Chapter 67 - The Old Enemies

"Oh, I forgot that you will eat too. I have not ordered anything for you at all. Tell me what you will eat so that I can order for you too." 

"......." he recalled the order of five to six dishes she had given to the owner of the stall and that also two or more plates only for her!

"No! I am not that hungry." was all he said and she nodded and turned to look at the other stalls. 

".........." she did not even ask again if he wanted to have something. His face darkened at her nonchalant behaviour. 

Others around them shivered as he felt the cold had been increasing. A small boy came closer and served the first dish to them with a bright smile.

"Thank you.'' She smiled warmly to the boy without noticing the man sitting in front of her who was on the verge of snapping. She did not even thank him when he had helped her in achieving the post of the head of the ministry yet she was thanking the boy who had only helped in serving the meal. 

The more he thought about her behaviour, the more he felt annoyed when she moved the fork in the piece of fritter and moved it towards him.

"......." he blinked as he looked at the girl who was smiling at him warmly too. She was holding the fork in front of his lips instead of taking the first bite to herself.

The frost in his eyes seemed to have melted when he felt her sincerity and took a bite of the food. 

"So, how is it??" she asked with sparkling eyes that even if it tasted worse, he would have said yes. But he did not know why it tasted better than he had thought.

"It is tasty. It tastes sweet." he replied with a nod and she blinked and then chuckled loudly.

"Oh my! How could the skewers taste sweet? They are one of the spiciest foods!" she smiled, and then took another piece of the meat in her mouth.

While the girl was enjoying the food, his eyes were on the fork she had used to eat the fritter. It was the same fork she had used to feed her just a while ago.

Normally he would have felt nauseated and gross when he saw this scene but for now, he felt a strange feeling that he himself did not understand why he did not dislike it. If any, he wanted her to feed again.

The girl finally felt the gaze of a man who did not seem to look away. She noticed that he was particularly staring at the fork. Was he hungry yet he did not want to admit it? 

Her eyes sparkled again at that thought and she looked at him with a raised brow, "do you want to eat more of it?" she asked in a mischievous tone and he nodded unconsciously. 

She took another big piece of meat and brought it closer to his mouth. 

"Here, try this one now." this time he opened his mouth with more enthusiasm and she continued to feed one piece of the meat to him and then to her as she told him about the dish and then about the street.

Not a single word registered in his mind, yet he was feeling extremely pleased the way her animated eyes were shining and her face showed different types of expressions. Her free hand moved along with her words as she got lost in the conversation. But soon his smile formed into a frown when she forgot even feeding as she moved the fork here and there too. 

He was having a hard time taking the piece of meat in his mouth. 

"What are you doing?" he asked with frustration when the piece fell on the floor instead of going into his mouth and she blinked.

"Oops, I think I got too lost in the conversation." she chuckled and then waved at the kid who brought many other dishes on the table. She passed one fork to the man and took another fresh fork for herself as she looked at the plate in front of him.

"Do not be conscious, eat anything you like and tell me what you prefer, i will order more for you." with that, she started to roll the noodles on her fork.

"........" he did not like the new arrangement but before he could open his mouth to complain, 

"Slurp" 

The slurping sounds of the steaming hot noodles seemed to be particularly enticing.

The girl seemed to be in haste as she put them in her mouth with a few puffs of  air blowing into it to save her mouth from burning.

The steam spread out onto her face with a bite of the noodles. The next second, she stuck out her scalded tongue…

Her gorgeous face was even more stunning with that candid look.

Despite the dim lighting, he could actually make out every expression on her face at this point in time, especially the look of content revealed in her pair of playful eyes.

It made him wonder—how tasty exactly was that bowl of noodles?

And before he could think of the matter, his hands moved unconsciously and took the bowl of noodles from her front and used his fork to take a bite of it too.

"........." she looked at the man who had stolen her food. Though beef noodles were a common food here, she had asked the stall owner to add extra spices into it to make it up to her liking. Would he even be able to bear that much spice? 

Yet the man was eating it with a contented face. His face had a smile that was neither cold and calculated nor mocking and disdained. It was so full of life that even she was stunned for a second. 

She was still looking at the piece of art in front of him when the man stopped abruptly and looked back at her.

"Do you know the girl there?" His question was rather abrupt and out of the blue that it took her a few seconds to understand what he was talking about.

She followed her eyes and found two girls staring at her as if she was a ghost.

There was none other than the daughter of marquees and good friend of Amelia that had often come to her palace in the past and had made fun of her. 

They had always insulted her and had stopped only when Amelia shouted at them to stop their nonsense. But then her face would have softened and she had told them that Hazel was her sister only to start a new round of insults by them.

Her eyes turned cold and the smile on her face diminished. She looked at them with so cold eyes that the girls shivered even from a distance. But it also ensured them that the girl they were taking as a ghost was real.

Richard who was still waiting for her reply narrowed his eyes when he saw the change of her expressions. His eyes instinctively moved towards the girls who were already walking towards them.

"Hazel, is that you?" asked the girl as she tilted her head and looked at the dress of hazel more than hazel.

From afar, she was not able to notice the expensive jewels and fine dress Hazel was wearing. Their gazes were only at her face. But now that they look at her, she was dressed up too luxuriously. Even the duchess and the empress were not able to afford these kinds of clothes for their daily clothing.

"Yes, it had been a long time, Madeline. How have you been, Melisa?" she asked with a sweet smile but her eyes had turned cold as she looked at them. 

They chuckled but their eyes kept looking at her jewels with jealousy and hatred.

"We are fine. After all, we are at home. But how are you? We heard that you ran away from the palace in the middle of the night.

We even heard that it was a messenger you had run away with. But looking at you, you seem rather happy." they replied and finally hazel got a chance to know the story their family had made.

"Do I look like a person who had run away with a messenger? Huh?" asked hazel as she tilted her head leisurely. Her face did not have the fear or humiliation they were seeking for. 

"Ha! Do you think that those jewels are real? We have seen better imitation than these ones. Next time you want to buy a good copy, tell me and I will show you around and one more thing, if you act to be rich, do not eat at these dirty roadside stalls where commoners eat. 

Even if you are thrown out of your house, you were still a noble once, even though we feel ashamed to see you eating here."

".........."