Unexpected meeting

"What the hell is going on?"

Freydis asked herself in her mind.

Stepping back a few minutes.

Beatrice, Leticia, and Freydis were enjoying their afternoon while eating their freshly purchased pastries sitting on a bench.

"I hear Rosenheim is famous for its tailor shops; how about we go to one?"

Freydis suggested as she took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie that was bigger than her hand.

"Aren't they very expensive? We didn't bring too much money."

Leticia said as she savored her bread.

"Didn't I tell you before? Money is not a problem!"

She said enthusiastically, and after that, they visited the tailor shops they found near their area. They visited many different tailor shops, all specializing in different styles, but there was one problem.

"It's too expensive!"

Freydis shouted in frustration as they walked out of the sixth tailor shop they had been kicked out of for not having enough money to pay.

"Tailors are a well-respected business in Rosenheim, so naturally good products are going to be expensive."

Actually, none of them considered the prices too exorbitant. They had two princesses and a duke's daughter in their party after all. Money was never something that was lacking in their lives and luxuries were commonplace. The problem was that they didn't have much on hand at the moment.

"Maybe we should give it up and find something else to do; there is much in Rosenheim, apart from the tailor shops; how about going to see the rose garden?"

Beatrice suggested, trying to cheer up the frustrated Freydis.

"Yes, maybe you have...Oh?"

Freydis was about to agree, but her eyes caught some beautiful dresses and gowns displayed behind clear glass. Even from behind the glass it was perfectly appreciable how much quality and care went into each of the garments.

"Faden und Nadel?"

Seeing the name of a tailor's shop they hadn't entered and seeing the beautiful dresses on display, Freydis couldn't help but want to go in.

"Hey, what if we go there?"

"It'll just be more of the same."

Seeing where Freydis wanted to go, Beatrice said almost certainly, seeing the quality of the dresses on display, that tailor shop was sure to be expensive.

"Let's go just a look!".

"Well..."

But at Freydis' pleading look, she could only give in.

Freydis' face lit up as she listened to her, and they quickly made their way towards the tailor's shop.

With an animated attitude, Freydis stepped forward and opened the door, hearing a faint tinkling of a bell. Then, after a few seconds, a young-looking man approached the counter; seeing him, Freydis didn't think much and greeted him.

"Hello, good morn-."

But then she stopped; the man in front of her also seemed to freeze for a few seconds after seeing her but quickly acquired a relaxed attitude.

Thing completely contrary to Freydis'.

'WHAT THE HELL!?'

Freydis thought in bewilderment as she took a closer look at the man in front of her. But not because she found him attractive or because she had fallen in love at first sight, but because she knew this man despite being in disguise.

'What the hell is Arthur doing here!?'

As everyone knows, Freydis, like all elves, has the ability to discern people's intentions, but her perception is so exceptional that she can even see emotions directly.

However, this ability of Freydis was not just a natural talent she was born with but a characteristic of her lineage, closely related to the Alphar or Light Elves.

The Alphar were one of the few races with the ability to see the souls of beings; thanks to this characteristic, they were able to know if someone was lying to them or not. Therefore, Freydis, when she was born, had the ability to slightly discern people's souls.

Although this ability was very limited, she was only able to see a small fragment of other people's souls. But despite seeing only a small fragment, Freydis was able to recognize Arthur immediately.

This was because Arthur possessed a soul that was completely different from any she had ever seen.

Souls, like emotions, appeared to Freydis in a variety of colors, all living things having different types of colors and shades. Some were blue or light shades, being generally souls belonging to calm and sensible people. Others were of brighter and more vivid colors, belonging to cheerful and passionate people.

But Arthur's soul was different; it was a completely white color. And not a white that pure people usually wear, no, but literally white.

Completely empty, no brightness, no tones, just pure white.

This was something completely unnatural. The soul was something that was formed through the experiences lived by people throughout their lives. Their feelings, emotions, personality, and desires—all of these make up an individual's soul.

Even someone supposedly pure and free of desires would not have a soul as white as Arthur's.

And Freydis was certain that Arthur was not a pure person.

But no matter how much research she did on the subject, she never saw records of a person with a completely white soul.

Despite her intrigue, Freydis finally decided to put the subject aside. She wouldn't find answers no matter how much research she did, and she didn't think Arthur was aware of it either, and even if he was, Freydis was sure he wouldn't tell her anything.

Therefore, recognizing Arthur by giving just a mere glimpse of his soul was very easy for Freydis.

Ding~

Before she could express her surprise, she heard the doorbell ring behind her, so she held back her shout.

***

"Don't be in such a hurry, Freydis; the tailor shop isn't going anywhere."

"Uh? Ah, yeah...sure."

"?"

Beatrice, noticing Freydis' strange behavior, wanted to ask what was wrong, but before she could do so, she heard a man's voice.

"Welcome, how may I help you?."

Looking in the direction of the voice, she could see an attractive man with a bright smile.

'He's very young'

Beatriz couldn't help but think.

All the tailor shops they had been to so far all had older owners, which was to be expected. The art of creating and sewing garments was something that was honed and practiced over the years. The sight of a man who didn't seem to be too far removed in age from theirs struck her as somewhat strange but refreshing.

"Ah, yes, we'd like to see some dresses."

"Very well, this way, please."

With a respectful gesture, the man opened the way for us to follow him. Following him, we started walking, but then I noticed something odd.

