Chapter 62 - Welcome To Civilization

"You... are serious?" The vendor asked, baffled. 

"I am." She nodded. 

Before she knew it, Harold was gently pulling her beside him and looking at her like she was insane. "Pants and boots?" He asked, slightly confused but he didn't show it. 

"Huh huh. Welcome to civilization." She said, smirking at him. 

He gave her a weird look before letting go of her. She didn't waste time before she returned to the man, asking for smaller sizes, but the man's face was suddenly red from anger.

"What a disgrace!" he said, hitting his table."How can a woman think about wearing pants and boots?" He asked with disgust laced in his tone.

That just seemed to get Alicia angry and she glared daggers at him. 

"Do your fucking job and sell what I asked you for! It's not as if I'm not paying for it." 

"Y-You! How... dare you?" The man asked in disbelief, clutching his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. He would never believe this, no matter how hard he tried. Not only did she want to wear pants and boots, but she was also swearing openly!

"God! I hate conservatism!" She exclaimed as she tried to take down what she wanted. When the man tried to stop her again, Harold, who had been waiting by the side, suddenly stepped in between them, looking at the man with an expressionless face, but his eyes spoke volume. 

The man wanted to yell at him, but there was something about Harold that made him swallow his words. He kept trying to find out who this young man was and why he dared to stop him until Harold released a few of his pheromones, causing the man's eyes to widen in shock, and a loud gasp to escape his lips as he realized who had been standing in front of his shop the entire time. Other werewolves around also knew who that was and began to take to their heels. 

The vendor had heard that the prince had been in the market but had left with his bride. Who would have thought that the prince was still here and, most importantly, this ill-mannered lady was his bride? 

He almost fell to his knees before Harold turned back to normal, tilting his head at Alicia behind him, "Give her whatever she wants." 

Normally, the man would have reminded him that it was taboo for women to dress like that. It was not like it was a written taboo and people would be punished for it, but it was just unimaginable. No one had ever tried it before, so he had no idea whether it was a punishable offense or not. 

He quickly ran inside his store to find everything Alicia had asked him to, almost falling in the process. 

"That was cool," Alicia said, tapping his shoulder twice as if she was telling him "well done," before she followed the man inside his shop. She wished she had whatever power he had to just look at people and have them doing what she wanted. Beth would have seen hell in her hands. 

She looked back at Harold, who was still standing there (wondering what he was doing right now, letting her do as she pleased) and beckoned for him to come in and test out something he would also change into.

Although Harold didn't like the quality of the clothes, and neither did he like that he was wearing what everyone else was wearing, he knew she would bother him until he changed into them.

'This is completely ridiculous,' he thought to himself as he stepped out after dressing up, also wearing a straw hat to hide his face from those who would recognize him.

He waited there with his back to the door while Alicia changed into her outfit. He turned around after some time when someone tapped his shoulder and looked down at Alicia, who was grinning widely as she looked at him. 

He looked down at what she was wearing, and although he found it VERY strange that a lady was wearing male clothes, it didn't look so bad on her and it made him stare longer than necessary. Her hair that was fallen was not tied into a ponytail, she wore leggings, boots and a simple dress she had picked earlier, which she tore around the waist, turning the long dress into a shirt. Everything looked very strange to his eyes. 

"What do you think?" She asked as she turned around for his inspection.

Harold cleared his throat as he answered, "You shouldn't be wearing that."

"This is more comfortable than those dresses," Alicia informed him before turning to look at the man who was trying to conceal his disgust and annoyance. He was ashamed that he had sold male clothing to a lady. 

"How much are we paying for these?" Alicia asked the man, who was cursing his bad luck for leading these two people to his shop. He couldn't extort them for fear that the crown prince would kill him, and now it would be known that he had sold male clothes to a lady. He wished he could ask them not to pay and just leave his shop with the clothes, but he was too scared to even do that. Not forgetting that he would be at a loss if he didn't take money from them. 

Seeing his reluctance, Harold took out some gold coins from his pocket and handed them to the man, whose hands trembled as he took the coins from Harold. "Thank you, Your Highness," he greeted, with a deep bow. 

"Hold on, let me get our clothes," Alicia said when Harold turned to leave, and she hurriedly went inside and brought out their well-folded clothes. 

Harold took the clothes from her as they left the shop. Once again, Alicia realized that if she had planned to blend in, she had failed woefully. Now people stared at her even more as they wondered why a lady was dressed in male clothes. She did not doubt that some of them would have accosted her had she not been walking in the company of a man. 

Harold pretended not to notice the looks people were giving them, and somehow he felt amused that, for a change, everyone was looking towards him for a different reason other than because of who he was.

Seeing how she kept walking gingerly like she had no care in the world, he could only assume that she was fine. As long as she was okay with it, then it was fine. Although it concerned him that she was strange and acted differently from the way a lady was supposed to behave, deep down he was glad that his bride wasn't some sort of weakling. 

Alvin, who had been following them from a distance, was surprised when he saw Harold dressed in the clothes of commoners, but he was even more surprised to see Alicia in male clothes.

Does Harold know just how much he was spoiling her and letting her do as she pleased?