[Music Recommendation: A House In Nebraska ~ Ethel Cain]

Oriana finally raised her face after they had walked a long distance without stopping. She looked around, not sure of where they were going.

"Where are we going?" she asked in a small voice, her hands now wrapped around Adric’s neck.

Adric looked down at the girl in his arms. "You’ll see when we get there," he replied and continued walking.

"I can walk now. Isn’t your hand hurting?" Feeling bad that Adric had been carrying her since they left the inn, Oriana asked him.

Adric smiled. "Don’t worry about me. Worry about putting on more weight."

Oriana frowned, feeling insulted. "I eat more than any elite lady I know," she huffed.

Adric shook his head and smiled, reaching a small inn that was still open. He brought Oriana down to stand on the small step.

The owner of the inn, an elderly woman, came out to receive her visitors, holding a dim lantern. "Welcome, are you travelers?" The woman’s face looked dull and bored as she scanned the faces of her guests.

Adric nodded. "We will take one room and a pair of shoes for the lady."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Where are you traveling from?" She had asked this especially because of Oriana’s dressing. "If you’re running away with someone’s wife, I can’t give you a room."

"Running away?" Oriana blinked. "No, we are married."

The old woman sneered. "You think I haven’t seen people like you? No man would let his wife dress this way in the middle of the night," the woman’s frown deepened as she paused for a moment. "I know what this is, forbidden love, aye? This inn has housed more forbidden loves than I can count." The old woman sighed, her voice sounding distant. "I’ll let you both in, for two gold crowns."

Oriana pursed her lips. "That’s too much for one room," she tried to bargain, but Adric pushed the coins into the woman’s hand, leaving Oriana speechless.

"Great! Now come, come. There’s just one spare room," she said, leading them inside.

Oriana turned to look at Adric. "You shouldn’t have given her all of that! She’s asking for too much."

"We don’t want to attract unnecessary attention. Let’s just enjoy the night," Adric said, holding Oriana’s back as they entered the inn.

The inside of the inn didn’t look as shabby as the outside. It had a decent interior, with candle stands at different corners of the room. On reaching a room, the old woman unlocked the door with a bunch of keys tied to her waist.

"This is the room. There is a towel on the bed. I will get you the shoe later. Do you want anything else?"

Adric shook his head. "Just the shoe that will fit her, and nothing else."

"Very well then," the woman removed one key from the bunch she was carrying and handed it over to Adric before she left the passage.

Pushing the door open, Adric allowed Oriana to enter the room before he joined her and closed the door, locking it with one click.

Oriana gasped upon entering the room; it was well-polished and looked nothing like what she had imagined. The room was well cleaned with a shiny marble floor and a spacious bed, the small candle burning at the corner gave the room the brightness it needed. She turned to look at Adric.

"Did you know the room was this clean?"

Adric nodded, removing his jacket to place it on the wooden chair.

Oriana knitted her brows together, going to stand in front of Adric. "You’ve been here before? With who?"

Adric raised his hand, touching Oriana’s forehead as he tried to press down the lines of frown between her eyebrows. "As much as you look cute being jealous, I don’t want you to have those lines of worry."

Oriana looked away, pressing her lips tightly. She couldn’t deny that Adric knew exactly how to make her calm.

"I come here sometimes when I don’t feel like sleeping in the palace. Especially when things get suffocating," Adric continued. "And I thought you would like it too, since you have always wanted to live a normal life."

Oriana blinked. "So you came here tonight because of me?" Her golden eyes darted left and right as she stared at Adric.

"Mhm," Adric nodded. "I remember you said you wanted your freedom, and you never wanted to live in the palace. I want you to know that you can still be free living in the palace. I’d never cage you. So right now, you’re not a queen, you’re just a normal person staying in an inn. So do what you want."

Oriana smiled, looking around the room. She walked towards the bed and touched it, then went to the bathroom to look around. Then she removed the other pair of her shoe.

"I’m not a queen? So I can dance like the ladies I saw today, and nobody would punish me for being unladylike?" She asked, her eyes curiously looking at Adric for answers.

Adric nodded. "You’re just any normal girl. Just Oriana."

"Yes!!" Oriana shouted. She climbed the bed and jumped on it, raising her dress up. "Can you see my thighs?" She pointed to them for Adric.

Adric watched the girl run around the room like a child. He remembered he had told her when she was a child that she would drown chasing her freedom. It wasn’t the case anymore. He decided to give her the freedom while still loving her to the death of him. With the war looming, Adric needed more time with Oriana as he was still unsure of the outcome, and he knew that they would be apart for a while if he should leave.

"I want to say something too, something a lady shouldn’t say." Oriana touched her lips, her heart beating very fast with excitement.

Adric gestured. "Go ahead."

Oriana clapped her hands. "Adric, I like it when you kiss me and touch me, and I always want you to touch me at all times because I enjoy it so much!"

"I believe you’ve said that before," Adric replied. "But I still love hearing you say it over and over again."

Oriana covered her face, giggling. When she raised her face, the smile on her lips dropped. "Are you not worried, I mean, angry that I’m not acting like a queen but a child? I mean, I like that you’re thinking about how to make me happy, but—"

It was still foreign to Oriana. She had fallen in love with Adric but didn’t mean she forgot about her past. Never in her life had anyone accepted her for who she was. Everyone wanted her to be normal...but what was normal? Oriana just wanted to be left alone in her own world.

Adric walked towards Oriana, holding up her chin to look at him. "You’re free to be yourself in front of me, and trust me, I’ll never get tired of watching you. You really make me smile, make me scared, and at the same time make me love you. You make me eager to see the next day because I don’t know what to expect. So yes, you can be a child in front of me and a queen to others. Always remember to let me know when things get overwhelming, and I’ll bring you down so you can feel freedom."

Oriana opened her arms and hugged Adric closely. "I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you all these years. You’ve always been saving me. I’m glad my heart never forgot you." When she raised her head, she looked at Adric. "Why didn’t you remind me the first day we met that you were the young master?" All this while, she thought it was Nicholas.

Adric hummed, he didn’t know when Oriana had remembered him finally but he was still happy either way. "But we are here now, are we not?"

Oriana nodded in agreement, as if she remembered something, she moved back. "Now tell me why you refused to take me earlier. I tried my best to dance for you."

Adric pulled her back, using his hand to hold her in place. "I had something better in mind." He brought his lips down, kissing Oriana deeply. When he moved back, his eyes now looked dark with desire.

"I wanted to watch you dance from behind," he said, and with one twirl, he bent Oriana over the table.