60 The Carnival (3)

"Wow!" I gasped.

The carnival was basically like an outdoor circus as a clown handed out balloons to the children that were commoners while another clown jugged empty bottles of wine.

A pretty girl walked on the tightrope while she held a big black parasol when I looked up. There were also leashed lions and dogs doing their tricks while the audience excitedly applauded in response.

"The imperial family pays for the carnival for the commoners every five years," Mill started to explain.

"Everything here is free?" I asked him when I smelled an aroma of various meat being grilled.

"Pretty much." Mill sheepishly grinned.

"Then let's go there first!" I excitedly pointed to the stalls that sold junk food.

"Hello, young lady!" A merchant gave out his business smile.

The merchant gestured to the pile of variations of grilled meat near the fire. There was pork, chicken and boar meat shining from its delicious greasiness.

"Two of each!" I shouted.

"Are you sure?" The merchant was dumbfounded when he looked at my luxurious clothes.

"Then make that three," I sulked when the merchant reluctantly gave me the food.

"I didn't think you would eat the food that we eat," Mill commented on my large appetite when I finished eating all the meat.

Mill looked surprised when I ate more than ten sticks of boar meat, five candy apples and tons of taffy.

"I don't get to eat these stuff where I live. I have to eat dull food like salmon, steak, fruits and salads," I complained to Mill.

"Those are luxurious food," Mill remained composed as if he expected my answer.

"But these are what really tastes good," I replied after eating more taffy.

"Well, I wouldn't know since I'm not a noble like you," Mill teasingly answered me.

"I'm not a noble!" I unintentionally shouted.

"Well, you live in a castle, have maids attend to you and dress in extravagant clothing. So you can't be a commoner," Mill handed me another stick of meat.

"Well, you don't have to be a noble to have those things," I refuted as I chewed on the juicy boar meat.

"Right..." Mill replied with clear disbelief.

Still holding three sticks of food in my hands, Mill and I went to see the magic show next. I desperately tried to hold my laughter when I spotted all the hidden mechanisms behind the magician's tricks.

However, the crowd cheered loudly each time they got surprised from the tricks. Even Mill had his eyes glued onto the stage as the white doves flew out the magician's hat.

'Wait when you see people that do real magic!' I thought as the people of the fifth district were unfortunate to not know the existence of mana.

"Where do you want to go next?" Mill asked me when we already went to most of the shows in the carnival.

"Maybe-"

I was unable to finish my sentence as I hid behind Mill when I spotted the familiar noble from the night market that was near where we stood.

Robert went up to the podium and stopped the show of the fake magician. "I have an announcement to make," Robert declared.

Robert was in his military uniform which clearly displayed his authority. It was known among the commoners that only nobles wore the elite uniform of the royal palace guards.

The commoners went silent as they bowed down to the noble. The children that once excitedly yelled as they played in the moonlight went silent as well. They fearfully clung onto their parents as if they have done something horribly wrong. The fun atmosphere had disappeared as the serious tone of the noble replaced it.

"There is a missing child that we are looking for from the Suilett family. She should be around eleven years old and possess long vermillion hair with pumpkin orange eyes. She should also be wearing a crimson red dress." Robert ended his announcement.

"The poor archduke and his family!" a person whispered.

"Wasn't there a girl with that description that passed by us earlier?" another person whispered in the crowd.

"It can't be her! A noble doesn't eat our poor food," another person responded back.

'Damn! I knew I should have ran as soon as I saw that noble. Now, Luke and Cillian have figured out I snuck out of the castle earlier than they originally would have,' I despised the noble patrolling the night market.

"Is there a place where I can change clothes?" I softly whispered into Mill's ears as we ducked down while walking to cover ourselves inside the large crowd.

I was thankful that Mill's tall height was able to cover me inside the crowd of commoners. Mill silently brought me to a stall with poorly made costumes as his response as if he had no other choice from the noble's announcement.

The stall owner was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was among those people gathered around the podium in fear. The stall was empty, but still full of simple outfits that reminded me of what I wore in my past life when I went out.

I abandoned my luxurious dress for a short plain romper and covered myself with a large maroon cloak. The other parts of the carnival was empty due to everyone gathered near the entrance.

"We should go to the haunted house," I suggested to Mill.

The haunted house was the only event we didn't go yet due to its bad rumors.

"We're planning to go to the haunted house next," I mentioned to the merchant who was selling caramel apples.

The merchant quickly hid his tiny objection from his brief frown.

"Are you travellers?" The merchant instantly asked.

I nodded as I wondered if there was something wrong with the haunted house.

"The haunted house is known to be the worst attraction. That's why nobody goes," The merchant whispered as he looked around to see if anyone was listening.

I opened the grand doors of the haunted house. The house was styled as a mini mansion while its decorations were excessively abundant but uncleaned.

The entire house looked filthy due to its low maintenance. Some parts of the wallpaper were torn near the top of the wall and dirtied to the extent that you could not see its original colour. It was no wonder that nobody bothered to visit since the quality was so bad compared to the other events in the carnival.

"You were from the Suilett family," Mill accused me when we were finally alone inside a poor haunted house.

"It's not like the Suilett family are important nobles," I pulled the curtains to cover the window.

"They are! The Suilett family is one of the three archdukes of this empire," Mill almost yelled like he felt betrayed.

I sighed as I decided to give Mill a little bit of the truth.

"First of all, it's true that I am not a noble." I started off to calm Mill down.

Mill started to freak out instead as he didn't believe my words after hearing the announcement.

"My fiancé is the younger brother-in-law to the heiress to the Suilett family as well as the heir to the Roselia family. But since I am not married to him yet, I am not associated with any of these titles." I carefully explained to not reveal anything about the first district.

Mill stared back at me with pure astonishment as his eyes widened.

"That's even worse. It is well known that the Roselia family are powerful archdukes of the Great Weronberg Empire!" Mill stumbled into the wall from fear.

* * *

I stared back to the beautiful doll-like creature in front of me.

The poor clothes she wore could not unmask her raw beauty as she stood out with her luscious flowing hair and smooth hands. A commoner would never have soft hands as hers as they would have small scars or worn out hands from doing hard manual labour to live.

The clothes she wore looked out of place compared to the stunning dress that captured all the gazes of the people passing by. She claimed that she wasn't a noble, but her fiancé's family was clearly one of the most powerful figures in the world.

Even though Roselia family were foreign nobles, they were well-known in the empire due to their powerful influence and connections to our empire. I wondered why she was fierce with her denial of being a noble when it was common sense that if you were engaged to a noble, it was good as already being married to them.

"What are we going to do?" I started to panic as I paced back and forth, making the floors creak.

"Just don't get discovered," the young noble girl casually shrugged.

She had showed no fear in her eyes, but displayed confidence instead.

"My fiancé's family is just overreacting as usual," she added to convince me.

Overreacting was an exaggeration. Other nobles usually used their own resources to find their runaway children even though it rarely happened. Even commoners knew that nobles did not dare to use the imperial family's help for their family affairs unless it was a great problem that would significantly affect the empire.

However, seeing that her fiancé's family used the imperial family's power with no hesitation meant that the girl in front of me was a very important figure. I trembled as my mind went blank.

What would happen to me and my family once they figured out I was with her for almost the entire night?