The King's Mistress

Chapter 65: Ice Cold

"We’ll take six skewers please," Sierra told the stallholder.

Each of them had two, one in each hand. Sierra took one bite of it and was instantly overwhelmed with the flavor of the skewers. It reminded her of some of the street stalls she used to visit back in Cair.

"Kind sir, please give me five more," Alistair ordered from the stall keeper.

But as he rummaged through his clothing, looking for money to pay, all he could produce was a gold coin. The stall keeper was stunned.

"I’m sorry sir... but I do not have change for a gold coin," the stall keeper apologized.

"I’ll cover it, not to worry," Sierra said as she took out some copper coins and paid the stall keeper.

She could not help but chuckle at Alistair. He was a King, so she guessed it was normal for him to be detached from the common folk. But still, it was funny to see him fumble and try.

Alistair felt a little awkward by the exchange. He was a King, and a man no less. Yet he had to let Sierra pay on his behalf.

"I’ll return you the money when we go back," he insisted as they walked over to the next stall.

"There’s no need for that," Sierra brushed it off, "It’s not a large sum anyways."

Alistair grabbed onto Sierra’s wrist, stopping her from taking another step forward. She turned around to face him, surprised to see the look of anger written on his face. Had she said something wrong?

"I must return it to you. What man would I be to let you pay on my behalf? It’s unheard of," he declared.

At first, she thought he was joking. But as she continued to chuckle, waiting for him to laugh too, it quickly became clear that he was not going to. His expression did not waver. His eyebrows remained furrowed. His hand still gripped her wrist firmly.

Realizing he meant what he said, Sierra removed her hand from his, "I’m not like the other princesses."

"What?"

"I don’t need a man to buy things for me, to fawn over every detail about me. I just need someone to stand by my side, and support each other in times of need. Protect one another."

The words had come out so naturally that she did not realize how much they impacted Alistair until she noticed the change in his expression. Even Ida was stunned. She looked on as beads of sweat trickled down her face. She was afraid of how King Alistair would react.

She glanced over to look at him.

Sierra’s words rang in Alistair’s mind. It was on repeat, being played back over and over again. Finally, his expression softened as he took a step toward her. He was smiling, a sign that he was not angry.

"You truly are not like the other princesses, Sierra. Sometimes I wonder who you truly are." He whispered in her ear.

Without saying another word, he grabbed hold of her wrist once more and led her down the food street.

"Where, where are you taking me?" She asked, confused by his actions. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Alistair placed a single finger on his lips as he gave her a cheeky wink, "You’ll know when we get there."

It took them some time to get there, but eventually, they came before the shop Alistair wanted to bring her to. All of them looked on in awe at the shop in front of them. It was just a little off the side of the food street in the market.

The stall looked almost brand new and there was a chill in the air. Alistair slumped his shoulders when he saw the shop.

"What’s wrong?" Sierra asked, concerned.

"It seems like the shop is no longer around," he said in defeat.

Sierra looked up at the shop, then back at him, "That’s alright. This one looks really good though, should we give it a try?"

There was a short queue outside the shop. A quick look in revealed that it was brimming with customers. From the conversations of the people in the line, Sierra realized this was a new shop that hailed from a different Kingdom.

They specialized in ice-cold treats known as ice cream.

The temperature got chilly as they got closer to the front of the line. Sierra shivered a little when a gust of wind blew past them. Instinctively, Alistair held out his hands and began to rub her arms, hoping to warm her up.

"Are you chilly, sweetling?" He asked warmly, his voice was almost a whisper. freёweɓnovel.com

Sierra was surprised by his gesture. Their physical contact at that moment was more than anything they had in a while. She blushed beet red, averting her gaze so that he would not be able to see it.

But Alistair caught a glimpse of it. The ends of his lips turned upwards as he cupped Sierra’s chin in his hand.

"Don’t shy away from me, sweetling. I want to see your delicate little face," he said smugly.

"I bet you say that to all the pretty young women you speak to. Just to swoon them," Sierra asked him, pouting a little. She was amused by his antics but they also made her angry. She hated how his words had such an effect on him.

Alistair chuckled, amused by her response.

"What’s so funny?" She asked him as she crossed her arms.

He gave her a side-eye look as he delivered his next line, so slick that Sierra’s mouth was agape in shock.

"Since my jester told me a joke, should I not laugh?"

She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t. No amount of words could save her from her embarrassment. Sierra swiped his hand away and turned around to face the front of the queue, refusing to make any eye contact with him for the rest of the time. Ida, who witnessed all of it, could not help but chuckle.

A few minutes later, they were allowed into the store. There was a long counter lined with tubs of ice cream of every flavor you could think of. Sierra forgot about what had happened earlier the moment she saw the brightly colored sweet treats.

She could not decide what to get.

In the end, she got what the shopkeeper recommended. It was one of the store’s limited flavors, rockmelon. The cool refreshing taste of the ice cream paired well with the crunchy chocolate-coated cone it came with.

"This is delicious!" Sierra exclaimed with glee as she continued to lick the ice cream.

She glanced over to see what Alistair got. He came out of the store with a double scoop ice cream on a plain cone. Realizing she was looking in his direction, Alistair turned over.

Sierra tried to look away but it was already too late. He caught her. He leaned forward and reached out his hand. Uncertain of what he was about to do, she was about to take a step back when he stopped her.

"Don’t move," he whispered.