Maria quickly looked up to see that the voice belonged to a tall man with bright, green eyes and wavy, black hair looking down at her.
She typically was very good at avoiding talking to people while at the market, but now she was stuck.
"Yes it is," she awkwardly said before averting her eyes away from the stranger and back to the painting in fear of this man recognizing her as the princess.
"If I could paint like that I'm afraid I would spend all of my time out here creating and avoiding my responsibilities," he chuckled while admiring the artistry at hand.
Maria smiled to herself as she replied, "It would be nice to live the life of an artist. I can't imagine anything more carefree and rewarding."
With that, the stranger looked again at Maria without her noticing, and admired the way her caring, brown eyes were engrossed in the painting in front of them before a smile pulled at his lips and he asked her something she had never been asked before. "If you could be anything in the world, what would you be?"
'Free,' Maria immediately thought to herself blushing, embarrassed that she almost said that out loud before actually saying, "Hmmm, I actually think I would like to be an artist. Or maybe a writer!" she said with the most infectious smile the stranger had ever seen on her lips. "What about you?" she asked after a moment, curious about the stranger next to her.
"I like to imagine a life where I could spend all day cooking. I would want to cook the most delicious cuisine from every country and eat until my stomach ached. I would make pasta and doughnuts and curry and oh...SO many things that you can only find in certain countries," he replied, also now smiling and giggling with the most handsome smile and heartwarming laugh Maria had ever seen on a man.
"So, why don't you do that?" she asked shyly yet curiously.
The stranger's smile slowly faded and his eyes appeared to have a heartbreaking sadness reflected in them for just a moment before he quickly recovered with a new smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before he said, "Fate has another plan for me I'm afraid".
"Hmmm, well maybe you should take your fate into your own hands," She replied, wishing she could take her own advice, while she looked back up at him.
He turned away from the painting to look at her again and waited a moment before he dropped his eyes and said, "I wish I could".
Maria gave him an understanding smile as she felt her heart ache in that moment.
She felt the exact same way as this handsome stranger who decided to take up a conversation with her.
They both then turned back to the painting, but Maria found herself sneaking glances at the kind stranger next to her.
He wore common clothes, but his were slightly different from the average Greek person, she noted.
She knew he must be from another land, but she could not quite put her finger on where the clothes, and the man they were on, were from.
Not only that, but she wanted to keep the conversation to a minimum so that she was not noticed to be out of place as well.
Puzzled, she turned back to the painting, and Maria lost track of time as they watched the artist work until the light started to change from the day coming to an end.
When it was dark enough that light no longer bounced off of the scene in front of him, the artist started to pack away his materials.
This brought Maria back to reality and her eyes widened as she internally cursed at herself because she needed to be back at the palace and dressed for the arrival of the suitors tonight before anyone caught on that she had escaped for the day.
"It was nice to meet you but I'm afraid I must go," she said as she looked up one last time at the stranger before she started to quickly walk away.
He furrowed his brow and took some steps after her with his hand raised as he hurriedly yelled, "Wait! I didn't catch your name!"
He caught up and grabbed her hand and she quickly turned, met his gaze, and nervously said the first thing that came to her mind, which happened to be her middle name. "Grace. My name is Grace".
He crooked his head slightly and flashed another warming smile before he said, "Grace, it was so lovely to have met you". He then brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it before letting her go.
She did not know why, but this small act that she was so used to as a princess made her heart flutter, and she gave a quick smile before she turned back and started to jog through the market and back to the palace, careful to not bump into the few people who were still roaming around and shopping.
Even though she was terrified of her adventure of the day being found out, somehow on that journey back, the only thing that was on her mind had nothing to do with being a princess and all of her responsibilities, and everything to do with the kind stranger with the bright green eyes whose gentle kiss still warmed the back of her hand.