The festival was everything I hoped it would be and even more. Everywhere I looked were countless stalls selling seasonal fruits and vegetables, ready-to-eat meals, snacks, desserts, alcohol - it was so lavish and grand that it started to feel surreal and fake at some point.

The food stalls were not the only attraction at the festival, there were also themed dolls and toys, clothes, and festive costumes. The music was heard from each direction, and although it seemed like the tunes were all different, somehow, as by an unknown force, the sound merged together to form a harmonious melody that elevated the mood of anyone who heard it.

I was fascinated. I guess I was genuinely ignorant to the notion of festiveness and even mere joy. I saw families, both from noble and common backgrounds, couples, friends, and even single people, all of them were happy at that very moment, simply capturing every emotion, every smile, every facial expression in order to imprint them into their memory and treasure it forever. It was simple and yet, it was everything they needed to feel alive.

"I can't recall the last time I saw so many happy faces at once. Everyone sure is having a great time here, even the prince seems a bit looser."

I took another look at Dorian and I thought he was almost as excited as I was - he was turning his head around at every stall, looking inside the tents, trying various snacks, and evaluating the food supply in general.

"Like a child. I wonder if this is his first time at a festival."

- Miss Yoona!

The prince was running towards me with a couple of food items that resembled popsicles in both hands, his face shining with fascination.

- Here, try this! I have eaten five of these already, it's very delicious!

I took the popsicle from him and bit on it, it tasted chocolaty with a hint of salt in it, kinda like a chocolate-covered salty pretzel.

"Hmm, I wonder if they are aware of the combination of salty caramel and chocolate since it tastes similar."

- So, do you like it?

His eyes were fixed firmly on me, his face was still excited as if he was the one who made the popsicles and was waiting for my assessment.

- I do, it's very good, prince Dorian!

- Do you want more? I'm tempted to ask the owner of the stall to sell me the recipe so that Marion can make me those from time to time.

"I've never seen this side of him... He is just genuinely happy, relaxed, and fascinated with everything like a little kid. How come I have never felt anything like this before? Even a tiny bit of this kind of happiness? Was it that hard to acquire?"

We continued our exploration of the festival location after the prince had fed me everything he found notoriously delicious to the point that I felt like throwing up. I had to admit, I was not necessarily hesitant to try the food, after all, I had decided to live my life to the fullest in this world. We tried on some themed costumes, saw a couple of traveling ensembles play, made celebration wreaths, and even played some games together.

- Miss Yoona, do you want to do this too?

- What is it?

I looked at the banner in front of a big stage ahead of us that said "Couples' tournaments" and almost burst into laughter.

- You wanna do a couples' tournament? I'd never expect you to participate in something like that! In addition, we are not a couple so I don't know if we really can take part in this.

I looked up at the prince and noticed his disappointed face.

"Is he really that eager to participate? But why?"

I tried to follow his gaze to see what he was staring so intensely at and noticed a big poster that said "The prize for winning the contest is a secret set of items that was not presented on the festival market!"

"I wonder what this set contains? Does Dorian really want to get something even when he has no idea what it is?"

- Prince Dorian... By any chance, are you curious about that mysterious set?

He hesitated for a moment, then turned his face to me and smiled.

- I've never done anything like this in my life... I just wanted to know what it feels like to do such things.

His smile had a hint of sadness in it. Although I did not expect him to be interested in such events, especially since he was almost engaged, I knew exactly what he felt. I myself had never participated in any events or won anything for that matter. Perhaps it had something to do with the overall mood of the day or maybe the fact that he was in disguise and felt so much freedom, the prince's adventurousness rubbed off on me so I decided to overcome my doubt this time.

- Prince Dorian. Let's do this.

The couples' contest was... well, kinda what it sounded like. The participants were couples - either married or just dating, and they had to perform all kinds of things together, following set rules. Unfortunately, the assignments were... I guess way too intimate for us, a couple of people who did not even know if they were classified as friends, to say the least.

The first assignment was to eat a hanging apple together while facing each other, with our hands tied behind our backs.

The second assignment was to fix a woman's hair while blindfolded. (Thanks to my short hair that task was relatively easy for the prince.)

The third assignment was, what I thought, the hardest one for Dorian - to hold the woman in the arms the longest.

- Prince Dorian, we have been working out for just several months, are you sure you will be able to hold me long enough to get through this level?

The prince looked me up and down and smiled confidently.

- Well, miss Yoona, I think this would be an excellent opportunity to really assess our progress, don't you think?

I did not even have a chance to reply to his remark when he suddenly grabbed me behind my back, under my knees, and lifted me up to his chest.

"Geez, it is so hard to read him sometimes. One moment he's all shy and red, the next moment he lifts me up and holds me in his arms. Although I can't say I don't like this confident side of his..."

I did not know how long we'd been standing like that together. I did not know if the drumming sound I heard was the music or the sound of our beating hearts. He was holding me so close that I could feel his warm breath and the smell of his body, it smelled sweet, it smelled like flowers and fruit. I lifted my face to see what kind of expression he had - he was not looking at me, he was looking right ahead of him, all serious and concentrated. Perhaps I stared a bit too much as he suddenly looked down at my face, smiled widely, and whispered:

- I think we're gonna win this one, more couples are dropping out.

