My Prince Charming

Chapter 9

Louis POV

I walked around the markets in an attempted peace, but it wasn't really working. People kept stopping me to get a picture or trying to become my friend, and I was just sick of it at this point. I was waiting for Sam outside of a clothing shop, and if one more person talked to me, I was going to do some things that would probably send me to prison if I wasn't a prince.

"I'm back!" 

"Finally," I muttered as I turned to my friend. The smile on my face morphed into confusion when I saw what he was holding.

"And why do you have that?" I pointed at the folded jumper tucked between his arms.

"Oh, I got this for you so you can walk around without getting noticed." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Alright, but what about those?" I gestured to the sunglasses placed on his head.

"Also for you. I have to get back to the palace to organise some stuff with that stupid guard from the ball. Will you be fine on your own?" He asked as he handed me the items.

I scoffed. "Don't worry. I learned from you, I think I'll be fine."

* * * * *

I walked out of the bathroom in my 'disguise.' I mean, I guess you couldn't tell that I was a prince, but it wasn't very creative. It was just a black jumper with a hood and sunglasses. Not very elaborate, but it'll have to do. Almost as soon as I started walking along the path, somebody walked into my shoulder.

"Watch it," they warned, and I found myself scoffing in disbelief. Who knew people could be so rude when you weren't of high status?

Oh wait, me.

This continued for most of the day, aside from a small few that actually apologised or said some nice words. I asked around if anyone knew anything about the woman, but they all denied knowing anything. Aside from some women saying that they were going to call Sam and tell him and that they are the woman I was looking for.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to call and say that I'm the girl he's looking for, and then he'll sweep me away and we'll get married and I'll become the queen and be rich!"

"No way, that's what I was gonna do!"

...ok.

* * * * *

It was almost the end of the market and I was still no closer to finding A. I might as well see what people are selling. 

I walked down the path, looking at every market booth. I ended up purchasing some other clothing, as well as a watch that was made of gold from a man in one of the first stores.

I had just passed the water fountain and made my way over to a fruit booth. There were trays upon trays of all types of fruit. I picked a few out and walked over to pay. In front of me were two women talking to the cashier in hushed voices. The cashier looked irritated and rolled her eyes at whatever the two were saying, and finally noticed me.

"Da da da, shut up." She immediately told the two as she looked at me, causing the two others to turn around. One had brown hair and the other had blonde, whilst the woman behind the desk had a slightly darker shade of brown than the other.

"He can wait," the girl with brown hair said and turned back to the two.

"Liv! No, now move," the woman opposite ordered, and the two moved to the side to make room for me.

"Thank you," I said to the women on my left, and while the blonde one smiled, the woman next to her grumbled under her breath.

"Sorry about that, sir, she just doesn't know when to stop," she sent a glare to the woman before looking back at me with a smile. 

"It's no issue," I state, and she takes the bag of fruits and begins to scan the fruits.

"So, your first time at the markets?" 

I looked up at her. "How did you know?" She pointed at the new watch on my wrist.

"Tyler sells knockoff watches. Claims that they're made out of gold." She looked up at me with a small smile as I let out a groan.

"Damn, I gave him quite the tip too," I grumbled. The woman giggled and continued scanning the fruits.

"Don't worry, he tricks a lot of people unless they get warned beforehand." She gave me a smile that reached her eyes, and I returned the kind gesture.

 Silence snuck its way into our conversation and I look around the table.

"Do you sell any newspapers?" I asked.

"We use to, we just stopped because everybody else was jacking up the price after the prince made the announcement."

"Ah, makes sense." Now was my cue. "What do you think of the prince organising all of this to find her?"

The brunette thought for a moment. "In my opinion, I think it's unnecessary." Well, that wasn't what I was expecting.

"What? Why?"

"Well, if she really wanted to be found, wouldn't she have just told him who she was?"

"While you make a good point, what if he just wanted to be with her?" 

She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked down at the fruits. "But what if she didn't want to be with him?"

I scoffed. "That wasn't what happened." With that, she stopped scanning the fruits and narrowed her eyes at me.

"You know, for someone who is meant to be in 'disguise', you're not doing a very good job at hiding, Your Majesty."

Oohhhhhhh, I see what I did wrong.

I breathed out a laugh. "I suppose you're right," I said as I removed the sunglasses from my face. I saw her mouth drop slightly once they were removed, but it was closed in an instant.

"Since you know that it is I, perhaps you could tell me if you know the woman?" She looked off to the side.

"I can't say that I do." I sighed and looked down at the glasses in my hands.

"If it doesn't hurt, Your Majesty-"

"Please, call me Louis. Just because you know who I am doesn't mean others need to know as well," I said with a small smile as I placed the glasses back to their spot on my face.

She hesitated with an awkward smile. "Louis," she corrected herself, "why are you actually looking for this woman?"

I gave her a small smile for a moment before it turned to a slight frown. "That evening, she said that she wasn't worth my attention and that I should just marry a princess." I bit the inside of my cheek. "I just want her to know that she's worth it."

"She definitely knows now. Ow!" 

I ignored the chatter of the women behind me as doubt started to creep into my mind. "But if you think that it would stress her out, maybe I shouldn't have done it." I dragged a hand down the bottom half of my face with a sigh.

"Well, in my opinion," the woman offered me the bag of fruits, "I think that she'll appreciate the thought." My doubt wavered as she gave me a smile. On a high, I paid her the amount necessary and walked back to the palace with a skip in my step.