Usui with his companions arrived and they were in awe with the kingdom. A lot of stalls on either side of the path , children running about and on top of the hill a big palace made of crystals.
As they were a day early for the competition , they planned to check in an inn to avoid being noticed by soldiers and to know about this place unobserved. Being a prince, Usui had not enjoyed this kind of normal atmosphere for a while and was excited to experience it. They disguised themselves as common people and left their rooms to eat outside.
Usui wanted to walk around the market, He along with his companions started visiting stalls , the people were so kind that they allowed him to have free foods as they figured he was new to the place as he was wearing clothes foreign to them.
When moving from a stall of fried dumplings, suddenly he felt something tugging the hem of his shirt and as he looked down , that something turned out to be a small child. The child was close to his tears and said " Big bro, Help me!!! I lost my way and am hungry. I want to look for my parents. Please take me to them. "
Usui scooted down and asked ," Boy, What's your name?"
The boy replied " Rin"
Usui gave Rin some of the food he got from the stalls. The child ,on seeing this, his eyes sparkled in delight and started eating like he hasn't seen food in a long time which made Usui laugh.
On seeing that the place was getting crowded, Usui held onto his hand and started walking while he asked about his parents.
"How did you lose your way?" Usui asked Rin when he noticed the child was looking around searching for someone.
"I noticed a stall which was selling lots of hairpieces and thought of buying it for my sister , so I ran to the stall and bought them but lost my mom in the crowd." Rin said dejectedly.
On hearing this, Usui asked his companions to go search for the boy's parents while he accompanied the little child to walk around. It was noon when they had reached and they had ample amount of time to find the child's parents.
Rin was staring at each stalls and even stopped at few to look at some items . The child looked at Usui for a long time hesitating on something and finally decided to ask him , " Big bro, Would you lend me some money? I will return it to you as soon as I meet my parents or sister."
Although Rin was a small mischievous child, at this moment his face was serious like a king promising his subjects. His eyes were shining with confidence and power making people trust in him wholeheartedly.
Hearing this, Usui was surprised and laughed while thinking how similar Rin was to him in his young age. While patting his head, Usui gave him some money and reminded him to keep the promise.
Rin on seeing the money was thrilled and expressed his gratefulness to his big bro. He immediately went to buy the things he needed. After their purchase, they walked around and came to a stop to eat at a stall which sold fried dumplings, rice cake, glutinous rice balls and bread buns. While Usui ordered one each from the menu, the child noticed that he was familiar with this place. Then suddenly he got up and ran in one direction, Usui on seeing this, immediately got up and followed him. He was flustered when he didn't find the little boy and was about to ask around when he saw Rin happily hugging two people among which the lady crying and scolding the child at the same time. He sighed in relief and went towards the family.
Rin told them how his big bro had helped him eat food and search for his parents and on hearing this, the parents were grateful to his help and even offered a meal to show their gratitude which he kindly refused saying he has to meet up with his friends. He looked at the kid and said," Don't go running about again."
Rin smiled widely and nodded his head. Usui smiled and waved them goodbye.
He returned to the stall where he placed the order. He was about to dig in when his companions returned and apologized for being late. Earlier when Usui had asked them to find the child's parents , he also asked them to secretly find information about the palace. Hearing that the people praised the royals for being kind ,powerful and helpful and how they especially love the first princess. He was looking forward to meeting the beauty of this kingdom.
In the palace, a lady was in her courtyard and was enjoying her tea, when two people entered and kneeled in front of her, "Princess , the crown prince and his two companions have reached the kingdom and is staying at an inn for the night."
This was the first princess of Crystal Kingdom, Hazel, for whom the king has invited a lot of prince's to give her hand in marriage.
Princess Hazel dismissed the guards and smiled while saying, " He is early".
Behind her , there was a person who jokingly said "He must be eager to meet you".
Hazel smiled and said " I doubt that but tomorrow is going to be a big day. Let's see how he will win the match."