Freedom

Chapter 2

As I briskly walk out of the castle. The cold wind blowing against my skin makes me shiver. I should have put on warmer clothes. I was wearing a dress with a black coat that buttons only near my chest and a hood that can cover my head. I was obviously not ready at all. Ignoring my thoughts, I walk down the path of the hill and hope it takes me to where all the people are.

Street Lights starts to emerge in the distance and I couldn't hear much noise. I take out my pocket watch to check the time. Indeed, it is barely 6 am. Most of the time I notice more people emerging at 6 am from the window of my room. I walked a little more before stepping right at the end of the path.

I feel my heart pumping with excitement but also nervousness. Why was I nervous? I thought I was excited? Maybe because I have not talked to anyone outside of the castle. This is my first time!

"Morning darling" My head turns so fast, I could have hurt my neck. This nice lady has greeted me. I smile and greeted her back. "Morning". She surprisingly smiles back and continues to take buckets out of her house. I check my pocket watch again. It was already 5:30 in the morning. I see more doors opening. Most of them are men. Probably going out to do work. I didn't know they wake up this early. Must be tiring.

With that thought, I yawn and my tummy rumbled. "Gosh I'm hungry," I say to myself. I continue to walk around until I found a place that was open for 24 hours. I happily made my way in and was greeted by a really grumpy man.

"What is a young lady doing here Aeh?" The man says in a really raspy voice making me jump a little. I never heard such a raspy voice before.

"Do you happen to sell any food here" I set a bubbly smile as I made my way closer to the counter?

"Spah" He spits on the ground beside him, making me uncomfortable. I guess that's how they communicate? I just gave him a smile. "Y-yes" I reply unsure. He gives me a weird look and shakes his head. Confused, I wanted to ask again but the sound of the loud door opening overtakes my voice.

I turn around to see a young man with dark brown eyes and wavy black hair. His hair was long enough to touch one side of his eyebrows. He had quite a strong jawline and he looks slim but has a built body. He walks over and puts a bag on the table.

"Oh good grapes, what are you doing here?" The grumpy man sighs as he cleans the cups in front of him. " I thought I told you to leave me alone" He continues.

" No no, you have not seen the best part" The guy chuckles and opens the bag in front of him. The grumpy man looks over to see. That made me curious as well so I tried to sneak in to see it too by side-eyeing. " jewelry?" I say in my head. "Where did he get all of that?" I wonder in my head. "He must be rich," I thought to myself again.

The grumpy man raises an eyebrow and looks at the guy.
"Asher-" He pauses. "- How did you get all those?"

The guy looks around but didn't notice me near him. He leans down to whisper something in the grumpy man's ear. I wanted to hear it too. I sighed loudly unknowingly only to catch attention from both of them. They both stop to look at me.

"Ahh um Excuse me.." I clear my throat and walk out of the bar. My stomach grows again and I took out my pocket watch to see the time. It was already 6:30 in the morning. Goodness time does fly fast.

I look around and saw some food stalls up and ready. I take out my pouch of money in my hand and made my way to one of the stalls. The smell of food was amazing. The one that catches me the most was the dressing bread being made.

" hi! How much for the bread?" I ask with a smile. The lady seemed unfriendly because she didn't smile and only replied with " Three dollars".

"Three dollars?" I gasp and search through my pouch. I only had one dollar in here. "When were things so expensive?" I thought to myself.