Chapter 56

Tashian frowned and said to Ikshid.

"… God will really find you even if you are ten thousand steps back from him."

"Ha ha ha! Isn't that the purpose of this outfit? You must be able to find me anytime, anywhere so that you can protect me!"

Ikshid laughed wildly and smirked.

"A disguise must have a theme. I mean, my motto as of now is, 'I am a wealthy merchant who came from far away to watch the Flora Festival!' My only fault here is that I did my best to hide my identity."

Hearing that, Eun-woo, who was full of excitement, said in a bit of disgust.

"Imperial Brother, at least take off that red cloak. It stands out so much."

"What are you talking about, Elli? This is the most crucial outfit. There is no better way to cover my eyes than this!"

Eun-woo let out a sigh as he heard Ikshid's words, which were also true. The large hood that came down to cover the Crown prince's eyes was really adequately covering Ikshid's bright golden eyes.

"You are too worried about my clothes. These two guys are following me and protecting me, so there's nothing to worry about, brother."

Ikshid blinked, pointing to Tashian and the knight with him, Sir Ouns, and clicked his tongue.

As he said, it was hard to find anyone bigger than these two men in front of them. The men with one or two heads protruding from the ordinary crowd were each wearing a sword hanging to their waists. Then, he was constantly wary of what was so disturbing that he showed agility like a hound.

"Come on, let's go. Selena."

With Ikshid leading them,, the four of them set out to watch the festival in earnest with Sir Ouns following behind.

Mostly, Eun-woo and Ikshid were the ones who cheered without staying in one place only, and Tashian and Selena were the ones who quietly watched them as they were being loud and happy.

"Look over there! I guess that's Uriah's fountain!"

Eun-woo went around the famous tourist attractions one after another from the recommendations of the maids. She watched the fountain of Uriah, where love comes true when a coin falls on the fountain, and the clock tower buried in a pile of grain in the middle of the square.

When it was lunchtime, she grabbed Ikshid when she got hungry, and bought some delicious food such as honey apples or grilled skewers from a street vendor.

"What a waste. It would have been better if I had coins with me."

Ikshid grumbled in a displeased tone, drinking the beer in a wooden mug, sitting outdoors, lined up in the streets.

The three others tried tossing the coin into the Uriah;s fountain, but only Selena succeeded, while Tashian and Sir Ouns didn't bother doing it.

Tashian, who was sitting next to him, with one arm raised on the seat, was feeling unpleasant.

"Are you still saying that? I'm not a child, and it's getting harder and harder to serve you as days go by."

"Yeah, man! It would have been a success if you hadn't dragged everyone out at the sound of Elli's hunger…!"

"From my point of view, even if I tried ten million more times, it would be a failure. And the one who said it was hungry too."

Tashian spoke coldly. Selena comforted Ikshid, who was sitting beside her, with an elegant smile, since he was desperate to succeed in tossing that coin.

"Your Majesty. Don't be too heartbroken. I was only fortunate to succeed."

Eun-woo couldn't shake the feeling that Ikshid had already fallen in love with Selena, who for a moment, looked so devastated.

Eun-woo sipped the juice placed in front of her to erase Ikshid's twinkling eyes in front of Selena, from her memory. It was the juice from a raw fruit that Tashian had bought for her. And in front of her, all kinds of her food were piled up generously.

Chopped Ham, Potato Gratin, Grilled Sausage, Corn Butter, Pumpkin Soup, Grilled Steak with Cheese, Grilled Tomatoes, and Crepes with Nuts and Cream.

It was all street food that he had been buying along with Sir Ouns. Tashian did so and constantly looked at her reaction to see if she was not satisfied or satisfied.

He asked, after serving her another plate of food.

"What do you think? What else do you want to eat?"

"I'm fine, Tashian. You should be the one eating some more. I am full."

Eun-woo smiled gratefully and apologetically, offering a delicious-looking lamb sandwich for him.

After the meal was somewhat finished, they headed north to the square, each with a candied fruit skewer in their hand.

The main street connected to the road leading to the Imperial Palace was lined with major buildings, including the Grand Theater Hall, and Government Office. These buildings were also surrounded by colored tents and drapes reminiscent of autumn leaves, providing shade for tourists and passersby.

Then, something caught her eyes.

"Look at that, there are so many cages!"

Eun-woo exclaimed as she pointed to a shop lined with cages on one side of the street. There were many exotic birds, with brilliant colors in the large cages. It wasn't only parrots or falcons, but also hawks and owls, the size of an adult male's forearm, were on display.

Ikhshid, who saw it, clicked his tongue, and sighed.

"Tch… these birds suffer from greed of humans."

Tashian turned his head toward Eun-woo and raised his head in the direction of the cage.

"Do you want to go take a look?"

She shook her head across. Honestly, she wanted to take a look, but those were already in the duke's castle.

Rather, they felt pity for the birds alone in their cages on this fine festival day.

She mumbled very softly.

"…How great would it be if I could just release it?"

"It's not difficult to let it go."

Suddenly, a solemn voice was heard. It was Ikshid. All of a sudden he was looking in the same direction with her from behind.

"I can have my servants pay the price for these birds and release them right away, or I can issue a decree right away to ban new business at the festival."

