Re: The Villainess Does It With Class

"What are you doing?" Nathan suddenly says behind me.

I turned around and saw him glancing in the direction of Estelle who is lost among the crowd now. He then looked at me with questioning eyes.

'Too bad, brother. You just missed the female lead!'

"I saw someone familiar," I replied and wistfully glanced back again.

"Who?"

A playful smile rose to my lips, "The Main Character…"

Nathan's brows furrowed, "The what?"

I stopped looking and gazed at him.

"Nevermind it, brother.. Are you done with the measurements?"

He will never understand it anyway, and if telling him would ruin everything, I'd rather it be like this. Moreover, I don't think he will believe whatever I am going to say.

Let me just watch everything exclusively, okay? Give me the best show!

Nathaniel nods. Fufufu~ man of few words…

My eyes roamed to the busy capital, feeling excited. The afternoon sun was high up in the sky with clouds covering it. It wasn't humid, the wind was blowing a cool breeze. It was a perfect day for strolling…

"Then, can we walk around first before going back? It has been a while since I last strolled the capital," I uttered and stared at Nathan with innocent eyes. Nathan scanned my face for a while, probably thinking, before nodding.

"Fine."

A wide smile appeared on my face before I grabbed him in the direction of a nearby shop I saw. He did not say anything and just went with my flow. Can you imagine a grown man, basically heads taller than me, being dragged around by a girl? Because that's what we look like, honestly.

For the whole afternoon, we just went around entering shops, looking around but never buying anything. We call this 'window shopping' in the modern world, and it's kind of fun. Just us looking at things, admiring things…

Well, sometimes Nathan would ask me if I want to buy something. Every time I held an item in my hand, or just glanced for a second, he would ask me that. I would also decline and remind him that we are only strolling.

Nathan thinks it is weird to not buy if you fancy anything, and he says we have enough money to buy whatever. Wow, Nathan. Rich people do say amazing things…

"Do you want to buy that?" He asked me for the nth time this day.

I was looking at the rack of trinkets, particularly at those snowglobes. I didn't know snowglobes can be found here also, so it brought a little surprise to me, which is quite nice.

'See? He's asking me again…'

I glanced at him, "No, I don't."

"But you are staring at it while smiling," he was confused as he said this.

"Because it's cute."

"Then buy it."

I sighed and chuckled to myself. He is like a child, seriously.

"We're not buying anything today, okay? Unless it is necessary…"

He was still frowning but didn't talk after that and just eyed the snowglobes. Before he could think of something crazy, like buying the entire thing or the shop, I grabbed his hand again and tugged him away from the trinket store.

As we were passing by a street where it was less crowded, Nathan suddenly stopped, so I have no choice but to halt as well.

"Hmm?"

"Let's go there," He then pointed to a less conspicuous building.

There was a signboard on the doorway where, 'Guile's Armory' was written in bold letters.

'An armor shop?'

I did not ask him further and just followed him inside. As soon as we got in, the smell of iron and old wood greeted my nose. It wasn't overpowering to the point of unpleasant, it was actually nice and brought out my curiosity.

My eyes drink in all the metal works around me. There were different types of swords hanging on one side of the wall, and on the racks atop a table. Battle axes, daggers, some type of blunt thing, and even shields and armors!

One particular weapon caught my attention, it was placed among the crossbows and stood out the most. I went to it to examine it closer and it was even more amazing up close.

"Woah…" I muttered, eyes sparkling in wonder.

It was a bow, made in white ivory. There were gilded gold patterns in it and it looked extremely dreamy.

A man approached me as I continued gawking at it.

"This is made by an artisan from the north and is the only one that exists today," he mentioned while smiling in indulgence.

My head turned to him, "Really? How much is it?"

'This might be expensive because of its rarity, but let see how much it costs.'

"2 hundred gold coins," he declared, putting a finger in the air.

2 hundred gold coins… I have no such amount for the moment, but I can save more! Then I could buy this bow after a month just in time with the hunt.

I just hope no one buys it first though…

I glanced at the man, and back to the bow and bit my lip.

It's not right to ask him to reserve it for me, isn't it? Ah, but I really want this… Should I ask dad? Errm...

My eyes lingered for a while, looking at the weapon once more before reluctantly peeling my gaze off of it.

'I'll just make sure to save faster and buy it. Yep, I will do that! No need to ask father!'

"It's beautiful," I muttered and gave him a small quirk in the lips.

'But I can't afford it today…'

I continued my observation around the shop, never touching anything because I am afraid that I might damage it. One should not just act impulsively…

My eyes kept straying back to the ivory bow no matter how many times I tried not to look. I just can't help it! If I have such an amount ready I would've bought it without second thoughts.

Nathan had finished talking to the other older person, the shop owner I guess, and came to me.

"What business do you have here?" I asked him, feeling curious.

If he needs armor, or weapons, didn't the royal palace have their own artisans for that? So I wondered why he came here, of all places.

"I wanted him to fix my sword. It got chipped while I was sparring," he replied.

Instinctively, my eyes went down to his side.

'His sword is gone…'

"Is that so? Are you done now?"

Nathaniel nods.

'Sheesh, he doesn't really talk that much. Gwen wonders how I understand him sometimes. Well, me either.'

For the last time, I stared longingly at the bow for a moment, saying goodbye to it in my mind.