BURNS FOR BUNS

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: ICARUS ~ PHILDEL]

The servant who had carried Oriana out from the crowd took the girl to a place hidden from the eyes of the people.

"My Princess, I'll be right back. Let me ask The Queen if I should take you home, since you're not feeling so well. Stay right here and don't move," the maid said to the girl.

Oriana, who was too weak to even talk, nodded her head, and the maid quickly left to where the Queen was sitting.

"Her Majesty," the maid bowed.

The Queen sighed, "What is wrong with her?" she asked, referring to the younger princess.

The maid replied with her head bowed, "Seems like the Princess is not feeling well. Permit me to send her back to the palace, Your Majesty."

Queen Saline rolled her eyes. "That little brat always causes trouble for me. Do whatever, but make sure people don't notice," the woman waved the maid off.

Sophie, who was beside her mother, chuckled. "Who knows what trouble she would cause for you today, Mother."

"Shut up, Sophie," the woman scolded her daughter before composing her expression.

The maid, who was walking back to where the princess was, was intercepted by another royal family that came for the event. It was the royal family of Morado.

"You there, assist in carrying my son's palanquin," the Queen of Morado said, with her chin held up high.

The maid looked back and forth. She needed to go back and help the princess. "Your Majesty, I—"

"Do you dare to question my orders? You lowly thing, do you know who I am? Queen Almaria of Morado," Queen Almaria said, glaring at the servant.

The servant girl bowed. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I'll get it done immediately." Soon, the maid was engaged in the activities of helping the other royal family settle in.

Oriana counted numbers, waiting for when the maid would return, until she lost count. The young girl sighed tiredly, touching the necklace that her grandmother gave her mindlessly.

As she sat there all alone, the wind had already ruffled her hair and her dress, looking sandy. This made the girl look more like a beggar than a person from a royal family.

"What are you doing?" Oriana raised her face when she heard the voice of children her age.

"Let's go over there. The woman selling buns left some behind," one of them answered.

Oriana gulped, wetting her dry, parched lips at the sound of buns. She knew that she wasn't supposed to leave her position until the maid came to fetch her, but she was really famished. She got up from her position and walked to where the children were discussing amongst themselves.

"Hi, where are the buns?" Oriana's small voice was heard in the gathering.

The eldest among the children turned to look at the tiny little girl. "I see you joined the streets newly. This is my turf, so if you want some buns, you must be willing to bow to me."

Oriana salivated at the thought of having hot buns. She got down on her knees. "Please give me some."

The boy who had claimed the position of a leader puffed his tiny chest out. "We'll see what skills you have. Let's go." He turned, giving a signal to others who were behind him.

Soon, Oriana followed the other children, walking to where the hot buns were set out. Her hunger increased at the sight of the freshly baked buns.

"New girl, go there and get some," the leader nudged Oriana.

Oriana, who wasn't thinking straight because of her hunger, nodded. All she could think of was to lay her hands on just one of them; it was enough to quench her hunger until the maid returned. With slow, tired steps, Oriana started walking towards the buns shop.

"What if she gets caught?" one of the children asked their leader, because it was broad daylight and they had never been this bold.

"Then we leave her behind. She's not even one of us. Look at her dress; she's clearly from a rich family pretending to be like us. Let that teach her a lesson," their leader said, watching the girl.

Oriana reached the shop. She could already imagine the taste if it touched her tongue, the sweet aroma of flour and milk wafted her nostrils that she stretched out her hand to pick out one of them. Finally, Oriana picked out one of them successfully.

"Bring it, come," the leader of the children shouted, calling for the girl to bring it over. He was surprised to see that she had succeeded.

Oriana tried to hold onto it, but the hotness of the buns burned her fragile hand, and she ended up dropping it, but it fell on her leg.

"Ah!" Oriana cried, falling on the ground. When she looked up, the other children ran away, leaving her behind.

Soon, the owner of the shop stepped out. "You rat! What are you doing with my goods?" the woman barked, dragging the girl by the hair. "What of your cohorts? I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget, you thief!"

Oriana couldn't handle the pain. Her leg was burning, and the skin where the woman dragged was also hurting. She whimpered, trying to bite her lower lip so she wouldn't cry so loudly.

"Oh, you won't cry? I'll see how strong you are after I'm done flogging you," the woman said angrily, as this was not the first time the children on the street tried to steal from her.

Oriana was too weak to even talk. She just prayed that her family was looking for her soon.

Reaching a place, the woman pulled out a whip that was tied around her waist, and she raised it to flog the girl who was crouched on the ground.

"You might regret that," a young boy's voice was heard.

The woman turned to meet an elite young boy who was being fanned by his servant.

"Young mas—"

"What young young master, this is the Cro—" the servant tried to correct the woman but was stopped with a nudge from the young boy.

"Please spare me, young master. I have failed to recognize you," the woman got down on her knees.

The young master scoffed, "Like you were going to spare the poor girl?" he deadpanned.

"Young master, don't be deceived by their innocent looks. These rats don't deserve to be spared. They steal food from a poor seller like me, trying to make ends meet," the woman said.

"You think I can be deceived? Quite audacious of you." Though young, the young boy still had his ways with words. He moved his brown eyes lazily, settling them on the girl who now crouched herself on the ground as her body shivered.

Oriana folded her tiny hands to her chest. She wanted to go home and stay beside her Nana. The outside world was quite a scary place to be in.

The young boy walked to where the girl was, removing the band he had on his head, he used it to tie the girl's leg gently to cover the burn, which was now turning into a scar.

"This should be treated, else it would turn into a scar," he sighed. "Was the bun so good that you had to get burned by it?" The son, who appeared to be from an elite family, sucked his teeth.

Bringing out two gold coins from his bag, he threw them to the woman. "Give the girl not just buns, but enough food and water. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today," he said casually before walking away while his servant followed him behind.