"Freydis?"

Looking back, I could see that Freydis had not moved from her spot and still had a strange expression on her face. As I called out to her, she seemed to react and quickly caught up to them.

"Ah, sorry, I'm coming."

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes! Completely fine, don't worry."

Saying that she hurried her pace and walked ahead of us.

"Hmm..."

Something is definitely not right.

That's the logical conclusion Beatriz comes to.

Since they entered the tailor's shop, Freydis started acting strangely. At first, she was energetic and animated as usual, but after entering, she seemed to be very distracted.

"But why could that be?"

While pretending to examine one of the dresses, Beatrice glanced sideways at Freydis and then noticed something.

"She keeps looking at the owner."

Freydis' eyes were blatantly glued to the tailor shop owner's back, and even if she tried to disguise it by pretending she was examining the dresses, she was lousy at trying to hide it.

Distracted attitude; she kept looking at the owner and getting nervous every time the owner looked at her...

'It can't be, right!?'

A crazy idea began to brew in Beatrice's mind.

"Freydis fell in love with the owner of the tailor shop!?"

But we just met him today! Could this be the legendary love at first sight!?

As Beatrice thought about this, she shot a glance at the tailor shop owner, who was standing there with a smile.

"He's handsome..."

He was definitely an attractive man; she wouldn't be surprised if he had several women after him.

"Eh?....Wait, eh?"

As Beatriz analyzed the man's appearance, her eyes involuntarily wandered to a ring he had on his left ring finger.

"..."

The man was married!

This revelation only made Beatrice's thoughts grow wilder.

Did Freydis fall in love with a married man? Maybe she didn't notice the ring? How will she feel knowing that the person who captivated her was married? Will she be disappointed? Will she be sad? Will she regret not coming sooner?

Through her uncontrolled emotions, Beatrice began to have incoherent and illogical thoughts, and the vision of a completely devastated Freydis noticing that the man she had met only minutes ago was married began to seem somewhat likely.

"Have you decided yet if you're going to buy ladies?"

But her wild thoughts stopped when she heard the owner.

"Y-yes! We'd like to buy something."

Seeing Freydis nod almost instantly, Beatrice could do nothing but shake her head.

"She's completely charmed."

Seeing her friend in that state, Beatrice was already thinking about how to cheer her up after she found out that the tailor shop owner was married.

"Very well, please follow me."

He led the way, and we followed him into the inner part of the tailor shop. We came to a room where a pretty brown-haired woman was sitting and drawing something.

Wait, could she be...

Beatriz began to speculate again, but it didn't take long for her suspicions to be confirmed.

"This is Mari, my wife; she'll be the one to take your measurements."

A direct hit!

Beatriz quickly turned to look at Freydis' expressionism.

"As I thought."

Freydis at her side wore an expression of surprise and disbelief as she looked at the woman.

Beatrice could do nothing but sympathize with her.

We have to get out of here.

For Freydis' sake!

"Hey, excuse me, but how much would it cost to make us a dress? Unfortunately, we don't have much on hand at the moment."

Beatriz quickly moved on.

If the price exceeded her credit, then they would happily leave, and she would find a way to comfort Freydis later, but if it turned out to be cheap, she would still say they didn't have enough and run away with the others.

A perfect plan.

"Our prices are not too expensive—5 gold coins per person."

Now that was a good deal!

As she spied Freydis, she could really feel the quality of the dresses; 5 gold coins was really a cheap price for such a good job.

But what a shame...

They didn't have enough money!

"Oh, I see, what a shame; unfortunately we don't have enough, right girls?".

I said as I shot a glance at Freydis and Leticia next to me.

"Uh? Ah! Yes, she's right, we don't have enough money!"

Freydis said anxiously.

Poor thing, she must want to leave too; I'll buy her an ice cream when we leave.

Leticia, who was watching us from the side, put on a confused expression.

"What are you talking about? If we have enough money. "

Before she finished speaking, Freydis and I rushed to cover her mouth.

"It's a shame, but we'll have to come back another time!"

"Yeah, thank you for your time!"

With that, we quickly exited the tailor shop with a confused Leticia in tow.

***

Once they were away from the tailor shop, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Damn it, Arthur, what the hell are you doing?"

She had no idea why Arthur was impersonating someone else, but she sure came across him at a very bad time.

"At least everything turned out all right."

She didn't know why Beatrice suddenly wanted to leave in such a hurry, but that suited her just fine to avoid an awkward situation.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?"

Leticia asked puzzled after we released her.

"Um, well."

This is bad. I have no idea what to say to her! Come on, Freydis! Think of an excuse.

As I was trying to think of something to say to Leticia, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned around, I could see Beatriz looking at me in a way that was...

Strange?

"Easy, Freydis, you don't have to say it."

Huh? Wait what? 

Why is she talking to me in such a soft voice while looking at me with sympathy? 

As I was engulfed in my confusion, Beatrice's gaze became softer, and she gave me a sudden hug.

"It's all right, let's go get some ice cream."

No, seriously, what's going on?

Freydis had a strong feeling that Beatrice had misunderstood something. But the sudden encounter with Arthur had left her exhausted, and she didn't think an ice cream was a bad idea, so she just stopped thinking and agreed.

" Fine..."

"We're with you you know?"

Stop treating me with compassion!