Eun-woo was deeply surprised to see Ikshid's golden eyes embracing seriousness. It was her first time seeing him being completely unlike his usual innocent appearance. He spoke with seriousness that contradicted his cheerful self.

"But that doesn't guarantee that these birds will live however they want. Even if I was to pay their prices and release them afterwards, there is no law that forest will be safe for them either. Perhaps more than half of these birds were already eaten up by many beasts or captured by hunters, spending almost their lives traveling from market to market."

At his pessimistic remarks, Eun-woo felt a bit wounded for the birds.

"…But, as you said, you could publish a decree banning new business."

"Do you think banning it will kill its demand? Have you ever thought of the livelihoods of the hunters and traders who are supplying them? Do you imply that old mothers and young children starve for the sake of these birds? And how about the black market that's thriving with growing banned items? If everything can be controlled easily, I would have gone far from banning all these illegal items alive in the market and have already inspected everything under my hands. But the market is not as easy as you think. No matter how perfectly woven a net is, some fish will still escape. In the end, it could end up increasing in numbers one couldn't manage."

Eun-woo shut his mouth at Ikshid's sharp words.

She felt resentful, but she had no more words to refute.

Silence fell between them. The atmosphere, which had been exciting for a while, suddenly turned dark as if it had been extinguished beneath the ground.

Ikshid did not continue his words any longer and looked at the distance with his back behind them.

But Selena, who was quietly listening to his words next to them, gently touched Ikshid's arm and opened her mouth. It was a gentle yet kind voice.

"Still… if you release those birds now, at least a tenth of them will survive. And maybe a tenth of them will get the chance to incubate and raise their young."

Selena's voice was quiet enough to be heard, as usual. But the content was big enough to cover Ikshid's words.

"Your Majesty, I know that in the fierce tug of war, there are always divided people with blue and white flags, there is anguish for the one who took on the role of weight in the middle. It's like a decision that weighs your life, as if you had to push one of the two people hanging from both ends of a piece of plank floating in the water in order for everyone to survive. I know that people only have two hands, so when you hold someone's hand, you have to let someone's hand go."

Even in the noisy marketplace, her voice seemed to resonate like a beating right in front of her ears.

"…Even the vast sea water was a small stream of water gushing out of a mountain spring at some point, and no matter how huge the rock, it will eventually be crushed into sand that will be spread on the white sandy beach, Your majesty. If Your Majesty has a will, it must be ours to sustain it. Please don't think of it as a solitary island blocked by the sea on all sides."

Those were words of comfort to those who had to make decisions that would change someone's life in the face of the great flow of the times.

Hearing Selena's deep thoughtful consolation, Eun-woo expected the crown prince's voice to come out as if it were tight.

"That…"

But his voice was surprisingly quiet. Ikshid turned back for a moment without continuing his words. Selena took a step back, understanding him as if it was natural.

Eun-woo quietly waited for them. Tashian also kept his mouth shut heavily and stayed by her side.

Then the prince called someone in a low voice.

"… Is anyone there?"

"Yes, Your majesty."

Eun-woo shuddered at the sound of a voice coming from somewhere. The voice of another man other than Tashian and Sir Ouns was coming from a space that could not be pointed out anywhere.

Then, Tashian, who was beside her, gently grabbed her shoulder and released it as if to be relieved. Ikshid gave him an order with a solemn voice that could not be found even after washing his eyes.

"Buy all the birds you see over there and let all of them free. Do not try to feed them yourself but release them as close to their original habitat as possible so they can find their own food."

"Order received!"

A man with an unknown face followed Ikshid's orders with a heavy voice.

Eun-woo felt a cold sweat running down her back.

It was the secret act of the crown prince of the country. She was relaxing because the knight, who was the head of the imperial order and the war hero of the empire, and his first subordinate were here together.

However, Eun-woo noticed that they were being protected much more safely than he thought.

Eun-woo glanced at the side where there was a birdcage number visible in the corner of a square full of people.

Then, she suddenly wondered. What would the shadow guard look like? Then, something black blocked her eyes.

Raising her head, he saw the face of Tashian. He shook his head at her with a serious expression on his face.

"No one who treads on the shadow of an imperial family member will be forgiven."

Eun-woo took this hint as a warning not to try to check the figure of the shadow guard, who was following Ikshid's orders.

She nodded her head cautiously. And she hurriedly turned her gaze away.

The shadow guard moved again with a heavier mind.

At that time, a group of women caught Eun-woo's eyes appeared. They were all young girls of a very young age, wearing the same white plaid dresses as she and Selena.

Eun-woo remembered the words that Anit had told her before she started writing her ball.

〈"Lady, the virgins going to the Flora Festival are all dressed in white, regardless of their status. This is a dress I made all night long. You must wear it.〉

Eun-woo was moved by the sincerity of the elderly maid.

But there was something strange. Eun-woo frowned slightly when she saw the women in white clothes lined up as if waiting for something.

"What are those people doing over there?"

Sir Ouns, who had been quietly escorting them from behind, opened his mouth.

"Ah, you are looking at the Flora candidates."

"Are they the candidates for Flora?"

Eun-woo once again turned her gaze to the women in white. When she heard that they were candidates for Flora rather than just ordinary women who went out to enjoy the festival, all of a sudden the girls looked extraordinary.