Chapter 30

"big brother Tony, is he the reason you chose this name?" Amourora held his hand skipping in the cobble stone path, avoiding the cracks in the road.

"no, it was a coincidence."

"oh. And where did you disappear to?" she studied his eyes closely.

His eyes showed a flicker of emotion that he soon concealed with a grin. "want to go to a special place?"

"where?"

"over here." he took a few turns and stopped in front of an antique shop at the corner of a semi-empty street. "here it is."

"Hello, Anton, what are you looking for today?" The old shop owner greeted. "oh, and who's this little lady?"

"my sister, Marinette." Andrew introduced the two. "I brought her to look around."

"oh." the old man took a closer look. "well, I seem to have something perfect for this pretty little lady! Hold on a second. "

As the old man disappeared in the back of the shop, Amourora looked at all the interesting things cramped in the dusty shelves. She would occasionally pick up a trinket or object and admire it curiously then put it back.

The shop had all kinds of strange things. Swords and daggers, feather hats, furniture, beautiful detailed clothing, paintings, jade jewelry, and a few other items that piqued her interest.

Amourora found an hour glass made out of dark shades of pink, purple, and blue glass with golden sand inside that she liked. It had gold engraved in beautiful swirls into a floral design in the mahogany stand, and the glass had tiny flowers and flower petals.

She also liked a jade flute carved out of light green jade with exquisite detailed designs of white clouds and a set of jade accessories with silver butterflies. There was also lavender jade bangles studded with an amethyst jem stone in the middle in the shape of a flower. And two identical imperial jade pendants wrapped in thin golden vines.

Amourora couldn't help admiring them in awe and tracing their details with the tip of her fingers delicately. Next, she found an ancient dusty book about fantasy stories, mythical creatures, and some things she didn't quite understand as it was in an ancient language.

She moved on to the sword and daggers section, picking a long sword that looked simple at first glance, but showed more details the more you looked at it. Amourora was fascinated by the complicated designs interwoven together to make the handle. The scabbard with a gradient from raven black to an enchanting dark blue with tiny silver specks that hold a strong resemblance to the night sky before dusk, when the stars are most evident, matched well with the handle.

Next to it, a simple yet deadly katana sword stood in all its glory, reflecting the expression 'there is beauty in simplicity'. She also liked a small dagger with a sharp blade. Especially its carefully carved black hilt in the shape of an eagle spreading its proud wings to make the quillion. It had a motto in the middle; brave, kind, honest.

She glanced through the shelves, then moved to the mannequins dressed in glamorous clothes. A stylish dress caught her eye. It started with a black high neck and descend into a smooth burgundy and a sunset orange near the waist to fall back into black at the end of the skirt. It had white flowing butterfly wrist-length sleeves, portraying an aura of elegant charm.

The dress's fabric glistened when light fell on it, adding a ting of mystery to the dazzling appearance. Amourora had never seen lace on top of a dress, sure there was in a table cover, or at the edge of skirts and sleeves, but never in the middle of the fabric.

Moreover, the lace wasn't connected into a chain or ribbon, but sowed as separate pieces with golden thread. White butterflies, flowers, and petals on the dark fabric of the dress, and black butterflies, flowers and petals on the white fabric of the sleeves.

The delicate work seemed lovely and splendid, making Amourora wonder how much time and effort was spent on it. She gazed dreamily at it until a cough sounded behind her.

"cough cough... sorry, the dust... Cough, the dust got in my nose." the old shop owner apologized. "did I startle you?"

"a little." she scratched her neck.

He chuckled. "I see you, cough... Ahm, I see you have been exploring the shop!"

"yes, the things here are really fascinating, I couldn't help getting lost in their beauty." she said honestly.

"yes, well I saw the things that piqued your interest, and you have a good eye, they are all my favorites, if I must say so myself. " he complimented. "each one has a special story and a secret."

"you have a lot of interesting things here, I wonder how you obtained them." she asked curiously.

"I bought some in my travels, and made the others myself." he replied handing her a porcelain doll. "I want you to have this... It's almost as beautiful as you. "

"Whoa... It's so pretty...! " Amourora admired it's beauty. "it looks so...perfect..."

Amourora looked at it's bright blue eyes, and for a split second...they seemed to sparkle.

As if it was alive...