Chapter 11, Marks… So Many Marks.

Amara looked at Husani with a perplexed face and could not help but wonder what this story had to do with her. "I do not understand what this has to do with her?" She tried her best to tell him in the most honest way possible. "And why is that?" He asked her, the story did mention her but it was not about her. She had expected something more sad and tragic, not something about her dancing and fighting Kyan for the fun of it. "I thought you were going to tell me a serious story, not a story about something this unserious." She answered him. "Does every story about her be sad or serious?" This question left Amara a bit speechless, she does not know what to say back to him. "Not all the stories about her are about attempting to accomplish heroic deeds for trying to get noticed by the Celestial Gods above and others around her. Her stories can be about anything she had either witnessed or accomplished in her life from the day she was born till her death, she used to be a human or am I mistaken?" Husani smiled at her while looking at her shocked face, there are not many in this world who share this same mindset. Many blame her for her own death and saying that she should have seen it coming, this might be her first time hearing someone saying that Amara is also someone else who did other stuff than just trying to get noticed by the Gods for her heroic deeds. Amara could only let out a sigh with a smile and wonder who this man truly was and what type of secrets he held to himself. She took a glance outside of the window near them and saw that night was approaching soon. "I assume you have nowhere else to sleep for the night?" She asked him and Husani could only scratch the back of his head and remain silent. "I can let you sleep in my bed since I have work to attend to." "Really, at this hour?" He was surprised that she really had to work at this time of day. "Night shifts are not for the weak." She told him before trying to help him stand up. "I suppose you are right but do you not live here with others to earn Marks?" He asked her out of curiosity, she did not expect this question from him. "Yes I do, I live with my brothers however, we divide the money between the four of us to pay the house bill." This was the easiest lie she could come up with and he had believed her. She was not so sure if he would continue to believe her lie when he actually met them. She brought him to her room thinking not much of it. "I think you would like the furniture in my room, but it is a basic colour theme" She was worried that he would not like the way her bedroom looks, her thoughts changed when he said, "Why should I judge your room? Everyone has different preferences for things and who am I to judge?" He was right, there was no reason for him to judge her room. Why does she keep stressing about the smallest things about her around him? This is a question that she could not answer for today but perhaps another day. "If anything becomes uncomfortable for you, please let me know." "Yes, I will. But what should I call you?" Amara felt a bit hesitant when he asked for her name, she was not sure if she should lie about her identity or not. "My name is Amara, my parents were in love with her tale so they renamed me after her." She felt like honesty with a small lie on the side was the best option for this situation. She was also curious about how her name would sound if he would say it to her. "Do you have her full name?" He asked her out of curiosity. "Haha, I do not. It would have been funny if I did." Husani could only agree with her. "I am sorry Husani but I must go to work." "Yes you are right, I cannot take all of your time, sleep well Amara." He said, smiling at her. "You too Husani." He closed the door on her and then Amara decided to walk away from the door. She decided to actually go outside and find an alleyway to hide in and call over to the trio of chaos and ask how they were doing. As she was leaving the house to find an alleyway she felt eye's following her from every movement and when she turned around she could only see Husani staring at her from her bedroom window. She waved at him goodbye and he waved back and went inside the room. Amara was confused on why he was watching her from afar but she didn't put much thought into it. When she found a pretty abandoned alley she decided to call up the three of them at the same time. The first second when the call had started it was quiet, no one was saying anything until Mo Yue started to cry. "Your highnessssss…. I do not want do this job anymoreeeee!!!!!" He whined out, Amara was not pleased with his whining at all and thought of him as a little child asking for forgiveness from their parents after doing something they regretted. "You will survive, man up little child." She said towards him and ignored his tears. "Why are you such a mean princess!" Ryo and Kane could only shake their heads as they witnessed everything going down. "Do you not want to eat well?" She asked him, making him realize he is earning Marks to feed himself and quickly changed his expression. "I suppose I do want that… I was just uhm… Joking around!" He answered her, it was a quick lie came up with but Amara could only leave out a small laugh at him. "Princess before I forget to mention, something weird happened when I was busy doing my commissions." Kane said and Amara gave him the approval to continue talking. "While I was busy finishing my commission there was a wildfire out of the blue! This normally does not happen, especially with no leads." Amara thought about it and made her also think of the random forest fire at her commission. But since she does not have any more leads to the fire situation she could only scrap it as an accident and now with what Kane said is true this could not be coincidence. But with what proof could she connect this fire as not an accident? Amara wanted to think about it but Ryo started to suddenly speak. "Ah, before I forget to tell you Princess. You have been invited to Her Majesty's birthday banquet." Ryo sent over the invitation scroll to her and Amara looked at it with mixed feelings since she did not know if she should be happy or annoyed about this invitation. She wants to decline the invitation but people might either think she is rude or trying her best to ignore the high status Celestial's. Ryo saw the concern on her face and added to his previous sentence, "Her Majesty would understand why you do not want to go, she doesn't want you to force yourself." She will feel even more bad if she now declines the invite after what