[Music Rec: 周深 - 自己按门铃自己听]
The after effects of eating the powdered peppers slowly wears off by each passing minute. Delta's eyes, which were like watery emeralds, soon regained their elegance and coldness. Kate's red face also cools down.
Violetta smiles at her two companions. Although the effects wore off, they definitely look more alert and awake than before.
As they walk around, they concurrently get rid of the large crowd of beauty admirers.
The bustling streets crowd even more as the day goes on. The sun starts to reach its peak in the sky.
As Violetta and Chris chat in the front, Kate and Delta follow with a dazed expression. Their mouths felt empty, like they were missing an addictive flavor. Kate and Delta look towards Violetta and Chris wondering if there is more of that spicy flavor left.
Sadly, they were greeted with an empty skewer in Chris's hand.
A surprised complexion appears on their faces.
It hasn't even been five minutes since he first tried and he's devoured it already?
Just what is this child?
Violetta laughs in amusement, "Haha, looks like Chris is our winner today!"
"H-how… what…" Delta stutters.
Even if Kate and Delta were going to eat a second one, they'd at least take a couple minutes to get used to the flavor, but look at him!
Delta and Kate look over at the child innocently gazing up at them. Their jaws unconsciously drop.
Then, they also realized Violetta had eaten the entire skewer with this red powder easily too. Moreover, she's the one who brought the powder in the first place! Where did she get such a weird flavor powder?
Their eyes turn to the innocent, submissive princess. Violetta laughs at their shocked faces and shrugs with a smile.
'It seems like my peppers will be consumed really fast. I'll need to stock up quickly.'
It takes the two girls a couple of minutes to recollect and think things through.
Soon, the group arrived at one of the biggest herb halls in the area, Thousand Scent Herb Hall. It's also the most trustworthy in the area, gaining the trust of countless citizens. They step through the grand gates, over the traditional styled ledge.
"Welcome to Thousand Scent, how may I help you?" a young shopkeeper walks over, his hands clasped.
"Ah, we'll just peruse around."
The shopkeeper respectfully raises a hand, guiding them into the shop.
Then, like an experienced shopkeeper, he addresses the next customers.
Violetta's eyes scan across the shop.
There are aisles in the middle full of herbs and large shelves that climb the walls. A mixture of herb scents and aromas waft over, some being more strong and pungent, and some being mild and gentle.
'It really lives up to the name of Thousand Scents.'
"Huh? What's all these poor people doing in this shop? Don't you know this shop is top tier?"
A scene at the door attracts everyone's attention. It's the group that came in after Violetta and her friends. They seem to be a rambunctious bunch.
'Of course people know it's top tier or why would they come?' Violetta inconspicuously rolls her eyes.
The rude boy who first started speaking runs up front again. His brassy blonde hair stands out in the crowd of black and brown hair. In fact the entire group stood out. Blonde hair, green eyes, blue eyes, hazel eyes, hazel colored hair, and even red hair. Their upturned noses and pale skin. It's quite obvious they're foreigners or immigrants in the Jun Empire.
Two young boys also follow the rude boy's lead, sneering down at the 'peasants'. The adults there were no bystanders either. They gaze around in contempt or nonchalantly pick their nails in boredom. However, the disdain is evident and quite an eyesore to Violetta.
However, what's said next catches the group's attention.
"Don't you know to respect Empress Lotus's family? Huh? How disrespectful!"
'That's Lotus's family?!'
"I can't believe they already claim her to be Empress like that!" Kate whispers over.
"Yeah, talk about assuming," Delta adds.
The rude Lotus look alike started to shoo away the peasants while holding their noses. They acted like commoners stink and that this place was their own.
"Ah…" the innocent, inexperienced shopkeeper looks at the leaving, unhappy crowd with sadness.
At the same moment, another man walks out of behind the counter, giving a courtesy bow in front of the noisy bunch of customers.
His brown hair falls as he says sincerely, "I'm sorry, Thousand Scent is always open to the public and all customers."
Immediately, a vein bulges on the hot headed group. The original 'nail pickers' -who were probably trying to look cool- also look up in anger at the 'disrespect' shown towards them.
They look at the man who is bowing in front of them and sneers.
"How dare you! Don't you know who we are?!"
One of the teens reiterates for the millionth time.
A scary scene appears as the burly men in the back step forward, rolling up their sleeves. It was evident that they're pretty experienced with brawling, as their well developed muscles showed. One even had a scar across his face.
The commoners and customers in the shop walk away from the scene and the crowd recoils back.
The young shopkeeper covers his mouth in fright.
Kate looks at the scene in horror.
A few of the women that came with them covered their mouths with their fans before snickering.
"How could they-"
Thump, thump, thump…
As the crowd shirks away, the distance between the men and the shop representative closes.
One of the men sneers, "Get ready to-"