Erica

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"You walk surprisingly fast." His voice startled her.

Erica was shocked to see the strange man walking in step with her. She tilted her head at him in confusion as if to ask what he wanted.

Aleric gave a small defeated yet guilty smile her way.

"I sincerely apologise if I came off as a bit rude, you just surprised me."

Erica turned to meet his eyes and mouthed the words "It's okay."

"I noticed you don't use your voice when you speak...?" The crown prince trailed off not knowing how to address the subject.

Erica looked down at her feet without even realising it. She was ashamed of her disability, she despised it with all her heart. It was her greatest insecurity and although the stranger beside her meant no harm with his innocent question, but it still hurt more than she cared to admit.

"I've offended you..." Aleric trailed off noting her drastic change in her demeanour.

Erica took a deep breath calming herself once she realised that her emotions were on display like an open book. After spending so many years alone she had gotten used to her expressions running wild with no need to control them in front of others. 

"It's alright." She mouthed and looked up to face him once again and pointed to her throat, "I'm mute."

"And there is nothing wrong with that." Prince Aleric gave her a warm gentle smile, "So are you going to tell me your name?"

Erica pushed her eyebrows together and pursed her lips, a bit bewildered at the handsome stranger's reply. For some reason she thought he would be disgusted or at least weirded out at her disability. It seemed she too had gravely misjudged him. She loosened her expression and dropped her lips into a small smile about to reply when from the corner of her eye she caught sight of a certain Commander she was trying to avoid at all costs.

It was like a bucket of ice was thrown on her. She had been too distracted by the beautiful man with her that she had completely forgotten the reason why she was with him in the first place. She was hiding from her intimidating brother who was now nearby once again relentlessly searching the crowd for whom she assumed was her.

The crown prince watched as Erica's expression froze up as she looked at something over his shoulder. He turned and noticed a tall Walter in the distance, his face unreadable. 

His thoughts were immediately drawn back to why the girl before him was so afraid. His assumptions from before did not seem to quite fit. There was more to the picture that he was missing but before he could allow himself to ponder more on this, he needed to get them away from Walter for he too was avoiding the man.

"Come with me." He pulled Erica's attention back to him. Without thinking she nodded and followed the man as they zig-zagged through the maze of alleyways and streets. Their roles reversed from earlier, only this time there was a set destination in place as Aleric knew these streets well.

When they reached the outskirts of the market district, it was a lot quieter. The streets were not as busy and there were a lot less people. They had slowed down and were now in step with each other in a slow-paced stroll, the prince purposefully did this when he noticed Erica struggle to keep pace with him and lagged a few steps behind as she followed him. Aleric was used to people following him due to his title but for some reason he did not like it when she did.

"I cannot help but be curious as to why you are avoiding a certain man?" Aleric watched her expressions carefully hoping for them to provide some sort of answers.

Erica who had her attention on her surroundings on the lookout for her brother was drawn back to reality at the Prince's question. She shyly looked down in embarrassment when she noticed his intense gaze on her, her timid nature which she had unknowingly developed over the years shining brightly.

"Scary." She mouthed keeping her answer short and sweet. She could have avoided the question but what would be the point, he already knew.

"Fair enough. Commander Walter can come off as quite the intimidating man." Aleric gave a loose smile trying to lighten the mood. He knew she did not want to talk about the real reason, and he chose to respect her choice.

His smile did not work for his words terrified the poor girl. He knew her brother. To what extent she did not know, but the main fact was he knew him.

"Don't worry I won't turn you in. If I wanted to do that, I would have done so earlier." Aleric reassured the panicked girl. He could see the gears turning in her head. She had questions.

"I'm actually avoiding the same person believe it or not, we are in the same boat." He chuckled and further arose more questions for the girl. "I did something to anger him."

Erica was not to concerned about that, her main concern was how he knew her brother and what was his relationship with him. She had noted earlier that this man before her was no civilian. She was highly suspicious of him, so much so that she had risen her guard.

The crown prince who had been highly observant easily noticed this. He could only guess what other questions she had.

"Even in casual clothes he is too easy to identify. After all, he is pretty famous you know." Aleric joked unaffected by Erica's suspicious gaze. Honestly, he thought he was overly cautious but the girl before him was something else.

Erica ever so slightly narrowed her eyes at him for a split second, her mind analysing his words before defeatedly accepting them. In all honestly his words did assure her, and she let out a soft sigh in relief.

The prince felt bad for lying but there was some truth to his words. Walter was pretty famous but not just anyone could put his name to his face.

"Enough of that. I have another question and you must answer this one properly," Aleric teased, "Why is a lady such as yourself dressed as a boy?"