Coco and her husbands, as well as soon-to-be husband, walked out of the house.
She walked past the workers who were standing by the gates and reached her mother’s spot beside the carriage that had an unfamiliar insignia carved on the door.
"Mama." Coco called, her eyes trained on the mark for a mont before bringing her attention to her mother.
"Coco." Cleora returned the greeting with a small smile. "I was about to ask your dear friend to fetch you and your diators inside. We’re about to leave. I’m just waiting for my people to board the wagons, then we’re ready to go."
"Yeah.. About that." Coco mumbled and stopped before Cleora. "Aren’t we supposed to leave the city in secret..?"
Cleora blinked and tilted her head. "When did I say that, my love?"
"You didn’t." Coco started with a shrug and nudged her towards the people who were walking past them. "But if that wicked woman were to conduct an investigation and ask around, what do you think these people would say?"
"They’ll say that a powerful noble ca to pick you up." Cleora answered, giggling and grabbing her daughter’s wrist into her hand. "You see, the carriage we’re using right now is the carriage of Marquis Cervello— a dear friend of this body’s original inhabitant."
Jacques stepped forward and raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Cervello? The nobleman who demands ridiculous amounts of Coco’s fruits and vegetables because his pregnant diator wanted them?"
"Was that him?" Coco blinked and turned to her friend. "I vaguely rembered that a certain custor liked the quality of my goods to the point that Mrs. Tani asked to deliver an insane amount of fruit just for him?"
Cleora humd. "What a small world that we live in."
"It is, mother." Jacques agreed with a small smile. "To think that you would have a friend as influential as him.. Is he aware of your circumstances?"
"I’ll fill you in about that later, child." Cleora giggled and faced away from the two won. "Anyway, why don’t you follow over to the wagon? I’ll show you where to put your things."
"Of course." Jacques giggled, not thinking twice on following behind the older woman.
"I can’t believe how all of them were quick to call my mother ’mother’, man.." Coco mumbled, trailing after the two giggling won who were busy conversing with each other.
"Your mother has that air to let other people let their guard down." Renaldo stated bluntly, his eyes following his wife’s figure.
Coco looked away from her friend and mother to look at the diator who started walking beside her, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion and disbelief.
"Is that good or bad?" Coco clarified, feeling that there was an underlying aning in Renaldo’s words.
"Both." The diator answered, his hand shooting out to stop Coco from following too closely behind the two won in front of them and faced Coco instead. "Anyway, I brought food for the road. Do you eat skewers? I had your husband buy the remaining ones when I bumped into him."
"Skewers?" Coco raised an eyebrow and Renaldo lifted his other hand to show the plastic he was holding. "Oh, you an barbeque?"
"Yes, if that’s what you call it in your world." Renaldo nodded his head and smiled. "Do you eat food like this? I get that your husband probably made you eat his cooking and not anyone else’s cooking, but food like this isn’t bad every once in a while."
Coco snorted. "What do you think I ate when I first got here? I was living in the village inn for weeks."
"Oh, right." Renaldo mumbled, realizing that before they went to the city— it was just them in a small village where Coco was known as trash who can’t do anything right.
"Geez, has it been that long already?" The diator asked, his expression softening. "Ti sure flies fast."
Coco could sense the shock and sadness in Renaldo’s voice, and it made her feel a little sad, too. Just as Renaldo has said, ti did fly fast because before she knew it, she was already on her way to the north.
She can still rember the ti when she woke up in a body that was in the middle of the forest, stinking and dirty like so wild animal.
Coco sighed. "Man, you’re making feel nostalgic."
"I did?" Renaldo blinked and a look of remorse quickly crossed his features. "Sorry, I didn’t an to. I was only thinking of—"
"I know, I know." Coco laughed softly and nudged Renaldo with her elbow. "Anyway, back to those skewers.. Would you mind getting one stick? I wanna know how they make theirs in this world."
"Yes, sure." Renaldo agreed without thinking much about it and opened the plastic. "Here. Choose one."
Coco imdiately felt her mouth water at the sight of the skewers, her eyes widening and nose tingling at how delicious it slled, but before she could get one, Cleora’s voice reached her ears.
"Everything’s checked out, everyone!" The woman’s voice bood in the evening air and caught everyone’s attention.
"Get yourselves seated inside!" Cleora quickly added and had her people slowly make their way to their wagon where they will make themselves fit no matter what.
"Oh, and Coco?" She called over to her daughter, making Coco pause in her tracks on the way to her husbands.
"Yes, mama?" Coco blinked, turning to face her mother.
Cleora walked over to her daughter and leaned forward, her lips right beside Coco’s ear. "The carriage is a decoy, so if anything happens tonight, don’t dare try to jump out of the wagon."
Coco’s eyes went wide and she whipped her head to look at Cleora, but she was faster than her daughter and was already making her way to the carriage.
"Mama?" Coco croaked out, her heart sinking into her stomach.
"Co on, Coco." Zaque mumbled and wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist before dragging her to the wagon.
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