Page 44 of The White King's Favorite

“Of course, he will! Two guides are better than one, right?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered, trying to step away from Tessa. “I had hoped to train today...”

“You can train as a princess’ bodyguard,” she retorted. “From what I saw earlier, you could get better at it and it’s not like we will be completely safe in the Inner Capital without a proper escort, right?”

Sabael blushed, but despite his pride being a bit hurt by her words, he had nothing to answer to that. In fact, he felt a bit defeated that Tessa’s fighting skills were obviously better than his and he couldn’t beat a girl against ruffians after all he had said previously. Hence, he decided not to answer and just nodded, a frown between his eyebrows.

“It’s settled, then!” said Tessa, obviously the happiest about his decision. “By the way, can you get me a room too? I get Cessilia’s place is grand but I only saw one bed, and I could use some privacy too. Like, without you three around.”

“I understand,” said Nupia, visibly impervious to Tessa’s snarky remarks. “We will make sure the closest room to the Princess is ready for you.”

Then, they separated from two of the triplets, who left on their own to get back more quickly to the castle. While they weren’t yet at the Inner Gate, Nana had begged them to make a detour by another of her cousin’s shops for food again. While they walked up to the said spot, Cessilia discreetly got closer to her cousin.

“D-didn’t you p-plan to st-tay with me?” she asked in a whisper.

“From what I’ve seen, not everyone will be as welcoming as Nana. I don’t like the idea of someone staying next door to us, namely those other candidates, when that castle is so freaking tiny. Also, what if that King does get closer to you? I don’t want to have to close my eyes and ears!”

Cessilia chuckled at her cousin’s exasperation, but Tessa did have a point. It would perhaps be better to make sure no one could wander to her apartments and she knew the triplets would find a close room for Tessa, as they had seen a couple of doors on their way there. However, she did have a hunch that Tessa’s sudden interest in getting her own room wasn’t about her cousin’s relationship with the King but about her own interest in a certain Royal Guard...

Still completely unaware of Tessa’s vivid interest in her brother, Nana showed them where to get some smoked fish rolls with cream and that seaweed they had already tried before. Once again, the tastes were completely new to their palates, which made the young ladies happier. In fact, more than the food, Cessilia was deeply intrigued by all the uses those people had for seaweed. She had even seen shops selling different varieties, some dried or not, even as flakes and powders. She interrogated Nana about this while they were waiting to pass the Inner Gate.

“Oh, we use a lot of seaweed!” exclaimed Nana. “Well, we have plenty of it and some families have specialized in seaweed farming too!”

“You have farms of seaweed?” repeated Tessa, surprised.

“Yes! They are used for food like here, but a lot of people also buy them to make other things like nets, fertilizer, soap... Oh, I heard they use it in some beauty products too, but those are expensive. Ah, and there are some medicinal uses too!”

“In m-medicine?” repeated Cessilia, immediately intrigued.

“Yes! I don’t know too much about it, though, and medicine is heavily regulated... but we can go to one of the apothecary shops and ask around! I’m sure they’ll know plenty!”

Cessilia nodded in agreement, very interested to hear more about this. Her undying love for knowledge was easily triggered by information such as this, and since seaweed wasn’t common in the Empire, she was twice as curious as usual.

Although, since Nana wasn’t particularly knowledgeable on the matter, they agreed to find an apothecary to visit later. It wasn’t like they had to do everything the first day after all, but Nana did seem pretty enthusiastic about taking them everywhere she could. In fact, as soon as they were back inside the Inner Capital, she guided them for a long, long shopping tour around the streets. It was as if she really knew each and every citizen living there, and the products they sold in their shops. Some she only showed them, and some she insisted they tried. A lot of those were food, though, so both Cessilia and Tessa had to soon beg her to not feed them anymore, for they were already very full.

Luckily, there was a lot more than just food offered among the many shops. Aside from all the delicacies, the shops had many choices of jewelry, pottery, woodwork, embroideries, fabrics, plants, skins and furs, and clothes. Nana proudly introduced them to all the elite craftsmen of the Kingdom, for the greatest ones were inevitably selling their best products in the Inner Capital, where the wealthy population was. As soon as they spotted Cessilia and Tessa and their attire, a lot of merchants were trying to have them visit their shops, delivering their best sales speeches in hopes to get some of that gold. In fact, this was when Nana proved to be the most helpful. She would get upset as soon as she heard of how the sellers were inflating their prices to trick the two women or lying about their products, and she didn’t let anything through.

“You lying old trout!” she shouted after hearing one man’s speech to Cessilia. “Brand new what? That pattern was already outdated three years ago! You’re only good at copying other popular patterns from the best shops! Come on, Lady Cessilia, let’s get out of here. You should be ashamed, you smelly whelk!”

“What in the world is a whelk...?” muttered Tessa to Cessi as the young woman pushed them both outside.

“I can’t believe it!” Nana kept groaning once they were back in the street. “This is the eleventh time I’ve caught one of them lying to your faces! Cunning sharks! Just because you’re rich strangers, they are multiplying their prices by two or three times what they’d normally sell it for and selling you those bad products! What kind of image does it give you of our Kingdom? So annoying!”

“It’s not that b-bad,” said Cessilia.

“No, Nana is right,” said Sabael. “Your outfits and gold are bringing too much attention, a lot of people here are desperate for any money they can make.”

“Nana, c-can you have some nice c-clothes made for us?” asked Cessilia. “It would p-perhaps make th-things easier...”

“I don’t like this,” grumbled Tessa. “I like my clothes, I don’t want to have to change...”

“We will have less t-trouble that way. For Nana t-too.”

Although she was still upset, her cousin shrugged, not wanting to oppose Cessilia on this. Next to them, Nana nodded.

“For sure! If you want really pretty dresses, I know exactly which shop we should go to! They work fast, and are renowned for their work too! If we get your measurements to them today, I’m sure they can have something ready in just a few days.”

“Alright,” sighed Tessa. “Let’s go there to get them done as soon as possible, and then go back to the castle. If someone tries to scam us again, I might really take a finger or two...”

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