"Good luck and good bye." He says, caressing your cheek gently before parting his soft touch from your skin. He gently opens the huge front door for you, revealing the fairly plain, beige looking carriage that awaited outside with a pair of black horses standing side by side of one another.
You hurry out the door and jump onto the road, opening the carriage door for yourself, being careful not to drop the case in the process. As you step into the carriage, you see the interior was light blue with dark, navy blue, cushioned seats facing eachother. The carriage was fairly small yet was big enough to hold four people.
You hurriedly gaze out the window as the sound of the horse's trotting at a walking speed begin to flood into your ears. There stood Kai, his dreamy white hair drifting in the wind like clouds in the sky. He waves you goodbye and you return the action, waving in a very energised manner and smiling in a way that said a thousand 'I'll miss you' s.
You sigh solemnly, feeling a heavy weight now in your heart as he fades out of sight, disappearing into the distance along with the home you grew up in. You face front forward, placing the light blue case on the navy blue seat in front of you, followed by your black satchel by it's side. You lean back into the cushioned seat, finding it slightly comfortable yet still not the best quality, in order to relax.
"We're making our way for Yunoaiu district, correct?" The driver questions, making sure that he got the right customer and right destination to head to.
Your head snaps up to face the small window in front of you that showed the back of the driver's head peeking through, bobbing up and down in time with the bumping of the carriage along the stone road. You calm down slightly, and nod as though we would be able to see you do so anyway. "Yes, that's correct." You confirm, your eyes trailing back out to the window, watching as people walked by and houses seemed to fly past your sight.
"May I ask why? If it's not confidential that is, I have no wished to intrude on private business." The driver states, trying to uphold a conversation with you in order to make the fourteen hour long ride a little more bearable and a little less boring,
"Ah, I'm delivering the outfit to the palace for the Emperor's tailoring competition. My boss made the outfit you see and he's quite busy so I'm making the journey in his stead." You respond, not wanting to give away too much information about your private life. Well, technically, you weren't lying. Your brother was your boss either ways and you were pretty much his favourite assistant. His only assistant at that.
"That makes sense. I heard that the winner gets to become the emperor's private tailor and that the emperor will even wear the winning outfit to his first matchmaking session." He replies, his voice barely just audible over the loud clicking of horseshoes against the cobblestone road.
"First matchmaking session?" You question, not having heard about that part of the competition prize before.
"Yes. It is funny really, the average life span of a person from Intuuin is one hundred and ten years old yet the emperor's grandmother insists that he finds a wife at the ripe age of twenty one. However, I heard that the young man is cold, heartless and cruel to everybody except his adviser and grandmother. After all, word does spread fast in Intuuin." The driver states, laughing slightly afterwards as he makes a turn.
"Ah.. it's funny how not much is even known about the emperor. From what I've heard, he's a bit of a fickle character when he wants to be." You reply, a small smirk cracking on your lips at your remark.
"True, I've heard so as well. He is a bit of a playboy, I would guess. Unfortunately, for the girls he plays around with, they all end up being mercilessly cast away as soon as he loses interest. Gosh, the emperor. I wonder if all these things are really true. He takes over the world in just three years, it blows my mind." The driver responds, his head visibly shaking form outside the small window as a small breeze sway the brown strands of his hair to the side.
You both continued to converse among yourselves about everything you knew about the emperor. It was true, despite the emperor being rich, proud, successful, charming, handsome and overall the nearest thing in humanity to perfection, his personality wasn't as perfect. He was indeed a bit of a heartbreaker, a good persuader, merciless, heartless and cruel. However, there is not definite back up to these assumptions and rumours the people have heard about him. Not to mention, ever since the emperor's parents died when he was such a young age, his grandmother hand been so protective over the emperor, not letting him out the play, not letting him greet his subjects at festivals and so forth. Overall, the emperor was just as mysterious to his own people as he was powerful to the entire world.
Soon enough, the sun had fallen beneath the world and the moon had risen, it's blue rays of moonlight twinkling beautifully upon every surface it came into contact with. You rested your head upon the cold and bumpy pillow of your faux fur scarf, which you also relied on to provide you with warmth form the cooler temperatures of the evening. Despite the late night, the loud noises of laughter, especially from drunk men, chatter and music was still reverberating throughout the lively and mysterious kingdom of Intuuin. During your sleep, the carriage slowly made its way into the Yunoaiu district, the district of the fortunate, famous and wealthy. Somewhere, where you would feel so out of place.
