The pepper eating competition was underway, the contestants shoved pepper into their mouths, trying to ignore the spicy taste, as time progressed, they could no longer bear it, their tongues and throats burned like they drank fire for breakfast, soon five people reached for their water, unable to go on.
The guards quickly brought them away, and they were soon replaced by others, new Calabash filled with peppers were soon brought in for the new contestant's consumption, only the sight of the pepper were daunting enough that the new contestants almost quitted then and there, but the contestants held on, not wanting to be a laughing stock they forged ahead, this was no longer a competition for the Princess's hand, but rather a competition to prove their manhoods, and no matter how spicy the pepper is, they will not back out before they competed.
Soon two more people gave up and were swiftly escorted away as they chugged down their calabash filled with water like their lives depended on it, they didn't care if they just lost, they just needed to quench their flaming tongue, they were immediately replaced by two others.
The competition went on like that and soon the first competitors were completely replaced, but even then second set of people couldn't bear it for long, the observant guards soon caught a few men sneakily taking in air and swiftly disqualified them and escorted them away, they were replaced speedily, the men felt a bit ashamed and angry at the way they were treated after being caught, no matter what, they were still princes or a well known wealthy and affluent man in their own kingdoms, but they also felt relief for not needing to continue with this torturous competition, in the face of their abused and they were sure now bleeding tongue and throat, the Princess was nothing.
The waiting contestants all secretly grumbled at the unnecessary games, were they marrying a wife or were they competing for the rights to the whole kingdom of Enale, all these efforts were in no way worth it just for a woman.
They don't fight for women, women fought for the chance to be called theirs, not the other way round. And all this just for an arrogant, spoilt rotten princess was seen as a total waste of their time, yes they wanted her dowry and would love to be connected with her father in marriage to her, but they were not ready to lose their lives for the cause.
When they heard there was going to be a competition, they thought it was going to be something like the previous arm wrestling or even mud wrestling, certainly not this, whoever added this to the competition was seriously abnormal.
Said abnormal Princess, eagerly looked at her dream man, he was even more handsome than she remembered, she mused, watching him dreamily.
Now back to the competition, the second set surprisingly faired better than the first, with three people coming out triumphant, they were immediately led to the deserted venue for the winners of the second competition.
It finally got to the turn of the Princess's beloved and she immediately sat up, fully focused on him, not that she ever took her gaze off him in the first place, she had done what she could. The rest was up to him.
Prince Mudiaga Anemor, also known as Ublowoh confidently awaited the arrival of his calabash of pepper, not at all fazed by his fellow contestants who were sweating beside him as they reluctantly ate their peppers, his pain threshold was very high, like most inhabitants of the evil forest, even the world spiciest pepper meant nothing to him.
Soon he was brought his calabash filled with pepper, but something was not right, he glanced at the calabash of the contestants beside him, then at his and found the problem, he recognized the peppers inside the calabash to be the fairly non-spicy kind and even the seeds were removed, he looked at the guards and they turned a blind eye, he took a glance at his neighbors and thankfully they were too focused on their calabash filled with pepper to pay attention to anyone else.
He knew what was going on, but he couldn't look at the Princess now for the Princess was positioned directly behind him, he didn't want to draw attention to himself by turning around to look at the Princess, so he acted as if everything was normal and began eating his own pepper. As he ate, he felt satisfaction flow through him, it seemed he was right to encounter the Princess first before all this, although her efforts were unneeded but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate it.
Even as he thought, he kept devouring his peppers like he was eating moi moi, the sooner he was done, the better, he must finish his peppers before his fellow competitors decide to pay attention to him.
The Princess watched anxiously as her dream man took action and began to devour his plate of peppers, she hoped the kitchen maids were useful for once in their miserable lives, there better had been no mistakes in executing her orders or heads would roll.
Unaware of the Princess's apprehensions, the audience watched the ongoing competition with delight, laughing whenever someone gave up and cheering on whoever finally made it and finished their calabash full of peppers.
They also cracked jokes amongst themselves, while some pitied the contestants, both the losers and successful participants of this competition will have a hellish experience whenever they go to the toilet after this day.
As the audience watched the competition with rapt attention, sometimes making conversation with the people around them, they quickly took notice of the overly handsome young man who was devouring his peppers like he was eating a delicious meal of Fufu and Egusi, they mumbled amongst themselves, wondering if they were no longer watching a pepper eating competition but were now watching pounded yam and fufu competition instead.
But a look at his fellow competitors convinced them that this was still the same pepper eating competition, so why was this young eating his peppers so deliciously like he was having the best delicacy in the world, was his tongue made of steel, though they were puzzled, they were unable to guess at the reason for this oddity, so they gave up and resolved to just focus on the competition, from what they could make out, there was nothing wrong with his peppers, so they should just mind their own business, he might just be someone used to eating peppers.
The royal family also took notice of the strange phenomenon and also wondered at the handsome young man's strangeness, but didn't dwell on it, only the king took a deep look at the young man, so this was the man that had caught his daughter's attention. He gave him an assessing look trying to understand his daughter's attraction to him, he must admit, the young man was quite handsome, and looked strong, he also wore fabrics only someone of royal standing could get their hands on.
But for some reason the king felt unsettled when he looked at him, but he payed no mind to the feeling, chucking it up to his reluctance to give his daughter to someone else.
Now back to the competition, although the other competitors who sat with him noticed Prince Mudiaga's strangeness, they paid no attention to him, their tongues, throat and stomach felt like holes were being burned into them, they really couldn't care less if he was swallowing Eba or pepper right now.
Ublowo- i mean Prince Mudiaga soon quickly finished his peppers and stood up, he was now eligible for the next competition, he was led to join the other victors, who in no way looked victorious, their stomachs protruded out like that of a seven month old pregnant woman, now filled with water, even at that they kept on drinking water, trying to quench the fire on their tongues, with no care for their image.
Prince Mudiaga stood beside them unperturbed, finally he did what he had been yearning to do for so long, he raised his eyes to meet the Princess's, and the Princess like a shy naive girl in love, lowered her proud head, flustered at the attention from her beloved man, please stop, I can't bear it, she pleaded within herself as her hear beat like a drum.
As the Princess and her beloved flirted with each other from a distance, her suitors who paying attention to her, glared at prince Mudiaga who they now deemed a bastard.
The fact that they lost the competition didn't mean they were happy to watch the Princess flirt with another man right in front of them, the fact he was another competitor, added insult to the injury, they were now convinced the games were rigged, his weird behavior in the pepper eating competition just further cemented their conjecture, they could not possibly accuse the king of Enale of foul play, that meant making an enemy out of him, of which they dared not do, but that does not mean they'll take this lying down, they could not touch the Princess, but that didn't extend to lover boy, they plotted snickering within themselves.