The date of the auction was coming closer and closer, but this did not seem to be on Yui's mind at all today. It was early in the evening and the shop was already closed, but Yui was unusually nervous.

"Rin, will you and Tora be alright looking after Miyuki?"

"Yes, you even prepared some food miss, we will be alright, don't worry."

"I will likely be out a bit longer today, I won't be able to tell her a story tonight."

Yui was still a bit reluctant, but Rinomi just smiled at her and told her not to worry. Trying to calm down some more, she once more inspected her clothes to make sure everything was in place.

Since she had started to cultivate, there was barely any need for makeup, not that this world really had all that many products that she liked in the first place. With neither the experience of this world's makeup nor the simple products that she was used to from her own world, Yui had long ago decided to go without any of it.

It took a lot more time though, to get her hair properly arranged, in a way that felt right to her. Yui would usually not worry too much about her hair, simply combing it and making sure it would fall straight down her back.

She liked her hair open, unlike Tora who had trimmed her own hair a bit and would wear it bound in a ponytail. Today Yui had used two thin braids, starting close to her ears and meeting behind her head in the middle, to hold her hair together, with a small pink flower ornament as decoration.

This way, her hair would still be open, but with the braids and ornament it would not look as boring as it usually did.

Instead of her shop outfit, Yui was wearing an outfit strongly resembling what was known as a kimono to her, with a strange shade of white and soft pink.

It was also extremely soft and was comfortable to wear and Yui was immediately impressed when she had seen it. Their craftsmen and tailors were all too happy to make this kimono for her and with Tora adding some finishing touches to the design it had become a real masterpiece.

The outfit not only had various changing shades as it was made from Illusion Lotus, but Tora enchanted it even further, making it look like a white soft canvas with cherry blossoms moving around in the wind.

"Do I look alright?" Yui carefully asked, making Rinomi grin even more.

"You're very pretty miss, I'm sure Ryoma will be impressed."

With a bright smile, she quickly made her way to the entrance of the pavilion, waiting for Ryoma. Even though she was here way too early, too nervous to wait inside any longer, she quickly found Ryoma heading up the stairs and joining her.

"That material!" Yui was surprised to find Ryoma wearing a similar outfit made from the same white material, just with various shades of blue and an ocean design with dragons instead of her cherry blossom pink ones.

She did not mind at all to be the girl wearing pink while he was wearing blue, the craftsmanship of these outfit much too high for such simple clichés.

"Haha, I was rather surprised when Tora wanted me to have this, but as it is really matching your outfit, I was happy to agree." Ryoma was nearly as excited as Yui and it took him a while just to stop staring at her.

"What? Is something wrong with my outfit?"

"No, not at all, you look very beautiful in it."

His words made Yui blush and freeze on the spot for a while, until Ryoma offered her his arm.

"Shall we head out?" he asked and nodding happily, Yui quickly joined him.

All too used to Yui wearing the black and red outfit of the shop, it took even the people on the streets who knew her a while before they noticed who the young lady was.

It was a bit unusual for nobility to walk around the streets and not use a carriage, but as neither Ryoma nor Yui were used to such things and Rinomi did not want to turn their date into a training of etiquette, no one seemed to really care about this part.

People were still making way for them wherever they passed by, staring at the young couple with curiosity.

Ryoma lead them on roads that would take a bit more time to reach their destination, but was also more of a scenic way, following along the side of little river, before crossing over the little bridge and heading deeper into the city.

When they finally reached the restaurant, there were already rumors about the strange couple all over the city.

Most of the people had heard about the Earthly Treasures Pavilion, but very few had actually seen Yui or Ryoma in person.

Other than the people going there for resources and for hunting spirit beasts, Yui was shy and would only go out shopping for various items and groceries. It was not strange that quite a lot of people wondered who they might actually be.

"Welcome to the Dragon's Gate Restaurant, please come in!" One of the waiters led them inside, doing his best to be respectful and friendly as their clothes looked expensive.

'Those two are definitely not some commoners.' he thought to himself, already looking forward to a big tip.

"Where would you like to sit?" Ryoma asked, not really used to such high-class restaurants himself, but doing his best to fit in.

