Aurelia stared at the beautiful blue gown in the sellers collection of beautiful clothes. She was already feeling filthy just by wearing one particular gown and a cloak for many weeks, she felt she needed a change of attire.
She stared at the stall wondering how she would approach sales man. She was not really that good at conversations and she was scared of saying the wrong thing.
It had been three weeks and four days since she left the castle and those three weeks had been quite hard for her.
Running away with only few supplies with her, a horse and two days worth of food, she become homeless and hungry. Thank goodness she was found by a woman named Madam Louis who thought it best to help her thinking she was homeless.
Currently, she was still in Rizzan Kingdom, living in Ember town, one of the towns in the south which was small and peaceful. She had come to the market to run errands for Louis and she had planned to see if there were anything she could get for herself.
She felt as though the three weeks she spent here was already enough. She really could not delay her journey anymore, her father would have been deeply hurt but she was hurting the most and she needed to be healed.
She needed to find her mother and reunite with her, she was sure even if no one could understand her well, her mother would be able to. Her mother did not leave because she did not love her, she must have left because of another reason which her father and aunt were refusing to tell her.
While she was lost in thoughts she didn't realize that she had already walked towards the clothing stall and had been standing there without speaking.
" Young lady are you deaf?", she heard the man in the store ask in a gruff voice and she quickly looked up at him. Staring at her surroundings, she sighed, she really was a sleep walker.
" Are you going to buy anything, if you won't buy please leave my stall, stop staring or are you a thief", the man asked loudly this time staring at her with narrowed eyes attracting attention in the process.
The people in the market turned to stare at her with judging eyes and she couldn't help but frown. How dare he accuse her and call her a thief? Why would she, the princess, even bother stealing?
" Sir I do not wish to steal, I was just admiring the gown that's all. You are quick to conclude", she said in a small voice but because of how she spoke the man felt as though he should create more scene, she dared call him quick to conclude.
" You are lying, you wish to steal my gown, guards, guards", he started yelling drawing the attention of other sellers and buyers. The murmurs coming from people made it impossible for Aurelia to even stand her claim, she became lost.
The bag on her hand contained veggies and it was really heavy. She could no longer stand t
there so she immediately started walking away.
" Catch her, she must have stolen those vegetables. For all we know, that could be someone's goods", she heard someone say from the crowd and she frowned more but immediately people started approaching her.
They surrounded her from all corners with their eyes filled with disgust. Aurelia felt as though she was being treated wrongly, she tried to speak up but everytime her voice came out soft and elegant, so stupid.
" Please stop causing a scene, this is mine, why would I steal?", she exclaimed angrily, the more she spoke, the more she felt like she was being ignored. The sad thing was that they did not even know she was the princess.
A woman grabbed the sack from her and poured all the contents in the sack out on the floor for all to see.
That was Madam Louis groceries, what would the old woman and her grandson eat? She pushed the woman away and quickly made to pick the stuff, tears falling from her eyes in the process.
" What are you all doing? Stop, stop it", she screamed as they continued murmuring and some of the words reached her hearing.
" Such a beautiful girl, too bad she is nothing but a thief, look at her picking up the groceries she has stolen, so shameless", one woman said as other women joined her in insulting Aurelia.
She felt so humiliated and helpless as people said mean words from all corners while she struggled to gather the groceries. After successfully putting everything intact, she felt her cheeks wet and she realized she had been crying non stop all these while.
She wiped her cheeks with her dirty hand causing a stain on her pale cheek as she stood up and stared at the crowd of people.
" What are we waiting for, you let her pick the groceries, she must be burned alive", someone yelled from the crowd and the other people started yelling as well in agreement with the previous person.
This time, Aurelia let the sack slip off her hand as it fell on the floor letting the goods out once again. Did she hear that clearly, was she really going to be burnt alive? No, she can't die, she cannot die.
" Stop", she screamed with all her might but the crowd did not listen as three women approached her and started to round her. One of them pushed her to the ground while another kicked her fiercely. They brought her back up and stared at her dirty face which was covered in tears.
Aurelia felt hearbroken to the core, all she wanted was to leave this place immediately. This was not seriously going to be her end? She started struggling with the women while the crowd already formed a circle around her.
One of the women slapped her like it was no big deal sending her to the ground immediately. She felt her face swell from the slap but she was not willing to give up? she did not run away from the palace so she could die.
She stood up once more and stared at the women with disgust. She was the princess of this Kingdom and no one could accuse her like this?
" How dare you treat your princess like this, do you have no shame?", she screamed once again and this time the crowd went silent. She sighed heavily thinking that she had finally gotten their attention but all of a sudden they started laughing.
" Once A thief now a princess, will you keep quiet", a young girl about her age mocked as the crowd erupted into another fit of laughter once more.
She felt like she was dreaming, that all this would stop soon but all she could hear were laughters before she finally lost concsiousness and fainted.
But before that happened, she saw her father's face as he knelt beside her, a smile adorned her lips and her eyes finally shut closed hearing him call out to her in his most sweetest voice, Aurelia.