Later that day, Vance woke up with two beautiful eyes staring at him and a finger pressed against his nose. "Miss Alice, are you taking advantage of me?"
"I…." Alice's face turned red. She went to roll away and get up to hide her embarrassment but she was quickly pulled back into Vance's embrace and her lips covered by his. A wake up kiss was also quite nice, Vance thought as he made the girl in his arms melt into the kiss.
When their lips parted, Alice pouted as she pushed Vance away and got up. "No fair!"
Vance chuckled and stood up as well. "Let's get some food then switch to a single bedroom?"
"Mmm…." Alice did not object. She also found it kind of dumb to have two beds now. She slept quite soundly just now and did not plan to sleep in her own bed tonight either.
Vance had only been joking, but with how quickly Alice answered, he pursed his lips and nodded his head. The two went downstairs where Vance asked if they could switch to another room since they got a double by accident. After a bit of haggling, he got back a few silver. Mainly because he did not do much of anything in the room. With the new key, the two sat down at the table and ordered the daily special. "Orgoon meat and wild tailspin salad. With a mug of amber ale. Sounds pretty good." Vance had had these before when he played the game. He liked each one since they all had unique tastes that you can only get in game. He could understand why they would be in a special together as they all complemented each other quite well.
The two ate their food and drank their ale as they talked. "Vance, what do you plan to do after this is all over?"
"Me, I will be going around and trying to grow stronger. I don't really want to settle down anytime soon. I want to be strong enough that even the gods can't stop me." Vance replied with a smile. He then asked: "What about you?"
"I…. I might have to attach myself to a certain someone and grow stronger with them." Alice's cheeks were red as she said these words with a bit of uncertainty in her voice. Her eyes lowered but kept sneaking glances at Vance to see what his reaction would be.
"I see…. If that is the case, this certain someone is a lucky person to have a cute girl like yourself want to attach herself to them." Vance was not stupid, but he still had to see how things went with this life quest before he could hope for more. If Alice truly did wish to follow him, he saw no reason not to. The girl knew how to fight and was strong. She was the perfect support for a sword mage.
Alice's lips curled up as she nodded her head. "They are truly lucky."
The two continued to chat about this and that, getting to know each other better. When they were done, it was already getting late, so they decided to retire for the night. The new room only had one bed. They both took turns bathing before laying down in just their underwear. Alice felt bashful but did not cover up as she snuggled up next to Vance. The two kissed for quite a while. Vance wanted to test the waters to see what he could get away with but chickened out in the end, afraid he would scare Alice away.
Alice did not even think that far. She was still engrossed in kissing since she enjoyed it quite a bit. If he had actually made a move to go further, it was still up in the air on how she would react. After a while of pillow talk, the two fell sound asleep.
The next morning, Alice sent out a message. And not even two hours later, a young woman was sitting in their inn room staring at the two people in front of her. "Can you explain to me why you pretended to be my family member?" The girl asked with a bit of anger and worried in her voice.
"Sally, just because I took a few potions to hide my identity, do you really not recognize your princess?" Alice's lips curled up into a teasing smile as she leaned over and whispered a few things into Sally's ears. Sally's eyes opened wide and her face flushed red as she yelled out: "Don't you dare tell anyone!"
"Hehe… So do you now know who I am?" Alice asked.
"I do.. But Pr-Miss… I must ask you…. Why are you in a single room with a man?" Sally looked at Vance with eyes that asked, what did you do to my sweet and innocent princess? Do I need to chop off your man thing? Her eyes said quite a bit.
"Sally, leave Vance alone. Not only are we pretending to be husband and wife, but he and I are a kind of…." Alice blushed as she looked up at Vance for help in explaining.
"We are together," Vance stated bluntly. He really did not care about being discreet about anything.
Sally's eyes went wide as she looked back and forth between the two. As if to confirm it, Alice hooked her arm with his, causing Sally to feel as if the world had just stopped rotating and was about to explode. "Pr-Miss! You can't just go around with some rando….'
"Sally! You have no idea what I have been through and how much Vance has done for me. He did everything without asking for anything in return. If I did not offer to help him settle his parents down, he would not have asked me for anything. Everything I have right now is because he was willing to spend money on it. Plus…. We only got together yesterday. We just so happened to share a kiss and it was enough to make us realize how we feel."
"But Miss! This…. Man, did he use some crazy magic on you? Look at him! He is dressed…." Sally did not feel that Vance was good enough for her princess! He did not look the part.
Alice was starting to get mad. Sally was reminding her of that other girl who judged a book by its cover. But as she went to say something, Vance stopped her. He looked at Sally, cutting her off, and said: "It's fine if you think that way. To be honest, I do not care how others see me. But I will say this. Even if you disagree, what can you do about it? Ultimately it is up to us how we go about our personal lives. While we may be together now, if something happens later. We might be split apart. Such is fate. Don't get me wrong, I will never push Alice away. To be honest, I wish she was not a princess, but such is life."
Vance was just being honest. He did like Alice, but so far, it was just attraction and not pure love just yet. He would not mind being with her from now on as they grow to know more about each other, but that was still up in the air. Alice also knew this, but it still pained her to hear it out loud. But she did not cry. She could only nod her head. "While I hate to say it, Vance is right. It's not the words I wish to say, but if something does happen during this time. There might not be a chance for us to continue as we are. So, for now, I would rather enjoy the moment."
"I see…" With so much said, there was no way Sally could speak otherwise. It seemed they had already figured all of this out. "Fine. I will ignore the man. Miss, why did you call me? To be in such a situation, I can only guess that something happened? Did that brother of yours make a move!?"
Sally was quite quick on the uptake. Alice nodded her head as she held out a sealed envelope. "This letter is for my uncle. It has a seal on it that only he can open. Take it to him and have him read the contents. You will not be able to get near my father, but my uncle is a different story."
"Is it okay for her to go alone? What if something happens?" Vance felt this was still iffy. If Sally went alone but was followed here by some of the prince's people, then there is a good chance that she might not be able to go to the king's brother's house.
"If we go with her, it will cause more suspicion." Alice also did not feel it was right for her to go alone either, but this was something they did not have any control over.
"It's fine. I do not plan to go out the front. I will be going out the back through the alley and will walk the long way around. That idiot can't pay off too many guards at one time, or his actions will be discovered. I will be back in three hours. If I am not back by then, then something happened to me." Sally had been trained from young to protect the princess, so she was not afraid of dying. Of all people, only she could be considered the most loyal to the princess.
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