Yui, not having any better idea than Ryoma, just looked around and picked a place that looked nice.

"They have a little terrace, looks like a nice place. Why not sit there?"

The Dragon's Gate Restaurant was known as the best restaurant in the whole city. Commoners would not even be able to enter, and even most wealthy merchants would be declined at the front door.

If Ryoma and Yui had not dressed in expensive outfits, they would have been stopped and turned away at the entrance.

Rank and status were very important here and the seating arrangements in high class restaurants and other establishments was rather strictly regulated.

There were a lot of tables and many other guests were already here, but no one seemed to have picked the terrace spot. Yui and Ryoma did not know why but were heading there anyways, as it seemed like it was a free table.

The waiter was just wanted to tell them that this table was reserved for the royal family when he was stopped by one of their guests.

"Ah, sect master Bokkai is there anything I can help you with?" the waiter was a little bit surprised to be stopped.

As the sect master of the Five Winds Sect was a frequent visitor of their restaurant, he was rather well known.

"Young man, I'm sure the royal family would not mind having the Empress sit on their table today. It might be a good decision to let them know subtly that our royal family is very happy to have them enjoy their time here."

The sect master did not say more and turned back to enjoy his food, but it was more than enough for the waiter already.

'Empress? What Empress?'

He had not heard of any sovereign visiting Yura Kingdom or their capital and he would never have expected this young couple to be of such high standing. They did not even arrive here with an escort or a carriage.

He would not doubt the sect master's words though. It was easy enough to see, that he wanted to avoid having any disagreements here. If she was really an empress, even such simple things could become a major issue after all.

It did not take long for him to inform the young couple of their restaurants specialties and gave them a menu to look through before he quickly made his way to the restaurant owner to inform him of their special guest.

-

Yura Takiha Harue, the little princess of the royal family of the Yura Kingdom was on her way to the Dragon's Gate restaurant with a few of her friends for dinner.

It did not take long for the owner to become aware of the untimely visit of this princess, as their table was obviously no longer free.

"Your highness, perhaps it would be possible for me to arrange a table at some other spot today?" the owner asked while bowing in a respectful manner.

"Oh, our table is reserved by someone else today?"

While some of her friends were feeling rather indignant about the whole situation, Harue was mostly curious who it might be that was here today.

"I'm afraid that there are royal guests from an empire today. To show your family's hospitality and magnanimity we thought it would be in the kingdom's best interests to offer them the table."

"Guests from an empire? There is no empire around here, why would there be people from an empire here? This must be a lie. They probably fooled you." an attendant of Harue's entourage voiced his displeasure.

"No, it's alright. Let them have the table, I'm curious what they are like. Just show us to another table perhaps the one over there?"

With the princess herself not wanting to argue, the attendant and her friends could only respectfully accede. They sat down on one of the tables next to the terrace and Harue was watching these strange guests intently.

"Who are they exactly, she quietly asked the owner of the restaurant, but did not receive an answer right away."

"I'm not quite sure your highness, we were informed by the sect master of the Five Winds sect about them, but he has already left."

Harue had an easygoing manner and was known for her various escapades and troublemaking that frequently made her father scold her. As much trouble as she caused when it came to her own and the royal family's reputation, she was still loved by the general population.

"Look look Yu." She poked the girl at her side, who was doing her best to look through the food menu. "They are not much older than I am, do you think they are both royal kids?"

"Are they engaged or married already? They look kinda like a couple, but also rather nervous."

Tsuchiya Yumine, princess Harue's best friend and daughter of the city lord of Sume, sighed and looked up from the menu in her hands and over at the couple sitting on the terrace. Most of the time she acted more like a chaperone or older sister.

"It's rude to stare your highness. They don't really look like what I would expect royalty to look like. They …" she paused a little bit. "Well honestly they behave more like you do, like totally ignoring any form of etiquette whatsoever. Their clothes do look amazing though."

"That's so mean Yu! I can behave like royalty just as well as anyone else in my family if I want to." pouting, but not really offended the young princess kept her attention on the terrace for a while before their own food arrived.