Encounter in the Market
Today, Lilia and Clouie are out in town. The princess asked her for company as it will be the first time she was given permission to go out of the palace. She wondered at every little thing and people that passed by.
"Wow, the women are really wearing frivolous dress even here. It's a good thing that this town is spacious otherwise it would be really troublesome, right?"
Indeed, wearing as frivolous of a dress as you can get as if you are coming to a party is the norm here. Those dresses are a sign of social status in this country. Lilia was not sure if all the countries in this world are like this but that is how it is.
"Finally, I have the opportunity to stroll here."
Clouie began to laugh in an ominous way as she said how Charles kept on being arrogant because he gets to sneak off the palace and see the outside world while she, on the other hand, is stuck there. She claimed that she has already seen the marketplace but she was asked to back it up. Having no evidence whatsoever of her claims, she was declared by her brother as a liar. As she continued talking, that was when Lilia realized it was her chance to ask about Charles and his whereabouts. However, every time she did, Clouie would always find a way to stir their conversation away from Charles.
Meanwhile, as Clouie and Lilia were strolling around, a boy who was dressed in commoner clothes and as common as anybody, except for his handsome face, passes them by. In that brief moment, Lilia and Kiel's eyes intersected. However, Lilia having no impression of Kiel just let her eyes wander away. On the other hand, Kiel was a little excited as he realized that the person he saw was highly probable to be the novel's Lilia.
Why does he know this? It was because, in the novel, Lilia stands out as the only person in that world to have black hair. Not to mention a mole which was very coincidentally located on her left lower eye. For days, he was at a stupor as he didn't know any way to get close to any of the novel's character and his noisy companion has bugged him for days now. It's not that he was lazy. He tried… he really tried.
When he went to Count Horace's estate, he asked about Alice. He has forgotten how Alice's existence was a secret so when he asked about it, the guards' relaxed state immediately sharpened and asked him why does he think that a person named Alice lives there. He was chased away and was threatened never to go back.
Being chased away, he realized his blunder. In the novel, the servants of the Horace's were threatened with death if even a word about Alice gets out. He had thought about how the blame cannot entirely be put on those guards. Poor guards, his words might have caused them to wet their pants…
Since he cannot get to Alice, he thought of the creative solution of just going to Charles but the palace guards were even scarier than those count's guards. Before he can even say a word, he was threatened not to go back as his mere presence there may defile the eyes of the nobles who would go through its gates. It was at that moment that he had really experienced first hand this world's hierarchical discriminations.
He was feeling dejected as he had no way of reaching the novel's character much less orchestrate Alice and Charles meeting but he found a ray of hope when he laid his eyes on Lilia's figure. That villainess must have a way to contact Charles and Alice so he can't help but feel excited upon seeing her.
He thought of ways to establish a connection with Lilia as he creepily followed the two ladies. Having stalking as his only idea at the moment, he cannot help but criticize Lilia and her companion on their attire. He thought that they look more like they were ready to dance in a ball than take a stroll in a market. They look so very out of place and simply overdressed. There were several other ladies whose get-up was quite similar but theirs stand out by far.