"What?—Why?" Aiden asked, surprised and unsure of the reason.
Vivienne didn't change her cunning smile and answered, "The reason I'm not letting you change your mind is a lesson within a lesson."
"What kind?" Aiden asked, the dissatisfaction clearly visible on his face.
She shifted her smile to something gentler. "You need to learn that you won't always be able to take back your words or actions. You must think about what you want and not act emotionally. If I don't let you change your mind, there's a higher chance you'll remember this lesson."
She glanced at Walter, who was with them. "Did you write that down?"
"Yes, my lady," he replied, giving her a slight bow.
"Good," she turned her gaze back to Aiden and said, "As you know, you can go back and study this lesson later from the notes Walter wrote for you."
It was a rule—if someone gave Aiden a lesson, they would make a gesture with their hand that meant "write this down," so it could be repeated later. Aiden needed that due to his difficulties with memory and learning. It also made things easier for his governess. The servants close to Aiden had been trained in this system.
"Okay," Aiden said, still unhappy with the situation. He had just realized he could've made a better choice, and now he wasn't allowed to fix it. He was also too young to appreciate the opportunity to learn, especially such an important lesson—one that felt important but didn't look that way to a child.
Vivienne quickly returned to her usual motherly smile—the one she wore when she was with Aiden. "So, what would you like to do first? Visit some stalls, walk around and look?"
Aiden began looking around at the stands filled with various goods, seeing all kinds of races—elves, dwarves, and half-humans—even if there were far fewer of them than regular people. The humans had all kinds of hair colors—green or violet—even silver, though that was more common among elves. Elves, with their slender and tall bodies, usually had longer hair, though not always. Their most distinguishing feature were their long, pointed ears. There were also dwarves, whose height ranged from 135 to 160 centimeters. Despite their short stature, they had large, well-developed muscles, regardless of gender.
There were also a few other races. One in particular caught Aiden's attention—beings who looked like humans, except their skin came in shades of blue and green, with hues that shimmered like ocean reflections. Their eyes were more angular, and some had no white in their eyes at all, instead yellow and similar tones. Some had bald heads with strange-looking fins on top, gills on their necks, and webbing between their fingers, which they could absorb into their hands so it wouldn't bother them on land. Aiden vaguely remembered hearing about them before, but couldn't recall the details—and he was afraid to ask, worried he'd get another lesson or some kind of task.
As he kept looking around for a bit longer, something caught his eye—a sweets stall, a bit bigger than the others. "I want to go to the sweets stall."
"Alright," Vivienne didn't object. She took his little hand and started walking toward it.
When they got there, they turned right to line up, since the stall had a small queue thanks to the variety of treats it offered compared to the others.
"Why are we standing here?" he asked, surprised.
Vivienne immediately replied, "At home, you can have anything right away because you're the priority. But here, we must follow the rules that apply to everyone. One of those rules is waiting in line for our turn, just like everyone before us."
Aiden pointed rudely at a muscular man who had approached a different stand that also had a short line. "But that man went ahead of people without waiting. Why can't we do that?"
Vivienne looked in that direction. "Because that's rude. That man wasn't raised properly and is behaving badly. He should be asked to leave at once."
"And if he's not?" Aiden kept asking.
"Then maybe the seller won't want to sell him anything. Or maybe nothing will happen, and he'll still get what he wants. But you can't behave like that. You have to be a gentleman who behaves with elegance," Vivienne replied, not really sure how else to explain it to him.
At that moment, someone approached the man and asked him to get in line. The man didn't make a scene—he had hoped no one would call him out and that he'd be able to skip ahead.
Aiden saw this and didn't think about it further. He waited as the line slowly moved forward until it was his turn.
He saw all kinds of sweets, some he didn't even recognize. One in particular caught his eye—a completely black cake with a black filling, placed next to a sealed container of milk.
He pointed at the cake and asked about the milk next to it, and the seller replied, "The milk is meant for the cakes and cookies surrounding it. If you decide to buy one of those, I'll give you a small cup of milk so you can dip the cake in it or take a sip after each bite. The cup has to be returned. If you want more milk, you can buy some for an extra fee."
Without thinking much, Aiden said, "I want all of them."
The seller looked at Vivienne, guessing correctly that she was his guardian. She told him that Aiden could only choose one cake.
Aiden felt sad because he usually wasn't denied things he wanted—he always got everything he wished for. "Then I want the all-black one, closest to the milk."
The seller handed it to him along with a small wooden cup of milk. Aiden dipped a piece of cake into the milk and took a bite. It was good—but nothing special compared to what he had at home. He finished, returned the cup, and they continued exploring the stalls.