Hebe’s POV

“Hebe! Wake up! Jiro is waiting for you!!!!” I heard screaming in my ears.

I opened my eyes. All was blurry but I recognized the person that was yelling at me.

“Jiro? Who’s Jiro? Stop yelling at me Selina,” I said as I tried to push myself up from the bed.

“Have you forgotten? Jiro, your fiancé. You made a promise with him yesterday to show him around town and he’d been prepared waiting for you for a long time now,” Selina said as she handed me my breakfast.

“OMG!!! I have completely forgotten about him!” I stuffed the buttered bread into my mouth and chew as fast as I could and try to drink the tea to help me swallow.

I quickly get up and dress myself casually so that I can leave the palace. Hopefully Jiro is not mad by my childish behavior and refuse to marry me. Isaducha needed all the help we can get from Herochan.

“You look great Hebe. Now GO!” Selina instructed me and I ran out of the room.

Jiro was in the lobby waiting patiently.

We left for the area around our palace. Jiro was fascinated by the people of Isaducha. Everyone was working diligently and I told him it was because of an annual productivity competition.

There was really nothing special in Isaducha. We walked around without anyone to accompany us because we didn’t want the people to know royalty was in their presence. We try our best not to attract attention on to ourselves. Not a lot of people know our faces anyway. Jiro was the prince of another kingdom and I rarely show my face with the princess title in public. My father is usually the royalty symbol in our kingdom.

Jiro and I acted just like other couples on their dates except we felt no love for each other. Our marriage is an obligation and I hated that feeling even though I know I don’t have a choice.

It is lunch time already and I asked if Jiro would accompany to lunch. He agreed since he was hungry as well.

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Aaron’s POV

I kept my promise to help out around the little restaurant. I’d have to say, for a tiny restaurant, it can be pretty crowded around here.

I’ve been helping around “Restaurant Dulce” since ten o’clock this morning. John permitted me to take a nap before my shift. His wife is experiencing pregnancy illness so he needed me to start working as soon as possible.

Since eleven o’clock, the restaurant has been filling up with hungry Isaduchans. There were some merchants and travelers stopping buy for a quick bite but most of the customers were Isaduchans from the nearby area.

“Restaurant Dulce” had a nice location. It is not far from the palace. I can even see the palace from here, another advantage.

*Ding*

The door of the restaurant alarmed me of new customers. Two customers, a girl and a guy, walked into the restaurant. They were both nicely dressed. The girl had a hood on so most of her face was covered.

“Welcome to our Restaurant Dulce. Please seat yourself,” I instructed them and at the split second, I saw the girl’s face.

Father’s painful lessons finally paid off. Even with a quick glance, I was sure that the girl was the princess of Isaducha. Father used to teach me Isaducha’s history and current events. I could recognize a maid that serves in the castle, let alone the princess.

‘What is the princess doing here? Shouldn’t she be in the castle? Guess it is my lucky day.’

I tried to hide my smirk and walked over to the princess’s table.

“Hi, I’m Aaron and I’m your server for today,” I saw with a fake smile. The princess gave me a sweet smile while the guy she was with, I’m guessing he is her boyfriend, gave me a cold stare.

“May I have two ice teas and two of today’s specials please,” the princess addressed me.

“Of course,” I said in a flirtatious way testing the princess’s “boyfriend”. He showed no emotion toward my intimidating way with the princess so I’m guessing they are not very close.

After I putted in the princess and her friend’s order, I spied on them. I need to figure a way to get close to the princess. She is the closest person to the palace and to the king I will probably encounter.

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Hebe’s POV

“So…” I said to Jiro. I can see that he is trying really hard to think of a conversation topic but had failed to do so.

“Isaducha is nice,” he finally said. Yes, it is nice. Of course it is nice. Why wouldn’t it be nice?

Oh god! What am I doing? Jiro is my fiancé and I’m thinking all these mean and sarcastic thoughts about him.

I smiled at him to cover up my internal conflicts. Everyday I try to be perfect inside and my internal judge argues with myself about expressing who I truly am. I feel like a phony.

Jiro sat up nice and straight in front of me. Gosh! He is so boring. No! No, he is my fiancé. Be glad he is perfect. But, there is nothing interesting about perfection. At least he is a gentleman and he won’t abuse me. Maybe an abusing husband is what I need. Wait, what am I thinking?

“Pardon me, princess. I shall be back,” Jiro politely excused himself to go to the bathroom.

I nodded and smile.

What is going on with me recently? What happened to the perfect little princess I used to be? I though Jiro was just like the perfect prince to me but ever since I met him, all I’ve been doing is criticize him.

I sighed and looked around the small restaurant. The house is very old but cozy. The ceiling had interesting wooden patterns carved into it from age.

“The ceiling may be telling you a story,” I heard a voice said. I looked down and saw my server standing there looking up at the ceiling. What was his name again?

“Two stories could be presented by the lines in the ceiling. One is the drawing itself depicting a childish scene of your imagination. Another is the true story,” my server said as he smiled to me.

“True story?” I asked confused.

“The story of the piece of wood itself. Imagine the life of a piece of wood. Growing up as a tree wanting to be big and healthy, being stab on the side until part of the tree is dragged into a factory, having most of the skilled peeled off by sharp blades, being placed roughly fifteen feet above the ground, and watching different faces, hearing different voice, and witnessing different events everyday.”

“Life of a tree. I’ve never though of that,” I smiled at him.

We stared at each other awkwardly for few minutes. Then, he broke the silence.

“You don’t seem to be happy with your acquaintance,” he said bluntly to me. No one had been this straightforward to me. But I guess that is just because I’m a princess and that is not my identity right now.

“He is…” I didn’t know what to say about Jiro.

“You know if you really don’t enjoy his company, you can just leave,” my server stated the obvious.

“That wouldn’t be polite,” I said to him.

“No all princesses have to be polite.” His sentence shocked me.

“How did you know I am a princess?” I asked him in a jumpy voice trying to be as quiet as I possibly could.

“One recognizes a beauty when one sees one,” he tried to charm me.

I stuck my tongue out at him and stood up to leave. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me out the door in a face pace. I tried to break free our bond but he is too strong for me. I tried resisting but not moving but he kept pulling me and I had to keep up with him so I won’t fall.

“Where are you taking me?” I finally managed to yell out.

“Just follow me,” he assured me.

I’m not afraid of him. I know he wasn’t going to molest me or kidnap me. There was a feeling in my heart that is a good person. It is hard to describe but I trust him even though I shouldn’t be since he is a stranger.

After “walking” for a few blocks or so, we stopped.

“Let me officially introduce myself to you, your majesty. Princess Hebe, my name is Aaron and I will be your date for the rest of the day.”