Meeting Each Other, Once Again

"Hello, Prince," greeted Shopkeeper Kathleen just as Marc took a step inside the empty newly built building. Anyone who walked in through the entrance would first come upon its wide and open entrance hall, which led to the entrances to the other rooms located on the left, right and back of the hall. There was also a wide staircase leading up to the first floor placed on the left side of the room.

Currently, Shopkeeper Kathleen was lounging in the middle of the wide entrance hall. She was seated on a simple wooden stool — which as far as Marc was concerned couldn't have been inside this building since the very beginning — watching Kitty and Kat rolling around happily on the floor as they entertained themselves by playing with several colorful balls of yarn.

Marc who was in no mood to entertain the Shopkeeper after hearing all those awful talks outside about him, returned her greeting with a simple nod of the head. The faster he finished his business here, the quicker he could return to that small home of his — a small blessing bestowed upon him by 'his King' in return for his small accomplishment in succeeding to lure The Silvers's famous shopkeeper to their Albastrom Kingdom.

Suddenly, just as Marc took a few steps forward towards Shopkeeper Kathleen, out of the corner of his eye, he saw The Silvers's two vampyre girls entered the entrance hall, bringing a few items with them. The red-haired girl was carrying a silver tray with an intricately designed teapot and teacup, and also a plate of — by the smell coming from them — freshly-baked cookies. On the other hand, the blue-haired girl was carrying a mahogany round tea table - she was lifting the table as if it weighed nothing at all.

At the girls' appearance, Marc stood still on the spot, as he refused to step any closer to where they were. Though he knew that the vampyre girls belonged to Shopkeeper Kathleen, he couldn't help but be cautious whenever he saw them. After all, vampyres had a notorious reputation of being vicious and uncontrollable blood-sucking creatures. He has been wondering how the Shopkeeper had managed to tame the two, if even she truly did or were they only pretending to be obedient. Either way, Marc would keep his eyes opened whenever the vampyres were around.

After the blue-haired vampyre put down the tea table close to the Shopkeeper, the red-haired one settled the tray in her hands on the table carefully and began serving the food and drink. When Shopkeeper Kathleen received her hot tea, she turned towards the two and thanked them, "Thank you, Ansel, Gretal." Ansel and Gretal both sent a beaming smile — or as radiant a smile as they could manage — to the Shopkeeper before moving to stand behind her as usual.

While she savored the tea in her hand, Shopkeeper Kathleen said to Marc, "It is good to know that you're not so popular in your own Kingdom, 'Crown' Prince. When she said the word 'crown', a corner of the Shopkeeper's lips had tilted up in a mocking gesture. It was obvious that she had heard all the rumors and trash talks going around about him in the Albastrom Kingdom.

Marc simply flashed a charming smile at the Shopkeeper's clear provocation, even as his fists were clenched tightly and his teeth were gritted down so hard that it might break.

"Well, at least you're still a Prince, right?" said Shopkeeper Kathleen nonchalantly.

Marc went still at her words, but he masterfully held down his anxious feelings, and though his heart was beating fast right now, he calmly said, "It is only a small sacrifice made in exchange for my Kingdom to have a better reputation in the near future. As the Prince, I am happy to serve my people." He said all this with practiced ease, faking the pride in each one of those words. After all, it wasn't like he had learned to hide his true feelings only yesterday.

Living inside the castle beside all those scheming and lying b*stards had taught him a thing or two about how real life works. No one had once caught him in the act back when he was still the Crown Prince or even long before that. Everyone had only begun to grow suspicious about his real personality after that 'incident' had happened. If that didn't happen, rather having to deal with this wretched woman, he would've still...

"Giving up the crown for the position of a servant boy in a shop that sell 'interesting stuff'". Just then, from her perch on the stool, Shopkeeper Kathleen began to speak again. "Now that you mentioned it, Prince, that is indeed a very small sacrifice," said the Shopkeeper, as she looked at him with an amused expression.

"Calm down, Marc. She doesn't know anything," Marc thought silently in his mind as he gulped down his nervousness at the Shopkeeper's keen stare.

Only when Shopkeeper Kathleen began sipping from her teacup once again, did Marc asked, "So, have you drafted up a plan regarding your newly established shop here in the Kingdom, or how you should proceed with your merchant trade from now on?"

"No, I didn't," answered Shopkeeper Kathleen in a lax manner.

Marc furrowed his brows when he heard her answer, nonetheless he still continued with his next question, "Last time we met, I've given you a list of names of the suitable candidates to work under you under the banner of The Silvers, have you chosen any?"

"Not yet, but then again just going through that long list of strange names gave me a strong headache," said Shopkeeper Kathleen, as she flicked off a speck of invisible dust from her blouse. She even had the nerve to look up towards the ceiling and around her while looking rather annoyed, as she searched for the source of that dust.

'B*tch!' how Marc wished he could spat that word at the Shopkeeper's face. The building they were in right now had just finished being constructed only about a month ago. The King had even strictly instructed for a whole building inspection in the last couple of weeks before Shopkeeper Kathleen's arrival, to make sure everything had looked splendid. It was impossible to have even a tiny speck of dust left in this building.

Biting down his impatience, Marc politely began asking again, "Then, Shopkeeper Kathleen, could you please tell, this humble servant of yours what exactly do you need from the King?"

"Nothing."