"Young sir, what may I offer you at this hour?"
An old man had greeted Charles after entering the old shop.it was shop for the medicinal herbs for curing such illnesses
"I'll have the Dumoir"
Charles said with a deep and serious voice. Giovanni, on the other hand, only set aside himself on the corner while looking at the displayed medicine herbs on the shelves
'Dumoir? That was the kind of herbs that was used for healing any kinds of sickness and it's only a legend that was proven to be existent later on, however I might apologize for this young man'
"Young sir, I supposed I may apologize for giving the response immediately. However, it was long extinct; the herb was only a legend that was proven to only live in such a faraway land. It was only located in a cliff near the forest.no one bothered to claim such because it was too risky"
'There's nothing more risky to me than losing the one that I love'
Charles wanted to say however, he only clenched his hands and shook his head as he closed his eyes. From doing so, he immediately tried to remember the books that he had read regarding the herbal medicine
"How about the Reciloir, Sir?"
"hmmmm, if you talk about it, young sir it was also an alternative that I was about to suggest when people always come here looking for the one that was long ago extinct"
'As I suspected, this old man was clever. However, I can't pinpoint as to why the hell why he always scratch the back of his head while answering. Such old people tend to have mannerisms after all'
Charles only heaved a sigh as he followed the old man to where he was heading. Giovanni, on the other hand, had followed the crown prince behind him while still looking around as if captivated by such things inside the shop
'Woah! If only I was reading the same books as the crown prince was reading then I might as well as know the names of these herbals'
Giovanni was so amazed that he nearly went to bumped a large vase inside the house if it weren't for Charles grabbing a hold of his arms in time
That only made Giovanni heaved a sigh as he looked shyly towards Charles who was looking seriously back at him
"Be careful, we wouldn't want to pay much more with breaking things inside, right Gio?"
'Now, his highness was saying things while pronouncing my nickname which is scary'
"Y-Yes you---"
"It's Lier, Gio"
"Oh! Y-yes, I-I'll be c-careful a-ahead L-Lier"
Charles lied about his name because he had sensed that the old man was silently watching the two of them. It's just that Charles wasn't recognize as well as Giovanni because of their long hooded coat
"Young Sirs, I think if the Reciloir is what you're looking for then here is the room for the herbs"
***
"Hmmmm, so this was the place, huh?"
"Good afternoon!"
Instead of answering Xyle immediately, Victoria had gone towards the owner of the shop and greeted him with a smile. When Xyle turned he looked at the old man that was smiling back towards the lady
'Well, it seems that it wasn't bad at all. However, it wasn't also in my taste but seeing her smile is already making me felt like it's a good place'
"Good afternoon young lady. Oh! And you have a young man besides you, huh?"
"Oh! Yeah actuall---"
Victoria wasn't able to finish what he's saying when the old man had spoken first cutting her off
"So he was your lover after all?"
The old man – who was Willy had assumed that made Victoria's face redder than usual. That expression of Victoria never left Xyle's eyes that made his eyebrows creased
"….. no, Sir! Oh well, however I apologize for what news I'll be conducting to you Sir"
"Oh! Please drop the formality and just call me Willy. It will only lightened up the mood and besides I don't want to be old again by those formalities"
Willy laughed after saying those words, he doesn't know but whenever the young lady in front of him smiles, he was always enlightened and felt refreshed
"Well, if that's what you like, W-Willy!"
"There you go! However, as old as I am, well, this man had still a sharp memory and I wanted to know you're name young lady"
"Oh! It's Vic----"
"However, before Victoria was able to speak about her name Xyle immediately grabbed her and whispered something to her ears
"You're not planning to let others know you're name, here right? Especially about that old man right?"
"Why? He's trustworth---"
"We don't know people, Victoria. In the end, it's only right to precaution. Besides, you already know about the nobles' rule"
"…"
Victoria wasn't able to rebut because that instance she already knew that Xyle was right
"Young lady?"