I looked around - there were only four couples left, two men were already on the brink of exhaustion from holding their women.

"Funny, this very same task is extremely popular in couples' contests in Korea. How is this even possible?"

We finally heard the sound of the horn indicating that the task was over. From the seven couples that participated in that assignment, only three made it through, including us. I felt exhilarated.

- And now the last assignment, which our beloved couples here will definitely appreciate. Ladies and gentlemen, the kissing contest!

The crowd was clapping and cheering, the host was laughing all excited as if he was the one who had to kiss everyone. I was confused, Dorian was shocked.

- A kissing contest? What does it mean?

The host continued.

- The rules are very simple - the couples start kissing at the sound of the horn and the ones who can kiss longer win!

Dorian and I looked at each other all bewildered. I have never kissed anyone before so I definitely was not sure if I can kiss long enough as it was, let alone kiss a prince who was almost engaged to another woman.

- Prince Dorian, I think we should drop out of this, we had enough fun already.

The prince looked at me with a confused look and scratched his neck. I almost shouted,

- Don't tell me you are considering this?!

I honestly could not understand what he was thinking. I never considered myself to be a prude and never felt bad about not having romantic relationships even once in my life, hugging or kissing did not seem like such a big deal most of the time, however, I still wanted my FIRST kiss to be with the person I liked and not as a part of some sleazy contest.

"He really wanted to participate, I wonder if he's gonna be very upset about it."

- Miss Yoona, let's withdraw. I don't want you to do anything you don't feel comfortable about.

I was speechless. I thought this type of man only existed in naive dramas or webtoons written by women, but here he was - the man who did not pressure me to do anything against my will. It almost felt like there was a huge halo shining behind his head, blinding me with his majestic respectful power.

- I'm sorry, prince Dorian, but let's end it here.

He nodded at me subtly and offered his arm to help me descend from the stage.

"Such a shame, if it was not for this stupid last task, we would have definitely won that mysterious set. Oh well, I hope Dorian will remember this day as the day we almost kicked ass."

We decided to stop at the pub at the end of the festival alley to have some celebratory drinks and drown our lousy defeat in the couples' contest.

- Ugh, who was that pervert that even came up with such a contest? Kissing in front of so many people, that's absurd!

- Haha, miss Yoona, you really took it hard!

Dorian's face was pink and shiny, he chugged two drinks while I was still working on mine, and was very relaxed and comfortable.

- You know, prince Dorian, you are a fascinating young man. It almost feels like I am peeling an onion - every layer is a different trait I've never seen before.

- Do you like what you discover?

I scratched my chin pretending I was thinking, Dorian's face grew anxious as I took my time to respond, so I decided to let him off the hook.

- I like it! I thought you were dense and frigid, but there is so much more to you! I did not want to admit it, but I really enjoy spending time with you, even more than with Raphael!

Dorian smiled and took a sip of his drink. I looked at him for a couple of moments and then sighed loudly.

- You know, when I first appeared here, I was very confused. I knew it was some sort of a sign, or maybe a wake-up call, but I was not sure how to handle it. I was all alone here, everything was alien to me. In my previous world, I was alone too, but at least I knew what was waiting for me, so I knew what to do and I knew I make it even without anybody's help. Growing up without a family or real friends can teach you this much. But after I have lived here for a while, I learned that having people on your side, having friends, is much more rewarding. No matter how afraid I was of being hurt by people, I've grown to think that you can't learn happiness without a little bit of sadness in your life. So... What I'm trying to say is - thank you for giving me this chance to do what I really wanted to do cause it didn't just fulfill my dream, it gave me the gift of learning what it's like to have friends, to have people you like and enjoy spending time with, to have people you're not afraid of. Maybe it's going to be a bit rude of me because you're a prince and all, but I think of you as my friend and I'm grateful that you think of me highly enough to let me discover all the different sides of you.

Maybe the alcohol kicked in, or maybe there were still some remnants of the courage I picked up on that contest, but I decided to let it all out on the prince. I did not really care how flustered he would be after I blurted out my little speech, I have never said anything like that to anyone but at that very moment, it felt right to let Dorian know that I respected him and considered him my friend.

- Miss Yoona... You know, I only had one friend my whole life. When you are a prince, there is only a number of selected people you can socialize with, and all of them were just mere trash. The only person who I considered my friend was Raphael - he treated me like he treated everybody else, even though he was working as my guard. On his first day of work he told me "You have received your title for free, just because you were born, but my respect is something that has to be earned, so you'll have to work hard as well." I think those words were carved right into my brain cause I really started working hard on everything and never took anything others did for me for granted from that point on. You really remind me of Raphael, miss Yoona and I'm also very glad that we grew closer over time...

Dorian gulped all that was left in his mug, took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly.

- Miss Yoona, about that last couples' contest --

- Prince Dorian, that man over there looks like Raphael!