Wilhelm was already awake by the time my eyes fluttered open.
“Good morning, Luxeria.”
I grinned upon seeing him so happy. Rolling over to his side of the bed, I snuggled into his embrace.
“Today’s my day off,” I said.
“It is. We should probably eat some breakfast.”
He got up first, and I followed him. The room we were staying in was much smaller than that of my bedroom back at the capital, and it was furnished very plainly. This was our villa, which we had constructed after our wedding—our real wedding. We called it a villa, but it was really more of a cottage. There were no servants, so we had to do everything ourselves. When we both had free time, we spent it here.
“I was surprised to learn you can cook,” I told him.
“Well, I did purchase a house that I used as a base of operations for a while.”
“I never knew. Why did you need your own house?”
“I couldn’t plan my family’s downfall under their roof, you know?”
“Hmm. I suppose.”
“Don’t make that face. The circumstances were, well, what they were. But it was fun spending time there. I got a good feeling for how things were on the outside. There sure wasn’t a lot to do otherwise, though, which was unfortunate. And honestly, I think it’s more surprising that you can cook as well as you do.”
“My word, Wil! I lived in a tower for most of my childhood, remember?”
We continued our small talk for a while, enjoying his homemade breakfast.
“So, what’s the plan today? Reading? A picnic?” Wilhelm suggested.
“Hey, Wil… Can I be a little selfish today?”
“As selfish as you like.”
“I want to go out on the town. You used to walk around town a lot, right? Oscar told me that once.”
“Oh, Oscar and his big mouth.” He gritted his teeth, cursing his old friend.
“It’s quite all right. Shall we get ready?”
We dressed in simple clothes and left the villa behind. The sky was a clear, crystal blue, and the weather was warm. It was the perfect day for a stroll. The capital was bursting with energy, which was a delightful sight to behold.
“I used to buy stuff from here all the time,” Wilhelm said, showing me around the marketplace. “This was where I first met Oscar.”
The stalls here sold everything from hot meals to pantry ingredients to clothes and beyond. I got too caught up in browsing and eventually lost sight of Wilhelm, which was careless of me. The most prudent thing to do if you got lost was to stay where you were—I knew that. But with this large a crowd, that wouldn’t work.
I found a place that was less crowded and waited for Wilhelm. Three men approached me, all so drunk they were red in the face.
“Hey there, sweetie! You’re lookin’ awfully lonely. Wanna grab a drink with us?”
“Sorry, I’m waiting for someone,” I said.
“Aww, c’mon. Any guy makin’ a girl wait for him ain’t worth dirt.”
“Ooh, baby, you’re one pretty little thing!”
Ugh. This was the worst flirting I’d ever witnessed. My brow wrinkled.
“C’mon, girlie, forget about that guy and come with me.”
“What the hell you mean, with you?”
The three began arguing with each other even without my input. I thought now would be a good chance to leave, but then one man reached his hand out to me. I could have easily taken him out with one of the self-defense techniques Aaron had taught me, but a part of me wanted Wilhelm to show up and save me simply for the romance of it. I stared at the man’s hand, and suddenly, another snapped out and grabbed it.
“Sorry, she’s with me. Go find someone else.”
Wilhelm had come to rescue me. It was a silly romantic fantasy, but one that I liked.
“Huh? How dare you say that to someone after sneakin’ up like that!”
The man raised his hands to Wilhelm, but there was nothing to fear. The air whirled into a vortex, blowing the three men off their feet and putting an end to the incident.
“Thank you, Wil.”
“Sorry for losing track of you,” he said. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
We hugged each other, and I closed my eyes.
Wilhelm suddenly raised his head and spoke to the air. “Oh, take care of the cleanup, would you?”
“Hm? Who were you talking to?” I asked.
“Your guards.”
“My guards? What?”
“Well, yeah. Given your status, of course there’s people looking out for you.”
Tommy appeared out of nowhere, as he loved to do. “He’s right. Wilhelm let us know before you two took a stroll.”
“Tommy? You’re with the royal guard? I was certain you were too busy for that.”
“You think I could pass up a fun little job like this?” Tommy said. “Just kidding. I just happened to have a hole in my schedule today.”
The thought that the royal guard had spied on my date with Wilhelm had me mortified. I glared daggers at Tommy.
“Why’d you just sit there and take it, though?” he asked. “You could’ve ruined their whole day with no problem.”
I couldn’t possibly admit that I was waiting for my Prince Charming to come rescue me, and that I’d been slow to react on purpose.
“Sorry for the shameless display, but I couldn’t possibly react that quickly to a group of thugs,” I said. “Anyway, we should head back now.”
Wilhelm’s excellent timing had kept me from making a real fool of myself.
“This was a fun date, Wil. We should do it again.”
“Anytime you want. We have the freedom now to do it.”
And so ended my first stroll around town in quite some time.