he said. "I will look around if I have a dress for the banquet." She said with a smile. Ryo felt like she shouldn't show up and wanted to say something about this but held himself back. Even if he tries his hardest to reason with her, she will just act like a stubborn person. An awkward silence occurred in the call and Mo Yue couldn't take it any second longer. "If you are so worried about her highness perhaps Alijah or Prince Nolan should go with her." It was not a bad idea and Ryo agreed with him. "You're right! Just which of the two should go with her." Both of them start to discuss this idea and think about ideas of making her stand out at the party while Amara and Kane are just staring at each other with judgemental faces. "They're acting like we are not right here." An annoyed face appeared on Kane while he said that and Amara agreed with what he said. "If you guys figure it out please do tell me." Amara said before ending the call, she was not going to sit there in silence and watch them acting like they're her dad. As she looked up to the sky she noticed the moon and stars were still up, Amara's small little request had worked now. After calling Alijah about the issue that there was something wrong with her call-time he quickly tried his best to fix this issue. Normally if a Celestial One calls with someone time would go slower on the side where your body is but for some unknown reason Amara's call-time was not functioning properly. She decided to do some groceries before returning home and not make herself suspicious of Husani. This gave her time to look around the area and try to get an understanding of what the town is like. Amara bought soft food for Husani since he is still injured and should not eat anything that is not easy to digest for him. She started to make her way home after looking around a bit and buying food thinking about what she should make for him as breakfast and lunch. She snapped out of her thought after seeing her promise ring shine for a bit. This also happened many times when she was locked up in that prison, she decided to tap on it but nothing happened. "What a strange thing." She let out before continuing her walk home. When she arrived it was quiet and peaceful to her. "Husani probably went to sleep." She muttered to herself while she put the things she bought away. She felt at ease after hearing the silence after 200 years of being alone; she enjoys it more than she could imagine. But now that she is in the human realm she noticed something weird, ever since she has been here there were only strange phenomenons happening to her. More than just once, after meeting Husani she feels as if this was planned. The more she thinks about it the more her head starts to ache in pain. She tried her best to calm herself down first and not think so seriously about the situation. She felt a bit tired after all that thinking of weird situations, the birthday party banquet and her core. She went over to the couch and lay down on it and rubbed her temples while closing her eyes. Sleep and a good dream is all she needs, she is not asking for more. She was awoken by the smell of tomatoes and spices, she slowly started to look up and see who was in the kitchen. It was Husani making some type of dish and when they made eye contact he smiled at her. "Sorry, did I wake you up Amara?" He asked her, and she shook her head in response. She sat up and tried to get fully awake, she noticed it was morning and yawned a bit. Husani also yawned after her, she stood up and walked over to him to see what he was making. "You're quite skilled with the knife." Amara commented after seeing how perfectly he cut the ingredients. "Haha, you think so?" Husani felt a bit flustered at her small compliment and avoided eye-contact with her. Amara stretched out a bit before walking away from him and to her room. She felt like changing into clothes that were a bit comfortable for her and also looked around if she had a dress for the birthday banquet but as she was searching for a dress she noticed she had none in her clothes. She did not want to believe that she had no clothes for the event and started to search deeper in her closet, she did not realise that Husani saw her struggling to figure out what to wear from her clothes and asked her if something was wrong. "Oh right I haven't told you yet." Amara said. "I am invited to a birthday banquet." Husani was a bit surprised that she was actually struggling to find something to wear for such occasions. He thought she would at least know what to wear. "Do you need help picking out a dress?" He asked her. "It would be nice if I even had a dress to begin with." She said, "I threw away my dresses since they did not fit me." Husani felt a bit bad for her after hearing that. "Do you want to look around the town if they have anything good?" Amara liked this idea. "We could but I have no Marks to spend so maybe another time." Husani looked at her for a second before saying, "Who said you were the one who was going to pay?" This shocked her a bit, she thought he was joking at first but after staring back at him he seemed serious about this idea. "Are you sure about this?" She asked him and he nodded in response. "I guess I can't decline your offer." She said while sighing with a smile. "We will look around the town at noon." She told him and he understood, he left her room and Amara could only smile at the door before stopping herself from smiling. She was normally the one who would offer these things and now that someone else is doing it for her she feels a bit happy. She made herself ready while Husani was waiting for her in the living room. She was excited to go shopping for new clothes. She did not know if she was excited to buy new clothes or if she was excited to go outside with a person she perhaps can call her friend? When they were ready to go outside Husani prepared the breakfast he made for him and her in a small container. They decided to go with a carriage to the center of the town because the big clothing stores would be there. "Do not forget to eat your breakfast while we are still in the carriage." He told Amara and she rolled his eyes at him wondering why he was acting like he was her father. "Yeah, yeah I will." She told him before unpacking the container, he made her a light sandwich with tomato and bacon in it. She was not so sure if it would taste good since she is not a big fan of bacon but when she took a bite she was surprised at the taste. Husani looks at her with a pleased smile, knowing that she enjoys his cooking makes him happy more than anything. When