Chapter 11: Ten

Xavier realised too late that he had just exposed his true identity to Maria, so he quickly racked his brains for an excuse. 

“I, uh, had some official business with the post office to attend to.” He bent down and helped her gather the flowers that had spilled out of her wicker basket on the cobblestone street. “Are you selling these flowers today?” 

“Mm, mm!” she said happily. “These flowers just bloomed in the garden across from my home, so I went to pick them and sell them at the market!” 

“Look, little miss, it’s not good manners to go picking other people’s flowers…” 

“But the garden has been abandoned for so long, I don’t think its owner would mind?” 

Xavier smiled and patted her on her head gently. “Sure, sure. Alright, little miss, how much for the flowers?” 

“T…ten copper coins apiece!” 

“Here you go, better hold on to them carefully, little miss.” He gave her five gold doubloons and took the basket of flowers from her hands. 

“B-big brother, I…t-thank you very much!” Maria cried and began to bow profusely in front of him. 

He quickly stopped her by grabbing her arm and smiling nervously. “Um, please don’t do that, I will feel awkward…”

“B-but Big brother—” 

“It’s okay, just treat it as a birthday present.” He eyed a bakery off to the side of the road ahead and pointed at it. “I bet you haven’t eaten yet, right? Let’s get some lunch together.” 

 

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Bringing over a silver tray stacked with all kinds of delicious-looking tarts and scones to their table, Xavier could hardly place down the tray before Maria leapt up and started grabbing the nearest pastries to put on her plate. 

“Little miss, the food isn’t running anywhere, calm down.” He gave an amused smile and took his seat at the table. It was still a ways off to lunchtime, so the bakery wasn’t especially crowded at this time of the day; other than them, there was just an elderly couple sitting in the opposite corner of the store and a barista in her early twenties manning the counter. 

“This place sure is nice, man…” he murmured, looking around at the spacious interior. The walls were a soft white that was almost a light grey, resembling the colour of fresh chalk, and the mottled glass window panes diffused the natural sunlight streaming in so that it had an almost velvety quality to it. The sparkling black-and-white floor tiles followed a minimalistic checkerboard pattern. Although it wasn’t really colourful and vibrant, he appreciated the simplistic design of the bakery and made a mental note to revisit the store in future. 

“Sir, your order is ready.” The barista came over and set a dainty porcelain saucer in front of him before placing his cup of coffee atop it, along with a gold-trimmed cream pitcher. 

“Thank you.” He paid for the drink and the tray of food and tipped his top hat to her in a token gesture. 

“Big brother Xavier, do you always do that with that weird black hat of yours?” Maria asked in between mouthfuls of butter scones. 

“Why, yes, of course.” He reached over to take a chocolate tart from the tray and popped it into his mouth. “If not, what’s the point of wearing a top hat outside? It’s the most tell-tale sign of a gentleman, and anyone wearing it must obviously follow the customs of a gentleman.” 

Her eyes widened in admiration. “Wow, how do you know all this, big brother?” 

“Experience, Maria, it’s all about the experience.” He paused and continued with a smile, “do you know what is called ‘social distance’?” 

She shook her head and leaned forward to hear his explanation curiously. 

“Let me ask you one thing: have you ever interacted with a member of the nobility, or been approached by one?” 

“N-no, why would I…” 

“This is a prime example of ‘social distance’,” he explained. “Commoners tend to mix more with commoners, and the nobility tend to mix more with nobility. The intangible separation between the two social groups is what’s known as the ‘social distance’. By wearing this top hat, I’m ‘bridging’ this distance between commoners and nobles. My heart is a commoner, but I act and speak like a gentleman, so I can easily assimilate into both groups. This is one hallmark of a master conman, little miss.” 

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Maria eagerly nodded her head. “Big brother Xavier, you’re so impressive!” 

“Heh, no, not really. Please don’t follow in my footsteps, alright?” He poured the creamer into his coffee and stirred it a few times before taking a sip. “My, this coffee blend is absolutely delicious. Maria dear, do you want to have a taste?” 

“Yay!” She pressed the cup against her cute pinkish lips and slowly drank it. “...ugh, it’s too strong, big brother Xavier.”

“E-eh? Really…?”

“Oh, right, I forgot to ask big brother! How was attending the princess’ ceremony in the palace? Did you manage to see Her Highness?”

He gave a chuckle and rested his chin on his hands. “If I told you I personally met with Her Highness, do you believe me?” 

“Hmm…of course! Big brother Xavier is the best conman out there, after all!” 

“H-hey, little miss, please don’t shout the word ‘conman’ so loudly…” He glanced around at the bakery before turning to her. “But you know, something strange happened to Her Highness during the ceremony.” 

“Something strange?” She cocked her head to the side in a mixture of confusion and surprise. “What happened to Her Highness? I didn’t hear anything about it.” 

“Of course not, the palace has been hush-hush about it to protect their reputation.” Xavier nodded his head and folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t really understand the exact reason too, honestly—” 

The front doors suddenly burst open, slamming against the walls loudly and catching everyone, including him, by surprise. A newspaper boy donning a dirty dark-grey cap and black tweed coat rushed into the store, waving the morning newspaper in his hand excitedly. 

“Extra! Extra!” he shouted at the top of his voice. “Read all about it! The King just announced a grand reward of ten thousand gold doubloons to anyone who can cure Her Highness!”

For a moment, stunned silence fell over the bakery. 

“T-ten thousand gold doubloons, you say?!” Leaping up from his seat upon hearing such incredible news, Xavier quickly approached the newspaper boy and purchased one copy from him. 

“Thank you, kind Sir!” The boy rushed out of the bakery and onto the street, hollering at the top of his voice, “extra! Extra! Come and get your copy now!”

Maria jumped off her seat and joined him, tip-toeing to peek at the large headlines plastered over the front page.

“「Princess Anastasia struck by unknown crippling malaise—Reward of 10,000 Gold Doubloons to any individual able to cure Her Highness」” She nearly screamed out loud upon reading the headlines. “Big brother Xavier, you didn’t tell me that Her Highness had fallen sick!” 

“N-no, I didn’t think it was this serious…” His eyes were riveted to the second part of the headlines. “Ten thousand…oh my Lord, this is actually big news!” 

If his prior knowledge of the empire was correct, the entirety of the empire’s reserves amounted to about 100,000 doubloons—able to support the empire financially for ten years at the very least. A reward of 10,000 doubloons wasn’t something to joke about, he realised with a shiver of excitement. If he played his cards right, he could live out the rest of his lifetime as a wealthy lord instead of a lowly commoner!

“I have nothing to lose anyways, might as well take the gamble,” he murmured to himself as a plan began to formulate in his mind.

“Big brother Xavier, you must be j-joking, right?” Maria tersely asked. “T-this is the King we’re talking about, you can’t possibly fool His Majesty…” 

“Little miss, at the very end, His Majesty is just a normal human being just like us,” he said in a low voice and grinned broadly. “And that means if we do a little trolling, there’s a chance he may fall for a conman’s trap.”

 

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