Needless to say, the guard let the group pass into the second district, soon enough the group stood in front of the large fountain, along with the three statues.
"That's the three heros?" Julia asked, his face expressed her awe.
"That's right, that's also my ancestor." Iris smiled, then pointed at Alan. "As well as that guy's"
"Whoa..." Julia seemed amazed.
And rightfully so, being the descendant of those hailed throughout the continent certainly was a prestigious status.
Just not for Alan.
Actually, why was she so amazed in the first place, Julia carried royal blood, her ancestors literally ruled the entire continent.
Shrugging his thoughts away, the group of four continued walking.
...
By the time the sun claimed the centre of sky, they reached the first district.
"Hmm." Alan hummed, quietly observing the surroundings.
The streets were clean to an incredible degree, Alan couldn't even spot a dust.
Few nobles roamed the streets, walking wrapped in silk and Jewries, practically flaunting their wealth.
The buildings were extravagant, every store was shining evidence to their quality.
"Yeah, I really don't like this place." Alan frowned.
"How come?" Iris asked.
"You're really asking?" Alan tilted his head towards her. "Don't you feel this place is more like a cage."
"Hmm." Iris shrugged. "I wouldn't know, after all, I spent most of my time at the royal castle and my duchy."
"You never went to those high-society parties?"
"Meh, I used to when I was younger, but grew up rather disliking them." She muttered, gazing at the stores. "It's full of people offering fake smiles to grow closer to your house, so I just stopped going."
"Guess you're a little different." Alan turned to Julia. "What about you?"
As a princess, surely she grew up living in luxury, was Alan's thought process.
But the moment he asked, Julia's expression clouded, her shoulders slumped as she stared down at her own boots.
Alan blinked, clearly taken aback by the intense reaction, he caught Iris's expression, slightly warning him by slowly shaking her head.
"Alright..." Alan changed the subject. "We're going to the castle now?"
"You two intend to go like that?" Iris asked, looking Alan and Lucian up and down.
"Huh, what's wrong with how we look?"
"Lucian, your hair is fine, but going wearing something like that definitely won't do." Iris answered, lightly shaking her head.
"Is that so." Lucian just nodded, currently he wasn't wearing anything impressive, just a plain black pants, white button-up shirt, paired along with a black overcoat.
"Now you." Iris's brows knitted, staring at Alan. "There is absolutely no way you're going like that."
"Eh, what's wrong with me?" Alan tilted his head.
"First off, that hair!" Iris pointed at his hair. "It's a mess!, makes you look bloody homeless, why have you not cut it already?"
"But my mum said I look handsome..." Alan pouted.
"...Are you a kid?" Iris furiously shook her head. "More over! Those clothes just tells everyone you're poor."
"Uh, it looks okay, though." Alan glanced down, he was wearing the exact same thing as Lucian, just with a black button-up shirt.
"Absolutely not." Iris turned to Julia. "Juli, what do you have to say about this."
"Well... they look cool?"
"All of you are hopeless..." Iris sighed. "Alright we're doing this, Alan you're up first, we're cutting your hair."
"No!"
"You can't go looking like that!"
"Hisssss!!"
"Are you an animal now? What the hell are you doing."
"Hisssssss!!!"
"Alan! Get off the floor!"
...
In the end, with Lucian restraining Alan, they forced him into a hair salon.
"You'll never catch me alive!" They entered the store while Alan cried out pure nonsense, he already caught what's he on about.
"Welcome to our store." A young man approached them before bowing. "How may I help you?"
"Can you do something for his hair?" Iris asked, gesturing towards Alan.
The young man glanced towards where she pointed, a blindfolded man, yelling while struggling against another person.
"Hmm." The employee nodded with a smile. "Well, certainly I could."
In the next moment Alan was seated, while strapped onto the seat with his arms and legs bound.
"Release me!" Alan shouted.
"Now then, how would you like it?" The hairdresser addressed Iris, entirely ignoring Alan's nonsense.
"Can you handle it?" Iris asked back.
"Of course." He smiled reassuringly. "Please leave it to me."
Alan watched as the man retrieved scissors from the table.
"Now then sir, are you prepared?" The man was grinning ear to ear.
"Nooooo!"
...
"How is it?" The hairdresser questioned.
"Uh..." Alan's mouth was hanging.
The stylist transformed his messy, wild, unkept hair into something.
The top and middle sections of his head were cut shorter, his bangs fell into wavy curtains just past his ears, framing his blindfold and jawline.
The bottom section of his hair remained long, flowing down to his shoulders like an onyx mane laced with dark purple undertone.
Slowly, Alan removed his blindfold, exposing his vivid eyes.
The haircut was a layered wolf cut, the style paired well with his upright pupils
"It's okay..." Alan murmured, still refusing to give Iris satisfaction.
"Oh, a Zevril is it?" The hairdresser smiled as if it were nothing.
Alan noted how he wasn't particularly surprised, probably the charm of the first district.
Still, nonetheless, Alan wrapped the dark blindfold around his eyes.
"You look completely different!" Julia exclaimed.
"See, I told you." Iris had a smug smile. "You needed a haircut."
"Shut up..." Alan averted his eyes, as much as he hated it, she was right, he looked much better right now.
"Alright how much." Alan asked the hairdresser.
"A gold coin, please."
"Haa..." Alan sighed. "Lucian."
"Yes." Lucian promptly tossed the man a gold coin.
Click
Now the group stood outside the salon.
"Well, we should be fine to go now." Alan said.
