In the courtyard of Palace of Tranquility,
"Everyone is so good here and I am only the nuisance one." Anchhi enunciated, with a distraught expression. "First, I made royal aunt upset and now...." she sighed.
Anchhi paced her steps back and forth and recalled some embarrassing moments from previous night, when she had actually been melodramatic in front of him, teased him and more than that, she had spewed up, spoiling his whole attire.
"Oh my heavens..... It's so embarrassing!" Anchhi buried her face under her palm and shouted. "What am I supposed to do now? Despite knowing he was the First Prince, how could I do that? I misbehaved with him."
She made herself sit on the wooden stool and wondered, "Is it impossible to go back?"
The morning breezy air played with those two face-framing tendrils of her hair and the flower she had tucked back in between the strands of her hair, fell on the land as a result of the moving breeze. She picked the flower and began plucking its petals. "If only I could do it, I'd want to return. My mom must be waiting."
At the meantime, Shoumen scurried, giving a loud call. "Young Miss! Young Miss!" Then, she paused her steps and stood behind Anchhi.
"Young Miss, what are you doing here?" Leaning slightly forward, Shoumen asked.
Anchhi turned her head to her right where Shoumen was standing, and looked up at her, "Shoumen! Why didn't you come to rescue me? Why did you let me talk to him?" in a low voice, Anchhi asked with despondent.
"When I found you, you were already with the First Prince." said the humble maid, lowering her gaze.
"Don't take his name." Anchhi frowned as she lifted one of her fingers on air. "Leave...you are not the one to be blamed." she further mumbled.
Then, she stood up and suddenly grabbed Shoumen's hands, making an unexpected request. "Shoumen, please for today can I leave the palace and visit the market?"
"Young Miss, I am not sure..." she was intimated.
"Please Shoumen! Only for today. I will disguise as a man and quietly leave the palace without letting others know."
"I am getting a feeling that you may get into a trouble, Young Miss." Shoumen reluctantly spoke.
"Unlike last time, this time I swear I won't create any difficulties." Anchhi grinned, pinching her neck as a gesture to convey her truth. "It's been many days since I've stepped out of the palace and it will be my first time to visit the market so please Shoumen!"
"Young Miss, okay....ah....but..."
"Then you will be there to accompany me. Fair enough?" said Anchhi, raising one of her eyebrows.
"What if the Royal Consort knows?"
"You have my back so don't worry." Anchhi then bolted to her chamber in excitement holding Shoumen's hand, dragging her along with her.
Was Anchhi exhilarated to visit the market? Not at all, she has harbored premeditated schemes inside her head. Market was just one of the parts of her idea to escape from the palace.
After they had completely impersonated themselves as men, they were ready to sneak out of the palace. They were dressed as a commoner, their hair tucked back with a hairpin, making a bun at the top of the head accompanied by a long-black Chinese hat.
While sneaking, even the palace guards were wise enough to let them escape from the palace after all, it was the result of bribing the guards with golds and the credit for this solely goes to our Anchhi.
Upon reaching the market after a half an hour of walk, which lied at the capital city of Gua Empire, Anchhi's eyes didn't spare to scan the whole street of the market decorated with red ribbons and lanterns. That market was eight hundred acres in size, making it the largest market in the whole empire.
It was divided by streets into 12 sectors. Each of the sectors was distinguished into lanes and each lane had an entrance sign that told what speciality that particular land holded. There, one lane sold meat, whereas the another sold fresh fruits and vegetables. This market was where all of the wealthy lived, the items sold there were sometimes very exotic.
Although the market was crowded, Anchhi was content seeing those people roaming in the streets. "What a lively place!" she exclaimed, moving her steps ahead and her eyes gazing here and there in amazement.
She compared the clothes with the one, a bunch of noblemen wore, who were standing at a distance not so far from her.
"The group of men over there must be nobles." Anchhi mumbled, squinting her eyes. "Pretty dresses! I wish I had dressed like them so that I could look more handsome." she wondered, chuckling over her own words as she finely covered her mouth.
"Young Miss, we should return to the palace soon." Anchhi heard Shoumen's worried voice from behind. Though also, she ignored them and dashed forward with her playful laughter.
"Young Miss, now you've escaped from the palace, you can't just go anywhere you want." said the humble maid, who was rushing to follow her Young Miss.
Suddenly, Anchhi halted at her place and turned around, facing Shoumen. "Crown Prince, why are you here?"
Anchhi's startled expression made Shoumen's blood run cold and her heart missed a beat. Shaking like a leaf, Shoumen gathered all her courage and turned her head in the direction where Anchhi's gaze fell upon, to face their Lord.... their Crown Prince. But, to her surprise, there was only a throng of people rambling.
"Where is Crown Prince..." saying this as Shoumen turned to see her Young Miss, she found her Young Miss had already eloped, who was standing there just a second ago.
~~~~
"You should be praised for your cunningness, Anchhi." Anchhi patted her shoulder by herself. "I am very sorry, Shoumen. I made a fool out of you." said Anchhi while peeking secretly at Shoumen from the corner of one of the shops.
"Before she finds me out, I should head towards the forest." she ran while holding her long- black Chinese hat, smiling widely at her success.
After running for some miles, Anchhi finally succeeded to get out of the crowded market and reaching upon a reasonable site, she could see the green lush trees.
Anchhi was huffing and puffing when she moved her steps towards the wilderness of forest. " I hope this time, I can make up-to my intentions."