Chapter 107
As the air around Einar instantly sank dangerously and began to slither, Sierre opened his round eyes and parted his lips, but soon closed them.
He couldn’t utter a word because the shadow cast on his brother’s face, which he looked up at, seemed excessively deep.
And soon Sierre half-forgot what had happened at the Bolshevik estate.
While he was fidgeting, the three had already reached the center of the capital.
“Now, this is where the fun begins.”
Einar bent the front of Sierre’s hat, which half-covered his face, to widen his view as he spoke, and.
“Your Highness, though there are guards, be careful not to get swept away.”
Riina whispered, confirming the guards hovering nearby, but her words were half-buried and disappeared in the boisterous noise erupting from all around.
“Come on! Take a look! You won’t find apples of this quality at this price anywhere else!”
“Hey! Where do you think you’re sneakily switching what I picked for something else! Do you think I’m a pushover!”
“Miss, if you don’t buy it now, it’ll be gone. It’s still morning, you say? Whether it’s morning or afternoon, there are some items that sell out because they’re so popular.”
The center of the capital was operating chaotically, as always.
People with their own purposes and tasks passed each other with quick steps or stopped in the middle to converse, and not a few began physical conversations after getting heated while talking.
“What did this woman just say!”
“What do you mean ‘what’! You heard everything, why ask! Are you going to hit me? Oh my, go ahead! Hit me!”
“Why, why are they doing this?”
“You stay out of it!”
“How dare you point your finger at my man!”
“Your man? That’s laughable! He’s my man!”
Whistles sounded from here and there at the spirited fight between two women over one man.
Riina narrowed her eyes and subtly hid Sierre behind her back, while Einar wrapped his arm around Sierre’s shoulders and quickly turned his attention in another direction.
“Shall we get something simple to eat first?”
“Let’s do that.”
As Einar and Riina moved from the front and back of Sierre, the child unconsciously headed in the same direction.
Though they had only turned their steps by chance, perhaps because Einar had mentioned filling their stomachs, there were merchants selling snacks in precisely that direction.
“It’s nothing special since it’s not a festival day, but these are snacks people always eat, so they won’t be bad.”
Sierre, who had been busy looking around everywhere with an utterly dazed expression since entering the center of the capital, opened his mouth with a blank face.
“People… always eat these?”
“Yes. They change slightly according to the season, but these are things most people enjoy eating.”
Riina, who noticed that Sierre still couldn’t properly see what was around him because his vision was spinning, straightened the flipped front of his hat.
Only then, as his excessively expanded field of vision narrowed, could Sierre finally blink slowly.
Around the time his heart, which had been pounding like a galloping horse he had never ridden, began to find its rhythm somewhat.
Einar grabbed his hand and pointed to a shop.
“How about that?”
From the shop indicated by his fingertip, held in a large hand, white smoke rose gently, and a savory aroma spread, circling the tip of his nose.
When Sierre nodded unconsciously, swallowing his saliva, Einar laughed, and Riina bloomed with the same smile.
“Chestnuts are available all year round, but roasted chestnuts are always a delicacy, whether the days are cold or hot.”
Now somewhat removed from the noise that had been pouring down loud enough to deafen his ears, Sierre couldn’t take his eyes off the actual “chestnuts” he was seeing for the first time, crackling and occasionally jumping up intermittently, as if enchanted by Einar’s explanation.
Meanwhile, Riina exchanged glances with the guards, confirming that they were safe, and Einar spotted a harmless intruder.
For Max had entered the edge of his slightly twisted field of vision.
Though his complexion looked quite tired from whatever he had been doing, his expression was bright, and he seemed about to rush over to him at any moment.
To this, Einar immediately shook his head.
Today was Sierre’s first day outside the palace, and it was an outing solely to clear their heads.
He had not the slightest desire to receive any “work” Max might bring.
Since he didn’t feel the need to meet him right now, it would be fine to postpone it.
No, it would be fine because he wanted to postpone it.
Though Max’s face filled with indignation at the sight of Einar smiling warningly, showing his teeth, he didn’t tactlessly rush over.
He merely conveyed with his lips:
“Disease and… mushroom?”
After mouthing these two incomprehensible words, Max disappeared with slumped shoulders, and suddenly Riina was close beside him, whispering:
“What did Max just say? Clearly disease and mushroom. He said mushroom, right?”
