11 A Donut is all it takes.

Since Akari had a sensitive nose, she immediately caught the scent of blood in her sleeping state. It smelt quite strong, seeming to block her nose from inhaling the oxygen. She groggily rubbed her eyes and asked, "what's going on?." Since she woke up just right now, her eyes were covered by a mist, giving her the innocent and naive look. Nicole gently brushed her bangs and said softly, "why did you wake up? We still haven't reach the town, so get some more sleep. Brother will wake you up once we pass the town gate."

Akari scrunched her nose and subconsciously said, "I smell blood. I can't sleep." Nicole narrowed his eyes and glanced at Clara. He didn't want his little sister to know about the things, happening out of the carriage. Clara silently tapped the wall of the carriage, beside her seat. She had a fourth tier of wood magic, so she could easily erased the foul odour around her surroundings. She took out a donut from the basket. Handing the snack to her young miss's hand, she said, "young miss, I don't seem to smell such odour. Miss must have caught the sweet fragrance of donuts."

Akari sniffed the air, and was surprised that the scent of the blood was gone. Was her nose tricking her sense of smell? She looked at the donut in her hand and thought about it. Though she was asleep, she was sure that she smelt the scent of fresh blood. It emitted a foul stench, causing her nose to sting. She looked at Nicole and asked, "don't you smell the scent of blood?." Since Clara was a maid, she might not know the difference between the scent of blood and donuts, but what about Nicole?

He was the son of the Elmstone family, so he might have took part in fights and competitions, where intense blood could easily be smelt from the arenas. He would recognised the scent of fresh blood, right? Nicole stared at the suspicious eyes of Emma and lightly smiled. Affectionately patting her head, he said, "I don't. I can only smell the sweet scent of donuts. If you don't want to eat it, how about you give it to brother? Brother is hungry too."

From his view, Emma was a foodie and a nerd when it comes to books. Though she was always lazy, she was exceptionally active when it comes to food. If she find something interesting, then she would forget all about her surroundings. She wasn't cold and evil as before. Whenever she meets a maid or a butler, she would pleasantly smile and greet them. Playing the card of cuteness and silliness, she easily won the affections of most of the workers, working in the mansion. Emma was very sensitive to smells. She could easily guess if food is nearby, or when her father comes closer to her. Because of her sensitivity to scents, her father would usually avoid bringing any foul stench around Emma. But Emma had a main problem, she easily forgets things when someone mention foods.

As expected, Emma fogot about the scent of blood when Nicole mentioned donuts. Akari warily looked at Nicole. Pursing her lips, she cutely said, "ok, let's share." Breaking the donuts into two unequal half, she blinked her eyelashes. Without any hesitation, she gave the bigger one to Nicole, "Here. You can have the bigger one. I'm not hungry, so I'm enough with this." Saying so, she took a bite of her piece. Nicole hesitantly took the half donut and tenderly looked at his step sister. [Wished I said a sister like that. Wuuuuu]

Though he merely said it to distract her thoughts, he didn't think that she would share her donut with him. When he saw the two unequal half of donut, he thought that Emma woul give him the smaller one, but she unexpectedly gave him the bigger one. Nicole softly gazed at his sister, who was sitting on his lap and happily munching her half donut. Letting out a sigh in defeat, he took a bite of the donut. Though he never liked to eat sweet stuffs, the half donut was surprisingly delicious. Smiling, he rubbed his sister's head, "is it tasty?."

Akari stucked her tongue and licked her fingers. Hearing what Nicole asked, she nodded with twinkling eyes, "yes." For her, every food and snack were delicious.

Frowning, Nicole took out his handkerchief from his shirt pocket and gently wiped his sister's finger, "do not lick your fingers after eating. People might find it disgusting and unhygienic. If mom was here, she'll probably scold you for two hours straight. Don't do it again. Understand?." Though he sounded stern while saying these words, his action while wiping Akari's small fingers were so gentle, afraid that he might accidently break them, if he wasn't careful enough.

Akari knitted her brows, but she obediently nodded her head. Her food instincts told her to licked the crunches of the donuts clean. So she didn't think about her behaviour. Now that she was being reprimanded by Nicole, she decided to act accordingly. Although she wanted to roll her eyes for the words, 'unhygenic' and 'disgusting', she didn't. Nobles are really 'very hard to understand'.

While Nicole wiped her fingers, Akari found out that the two unknown men were missing in the carriage. Just as she opened her mouth to ask about their whereabouts, the said men opened the carriage's door and nonchalantly took their seats. Akari blinked and closed her mouth. She didn't think much. They probably went out for pissing or peeing in the woods. Since she woke up and also ate a donut, she didn't mange to fall asleep. She sat on the leather seat and counted how much gold coins she had.

According to what she read in the currency books from the library, different kingdoms had different types of currency. For example:

1. The dragon kingdoms use dragon coins. 1 Dc (dragon coin) = 200 gold coins.

2. The mermaid kingdoms use coral pearls. 1 Cp (coral pearl)= 200 gold coins.

3. The vampire kingdoms use precious stones as their currencies. 1 R (red ruby)= 100 gold coins. 1 S (sapphire) = 150 gold coins. 1 E (emerald) =200 gold coins.

4. Orcs and goblins kingdoms use a currency called jinjin. 1 jinjin= 50 gold coins.

5. The elves use a coin called Eel. 1 Eel= 300 gold coins.

6. Humans, witches, werewolves and beast men were the only creatures, who use normal currencies. Such as: 100 copper= 1 gold coin, and 100 gold coin= 1 R.

Later when a person gets 1000 gold coins, he/she would be able to exchange it for different types of currency. Such as Dragon coins or Coral pearls.

