She Belongs To The Devil

Adeline's all sensory organs were busy trying to comprehend all the things around her. Her eyes were busy watching all the colorful dresses that the people were wearing, the variety of items in the shops, different types of beautifully built houses, and so many people...

She could smell all kinds of things that she had never smelled, like the smell of food which she had never seen in her life, the smell of people's perfume, the smell of newly woven clothes hanged on the shops, the smell of flowers, and such.

And her ears were hearing so many noises that she was finding it difficult to focus on one particular thing. Adeline had never heard this much noise in her life. But surprisingly, she was not agitated by it, rather she was enjoying the variety of sounds.

She was hearing the sound of people talking happily, the sizzling sound of foods being fried on the vendor stalls, the sound of small children happily laughing while eating a variety of chocolates and foods, people bargaining for a good price for the things that they liked, and so much more.

"I never knew that the market would be this lively. Had I known before then I would have come here with Nigel at least once a week. We would have had so much fun together." Adeline took a deep breath in as she was reminded of Nigel. Though she was walking with five of her half-siblings, she couldn't help but miss her favorite brother.

"Do you like this place?" Nefriti was staring at Adeline with an expectant face and was fluttering her lashes.

Adeline was brought back from her thoughts to reality. She gave a quick glance to Nefriti and then looked at everything that was around her. She took a deep breath in and an amused smile appeared on her face.

Adeline nodded her head and admitted, "I love this place. I wish I had come to this place earlier."

Claudia was listening to their conversation while she was walking right ahead of these two. She looked back at Adeline and then playfully placed a bet, "Just wait until you taste the food that this market has to offer. Then you will wish that you could come here daily just to eat these delicacies. I can bet on that."

Adeline raised her brows and asked, "They sell foods that are better tasting than what we are served in the Palace?"

Adeline was a little surprised to hear the claim of Claudia because the Royal Chefs were chosen from the best of the best cooks in the whole Kingdom. And the ingredients that were used in the Palace were of very high quality. So she could not believe that a commoner's dish would taste better than those that were served in the Palace.

Kaela chimed in to the ongoing conversation and backed Claudia's claim, "Trust me, they taste so good that you will feel like your taste buds are in heaven. This place is a heaven for your taste buds."

If her sisters were saying that the food here tasted very good, she felt as though she was bound to believe them.

But Raphael, who was walking beside Gustin, also joined the girls and then suggested an idea, "Why don't you let Adeline taste some of the best food items and let her decide if she likes the foods that are sold here or that are served inside the Palace."

"Of course." Nefriti merrily laid out the plan to the others, "Let's walk around and visit some of the shops first. Adeline can buy few souvenirs for herself if she likes something."

She looked at Adeline and whispered, "I have promised to myself that I won't be buying anything, I already have a pile of things in my quarter that I have bought from here."

Then she looked at the others again and said, "Then finally we will taste some good foods before returning back to the Palace. I am going to eat two servings of dumplings today."

Adeline scrunched her brows and asked, "What are dumplings?"

Nefriti inhaled sharply and was ready to say something to Adeline but she remembered that Adeline had never visited the market. "I can't blame you for not knowing what dumplings are. They never serve it in the Palace."

"Anyway, you will know what they are in a while. I will treat you to it." Nefriti clasped her hands and then swayed her body side to side because her mouth was already watering.

As all of the others were talking about food, Gustin, who was walking at the front felt left out and he also contributed to the conversation, "I like potato chop the best, especially the hot and spicy sauce that they serve with it."

All the others looked at each other as if that was a rare thing to hear from Gustin. Kaela could not help but mock Gustine, "Gustin, you know how to talk? What a rare occurrence!"

"I am also going to eat potato chop then." Raphael put his arms around Gustin's shoulder and grinned.

Gustin was already grumpy and he shouted, "See… this is why I never talk that much with you people. You all are never serious!"

"Oh come on! You don't have to be so serious all the time." Raphael tried to cheer up his brother.

The siblings were joking around, laughing, chatting, and taunting each other while they were slowly walking around in the market.

"Let's go to the place that sells jewelry first." Nefriti grabbed Adeline's hand and ran ahead of the boys. And Claudia and Kaela also ran past the boys while following Nefriti.

"What? Not again!" Raphael shouted at Nefriti. "You always buy some jewelry every time that we come here. Do you even wear those?"

Nefriti shouted back as she was about to enter the jewelry shop, "They are so beautiful to look at. I like to see them every day before I go to sleep."

Raphael face-palmed himself and gestured to Gustin, "Come, let's take a look at those 'beautiful' metals."

"Can't we just wait outside?" Gustin was not really in the mood to go inside that shop.

"We can but we might attract unwanted attention if we just stand idly." Raphael followed the girls into the jewelry shop and Gustin also dragged his feet into that shop.

All the Princesses were excitedly checking out the pieces of jewelry like earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings. Although these jewelries were not made out of precious metals that the Princesses normally wore, they were attracted by the beautiful designs of those jewelries.

Even Adeline was fascinated by the bling and shines from the pieces of jewelry. She was looking at all the shiny jewelries and one piece of jewelry, in particular, caught her eyes. She felt like she was being drawn to it.

It was a chain that had an octagon-shaped pendant on it. An image of a dragon spreading its wings was engraved on the pendant. The length of the pendant was longer and it was purple in color, which made it look like a large precious stone.

Adeline decided to buy that chain. "I will take this one", she placed the chain in front of the shopkeeper and smiled.

The shopkeeper was a little surprised because Adeline had not even asked the price of the necklace and she just said that she was going to take it. "This will cost you 20 bronze coins."

"Sure." Adeline was about to take out her coins but Nefriti stopped her and said, "Are you going to pay everything that he asks? You have to bargain first."

"Bargain?" Adeline didn't understand why there was a need to bargain when she had more than enough coins to pay for it.

Nefriti whispered in Adeline's ear, "Yes, they will charge you higher and take more profits if you don't bargain. And bargaining is the commoner's way, so we have to blend in."

Nefriti was trying her best to enlighten her sister. Nefriti and the others were already an expert on bargaining and she also wanted to show her bargaining skills to her sister. She confidently glanced at the shopkeeper and then said in a firm voice, "We will take this if you give it to us for 10 bronze coins. Else we are not buying it."

The shopkeeper smiled at Nefriti and then placed a counter offer, "How about 17? Look at the chain, it is one of a kind."

Adeline just wanted to pay the coins, grab the chain, and leave. But Nefriti kept on bargaining, "12?"

"16?" The shopkeeper replied.

"14. I will not pay one extra coin than that." Nefriti confidently replied.

Adeline's face was starting to turn red because she was feeling embarrassed about how Nefriti was bargaining for a few coins.

"Alright, I am only giving it to you at such a cheap price because you come here often." The shopkeeper packed the chain in a paper bag and handed it over to Nefriti.

But Nefriti glanced at Adeline with a proud smile and pointed her brows at the bag.

Adeline took the bag and paid 14 coins to the shopkeeper. And she carefully placed it inside her pocket.. She took a mental note to ask Nefriti about this bargaining logic later.