TimeNovel"Mr. Shepherd, you worry too much," Uriah said with a chuckle. "Mavis has never been scared of these things.
She's got guts, always has. If she was ever afraid, she sure didn't learn it from me."
"Whether or not she's scared is her business," Norton replied, glancing up at Uriah, "but as a man, it's your job to
look out for your girl."
He gestured around them. "Look around, Uriah. Every guy here is taking care of his girlfriend or wife."
"Women deserve to be protected, that's all there is to it. Especially someone as pretty as Mavis. She ought to
have someone by her side."
Uriah's jaw clenched. He shot Norton a furious glare, but when he looked around, he realized Norton was right.
All around them, women of every age were being shielded by the men with them, from grandmas to teenage
girls to little kids.
Uriah noticed Mavis' attention had drifted to Norton again. The two of them were chatting, laughing about
something, and Mavis was smiling brighter than he'd seen in a long time.
It made Uriah feel prickly and left out, but there wasn't much he could do now except hover nearby, stewing in
jealousy. He wished he'd gone to her sooner, but it was too late for that now. The crowd had gotten so thick,
even Norton was getting pushed to the side.
Elsewhere, Calliope was hanging out with Silas, the two of them watching the festivities and exchanging quiet
comments.
Monty and the rest had tagged along, but as more people poured into the street, they got separated and pushed
into the heart of the swarm.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt
Suddenly, Monty and his group stumbled into what looked like a sacred circle around a priest, who was blessing
baskets of bread and cheese, an old town ritual that everyone took seriously.
"Hey, watch it! You just disrupted the blessing!" someone snapped.
"Who let you push through here?”
"If you're visiting, that's fine, but show srespect for our traditions, will you?"
"You're out of line!"
The crowd was not happy, and Monty and his group were surrounded by angry locals, their faces flushed with
embarrassment.
"We're sorry! We didn't mean to!"
Monty stammered. "Really, it was
. We'll leave right awaet
never meant any disrespect
We
But even after their apologies, the crowd stayed angry. In this town, the annual blessing was a time-honored
tradition, and nobody took it lightly.
In the end, Monty and his group had
to pay a small fine to the priest and
apologize again befgre Things ihally
cetrmedhown They left the square
looking like they'd crawled through a
hedge backwards, not daring to look
anyone in the eye. The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
When they tried to rejoin Calliope and
the others, more locals blacked {their
path. HS yousayybd were
ldaving? Go on, move along! You've
caused enough trouble for one night."
Monty and the others exchanged sheepish glances and hurried back to the hotel,
not wanting to risk another confrontation.
Back in their rooms, everyone took
long showers, piven Off the
emiarrassmen “The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
Meanwhile, Lisette found an excuse to slip away and knock on Ulysses' door.
Ulysses, surprised to see her, looked up with a puzzled expression.
"What brings you here?" he asked warily.
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