1 Chapter 1 : The Crystal Kingdom (1/2)

Usui with his companions arrived and they were in awe with the kingdom. A lot of stalls on either side of the path , children running about and on top of the hill a big palace made of crystals.

As they were a day early for the competition , they planned to check in an inn to avoid being noticed by soldiers and to know about this place unobserved. Being a prince, Usui had not enjoyed this kind of normal atmosphere for a while and was excited to experience it. They disguised themselves as common people and left their rooms to eat outside.

Usui wanted to walk around the market, He along with his companions started visiting stalls , the people were so kind that they allowed him to have free foods as they figured he was new to the place as he was wearing clothes foreign to them.

When moving from a stall of fried dumplings, suddenly he felt something tugging the hem of his shirt and as he looked down , that something turned out to be a small child. The child was close to his tears and said ” Big bro, Help me!!! I lost my way and am hungry. I want to look for my parents. Please take me to them. ”

Usui scooted down and asked ,” Boy, What's ur name?”

The boy replied ” Rin”

Usui gave Rin some of the food he got from the stalls. The child ,on seeing this, his eyes sparkled in delight and started eating like he hasn't seen food in a long time which made Usui laugh.

On seeing that the place was getting crowded, Usui held onto his hand and started walking while he asked about his parents.

”How did you lose your way?” Usui asked Rin when he noticed the child was looking around searching for someone.

”I noticed a stall which was selling lots of hairpieces and thought of buying it for my sister , so I ran to the stall and bought them but lost my mom in the crowd.” Rin said dejectedly.

Usui ,on hearing this asked his companions to go search for his parents while he accompanied the little child to walk around. It was noon when they had reached and they had ample amount of time to find the child's parents.

Rin was staring at each stalls and even stopped at few to look at some items . The child looked at Usui for a long time hesitating on something and finally decided to ask him , ” Big bro, Would you lend me some money? I will return it to you as soon as I meet my parents or sister.”