Palace de La Luna

Chapter 2 : The hatter

Staying here for the night is not a good idea. There are terrible noises outside the room, rats walking around the attic and wind slamming on the glass built window. There are lots of noises that kept her up.

But the one that stood up is the loud tickling of a clock. So loud that it can wake someone up. So before sunset again, Fierra decided to explore the old palace.

Everything in this huge establishment is made of old materials. From its walls to the interiors. Everything is ancient, and it's quite intriguing of how it survive until now.

But even though it's too old for her. Everything is clean and polish, seems like someone is taking care of things and making sure that they'll be preserve.

While thinking of that. The odd man's face suddenly appeared on her mind.

Her grandfather is too old to clean this huge palace. He won't make it if he singlehandedly sets this place up, but if somebody helped him then...

Did that odd man helped her grandfather?

But yeah of course as per the odd man's words this is his palace. He owned this palace before her grandfather had this. So maybe he still cares for this place...

She can't help but to feel guilty for making him feel down, but does he even kept her words? It felt like after insulting his flowers he just turned his back and started walking away. As if nothing happened.

Up until now she hasn't seen him. It's like he has no plan on returning inside this place.

Fierra suddenly frowned. She doesn't know why but something pinched her heart.

Especially after seeing the man's lonely face. Does he ever gets happy?

After walking around the palace. She didn't find any clock at all, which is strange but she still needs to visit the town's capitol to inquire about this place's documents. She needs to collect information regarding her estranged grandfather and his palace.

She needs the town for that.

Picking up a bag of apple and her dearly coin purse, she run outside the palace. The huge lifeless garden greets her and because the sun is still up. She can see the small tattered cottage standing at the farthest corner of this land.

Wait. Who lives on that place?

She's not expecting that someone lives there, but there is a smoke coming out from the cottage's chimney. From her place, she can smell the tempting scent of a freshly baked bread.

It smells so good...

She almost took a step towards the old cottage, good thing is she remembered the town. Instead of surrendering to the tempting scent she turned her heads towards the narrow path that leads to the lands huge gate.

She needs to know what this grandfather of her is doing for his entire life.

And if she became disappointed for their answers, she doesn't have a choice but to sell the palace.

*

"Estevan Gale was a good guy. He helped me to set up my store."

"That palace was owned by your grandfather and no one else. He was an old wealthy guy who helped a lot of people."

"He's a good guy. You're very lucky to be his granddaughter."

Am I?

Why does it feels like the opposite?

After asking the capitol about the ownership of that land. They confirmed that it's already mine and that has been decided even after my grandfather's death.

I held the papers in my hand while walking around the busy town. There's a lot of people in here and they were all...happy.

But why?

This is not like the place where I grew up. And I wonder why...

Why does he helped me and my mother? Why he didn't showed up when we needed him the most?

I'm lost for words. Hungy and tired so I took out the bag of apple that I carried and carelessly sat in a bench.

I stared at my apple. Thinking of how I was connected to that old man.

He was my Father's father. And somehow I didn't get to meet my father.

But that grandfather of mine found us. He knew that I existed, does my biological father knew?

If yes then why did he left us?

I was about to take a bite when suddenly a boy sat down beside me. I didn't care about strangers, but this one caught my attention.

He's wearing a hat that covers his eyes but I can still see his curly blonde hair. He looks like he's on a vacation, and I based that on his white polo and shorts that he's wearing.

"You reek of his scent." The man suddenly whisperd.

That. Is he talking about me?

I felt the urge to sniff myself, which I did.

I smell awful. Is he referring to that?

"A scent of intoxication mixed with lavish pint of honey." He added before breathing out in a dramatic way.

I cringe in disgust. He looks good but acts weird. And I'm not a fan of weird people so I immediately got up and started to find a new spot where I can eat without being bothered by some crazy tourist.

While looking for a spot I can still feel the stranger's gaze, making me feel annoyed.

Why do I always have to encounter crazy people like him?!

The apple doesn't taste so good and things became different after my encounter with that guy.

The usual buzzing town is slowly becoming silent. The sky that's lightened by the sun began to dim as sun prepares to go down.

The boy who sat beside me is no where to be found and the old lady who owns a bake shop across the bench is starting to close her shop.

People are preparing to rest, and I should to.

With the papers in my hand I started jogging towards the palace. The old path was made with small stones, there's a green field of grasses around it that looks so scary as it began to wither.

While walking in peace and thinking about the things I've learned from the people here, I noticed that someone is following me.

The shallow sound of their breathes and the light footsteps. I can hear them and I can confirm that I've met this one a while ago.

I folded the papers on my hand and kept them inside the pocket of my jeans.

If not for their footsteps, I wouldn't notice them this early.

I looked ahead of my path and when I saw that I'm still far from my location, I immediately turn around and unconsciously took a step back. The moment I did that, a small stone suddenly passed beside at my right cheeks, blowing a gust of wind on my face.

If I didn't do that. The stone might pierce through my cheeks. Good thing I avoided that quickly.

It wasn't that long before I bend quickly to picked a much smaller rock and threw it to where the rock came from. My move was precise, but it doesn't lack the force.

I can tell that the rock missed, but it does revealed who's following me.

My eyes narrowed at the figured in front of me.

"You..."

Hello! Sorry for the late updates but don't worry I'll try to write more in the future. Hope you understand this chapter, if not kindly please let me know😘