Chapter 68 - "Just Not To You..."

The few people who were still hiding around to witness what the cursed prince was going to do this time gasped in surprise when she stepped in.

"What are you doing?" Harold asked her in a low and angry tone, but she ignored him as she turned to the woman and her sons. 

"It is nobody's fault. No one is getting punished today. It was an accident," Alicia said with a dismissive wave of her hands.

"I am..."

Alicia turned to look at Harold, who was speaking to her under his breath. "Not punishing anyone today, my lord," she completed his sentence with a small smile, which made him frown. His frown deepened when she patted the front of his shirt in a loving gesture. What was she doing?

"My husband was once a little boy, and he understands that accidents like this happen when kids play. He was just messing with you and your boys, so you don't have to worry," Alicia announced as she returned her attention to the woman and her boys, who were still on their knees.

"Stand up," she said, extending her hand to the woman to help her up.

The woman, who was still sobbing softly, looked at Harold for permission, but he was staring at his wife, not them. 

'If you don't act, they will think that you are weak and your wife is controlling you,' his wolf reminded him.

'I'm not weak,' Harold told his wolf.

'Then prove it,' his wolf challenged.

"Don't worry about him, he is my husband so I know him better," Alicia assured the woman as she raised her and encouraged the boys to stand up.

"Thank you so much, my lady. Thank you, my Lord," the woman said with a bow to both Alicia and Harold, and her sons did the same.

'Weakling' his wolf sneered at him, making Harold snap back to the present.

"Please, do you mind letting my husband and I make use of your shop briefly?" Alicia asked politely. "We need to change out of these clothes," she explained when the woman looked at her in confusion.

"You can do that, my lady," the woman said with a vigorous nod, glad to repay the favor no matter how insignificant it was compared to what Alicia had just done for her. 

"Let's go in and change, my lord," Alicia said with a slight bow as she followed the woman into the shop, expecting Harold to follow them.

The woman and her sons stood stiffly outside their shop with their heads bowed as they waited for the couple to finish. Breathing was even a problem since they feared that if they breathed too loudly, they were going to get into trouble. Harold stepped out first, dressed in his simple but fine and expensive clothing, looking nothing short of the prince he was and causing the three to become even more scared as they took involuntary steps backwards. Fortunately for them, Alicia stepped out in time, wearing a dress now with her hair down and a frown on her face as she kept tugging at the material around her waist that was making it difficult for her to breathe. It was even a miracle that she could wear this dress all by herself. 

For some reason, Harold seemed slightly disappointed when he saw her. As much as he hated to admit it, wearing men's clothing suited her better. Now that she was wearing this dress, she looked weird to him. He wondered if it was possible to have her dress like that again. What were the chances of her coming out of the palace again? 

"Thank you for letting us change here. I'm sorry for whatever trouble we caused," Alicia said politely to the woman, and Harold tried not to scowl.

What did she mean by the trouble they caused? The last time he checked, it was the woman's kids who had caused trouble, so what was she apologizing for?

The woman shook her head immediately. "It's... my pleasure, Milady." The woman bowed. "I... will be happy to help in... anyway I can." 

The princess had saved her family. She couldn't imagine what the prince would have done to her and her boys had she not come to their rescue. The woman wasn't stupid enough to believe that Prince Harold had been messing around. The prince never messed around. She was even surprised to see that, unlike the rumors, he seemed to be getting along with his bride and she wasn't even as bad as people painted her to be.

Alicia looked at the lady curiously. Did people in the middle ages usually become indebted for little things like this? Perhaps she would keep being nice and make lots of people indebted to her. Who knew when their help would come in handy?

"We will leave now. And boys..." She called out to the twins, who snapped their heads up to look at her. "Be careful next time."

The two boys and their mother nodded vigorously. So she turned to look at Harold and asked, "Where are the clothes?"

"Why?" 

"In case of next time," she said, hinting that they were going to wear the outfits again. 

When did he agree that they were going to come here another day? But she didn't bother to wait for his response as she returned inside the shop to get them from the room where he had changed his clothes. She put all of them inside a bag as she stepped out. 

Just like that, Alvin showed up out of nowhere and took the bags from them before disappearing again.

With one last smile at the family, Alicia pulled Harold along with her out of the store. 

Once again, she had won. Harold didn't even get the chance to speak or chastise that family before she handled everything in his place and even pulled him out like she was the elder between the two of them. He didn't like that. He withdrew his hand from her hold, and Alicia didn't protest since she had done it for show earlier. 

As they both strolled down to where he had left his horse, he brooded over all that had happened, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Seeing as they had left the market area and could talk now, he turned to glare at her. 

"Do not interfere next time," he scolded her.

She stopped walking to look at him in the face and said, "Why shouldn't I?" She asked calmly. 

"I should handle such matters."

"The ball almost hit me, remember? Not you. I had to handle my issue my way," she said, matter-of-factly.

"I stopped the ball from hitting you," he reminded her.

"The ball was harmless. It was a harmless accident," Alicia insisted, trying to reason with him. 

"It doesn't matter," he said as he began to walk again, his hands behind him. 

"It does," she countered as she walked in quick steps to match his pace.

"So you're saying that I should let you handle issues that concern you?" Harold asked as he continued walking.

"Yes."

Harold stopped, and looked at her. "So if someone tries to shoot an arrow at you or throws a dagger at you, I shouldn't interfere? I should let you handle it?" He asked, and Alicia blinked in confusion.

"That's different," Alicia said, but Harold had started walking again. He had already gotten the answer he wanted. 

"It's the same to me. It's your issue."

"It's not. One was harmless, and the other isn't. Listen, I just don't want people to keep being scared of you. I don't want them to hate you either or think you are evil," she said in a concerned tone that made him almost stop walking again, but he didn't. He kept walking. 

"I don't care about what they think," he said in an indifferent tone and stopped when he observed that she was no longer walking next to him. He turned around and saw her giving him an unpleasant, defiant look.

"You can pretend not to care, but I can't. I know that you care, and I care about what they think about you. I don't know why you keep pretending to be okay with people having the wrong impression of you, but that's just messed up. Maybe it's because you have experienced this all your life and so you've built a wall around your heart to protect yourself so that you don't get hurt. But I know that deep down inside, you care. If you didn't care about what they thought, Alvin wouldn't have attacked those people earlier. Underneath your shell, you are a..."

Harold watched her intently as she kept ranting about how he was not that type of person and why was he trying so hard to make people believe those stupid rumors flying around. Who told her that he wasn't that type of person? 

She stopped talking when she noticed the evil smirk on his face. It made her almost take a step back involuntarily, but she didn't. "What?" She asked hesitantly.

"Don't be mistaken, Princess... I am... that kind of person," he said, looking her directly in the eyes. 

"Just not to you." After a brief pause, he added, "YET," before he turned around and continued walking. 

As soon as she recovered from her shock over what he had just said to her, she raced after him, "Don't you dare think that you're going to change my mind about you by trying to scare me. I'm not scared of you!"

Alvin, who was following from a safe distance, marveled at all the changes he had witnessed in Harold.