"Not so fast." Only to be quickly shot down by Iris. "That clothes of yours needs some proper fixing."
"Ah, don't worry about that." Alan smiled, then tapped his necklace. "My mum packed some outfits for me."
From within, three different sets of lavish noble attires popped out, all three designed with black and purple colour schemes.
"Then why haven't you been wearing them...?"
"Well, it's too cumbersome."
"But it looks better."
"So what? I like comfort over looks." Alan nodded to himself.
"Oi Lucian." Then called out to Lucian. "Aren't you gonna change?"
"...Out in the open?"
"Actually, good point, where do we change."
"Why don't you guys just change at the castle?" Julia suggested.
"What! Juli, being presentable is extremely important!" Iris shot back. "Especially in the castle!"
"But I don't think they care about being presentable?" Julia glanced at Alan and Lucian, both of them stood with an extremely aloof posture, their faces were almost bored.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask." Julia tilted her head curiously. "How come the two of you don't care for appearances despite being nobles?"
"Eh?" Alan didn't even need to think about it. "Because I'm a bastard."
"...Bastard?"
"Yeah, the illegitimate child of the family." Alan shrugged. "So I have the special privilege of no one giving a shit about me."
"What?" Julia was confused. "Do you not want to be with the Zevril family?"
"Hell nah." Alan waved her off. "They didn't care about me or my mother for ten years, so why the hell would I, the only family I got is my mum."
"Is that so..." Julia nodded quietly.
"As for Lucian." Alan gestured towards him. "He isn't a noble, probably? He's just a soldier."
"Yes." Lucian agreed.
"I see." Julia turned to Iris. "Well, let's go to the castle then."
"Alright..." Iris mumbled.
...
Step Step
An enormous structure came between Alan's viewpoint.
From the moment he entered the capital, he could already see the silhouette of the castle from the far distance, now he was almost there.
The castle had four different towers connected at the edges of the castle, pointing high into the sky, the walls were greyish black, from the distance, the surface refracted the sunlight.
"Finally here huh." Alan whispered.
Before the group was a massive-fenced gate, behind it was an upward slope path leading straight to the royal castle.
Wait, a long uphill?
"How the hell are we supposed to go to the castle?" Alan asked, glancing at the path behind the gates.
"Well." Iris rubbed her chin. "Normally, the path is more so used for carriages, rather than people."
"Well, yeah, I kind of put that together."
"There is probably a way for us to get up there."
"So even you don't know, huh."
Iris shrugged, as the two were idly chatting, Julia approached the gates.
"Julia Von Valenheart, the fourth princess has arrived, open the gates!"
The moment she spoke, from behind the gates, two guards rushed out, immediately opening the fenced gates.
"Princess?" One of them asked while bowing. "Where have you been since yesterday?"
"None of your business." Julia didn't even glance at him. "Take us to the castle."
"Understood." The guard glanced at Alan and Lucian. "What about those two?"
"My guests."
"...Understood." Obediently following orders, the guard led the group to a box shaped structure.
'A lift?' Alan thought, it certainly did look like one, along with its unnatural placement on the side of the path.
"Please enter." The guard gestured towards the open door.
Following instructions, all four of them walked in, the interior was fairly spacious, with windows on the side granting outside view.
"So uh." Alan looked around. "This some sort of lift?"
"Indeed." Julia confirmed, then pressed a small button on the side.
Thunk
The entire box jolted, then with the sound of cogs grinding, the lift begun moving.
"Whoa." Alan gasped, glancing out the window.
As the lift slowly traversed the long path, the view of the surrounding gardens naturally came to him.
The path was squished between an abundance of flower gardens, with colours ranging from red, purple, yellow, blue, pink, along with statues of animals.
Thunk
And within moments, the lift came to a stop.
"We're here." Julia announced, opening the door to step out, the three others followed soon after.
Something Alan noted to himself was Julia's behaviour, it was different from before, her clumsy and innocent attitude was now replaced by something else.
Her face was plain, his lips brought to a thin line, he couldn't see her eyes due to the blindfold, but her brows were slightly brought together.
He could tell immediately, Julia didn't like the castle, keeping his discovery to himself, Alan continued following her.
Before the group was a flight of stairs, leading up to a large wooden double door.
Step Step
The double doors opened itself before they even reached it, Alan was confused, but only for a moment, soon he noticed an old butler at the door.
"I greet the princess." He bowed.
"Hmm." Julia offered a faint nod in response, then asked. "Who is at the castle."
"As of right now, young master Alden and young lady Alessia are staying as guests." He smoothly replied. "The second prince has also returned just yesterday."
"Arlo?" Julia paused for a moment, her lips pulled to a faint smile. "Alright, you are dismissed."
"Yes, your highness." The butler bowed again, then swiftly withdrew.
"So then." Alan finally spoke up. "What are we doing."
"Well..." Julia muttered. "We should go to my garden first."
Iris's face immediately lit up, intrigued, Alan asked. "Your garden?"
"Yes my garden." Julia proudly smirked. "I built that place with my own two hands."
"You mean you personally planted each of the flowers?"
"Mhm!" She nodded eagerly, then paused, turning a wary squint at Alan. "Don't tell me you aren't fond of flowers..."
"Nah." Alan waved her off with a smile. "I actually like them, I'd love to see them."
"Really!" Her face lit up, before striding off at a fast pace. "Well, Let's go quickly then!"
'Ah, she's back to normal.' Alan entertained such thoughts before hurriedly following along, after all he much preferred seeing her lively expressions.