Chapter 57 Surprise, Dinner

Aile, Sara and Hazel bowed two more times to the prince.

Aile just realized that he had broken the decorum, not with one royal but two. Who could have thought that the lost tourist was a prince? Aile questioned the world, "Why was the prince looking so lost in town! Where were his guards? WHY, WHY, WHY?"

The eventual meeting had to happen. The royalty arrived in front of Aile, Sara and Hazel. As soon as the princess and the prince saw Aile, they had a surprise expression on their face.

Hazel introduced herself.

"Welcome your majesties! I am glad that both of you took time from your busy schedule to come and dine with us. It is our privilege to have you here."

The prince and princess smiled and nodded.

This somehow excited Hazel. She continued and pointed to Aile and Sara, "This is Aile, and this is Sara!"

As the rules dictated Aile and Sara smiled and bowed their head a little to show their respect.

Almost in a synchronized fashion, the prince and princess looked at Aile and said, "I am happy to meet you, Aile and Sara."

Then both of them looked with a bewildered expression to each other. Apparently, this behaviour was quite unique, everyone had a surprised expression.

Aile noticed the entourage that came with the prince and princess had their mouths and eyes wide open in shock.

Aile was not sure as to why everyone seemed so surprised, and he did not want to bring more attention to himself. Therefore he did not talk.

Sara did not pay much to the expressive faces of everyone, and in a cheery tone, she said, "It is good to meet you too prince, and princess."

Then she looked at the princess and said, "Princess Alice, do you want me to show you around!"

Alice immediately found her escape and agreed, "Yes, that would be great!" She did not look back at the palace people that came with her and hurried to Sara side took her hand, and they both walked around.

Noticing that his sister broke free prince Yegon look at Aile with expectant eyes. Aile wanted to laugh, seeing the behaviour of the prince. It seemed the prince and princess were very tired of all the formalities. Aile did not want to stick around here either, he knew that he would probably end up offending someone in this situation.

He then said, "Prince Yegon, how about I show you around!"

He nodded and jumped like a puma at the opportunity in front of him. He put his hand around Aile's shoulder and quickly walked.

They walked for some time, and Aile broke the silence.

"I did not know you were a prince!"

The prince replied with a laugh, "Haha, I do not want to be one, everything is so dull. The people around me act fake, and I win every competition by participating. How can I improve and enjoy life like this? Anyways, I did not expect to see you here?"

Aile smiled back and said, "I did not want to be here either!"

He knew that the prince had already seen his other side, and he knows one of his secrets. There was no need to beat around the bush too much.

The prince had a genuine smile, he liked Aile for his honesty, and he did not get much of that as a prince. "Well, I am glad you came and rescued me from being bored, even if it is for a little time!"

Aile smiled back and said, "I am glad to see you too! So tell me what happened that day, why was the prince strolling the town alone that day."

The prince smugly smiled, "I wanted to celebrate little Alice's birthday with her, but I was not allowed and had to do boring training. So I sneaked out without the guards and followed Alice to the town. I lost Alice once they entered the town. I was searching for them for hours when you showed up!"

Aile chuckled, he found a quite unique prince, "haha, how long did it take you after I left to find her?"

Yegon replied, "Just one more hour!"

Aile and Prince Yegon continued talking they were already acquainted for a whole day, so they hit it off quite well. After a few minutes of conversation, the prince asked, "So what happened in the northern garden? Was it due to the rumour we spread?"

What Aile had expected, eventually happened. Aile had come up with an explanation, he replied, "I do not know!"

The prince looked at him with a confused expression, "What?"

"I wanted to get a book from the black market, and the price was to spread the rumour. After that, I received the book!"

Yegon asked, "What book is it?"

Aile casually replied, "Fundamentals of Blades."

Prince Yegon looked at him surprisingly, "You can buy that for a gold coin."

Aile replied, "But I got it for free now, is it not great?"

The prince sighed, "There was a fight in the Northern Garden many people died. If the guards find out that we started the rumour, you can be in a lot of trouble."

Aile put up a panicked expression and said, "Am I going to prison?"

The prince replied in a calm tone, "Do not worry, I did not tell anyone! But make sure you do not do something like that again."

Aile then had a relieved expression, "Thank you!"

Aile felt extremely bad for manipulating the prince. He did not need to worry about this had he worn a mask. His excuses could work now as it would be believable coming from a 10-year-old, but this will not work in a few years. He needs to up his game to prevent such vulnerabilities from popping up and prevent such situations from happening again.

He needs to be more careful and plan ahead to not let such things from happening.

They continued talking for a bit more, and soon the prince went back as he was called back by one of the royal group members.

Aile did not enter back and decided to listen to the princess. He was worried that she might disclose something to Sara. He heard Sara talking.

***

"...He told me that bandits are good people sometimes," said Sara.

Then came the excited voice of the princess, she said in a questioning tone, "That is wrong! Bandits are always evil."

Sara replied expectantly, "That is what I said? And he told me to imagine if it is ok to steal food to save a dying person or to steal to cure an injured friend or..." Sara then gave her a few more examples.

Sara eventually managed to convince her.

They converse a bit more when the princess said, "I always want to buy alchemy books, but they are too expensive, and my allowance is not enough. I should become a bandit!"

Sara then said in a confused tone, "But how would that help other people."

"Of course if people get sick, then I would know how to cure them. So that is a good thing right."

Then Sara pondered while making a thinking voice, "Heeeaaammmmmmmmm, I think so! Then you will be a good bandit."

The princess then said, "That is good, I did not know how to get all the alchemy books as they are so expensive. If I can become a bandit, I will learn so much... and also treat the injuries of people I like."

"Sara, do you know how to start becoming a bandit?"

Sara replied confusedly, "I do not know! But I heard from the maids once, that the bandits like to steal things."

Soon came the excited voice of the princess, "I know a shop that has a lot of money, they always sell their stuff expensive to me. I can take my money back."

"You do not bargain? And you cannot do that."

In a sheepish voice, the princess replied, "I do not know how to bargain. What do you mean I cannot take back my money?"

Sara chuckled, "I will teach you how to bargain Aile told me how to do it, and sometimes I get 2 sweets for the price of one. I am saying you cannot take the money from grown-ups they are stronger and you can get hurt."

The princess sigh despondently, "So where can I get my money from."

Sara thought for a while, then said, "I have an idea!"

"What is it?"

"I have a terrible half-brother he has a lot of stuff and money. We can go and take his money and stuff."

"We do not need his stuff."

"We can sell it for money."

"Ok!" replied the princess with enthusiasm, "Sara, do you know that when I go out in the capital, I sometimes do not pay for food. I think I am already a bandit... Maybe, all the princesses are bandits sometimes."

"Are you also a bandit at the sweets shop?"

"I can be."

"That is good when I come to the capital you can be a bandit and get me a lot of sweet bread!"

"Sure!"

After a few minutes of more talking, the princess said, "Sara, do you want to be friends?"

Sara replied enthusiastically, "Yes, That would be great."