However, the sunlight slowly began to creep up again at dawn, the kingdom never seeming to die out. A new day was gifted to the people, and the usual morning errands were ran, the usual business and the usual sounds. Your eyes flutter open whilst you wiggle your fingers in a childish manner in an attempt to wake your hands up a bit more.
The driver of the carriage just so happened to hear you awaken and seemed to also hear the loud yawn you emitted from the back of the carriage, causing him to chuckle in a sleepy manner. "We're nearly there, girlie. We'll be there in just about five minutes or less." He informs you, finding it convenient how you had woken up at just the right time.
You stretch your arms forward and circle your ankles in order to stretch them slightly as well. You blink rapidly, making your eye sight clearer before looking out the window, excited to see what the Yunoaiu district looked like. Your [E/C] eyes widened to the size of saucers and you gaped like a goldfish at the extravagant sight. The people on the street wore the finest fashion couture, the latest trends and the most expensive fabric and jewels you had ever seen in your entire lifetime. The buildings were all several floors tall, some rising up to ten floors tall at the most. The buildings were made of white marble and the rooves were colourful, each seeming to be a unique and completely different colour of the colour spectrum. The windows were large, shiny and clean and nearly everything seemed to be lined with gold, just letting anybody know at a glance how wealthy the district was and how the quality of life was much above the average. In fact, compared to how things were at your home district, Ouiy, things seemed so different to the point you felt the ended to complain about how it was unfair. While they lived lavish and luxurious lives, everybody back in the Ouiy district was much less wealthy and everything was made of cheaper stone and/or wood.
You pout slightly at the sight but still could not help but smile slightly at how everybody was so up to date with fashion and how the couture was amazingly put together at every seam. You tap your chin curiously at the wealthy district before you before being interrupted by the driver.
"I'll be dropping you off at a fairly cheap inn that's within' a twenty minute walking distance to the palace. As you can already guess, even the simplest things her are more expensive than back at home. Gosh, I wish I was rich." The driver says, frowning slightly to himself as his eyes could not help but twinkle at the glamorous city that he drove through.
"Alright, that sounds good." You respond before deciding it would be best if you began gathering your stuff right now. You grabbed your coal black satchel and slung in around your figure before pulling the heavy case onto your thighs, now ready to exit the carriage as soon as he stopped. You reminded yourself mentally to be cautious like Kai had warned you to be, as well as swift and timid. You nod your head in resilience, wanting to do the best you could on your first journey to the big city, and an important one at that.
"We've arrived now," The driver mentions, slowing down the carriage before it comes to a complete stop in front of a tall building that looked just as extravagant as all the other ones. It was made of pure white stone with statues and details everywhere upon it, making it seem just that little bit more magical. The roof was purple, symbolising wealth and was made of high quality tiles. There was a guard next to the large glass door, the entrance, who looked too intimidating for his own good. "It was a pleasure driving you here, girlie. Goodbye!" The driver finishes.
You sigh, slowly getting out of the carriage with the heavy, sky blue case in your arms as you somehow managed to close the carriage door behind you. As soon as you do so and step onto the bustling pavement, the driver and his carriage drive away, leaving you all alone. Gulping nervously at the sight before you, you head towards the entrance of the supposed inn/hotel. The guard seems to look at you with a twinge of disgust as he opens the door for you, causing you to feel slightly insecure. "Welcome." He says in a monotone and listless voice as you walk pass, muttering a quick 'thank you'.
Inside, the reception was large and spacious. There was a large sitting area to the left, full of plants, flowers and white sofas spread about the area. To your right was an all you can eat buffet with an arrangement of dining tables and chairs spread about in that area. Then, in front of you was a long desk with about seven different people working. That is where you assumed you would need to pay for the accommodation and such.
Imagining how expensive it would be to stay in such a place, you sluggishly drag yourself over to the front desk, your shoes satisfyingly clicking against the black marble floor, in order to buy a room for yourself, walking under the large and breathtaking, crystal chandelier that managed to illuminate the entire reception perfectly.
You approach one of the people at the front desk, a tall woman with snowy pale skin with wrinkles beginning to form, long light brown hair and kind black eyes. She smiled surprisingly kindly to you and greets you,
"Hello miss. Welcome to the Veridalu Hotel, my name is Faye Yu. How may I help you today?"
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