SHOPPING 1

"Again?! What is it with these kids, why do they keep doing that?" A young man barely 18 said out loud remorsefully from the stool he sat on with his head buried in his hands.

"Calm down Ren. You should be used to this by now. They're just like that, you shouldn't let it be so much of a bother to you, they're free to do whatever it is they want. " A soldier who stood beside him pat him on the shoulder and said to encourage him.

" But they always reject me when I'm the one supposed to do it. I'm their assigned coachman! What do you think the king would say when he figures out I've never given them a ride? Oh no, I'm going to lose my job!" Ren suddenly got up and sniffed " I have to find these kids." The soldier shook his head, "No need to be rash now, Ren. They'll be safe so you don't need to be worried so much. Even their mother doesn't worry that much.

Ren looked at him defiantly. " No, I have to find them! What if they get lost? This is bad..."

"They are intelligent enough to not get lost, they've been going out for a long time now. Trust them."

"Well, I don't. I'm going!"

"The line is too long!" A little girl complained in the queue she stood in. There were different kinds of people in the queue but they were mostly men. Those nearer glanced at the three kids that had appeared out of nowhere and might have scolded them but they kept their mouths shut for good reason. The materials of their outfits were made of expensive material and pointed out that they were from a noble family, no one would disturb them without knowing their background, even though they were still children, it was clear in their faces that in a few years to come, they would become ravishing beauties that would be sought after by many men.

The one in the white dress was the one who'd just complained and she had a haughty expression, but her beauty made them ignore that about her and rather find her innocent and adorable. She had been pestering the one in the purple dress with so much talk and succeeded but was mostly ignored by the one in the blue dress. She had a sort of quiet and reserved beauty. All looked alike in some way, but the one in blue and the one in white looked way too alike. If one were to ignore the difference in hair color and height, they could pass as twins but it wasn't so.

A luxurious-looking carriage stopped nearby and when the door was opened, two people came out one old, and another young. The old one had all his hair turned grey and he looked mature. He looked at the queue and passed to the left side towards a door with a red carpet running towards it and two attendants standing before it on either side whose faces were filled with worshipping looks as the two approached them.

From the queue, the girl in white looked at the old man with a deadpan expression "Doesn't that old man know the queue is here? Maybe he's blind? And why are those two servants looking at him like he's food, maybe he works there?"

One man standing before her folded his arms over his chest " Hmpf! You kids either have no respect at all or you're magnanimously ignorant. I'll take the second reason as your explanation for that is Mordin, head of the Corvin Family and he's a very powerful cultivator too. The whole family is filled with prodigies, even that grandson of his who he's with is impressively powerful. They're one of the richest families you can find."

" Who cares if they have money," she pointed out flatly, not at all surprised that that was one of the richest and most powerful people you could find.The man was disappointed that they didn't express surprise at his superior knowledge.

" of course, you're just children so I understand that you don't care. If you were that rich, you wouldn't be standing here with me just like the rest of us commoners. Look at them, they get special entry into the auction house while we just wait here in line to enter, and when we enter, they even get special seats ab-"

"It's an entrance? Why didn't anyone say this?" She cut him off

The two attendants stood at the entrance with hints of smiles on their faces. They had been watching the queue from their position and found that today didn't have the monotonous stream of grown people, but for some reason, three little kids joined in today and girls on top of that. The smallest of the three, a blonde-haired girl in a white dress and translucent white elbow-length gloves turned to look at them, then spoke to the one in the purple dress. She looked the tallest and probably the eldest but seemed to get annoyed at the younger one. Next, they turned to the one in the blue dress. Her dark hair was tied in a simple bun. She shrugged and before anyone could figure out what was going on, the three were walking toward the attendants. the three stopped before them and the blonde spoke

" Why are you standing in the way?" She Would have been adorable, but her defiant character ruined it all, one of the attendants thought to himself. An eyebrow twitched as he looked at the kid, he was the taller of the two. Before he could recover, his counterpart recovered and scoffed.

" You're not welcome here kids, shoo," He said boldly, but Lia was now looking at him like he was dirt. She raised an eyebrow and tapped a foot impatiently.

" And with whose permission are you doing that?" She stuck out her chin as she spoke.

"I don't have all day, move along" The attendant waved at her, but that further irritated her.

"You're wasting my time, move out of the way and open the door already. Isn't this where you work? Aren't you paid to open the door?" The attendant was about to reply when his attention was drawn to another luxurious carriage.

The door opened and two young ones stepped out. They were twins, a boy, and a girl-Iris, and Isir of the Elwicks.

They were almost the most favored children of the family and were only fourteen, probably going to be the next possible heirs of their generation.

They looked around the place and had a prideful aura around them as they stepped forward. The two attendants quickly moved to them with the same worshipping look they had as they looked at Mordin.

"Ah, young masters Iris and Isir come on in. You both look as beautiful and handsome as always, the best seats have been reserved for you." They continued to hail the two youngsters with praises from head to toe as they led them to the entrance. The auction house was owned by people who had shares and the Elwick family had the second largest share. They were already the greatest business family at the moment and owned many other auction houses so it was understandable that the attendants were acting as they were.

Lia looked at them, disgusted, and nudged Ara who was distracted and looking at her palm.

"Why are they acting so stupid, it's disgusting and those two are not even from the palace."

Ara got annoyed with Lia's intrusion

"You're going to regret making me do this, Lia. Just because I was made to do this doesn't mean I will do it and keep my mouth shut and my hands tied after it's all over. I mean it"

Lia was about to react to that but closed her mouth and smiled satisfied instead.

Ara could not help but feel goosebumps at the back of her neck as Lia came closer to her ear to whisper," I wouldn't entirely force you to help me, but if you don't make me happy as you agreed, I'll shout it all so everyone here would look at you and laugh. Gossip are everywhere and I can assure you before we get home Dad will know. He'll have another joke to use hehehe..." she grinned.

Ara quickly put her palm into Lia's face and pushed her away.

"Mmf!"

Sheesh, what is it with this kid? Ara thought to herself. She's my little sister but always creeps me out with her eccentricity. She's an amazingly dumb kid under normal circumstances but does anything to get the thing she wants.