Violetta finishes dressing with the help of Kate, and they head over to Chris and Delta who are setting the table for breakfast.
"Hurry up!" Delta commands the shivering maids, the exact maids who were scolded by her knife-stabbing comments yesterday.
The mage turns her head and spots Violetta and Kate coming in the hall. She turns and gives a light bow, "Your highness."
Violetta gives a light nod back, "Mm, how's everything going?"
"We're almost ready, please give us a second," she replies.
The scurrying maids finally finish setting the breakfast table, starving their 'Empress' on purpose, as always.
Kate angrily shoos away the disrespectful maids, as Chris munches on some fluffy meat buns.
*munch*
"Mm, Big sis…"
*munch*
"...what're we going to do today?"
Violetta lifts her hand to support her chin, "Hmm, I'd like to go out to see what the city looks like."
"Oooh! I wanna get some local snacks!" Chris replies, excited
He licks his lips as he thinks about all the sweet things they could try, or salty foods from the food stalls across the streets.
Violetta smiles and then turns to Delta and Kate, "What about you guys?"
"A-ah! There's no need I'm just a servant…" Kate stutters waving her hands anxiously in the air.
"I want to visit the herb halls here," Delta requests firmly.
'Herb hall…'
A trace of surprise appears on Violetta's face, 'That's right, I should go too. I need to see if they have the same herbs as my past life. That would make things easier.'
"Sure we'll stop by the herb hall then. Kate, don't be afraid to speak your mind, go ahead and say what you'd like."
"... alright then, I actually wanted to go shopping for clothes for us, since the quality of the clothes here are bad."
"Oh, not a bad idea! I need to get Chris something better too, since he was complaining," Violetta makes a meaningful glance.
Chris blushes as he looks down at the 'dress'.
The group walks towards the gates while chatting about what they're looking forward to in the city. They walk eastwards to the East gates, since it's the closest, and they're technically sort of sneaking out because they didn't notify the Emperor, not that he would care anyways.
"By the way, I heard that Concubine Lotus is going to become a Consort soon," Delta brings up.
"What's the difference?" Kate asks curiously.
Unexpectedly, Chris is the first to reply, "I think in this Empire… concubines the lowest position and then consorts and Empress being the greatest position, which is the official wife."
Violetta's eyes narrow suddenly, her eyebrows creasing, "How did you know?"
"Ah, I… uh heard it from Big Brother…" Chris stutters in the sight of Violetta's gaze.
"Ha? Looks like someone really needs a lesson to be taught," Violetta mutters in a low but authoritative voice.
"Ah, um of course I'd never follow any of that. It's not love," Chris adds in a small voice.
Kate and Delta look over in surprise. The young boy surely knew more than he let on.
Violetta pats his head, "Good. At least you know that."
'Only people who have a brain for show do these kinds of things,' she rolls her eyes internally.
"But then why do all affluent people have concubines and all?" Kate murmurs under her breath, bewildered again.
"They take in concubines and consorts for two reasons: power and... lust."
Kate frowns unconsciously.
"Yep, they're slandering the good name of 'love'," Delta huffs with a sigh.
"Ooh, seems like you really love Claude huh," Violetta comments teasingly.
The reply however, was serious and with thought, "Nope, that's not love either. It's infatuation."
That was true, since most fandoms were made of people who admire or are infatuated with their idols. Violetta had seen many fandoms back in her past that were like that too.
By the time they've reached the East gates, it is about nine in the morning, exactly when the market opens. They've also successfully eluded anyone along the way here.
They approach the gates leisurely while chatting. To their surprise, the guards at the gate suddenly drew their spears in a sturdy 'X' shape over the gate.
Kate frowns, familiar with this type of behavior as it was done with swords in the Berian Kingdom instead of spears.
She steps in front politely curtsying in front of the guards before speaking.
"We are with the Empress, we're going out to the market."
The guards look at the group sternly, causing Kate to feel a shiver down her spine.
How could they believe that this group of people who were dressed shabbily are with the Empress. They must be convicted prisoners who are trying to escape or something!
Unsurprisingly, Chris, Delta, and Violetta were nonetheless unaffected.
After a two minute dead silent staring contest, Violetta sighs.
She steps forward with her elegance and demeanor. Pulling out a small pin, it reveals her identity. Not the one as Empress of the Jun Empire, but the one as the Princess of Beria Kingdom, engraved with the royal crest in the middle.
The guards immediately recognize the symbol and suck in their breath in fright. They immediately lower their spears and bow, hastily but with uniformity.
"We apologize, your highness!"
Violetta nods and turns towards the door. Understanding what she meant, the guards stand straight and open the gates.
The four of them walk through the gates leisurely, returning to their lax and content demeanor. The sounds of bustling streets of the morning market surround them. It was a new experience for most of them who have only been to proper, elegant markets and malls. There were people calling out from one side of a street to another and shopkeepers selling and advertising products.
"New batch of goods! Come buy some fish!"
"You over there! Wanna try this?"
"Newspapers! Newspapers!"
On the other hand, Violetta immediately blends the environment. As a proud foodie, how could she not visit food stalls in her past life? BBQ squid tentacles, sausages, noodles, tofu, you name it!
She also passively listens on to others' conversations, picking up bits of information. The most popular topic was definitely the new Empress. The Emperor hadn't even been willing to hold a wedding, they're really wondering what happened to the rumored innocent princess.
Albeit the hidden fact was that if Violetta wanted, they could've pushed for a royal grand wedding, after all the Berian Kingdom is also a powerful country, maybe even more so than the Jun Empire. But who would want a wedding with that kid when you didn't even want to wed him in the first place?