CHAPTER 24

Ever since the grand prince returned to the mountain her mistress was happy. They finally expressed their feelings towards each other even though Xavier had no idea about the suffering that the mistress goes through every time.
At one point it made her faint and sleep for two months, she didn’t want that to happen again; maybe with them expressing their love towards each other then maybe the pain would be less for her.
She was busy practicing dancing since her mistress loved dancing when the grand prince showed up. She paid her respects to him and he smiled at her.
“Young lord, how can I help you?” she asked him.
“You are a really good dancer, I’m impressed,” he complimented her with a smile.
“Thank you but I still haven’t reached there yet,” she told him and he just shook his head.
“She will be proud of you, I know how much she loves that dance,” he said.
Nora knew that Xavier knows a lot about the mistress which gave her less to worry about. Seeing him here was also because of her, she thought.
“So, what do you want?”
“I need your help and it is serious,” he said.
“As long as it is not harmful, I will lend you a hand,” she promised wondering what it was.
“I want to propose to the mistress and I don’t know what to do. Do you have any ideas?’ he asked her and she smiled.
To be honest she knew that a day like this would come but will they be ready to face the world with that?
“The Saintess grew up mostly at the mountain so I don’t think proposing her here will be fine. How about you take her out of the mountain, dress in disguise and take her to a nice inn and show her what you are capable of,” she suggested.
“Are you sure she will agree to that?”
“If it’s you, she can. If it doesn’t work, then we will try something else. Mistress just wants you to be honest and sincere, so just go ahead with that,” she told him.
“Thank you, I will try that now and see where it gets me.”
“I wish you all the best and please protect her even if she is capable of doing that herself. Make her happy or I will come after you,” she warned.
“I will love her and protect her for the rest of my life. I promise,” Xavier promised.
“Good then. I will go back to my practice; you go and do whatever you will do. I won’t be joining you. You should have your privacy.”
“Thank you, I owe you one,” Xavier said and left her to her practice.
She smiled as she watched him leave. It was good to have someone you love to love you in return. Would she ever get a chance to experience that herself? She had been concerned with her Mistress all her life and now it was time to find herself something to do.
She stopped practicing and returned to her room, where she washed up and changed into fresh clothes. She was going to leave the mountain and see what was new in the city and maybe pick a few things for her mistress.
She took a carriage and headed for the city. When she arrived in the city she alighted and began to walk. The market was filled with people and it was lively. She stopped at one of the shops and entered inside. She began to look around inside until something caught her eyes.
That would be perfect as a gift, so she went to get it but someone got to it first. She was so angry she wanted to bash the person but when she looked up, she melted. She just looked at the person and wondered what was really going on.
“Finally, I found you,” the man said and she looked at him with very angry eyes.
“Give me that,” she said pointing to the hairpin that had been snatched away from her.
“How about we do this? You go with me to that restaurant and have lunch with me and I will gift you this hairpin.”
“There is no way I will be doing that,” she said and looked at the shopkeeper, “don’t you have any more hairpins like this?”
“I’m afraid that is the only one,” the shopkeeper replied and she knew she was in trouble.
She needed that hairpin and the only way to have it was to have lunch with a man she hit a few years back. What was happening?
“Tell me your answer now. I have things I need to do,” he said rushing her into answering.
“You promise me that you will give me the hairpin once I have lunch with you right?”
“Yes, I promise,” he said.
“Fine, I will have the lunch with you. Lead the way,” she said.
Nora followed the stranger to the best restaurant in the city. The manager knew her of course but she shook her head and he restrained himself. She got seated at one of the tables and the stranger ordered their lunch.
“Do you know how hard it was for me to find you?” he asked her.
“Why would you even bother to look for me? It’s not like we are friends.”
“I know right but you see in my entire life you were the first girl to humiliate me like that. How can a girl fight a man? Why did you do that to me that day?” he asked her.
“You want to know the truth?” she asked him.
“Yes, I really do,” he answered her.
“I hate men who take advantage of women. When I saw you with her, I thought you were being improper with her so I did what I did to rescue her. It was only after I helped her escape that I learnt the truth that you weren’t a bad guy,” she confessed.
“So, you knew and didn’t bother to come and apologize?” he asked her.
“I wanted to but at that time you were already angry and swearing to kill me when you find me. I wouldn’t risk that,” she told him.
“And now I found you. What do you think I will do to you?”
“You won’t be able to do anything here; I can simply apologize and you will have to accept it. You can’t and won’t harm me because I won’t allow it and so is the person I serve,” she told him.
“Who do you serve?”
“A very scary person,” she said with a smile as their food was put onto the table.