"Yes. And this is it. The bakery." Mark answered with a smile, but was shocked when the man retorted. "How?" Nile understood the fact that the bakery was good for a disguise, but how could it get them closer to the royal house?
"Think about it. We make deliveries of bread and cakes, and of course the royal family will need such things." David answered, while Nile just sighed, nodding his head before walking towards the shelves filled with breads and other pastries.
"I think that's settled. Now let's talk about the festival this evening." Mark said with excitement, while the other men also smiled. "I think we should wear costumes."
"Seriously! Do we look like children?" Richard laughed until David suddenly said, "Nile, you should also come with us. We will have so much fun tonight." Rebecca, who had been looking towards Nile's side without saying a word, also nodded.
Nile stopped in his tracks to look at them. He had been wondering what kind of people they were ever since they started talking about the festival. He was expecting them to start talking about their plan to attack the royal house, but he was dumbfounded to see the type of people they were. "Unserious? Maybe." He thought before saying. "You can go without me."
"Oh, come on. How can we go without you?" Mark said, walking up to him to convince him more.
"Don't you think we should be discussing our plans?" Nile asked instead, but was surprised to hear Rebecca chuckle. "Oh, I'm sorry." She said this, noticing how they all looked at her.
"We can do that after the festival. Come, let me show you your apartment," Mark said before dragging him out of the shop.
"Wow. I didn't expect him to be so serious," Rebecca said after Mike left with Nile.
"Me too," David said.
**
He was not happy with the way things were going, but he accepted his fate and followed them to the festival. The whole market was so crowded with different people wearing different types of costumes.
They got to the middle of the market, where the bonfire was being held. Different people were surrounding the fire and singing different songs with lovely smiles on their faces. They all sat down around the fire. David and the others were dancing and clapping, while Nile was just sitting with no emotions on his face.
When he couldn't take it any longer, he stood up and left without them knowing. Not that he hated the festival, but he had lost the will to do anything fun. He rarely smiled ever since he lost his brother, who had always been there for him ever since they lost their parents. Even whenever he smiles, it's not always a sincere one. He left the premises of the festival and walked back into the market to go back home when he suddenly bumped into a woman.
****
It was finally night. Marina left the house as usual and went straight to the market. She was already so happy to see different people with costumes on the way. She quickly ran to the market, but was disappointed when she saw a lot of people, to the point that she couldn't see people performing in the middle. She did everything to squeeze herself among the crowd but failed. As she was trying to enter through the crowd again, she felt something strange had happened. Her small purse, which she had tied around her clothes, had been snatched by a little creature who was already running.
Hey! She screamed as she ran after the small creature, who had run into the dark alley in the market, but not too long later she caught up with the creature. "Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed, holding the small boy's hand as she tried to catch her breath.
She finally looked at the boy, who was also looking at her with fear. She knew that the small box must have been hungry to the point of stealing. She sighed.
She would have forsaken the purse, but her jewelry, which must not get lost, was inside, or else her parents would know about her sneaking out. She opened the purse and gave the boy some money before saying, "Go on. Buy yourself some food."
The boy also bowed his head before running away. Marina sighed again, looking at the small creature vanish until she looked into her purse while also walking, but she hadn't taken a lot of steps when she bumped into someone, making her small purse fall to the ground with her jewelry scattered on the floor.
She quickly bent down to pick them up, but was surprised to see that the person who had bumped into her was not even helping. "Can't you..." Her words hung in her mouth. "Oh my goodness!" She whispered, looking up at the person.
From his tallness to his broad shoulders, the strong jaw and chin with black piercing eyes. She couldn't even move a muscle. "How can someone be this handsome?" She said without realizing it.
Nile, who had also been looking at her as she was packing jewelry into the purse, was wondering how a lady who was dressed in ugly clothes could have such silver jewelry with a stone. "Is she a thief?" He thought, looking at her, but he couldn't help but talk when she said he was handsome. "Is that what you say to strangers the first time you see them?"
It was as if she had been woken up from her dazed state. "I'm... sorry. My name is..." She stretched out her hands to him and was about to introduce herself when she heard. "I didn't ask for your name." He felt like she was a thief, and he didn't want to accuse her without proof; even seeing her smile at him irked him. Without bothering to say anything else, he just turned around to leave.
Marina, on the other hand, didn't care how rude he was; she still wanted to follow him and talk, but stopped in her tracks when she checked the time on her small clock and saw that it was almost midnight. She looked at the man as he was going before she groaned and turned back to go home quickly.
She appeared in her room, quickly changed her clothes, and wore her silver necklace and earrings. She doesn't really use her teleportation, but she knows that a lot of people will be downstairs, and they might see her if she tries to sneak into the house. She was still wearing her jewelry when she suddenly heard a loud knock on the door. She sighed, as she already knew who it was.
"Marina! What have you been doing? Will it take you the whole day to get dressed?!" Rosabelle screamed as she walked into the room.
"Mom. I'm done." Marina replied frustratingly before walking towards her mother to follow her out, but before she could walk past her, her mother dragged her back, adjusting her gown very well before looking up at her. "Did you even get any work done on the blush?" She asked, but Marina just sighed. "Seriously mom. This is what we should be talking about now?!"
"You knew you had to look your best tonight, Marina." Marina knew why her mom was talking about how she dressed. After all, she and her father had been planning on how to marry her off to a good and strong family.
"Mom. There's nothing wrong with my dress. Let's just go before we run late." Marina said this before walking out of the room without waiting for her mother. She went downstairs to see different people dressed in their different classy clothes, having conversation, and sipping their wine.
She sighed before walking down the stairs, but before she could take the last step down the stairs, "Oh marina. There you are." She was surprised to see her stepbrother smiling at her happily, but she knew he was up to something when she saw the guy behind him. "This is Kelvin, a prince from the Nightmoor kingdom. And Kelvin, this is Marina, my beautiful sister."
Marina just rolled her eyes and smiled before moving to walk away, but her brother dragged her back and smiled. "I think you guys should talk." He said this before hugging her sister. "Don't mess this up." He whispered in her ears before leaving the both of them alone.
Marina also faked a smile before looking back at the guy. "I guess you guys are not so close," Kelvin said with a smile before walking towards the nearby table, but Marina felt like something was hidden behind that smile.
"Even still, we're family. Isn't it?" She said this as she also followed him to the table.
"It seems like that's what they want for us also." Kelvin said, but Marina was just staring at him with confusion. "I meant that we might not be close, but they still want us to be family." He said it with a smile, but Marina just kept looking at him. To her, his tone denoted that he wasn't interested in matchmaking.
"So. Just to be clear, you're not interested in this matchmaking." She asked, but instead of answering, Kelvin asked back. "Are you?"
No. Marina replied, to which Kelvin also smiled. "Then we're good." Marina also smiled back at him. She was happy that he wasn't interested in her. If not, she would have been looking for ways to reject him.
"It looks like your brother thinks we're getting closer." He said, smiling, to which Marina also looked back to see Ethan looking at them without even caring that they could see him.
Um... It seems so weird that I'm asking a stranger for this. She said, but Kelvin just smiled. "Please do ask me. I thought we weren't strangers anymore."
"If you don't mind, do you think we could pretend to get along? Just for some time." She said, hoping to get a positive answer, but the guy was just looking at her. She felt so ashamed of herself for saying such, but was surprised when he suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh my goodness! You should see your face now."
He moved closer to her and whispered into her ears. "It looks like we have a deal, princess." He knew what his action would do to her brother, who was stylishly watching their every move.