Chapter 64: THE FIRE AT THE FESTIVAL

​Olivia’s POV

​A knock sounded on my door before Gloria stepped inside carrying a basket of freshly folded clothes. "Princess, you’re awake."

​"I’ve been awake for hours."

​She placed the basket on the chair near my wardrobe. "Then you must be bored."

​I lowered the book in my hands and stared at her. "Extremely."

​Gloria smiled. "There’s a festival in the town square today."

​That immediately caught my attention. "A festival?"

​"Yes. It happens every year around this time. There will be food, music, games, handmade things, and all kinds of stalls. It’s not far from here either. Maybe fifteen minutes on foot."

​I closed the book completely. Fifteen minutes away sounded perfect. After everything that had happened over the past few days, I needed to get out of this mansion. I needed fresh air, noise, people, anything that would keep me from sitting alone and thinking about two brothers who were making my life far more complicated than it already was.

​"Can we go?"

​Gloria’s smile disappeared almost immediately.

​I narrowed my eyes. "What?"

​She sighed. "You will have to ask Beta Leo."

​Of course. Apparently, being married to an Alpha meant I couldn’t even walk fifteen minutes away without asking someone for permission. Still, I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

​I found Leo downstairs less than twenty minutes later. He was standing near the entrance speaking with two guards when I approached him. "Leo."

​He turned immediately. "Princess."

​"I want to go to the festival."

​His expression changed. "No."

​I blinked. "You didn’t even think about it."

​"I didn’t need to."

​"It’s fifteen minutes away."

​"I know where it is."

​"And Gloria will be with me."

​"That doesn’t change anything."

​I folded my arms across my chest. "I’ve been trapped inside this mansion for days. I’m feeling better, and I’m not asking to leave the territory. I just want to attend a festival that is practically outside the gates."

​Leo released a quiet breath. "I still need Alpha Lucian’s permission."

​My lips parted in disbelief. "You’re serious?"

​"Yes."

​"He’s hundreds of miles away."

​"That doesn’t change his instructions."

​I almost laughed. Lucian hadn’t spoken to me in three days, but apparently, I still needed his permission to walk down the road. "Fine. Ask him."

​Leo studied my face for a moment before giving me a small nod. "I will."

​I returned upstairs expecting the answer to be no. It came almost an hour later. Gloria had barely finished helping me choose a simple blue dress when another knock sounded. Leo stepped inside after I gave him permission.

​"Alpha Lucian agreed."

​I stared at him. "He did?"

​Leo’s eyebrow lifted slightly. "You sound surprised."

​"I am."

​"He agreed on one condition. Guards will accompany you."

​There it was. Of course there was a condition.

​"How many?"

​"Four."

​"Four guards to walk fifteen minutes?"

​"Those are his instructions. After what happened last time... this is for your safety."

​I wanted to argue, but doing that might only give Leo a reason to change his mind. "Fine."

​Less than thirty minutes later, Gloria and I left the mansion with four guards following several steps behind us. The sound of music reached us before the town square came into view, and by the time we arrived, the entire place was crowded. Colorful cloths hung between wooden stalls, children ran between adults, and the smell of roasted meat and sweet pastries filled the air. Somewhere near the center of the square, musicians were playing while a group of children danced around them.

​For the first few seconds, I smiled.

​Then people noticed me.

​The change was immediate. A conversation stopped as I passed. A woman who had been laughing with another woman suddenly went quiet. A man standing behind a food stall stared at me with an expression that made it very clear he knew exactly who I was supposed to be.

​Princess Annabel. Kenneth’s daughter. The daughter of the man who had started a war against these people.

​I lowered my eyes and continued walking. I couldn’t blame them, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. A woman standing ahead of us noticed me approaching and quickly pulled her young son closer to her side. Another man whispered something to the woman beside him, and both of them looked in my direction.

​Gloria moved closer to me. "Princess..."

​"It’s fine." It wasn’t, but there was nothing she could do about it. "These people lost family during the war. I understand."

​Gloria didn’t answer.

​We stopped at several stalls, although most of the people selling things became noticeably less friendly the moment they recognized me. I pretended not to notice. If I turned around and ran back to the mansion because people didn’t like me, I might as well never leave my bedroom again.

​We eventually reached a small stall covered with handmade bracelets, ribbons, and flowers woven into tiny crowns. Gloria picked up one of the bracelets while I looked over the flowers. That was when I noticed the little girl.

​She couldn’t have been older than five or six. She stood beside her mother with two tiny braids hanging over her shoulders and a small yellow flower clutched between her fingers. She was staring directly at me, and after the way everyone else had reacted to my presence, I prepared myself for another frightened look.

​Instead, she smiled.

​I blinked, caught completely off guard. The little girl continued smiling at me as though she had absolutely no idea she was supposed to hate me. Before I could stop myself, I smiled back.

​She looked down at the flower in her hand and then stepped toward me.

​Her mother immediately noticed. "Mia."

​The girl stopped but didn’t turn around. Instead, she stretched out her small hand and held the flower toward me.

​"For you."

​For a moment, I simply stared at it. Then I slowly crouched in front of her and accepted the flower. "Thank you."

​Her smile widened. Her mother looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t pull the child away. She simply watched me carefully as I stood again and looked down at the tiny yellow flower in my hand.

​Something tightened unexpectedly in my chest. One smile. That was all it had taken. One little girl who didn’t know enough about wars, treaties, and bloodlines to hate me.

​"Come on," Gloria said gently.

​I nodded and followed her, still holding the little yellow flower carefully between my fingers.

​For the next forty minutes, I almost managed to enjoy myself.

​Gloria seemed determined to make me forget the uncomfortable looks following us around the square. She pulled me from one stall to another, pointing out handmade jewelry, clothes, and food she insisted I had to try. I bought a small bag of sweet pastries mostly because she wouldn’t stop talking about them, and despite my mood, I found myself laughing when she nearly dropped hers after biting into it too quickly.

​The four guards remained nearby, never more than a few steps away. Their presence was impossible to ignore, but after a while, I stopped paying attention to them. I even stopped noticing most of the whispers around me. People still stared. Some moved away when I approached, and others made no attempt to hide the dislike on their faces, but no one openly confronted me.

​Honestly, that was good enough for me.

​We had just reached another row of stalls when Gloria suddenly stopped.

​"Oh, we have to try that."

​I followed her gaze toward a small game stall where people were throwing wooden rings at rows of painted bottles.

​I looked at her. "We absolutely do not."

​"Why?"

​"Because I already know I’m going to embarrass myself."

​"You haven’t even tried."

​"And I’d like to keep it that way."

​Gloria laughed and grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward the stall before I could protest again. The older man running it noticed us approaching, and the smile on his face faded the moment he recognized me.

​I noticed, but I pretended not to.

​Gloria paid for the rings, and thankfully, the man didn’t refuse to serve us. He simply placed them on the table without saying much.

​I picked up the first ring and threw it.

​It missed every bottle.

​Gloria covered her mouth.

​My second attempt was somehow worse than the first, and by the time the last ring bounced uselessly off the edge of the table, even I was laughing.

​Apparently, I had finally discovered something I was truly terrible at.

​We left the stall a few minutes later, and I was still arguing with Gloria about whether the bottles had been deliberately placed too far away when a strange smell reached my nose.

​I slowed down.

​Gloria took another step before realizing I had stopped. "What?"

​I looked around.

​Something was burning.

​At first, I didn’t think much of it. There were several food stalls nearby, and smoke had been rising from cooking fires since we arrived. But this smelled different. Stronger.

​Then someone screamed.