look at jewelry, eat something delicious! Also, when you are in the capital on The day of the Lord, you cannot miss doing a Blessed Ceremony."
"You know your stuff."
"Of course, it has always been my dream to come and see yo—oh~oh, ah!" She jumped around, flustered. "Cough. Whatever, you talk too much, let's go!" She pointed at the busy crowd.
"Yes of course," I stretched my palm out for her.
"What am I supposed to do with that?" She looked at my hand.
"Take it, dummy. We never got to finish our tryst ever since the rain appeared."
Raya lifted her head and faced me. She took a step back and breathed in. "You, you . . . what are you planning? I know you aren't this kind of person. You won't earn my affection that easily. I—"
"Oh, come on." I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand. "You are so complicated. Just go with the flow."
I pulled her along and pushed through the endless crowd. I turned around and saw her trying to keep up with me. Through her ragged breath, she screamed, "why do you never listen to me," and shook her fist in anger. I smiled at her and she furrowed her brows and complained again. However, her grip got much tighter.
"Let us eat something first," I said and dodged a group of women, "I am famished."
"What are we eating?"
"I was thinking of buying something from the stall."
"Again?" She pouted and pulled my hand. "I don't want to, I want something fresh, like meat."
"Excuse me princess, I don't think fresh meat is an option here. Unless you want to eat at a townhouse with those pesky peasants you detest. Or maybe a wealthy merchant is willing to host us as guests."
"Nobody would ever want you as a guest." She bumped into a pedestrian. "Watch out, idiot!"
I tugged my arm around hers and pulled her closer. "I can trick them into believing."
"Great idea, you've seen the gallows outside," Raya said and pointed at the gates, "do you want to die by hanging or decapitation?"
"Then it is back to stalls. Any preferences?"
"I like fish."
"You are doing this on purpose aren't you? There's no stall that sells any fish."
"I don't want their trash. Let's go to a fishmongeer. I will make the food, You can trust me."
"I'd rather trust the fish to cook itself. What does a spoiled lady like you know about cooking?" We walked faster.
She threw her hands down and stomped. "But I really do know how to cook, and you said you wanted to taste it last time."
"Sure, sure."
In the end, we did find fish at a stall. Salty ones, and grilled to black, but at least it was edible. I feared for what that girl would create if left to her own devices. Raya nibbled on the tail and, every time she took a bite, struck her tongue out in disgust. Nevertheless, she finished it all.
"I want to go buy clothes next." She wiped her mouth and then dragged me away.
We walked through the busy streets into a much cleaner one. Still, the people were as numerous as ever, all with smiles on their faces, frolicking around—as if all the problems in this country had been washed away.
"There's a shop I always wanted to go to." She led me to a house, taller and wider than its neighbors. Above the biggest window, there hung a wooden sign depicting a dress. "They sell just the right attire for todays evening."
"Can't we just go like this?"
"They will think you are a prostitute. I guess you don't know a lot about etiquette. If you go in there with such a short dress and revealing your arms, don't ever think about being re-invited," Raya said and opened the door, and immediately a myriad of dresses and clothes appeared before us. It was like a labyrinth made of fabric. The shopkeeper came, a nice older lady, but Raya reassured her that we were fine on our own.
"Well, I do think it is important to dress well." I followed her around an browsed through the dresses. "I think this one is pretty good."
"Put it on then," she yelled from afar, hidden behind the numerous clothes.
"I mean for you."
"Really?" She poked her head through a row of clothes; I was startled by her sudden appearance. "Where?"
"Here." I showed her what I have picked out.
"Oh, it's pretty nice. I like the dark colours." She held it against her chest.
"Of course you do, I know your taste," I told her, "looks like my dull mind isn't so bad after all."
"Don't get too cocky now. Lucky guesses aren't counted. Ah whatever, I will go change now." Soon after, she vanished through where she came from, the dress in her hand.
"Let me help you."
"No need," she shouted from afar.
"I am not sure you can put that complicated thing on with no help. Will you pay for it if you damage it?"
There was a short pause before she poked her head through the rows of clothes again and said, "fine. You can come."
She promptly got rid of her own clothes. Nevertheless, no matter how skillfully she undressed, she would always be bashfully hiding her body behind her hands, just like how I would always enjoy seeing her figure.
I looked closer at her lap area. "Why aren't you wearing any underwear?"
Her face immediately turned red and she yelled, "You ripped it apart the other day!"
"I'm joking," I told her as she showed me her teeth. "Now, I need you to turn around."
And she did, revealing her white back. I softly placed my fingers and followed the curvature up to her slender neck, she twitched faintly, but did not reject. While she was occupied with the dress, I hugged her from behind, pressing my face onto her warm body.
She stiffened, letting the dress fall, and asked, "what are you doing?"
"Ah, sorry." Seeing what I did, I swiftly bounced back. "It looks like I was bewitched for a moment."
"Whatever. Put it on for me, please," she said and then, with both her hands, held her hair up. Thus part of her breasts peeked through from behind. O, how I wished I could see her from the front right now—ah, I got distracted again. Focus. I placed all my focus on putting her dress on.
It didn't take long before a problem appeared. I had tied the ribbons, straightened the fabric and tightened the knots with no issues; it was when we reached her hips, the complications arose.
"Huh? Is it stuck?" I pulled on the ends, but no matter how much strength I used, it wouldn't budge.
"What? No way." She gave a helping hand.
Still, we couldn't pull the dress down. Her entire lower half remained exposed for anyone to see. I moved a bit slower from the thought of that. Ah, focus! I wrapped my arms around her butt and tried to forcefully shove it in.
"Hey, where are you touching?"
"Bear with me. This dress is strange, the design is cursed." I squeezed tighter. "Honestly, this doesn't make any sense."
After a few more tries I gave up. I fell to the ground, arms and legs spread out while taking deep breaths. She stood there, her hands covering her private parts as she asked me, "what is wrong? What's the problem?"
I looked at her and told her straight, "Lady, your ass is too big." Not an elegant word, but I found no other way to express the situation.
"Eh?" She blinked innocently with a slack jaw. I gave her a few seconds to process what I said. "Wait, what?" She fell back and covered her face. There it was.
"It's fine," I joked, "we all need one or two features that make us stand out. In your case it is your body." I laughed loudly, much to her ire.
"It's not funny," she yelled in embarrassment; Seeing I wouldn't relent, it swiftly turned to irritation. "At least I don't look like a wooden plank."
My laughter abruptly stopped. "You, what did you say?" I stared at her in all seriousness. "Care to repeat that?"
"You heard what I said." She pouted.
I jumped on her and pulled her cheeks apart. "Are you blind? Do you need glasses? Can you not see I am Goddess incarnate?"
She struggled around. "Goddess of death, if we are optimistic."
"That's it. Eat your dress and die."
Surprisingly, she really halted and took a bite. I leapt back from shock, before I realized I still had absolute command over her. "Cancel! Cancel! Command cancel! System reboot," I yelled. "Can't you distinguish between sarcasm earnestness?" I understood she would only follow commands given with absolute certainty, so if I didn't make myself clear, nothing would happen. Still, I couldn't help it sometimes.
"Blah," she spat out.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I grabbed her head and rubbed my cheeks on hers. "I would never kill you." Probably.
"It's fine, I'm not mad," Raya reassured me. "Just let me look for some clothes. Come on, we don't have much time!"
"Okay." I nodded and didn't interrupt her anymore. She walked away, searching for proper attire. I too, walked around to see what would fit me.
After few minutes, I stopped in front of an interesting item.
My eyes widened. "Oh, they had that here?"
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