Chapter 31

Amourora looked at the gorgeous porcelain doll at a loss of words. The doll looked extremely stunning. A perfectly carved face, glassy eyes, glazed pink lips, small pointy nose, and shiny smooth hair, wrapped in layers upon layers of white frilly fabric. The top layer was royal blue with golden embroidery and white ribbons. It was even more delicate and detailed than the dress she saw earlier.

Did she see it wrong earlier ?

It sat there motionless, but it looked so pretty and perfect. It's skinny figure blended beautifully with it's white skin, jet black hair, cherry lips and big sky blue eyes. It could even bend and twist its joints like humans!

The glint in its eyes must have been an illusion. Yes, that must be it.

For a moment, she was almost scared... What if... No. It's a mere doll. Just a doll, nothing else. No need to fuss over nothing. Maybe after coming back to the past she became too suspicious of everything around her.

"whoa..." she exclaimed. " what is its hair maid out of? It's so soft! "

"it's mulberry silk."

"how...how much time was spent in this masterpiece?" Andrew asked.

"a lot." he smiled bitterly. "actually, I made that doll to cheer up my late wife after doctors told her she couldn't bear children. She loved it a lot and enjoyed sewing dresses for it. I used to...sigh... follow me."

He led them to the back of the shop, up a stairwell, into a narrow corridor to a small closet. Inside the closet were shelves full of things for the doll. Miniature toys, clothes, furniture. It looked more realistic than Amourora's doll house.

Amourora gave the doll back to him.

"no, you should keep it, it's out of charge." the shop owner refused to take it. "it's yours."

"uncle George, how could we possibly take it?" Andrew refuted. "it's a memory of your late wife."

"I'm sure Linda would have loved to give it to a pretty little girl to play with... It's better than staying here collecting dust." he wrapped Amourora's small fingers around it. "she would have wanted you to take it."

Only after a long conversation did they finally agree to take it with them and asked for the items that Amourora chose to be delivered to the address in the commoners district along with the doll's stuff.

Amourora spent more than half of her money buying the things she liked earlier. The swords, dagger, and dress would be delivered later, but she stuffed the book, jade accessories, and hourglass into a little mint-colored backpack she bought.

They headed to a stationary store and bought a few stationary items...

"unc—um, brother Tony! Can I buy this set?" she eyed a silver set with a geometric design combined with it's own designed papers. "I think Edgar will like it."

And they visited a bookstore...

"big brother Tony, I want all of these," she could hardly manage to hold the stack of books. She couldn't help picking the books about cooking and gardening. "pretty please!"

It's not like she loved it, but back at the care homes, sometimes they had too little to eat and she worries about the kids going to bed with empty stomachs. So one day, she thought, why not grow our own food here!

Ever since then, it became a habit to find books related to it, and bring them back. The cookbooks were to choose the most delicious recipes with the cheapest ingredients. Did you know you can make soup out of dandelions? And many types of herbs that can be used for seasoning are found everywhere!

"what do you want to do with them?" he picked up one of the books she chose and frowned. As far as he knew, she despised reading and learning as much as he did. Maybe she couldn't understand their contents and thought they were stories. "why don't you buy this one instead?" he picked 'dancing swans' off a shelf. "it's cover is pretty!"

"Uhhh..." he really doesn't read much, huh?

"sir, I see you are interested in the best selling novel, 'dancing swans'!" the shop assistant smiled brightly. "you are in luck, it's sold out everywhere else! Let me wrap it up for you!"

"uh,thank you."

Amourora stared at him like an idiot. 'Dancing Swans' was the romance novel the maids were gossiping about this morning.

It was about an orphaned girl who loved dancing and ran away from the Orphanage to pursue her dreams. After arriving in the capital, money and food became her last concerns as she discovered her parents origins might have to do with a big mystery of the past.

While she assisted a mysterious man in solving the case, each with their personal purpose, they fell in love. The story continues as they get wrapped up in one problem after another, all the while defeating their enemies and their own fears and finally getting married.

It was a good story! She stole it from Tina and stayed up the entire night reading it. What? She got bored. And she put back after she finished.

"I'm still getting my books right?" she gave him a cute face with big sad puppy eyes.

"oh, alright." he gave in. "just do whatever you want today."

They also stopped by the park to play in the swings and take a leisure stroll. All in all, they were living their life to its fullest.

In the mean time, at the palace...

Bam!

A majestic ruler banged the table with his palm, leaving a visible crack in the mahogany table.

"please appease your anger, your majesty." the servants kneeled.

" find her!" he bellowed.