When it was afternoon, various merchants in the capital began to pack up their wares, including the flower shop managed by Isabella. Because the flower shop was a legacy from her parents that she managed alone, Isabella was alone when she started lifting the flower pots that she kept outside her shop. Several men passing by offered to help when they saw Isabella's face. However, Isabella gently refused. Then, continued her activities alone with great tenacity.
When there were only a few plants left outside, from a distance, Isabella saw the carriage of the nobleman who had previously been looking for trouble with her. Isabella knew those horse-drawn carriages by heart because they had always bothered her endlessly. Just because Isabella refused to become the wife of one of them, she had to face harassment from them almost every day.
In the past few months, they haven't appeared since they were kicked out by Alister. However, seeing the carriage pass through the road in front of her again made a bad feeling creep into Isabella's heart.
Isabella started to speed up her movements to put things in order after she saw the horse-drawn carriage from a distance. The shops in the surrounding area also did the same thing. Because the noble's carriage had a reputation for causing trouble with the commoners, the commoners were too afraid to meet the noble.
"Sigh... walking around the capital is the best."
Isabella secretly bit her lip because her intuition was proven right this time. As usual, the luxurious carriage stopped right in front of Isabella's flower shop, followed by the noble children, who got off and started making noise all around. Now, it was too late for Isabella to leave. The girl could only put down the flower pot she had previously brought, then looked down at the young nobles who were looking at her with lewd glances.
"Forgive me, my Lord. But we are closed today."
Even though Isabella knew that chasing them away would put her in trouble, letting them cause a scene felt even worse. Isabella tried to speak as politely as she could. She even bowed to them, but the people laughed when they saw her behavior.
"Hey, hey, don't be so cold on us. You don't know what kind of hell we had to go through because of the last problem you caused."
Their words made Isabella remember the commotion during the hunting festival, where they insisted on inviting her to come to their villa to have fun with them. No one knew how scared Isabella was at that moment. She tried hard to reject them, even if they were nobles. Her refusal caused a commotion, which luckily attracted the attention of a woman who was said to be an acquaintance of Alexius and Alister, whom she already knew.
"I'm sorry. But we're closed."
Isabella repeated her words while deciding that she would just leave the rest of the flowers outside. Leaving them was much better than getting involved with those nobles again. Isabella turned around, but someone roughly grabbed one of her hands.
"Hey, I haven't allowed you to leave yet."
Unlike their usual tone of teasing or playing with her, their faces and tone immediately turned serious when Isabella chose to leave them. One of them gripped Isabella's hand so tightly that it felt painful for her. Isabella's brows furrowed slightly, but she tried to maintain her composure and spoke again when she began to sense danger from those people.
"I, I'll call the city guards if you guys keep causing trouble like this."
"City guards? Ha! Do you think they will help you like that? Apart from that fucking Alister, there will be no one to help you escape from us this time!"
"Ah!"
Isabella was caught unprepared when they suddenly pulled Isabella's hand so hard that it caused her balance to be lost, and caused her to fall onto the road. Indeed, people seemed afraid to help her because their opponents were some noble children. Some people even openly preferred to take another route rather than get involved in trouble with several nobles at once.
Isabella's heart started beating erratically. She even ignored her injured knee, because her mind kept reminding her of the approaching danger signals.
"Because of a bitch like you, some of us were put under house arrest by our parents! How dare a bitch like you cause trouble for nobles like us!"
The hand of the person holding Isabella's hand rose, a sign that he would soon slap Isabella. Isabella could only close her eyes because commoners were not allowed to hurt a noble. The girl waited for the pain she imagined to come, but it didn't come until Isabella opened her eyes again.
"I don't think house arrest is enough for you."
There, Isabella saw Alexius holding the hand of the person who was about to hit her tightly. However, after speaking in a calm voice, his grip gradually became harder until the nobleman started screaming in pain.
"No. Even death is still too good for people like you."
After hearing a 'creaking' sound from the hand that Alexius was holding, the man finally released his grip and let the man cry and scream in pain while holding his hand. The other nobles looked warily at Alexius. Because Alexius' face was still covered by a hood, no one knew yet that the person who had just injured one of them was their crown prince.
"How dare you cause trouble with me! Aren't you afraid of the punishment that will befall you?!"
"Oh? Is there a law that no one has the right to harm immoral nobles? If such a law exists, I will change it when I become a king."
Alexius came because he intended to reveal his identity to Isabella. After their fight at the hunting festival, Alexius had not yet told Isabella the truth. Alexius asked Isabella to wait for him to be ready to reveal the identity himself. And now he was ready because Isabella had to know who he really was before his wedding to Melisa was held and celebrated by the whole kingdom.
"Your, Your Highness...."
Worse than when they found out that the one who helped Isabella was a Marquess, this time, their faces were completely pale when they found out that they were looking for trouble with a crown prince after escaping their punishment for offending a Marquess. The people immediately fell to their knees when Alexius took off his hood in front of everyone. The commoner immediately imitated the actions of the nobles. The difference is that they prostrated themselves because they were too afraid to see the face of the person who would become the future leader of their kingdom.
"I'll make sure to send each of your parents a letter after this. Since I've often heard reports of the crimes you've committed, I don't think your parents will mind if their children are sent away on a peace mission."
"N, no. I, I mean Your Highness, I-"
Not only were they pale, but those men immediately looked desperate when Alexius implied that they would be sent as prisoners of war to another kingdom as punishment for their crimes. Nothing can guarantee the life of a prisoner of war. Those people were about to beg Alexius with their whole lives. However, before they could touch Alexius, someone had stopped them from touching Alexius, who was standing without moving an inch.
"Hands off."
The one who came with Alexius this time was one of the royal knights, and he was respected enough that the children of lowly nobles like them were no match for him at all. Those people were forced to return while lamenting their fate afterward. The commotion was over, so Alexius could focus more on observing Isabella's condition afterward.
"Isabella, your knee-"
"Your, Your Highness."
Alexius immediately fell silent when Isabella avoided his touch, then took a few steps back to prostrate before him. Gently, Alexius lifted his lover's body again. Alexius picked her up and carried her into the shop, not caring even if Isabella gave him a little resistance.
"Let's talk inside, Isabella."
After that, the shop door was closed while other knights stood guard in front of the door to prevent anyone from entering and disturbing their master's business.