"Oh! How rude am I? I'm Vicky and this young man here is named Karl"
Victoria lied, because it was prohibited for a noble to easily tell their names to strangers even though those ones were trustworthy because Xyle was right among those words that he said about to Victoria and that were what she thought after hearing those
"Oh! Hi, Vicky and hi Karl. I hope you'll be able to come in ehre again. However, you see my previous boy named Ger wasn't able to come in here for a few days now. Even I wasn't even informed. I just assumed that something happened to him or his siblings. It's because that he's secretive about his life that I don't even know where he lived. Oh! I nearly forgot about what you've said earlier. Do you have some news about something, Vicky?"
"Well, sir i-it's----"
However, when Victoria was about to start speaking, Xyle immediately cut her off and talked to Willy instead with a serious look
"The young man that you've mentioned earlier – named Ger, was already dead"
"…"
Instead of responding back, the old man had taken a step back. Yet, by doing so, he immediately lost his balance that made Xyle immediately caught him in time
"I'm so sorry about making you hear the news, Willy but I guess we have to say this to you"
"Wait, i-is t-that e-even true? H-How c-come?"
Willy couldn't believe, but he immediately composed himself by having the table as his support after Xyle had helped him
"It's about that night that the market were being investigated, Willy"
Again, Victoria explained to Willy that widened his eyes
"As far as I know, Ger was a nice silent boy with his straightforward attitude, yet how come? He doesn't even has any enemies as far as I'm concerned!"
'As I know Willy is hard to be convinced. It's even what Ger told us to do, it was the previous day'
"Tell the old man that I was working part-time job that I was already dead. So that he will have no time to search for me. Instead of searching for me, I'd rather have him worked in his shop instead"
'That was what Ger told us that made us come here to this place'
"It's rather unexpected but it's true"
"Wait, how the hell did the two of you kn----"
Before Willy could finish asking the two, Xyle answered with a serious face
"We saw his home and him, they were all brutally murdered by someone that we didn't even know"
As straight forwards as he is, it only made Willy lost his balance again. This time Victoria was the one who caught him as Xyle only supported Victoria. After a few seconds, they led the old man to a seat as they talked about Ger
"Holy, graciousness. I felt sorry for Ger and his siblings. He always had those breads to them but they were ---- oh goodness!"
Willy exclaimed a she burst in crying. The customers were looking their way that's why Victoria and Xyle had no choice but to lead Willy inside of his shop as they talked there seriously
"If only --- if only I hadn't let him leave that day then he would've still been ali---"
Xyle cut Willy off
"We know however, what's fated to happen will never be changed. It's his fate and we'll only have to hope for the best in his afterlife"
Upon hearing such words from Xyle, Victoria felt some goose bumps run her skin as shivers run down her spine. She knew that fate will eventually happen and she was even slapped by reality from Xyle's words however, the fate of the old Victoria had now been on her hands.
'I may be inside the old Victoria's body however, the fate that she was in will be changed by me. Xyle, you're wrong about fate. It's because I'm not the original Victoria and the old Victoria's fate will be washed away by me. Fate is what you choose in life. That's the very reason of fate Xyle'
Victoria reminded herself and heaved a sigh after hearing the old man cry again
"If only I ask about the name of the young lady that he had mentioned that was wishing me well and continued to talk to him every day about her that he was willing to stay in my home, then he wouldn't have experience such cruelness in life"
After expressing those words, Willy cried again. Yet, by hearing those words, Victoria's attention was caught by the words of the old man.
'It seems like he was referring to me, I once wished Willy to be healthy again to Ger and I didn't even know that he had said those words to him. Sometimes, he's truly unpredictable but it's because it's already his trait on the original novel. I just hope that I had already changed his point of view on Victoria. In that way, I'll be able to live that life I wanted --- or even run away from the our main estate and lived in the countryside while gardening. Hmmmm, maybe that was a very good idea. However, I'll only be able to do that after the justification on Ger's siblings'