they arrived at their destination they decided to look for a clothing store first and then a jewelry store later on. And if they have time left they will go to dinner before returning home. Amara decided to point at a cheaper store to look for dresses but Husani quickly shut down that idea. "Amara, I do not think the material they use will suit your taste." When she pointed at a different one he shook his head. "Look at how the clothes are put to show, it does not look well maintained." Every time she pointed to a less expensive store Husani had a different reason why they were not good enough to enter. Amara finally gave up after she heard another good reason to not enter the less expensive stores and sighed. "Where do you think we should go then?" She asked him with a defeated face, he was quite amused with her reaction and he put his hand on her shoulder to bend over a bit. "Over there." He whispered in her ear and pointed over to a small store that many people ignored. She was judgmental about it at first but when they were in the store she was surprised to see many dresses she found beautiful. The style of the clothes reminded her of her past a bit, Husani picked out many dresses for her to wear. He wanted to choose the best one that would make her stand out in a crowd. Amara normally wears dark red with silver. He thought it would be nice if she would try something out of her comfort zone, the first dresses that Amara wore were dark autumn colors but something told him that was not it. As stunning she looked in them it didn't give him a mouth wide open reaction. When Amara finally came out of the dressing room with a white dress that showed her curves and it would make her make up probably look good. He did not know what to say but just stared at Amara with awe in his eyes, he was surprised at how well the dress looked on her. The colors and design does not only suit her body and face it also makes her look like a Goddess, a real Goddess. Amara starts to feel a bit embarrassed because of him staring at her for a long time. "Does the dress not suit me well?" She asked him in a worried tone, Husani quickly waved his hands around. "No it is not that, you just look absolutely stunning in it." The comment that he made Amara feel a bit flustered, she did not expect him to be so sincere with her about this. She thanked him in a shy manner and twirled her braid a bit before gazing into his eyes. The assistant standing between them felt like she was in the middle of something and felt a bit awkward, she coughed a bit and asked them if they needed something else. Husani bought Amara five dresses in the end and the white one double just in case an accident would occur at the party. Amara felt like she should repay him back once she had earned enough marks, however she was thankful for what he said to her. The compliment will linger in her mind until the day she dies. Husani went with the assistance to pay for the clothes and it gave Amara time to look at how she looked in it at the mirror near her, she did not know if this colour really fitted her but if Husani says it looks good on her she will wear it. After some time they headed over to the jewellery store near the clothes store after Amara tried to do the same thing by pointing at the cheap stores. At some point Husani told her that one of the stores was selling materials that would make her skin itch and she did not want that. They decided to look for necklaces for her that would fit her earrings. Husani took a quick glance at her ring before he started to space out a bit, Amara was a bit worried at how he was acting when he saw the ring. It was the ring Kyan gave her on her nineteenth birthday, she really kept it to heart when he asked if she could do that. She did not want to get rid of it after her becoming a Celestial Princess. "Are you okay?" Amara asked him. "Huh? Oh yes I am fine. Do not worry." is what he said but Amara was still a bit worried about him before she could ask him if he really was fine her ring started to flash for a quick moment. She hoped Husani did not notice it and glanced over to him but he only smiled at her, feeling relieved they decided to buy her a necklace that would fit her dress and other jewelry. Although she looked good in silver she wanted to try a different color this time, the earrings she had from Aire is something she does not want to hold onto any longer. "Can we get a necklace and new earrings?" She asked him, without a single thought going through Husani he immediately agreed with her request. "What type of earrings would you prefer? Or would you like me to choose for you again Amara?" After hearing that Amara looked around for a bit before pointing at a teardrop earring set and Husani took his time thinking if it would suit her and he approved of it. "That teardrop necklace would suit your earrings as well." He said while pointing to the necklace at the side of where the earrings were placed. "Would you also like to change your rings?" This question made Amara look at it and cover it with her hand. "I am fine, I will keep this ring." Husani looked at her with a soft expression and understood her answer to his question. To 'clear' up the mood he also paid for the earrings and necklace and Amara could not help but feel bad for the amount of money he was spending on her. This type of stuff, especially for high class people, is not cheap. Normally a Duke or Duchess would be spending this much money on a wedding occasion, not a birthday party. She could not understand why he was doing all this for her. When they left the store Husani decided to carry all the bags, Amara felt a bit shy with all the people staring at them. They were whispering about how Husani looked and a girl tried to approach him. "Good afternoon dear sir." She said to him but he showed no sign of interest towards her presence. "Would you like to stay with me at an inn and have a little chat?" She reached out to touch his arm but he quickly dodged her hand. " Do not touch me, I am not interested." The girl felt hurt by his answer and wanted to get a little bit closer to him and say one more thing but decided to remain silent after catching Amara's glare. She felt her heart drop for a second and backed away a bit from Husani before running away as fast as she could. Amara could only scoff at the running girl while Husani was laughing at Amara's reaction. "You should cover your face a bit, people will be distracted by your face." She told him. "Oh? But I already am covering my eyes, isn't that enough?" He teased her. "...I suppose you are right."