Likewise, every kingdom had different rules, to be followed by other kingdoms. For example:

1. The vampire kingdoms does not allow humans or werewolves to enter into their territories.

2. Although the elves welcome different races into their kingdoms, they strictly forbid the sexual affair of elves and other races.

3. Dragon kingdoms does not allow rude, noisy and undisciplined people to enter into their territories.

4. Orcs and goblins are strictly forbidden to have physical contacts with other races.

6. Witches aren't allowed to leave their kingdoms, until they reached the age of 25.

7. Humans were strictly against slavery.

8. If a beast men lost a match with other race, then he/she should kill themselves...and etc...

Akari was grinning in joy. Although she didn't ask a single coin of money to the young miss's mother, she received a bag of 500 gold coins. How lucky! She could try different types of foods by different races. Oh how she wished to reached the town within seconds! Akari was probably drooling for food, cause when Nicole looked at her direction, he flattened his lips in a thin line.

"Young master, we've arrived." When Akari heard the coachmen, her eyes turned brighter and livelier. She went to the window and slightly raised the curtain.

The sky above the land seems to be made of sapphire, caused it especially looked beautiful today. Small saplings covered the gravel road, making it looked like a road of grasses. Fifty meters ahead of the carriage, Akari could see the huge and wide iron gate, opened for the outsiders of the world to enter in. The people along the road were either carrying baskets of ingredients or riding a horse with heavy luggages. They were probably here for trading and marketting.

Akari peeked her head out and breathe in the intoxicating scent of nature. Oh how she missed the beauty of nature. When she looked beside the huge gate, she found five to six soldiers, patrolling and guiding people into the town. Well, it was after the travellers showed a thing like badge. Above the gate, soldiers wearing different colours of armours were standing in a horizontal line. Some held bow and arrows, while some had swords hanging on their wais belt.

When Akari wanted to see more, someone 'rudely' pulled down the curtain. Blinking, she confusedly turned to Nicole, who was sitting as if he didn't do anything. She climbed down her seat and decided to go sit beside Clara.

Just as her right leg touched the ground, she felt herself being picked up. She didn't struggle, afraid that she'll fall and break her nose. After the person made her sit on his lap, she raised her head and warily looked at him. Nicole kneaded his sister's hand and said, "always stay beside brother, ok? I'm afraid that you'll get lost, as soon as you step down from the carriage. I don't want father and mother to scold me later on."

Akari cutely blinked and reluctantly nodded, "Ok." She was actually planning to leave the useless brother and look around, but now it seems quite, 'impossible.' Wow...how depressing. Nicole smiled and rested his chin on his sister's small head.

Clara, who was sitting at the end of carriage inwardly rolled her eyes. Why does it looks like her young master was being too clingy to her young miss? Was it only her, who feels that the young master attitude towards young miss Emma was way more better than elder miss Ada? She must be hallucinating.

It didn't take too long for the carriage to get access into the town. Nicole first ordered the coachmen to find a decent inn, where they could change their clothes and stay in. Since they came for touring the town, they needed to atleast looked like normal citizens (oo...were they aliens before?). If they walk around the town with expensive clothes and jewelleries, wouldn't they get rob? Although it wasn't a problem for Nicole (you're what? 10), it couldn't be said as same for Emma (true, wasn't she kidnapped before?).

After finding a decent inn. Nicole asked Clara and Akari to get changed and meet them at the reception desk. Clara inwardly tsk, but she respectfully nodded on the outside. She didn't know why, but she already began to hate the young master (oo....jealousy is in the air....).

Since Akari loved her current hairstyle, she didn't bother to change it. She allowed Clara to removed her noble dress and put on a commoner dress. Although the design of the dress looked like the commoners, the smooth texture and quality of the dress clearly showed how much different it was from what the commoners called, 'normal.' After holding a cute flower basket, Akari looked like any normal citizen of the town. Bleh-No!

Akari looked more like an innocent fairy princess. Skin as white as snow, a pair of innocent yet mesmerizing violet eyes, adorable face and with a soft lovely voice, Akari would probably melt all the hearts of the people whom she meet. With a basket of flowers on her hand, she looked like a flower fairy, offering blessings to all who see her. When she blinked her eyes and smiled, she looked so cute that even the most cutest animal on the world would pale in comparison.

Carla had an urge to hide his young miss away. She didn't want any evil person to steal his miss away, including the young master of course. Akari looked at her caretaker, who was absent-mindedly staring at her. She tucked her skirt and asked, "are we done? Brother would be waiting for us downstairs." Carla snapped out her thoughts and nodded. She held her miss's tiny hands and led her down to the receptionist desk.

Akari immediately gained the attention of the people, who were either chitchatting or walking around the first floor. Without realizing the weird atmosphere around her surroundings, Akari searched for the useless brother's figure. Carla saw that the young master was sitting at the corner of the floor, beside the window. Sighing, she picked up her young miss and made her way over there.

When Nicole saw Clara, carrying a petite figure in her arms, he subconsciously raised the corner of his lips. He raised his hands and took Emma from Clara's arm. Placing her on his lap, Nicole affectionately rubbed his sister's head, "what took so long? Brother was already feeling drowsy. If it weren't for the tea accompanying me, then I would have slept by now." (Liar!)

Akari subconsciously turned her gaze to Clara. Knowing the look, Clara gave a wronged expression. Unwilling! She was unwilling, ahhhh! How could the young master steal her young miss away?!!

Akari patted Nicole's hand and coaxed, "there there. Emma is sorry for making brother wait. Won't repeat it again." Nicole turned to the right and let out a cough, replacing his amused laugh. After having tea and snacks, Nicole and his group left the inn to tour around the town. Akari was particularly excited and livelier than she usually was, so Nicole mind to reprimand her.

Ajadi didn't know. Didn't know that a huge trouble was on her way.