“Yes. If it’s about disease, it’s probably about those who worked under those suspicious fellows, but mushroom, I have no idea.”
Like the two of them before coming here, Max had probably conveyed the essence of some incident in two words.
“He must have said it because they’re related.”
“Probably. But mushroom, so suddenly.”
It was so random that one might suspect Max had said it intending to tease them.
“Let’s call him back… Alright. Don’t look at me like that.”
Riina, who had been about to order the guards to bring Max, withdrew the thought after meeting Einar’s eyes.
“Today is an outing. Just to clear our heads. Besides.”
“I know. The youngest prince is with us.”
Riina gently shook her head as she looked at the small, thin child who was faithfully obeying the instruction not to go anywhere alone because it was dangerous, even while staring blankly at the roasted chestnuts.
“Shall we buy the chestnuts first?”
“That sounds goo…”
Just as Riina took a step forward and Einar smiled slightly.
Screech.
Along with a nerve-grating sharp sound, a loud boom echoed.
BOOM!
Accidents, as always, happen unexpectedly and instantaneously.
But Einar was already moving before the boom sounded.
He couldn’t block everything flying toward them with his body while holding Riina and Sierre in both arms until the guards arrived.
Since that judgment was made in the blink of an eye, he swung his arm without hesitation.
After batting away all the debris heading toward Riina and Sierre without missing a single piece, Einar immediately launched himself toward the source of the boom.
Thud.
As the stone floor he landed on split with a dull sound, he caught the cause of the accident faster than an arrow shot.
Crack!
To be precise, it was closer to saying he punched the chestnut roasting machine.
And with that one blow, the incident was concluded.
“Whew.”
Sierre couldn’t even make a sound like “huh?” at the incident that happened so suddenly, but Riina and Einar, the parties involved, didn’t show any particular surprise.
Riina merely exhaled a long sigh, and Einar simply checked on the two while dusting off his arm, which was covered in soot.
Sierre, who looked alternately at the two without blinking once, unconsciously muttered:
“I’ve read that people grow similar when they’re in love, but…”
As the child’s small voice scattered into the air, the merchant who had been standing with his mouth agape shouted:
“Good heavens! What in the world! Oh my goodness!”
The merchant, expressing surprise and bewilderment with all the vocabulary he knew, stared blankly at the smoke rising in puffs from the broken machine, which had gone too far to function properly, and shuddered.
If the machine had rattled, he would have noticed something was wrong and stopped its operation sooner.
But for it to suddenly make a scraping sound from inside and then explode.
There was no time for precautions as the accident happened suddenly, and even now, with the situation already over, he still couldn’t understand what had happened.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Amid his daze, a low voice heard through the smoke made the merchant hurriedly wave his hands to chase away the smoke and shout:
“Right! Is anyone hurt!”
“No one is, but are you alright?”
At the rather calm voice heard again, the merchant finally felt his own body and shook his head.
“I’m, I’m fine.”
Soon, as the hazy smoke cleared somewhat and the situation was revealed, the merchant’s jaw dropped.
Now he could properly see the state of the machine, which had appeared dim, hidden by smoke.
The merchant’s pupils shook violently as he looked once at the machine with a dent where it shouldn’t have one, and once at Einar, who had probably struck the machine with his bare hand.
“It seemed like the only way to stop it before it exploded was to break it.”
As Einar smiled slightly and spoke, the merchant just nodded.
But true to his nature as a merchant who had grown up in the marketplace, he quickly gathered his retreating wits and shouted:
“I-I’m sorry. This happened suddenly.”
The merchant stuttered as he pointed to the shattered machine, then folded his finger and repeatedly bowed deeply.
Even with a hundred mouths, he would have nothing to say but apologies.
The merchant, who had deeply bowed his head, soon felt his vision blur.
Fortunately, no one seemed to be hurt, but having caused such an accident, he would have to provide compensation.
But the machine, his means of business, was also broken.
Einar, looking down at the merchant’s empty and even more pitiful crown, glanced at Riina.
The two exchanged intentions with just their eyes, without needing to speak, and reached the same conclusion.
Einar extended his hand toward the merchant and opened his mouth.
