The Cursed King

Loriel watched as Elise walked toward the library and then disappeared from view. His chest was filled with love and warmth to the brim.

Once he knew he was alone, Loriel cupped his face with both hands and cried silently. All the wait, those lonely nights for fifteen centuries finally paid off.

He could find his Elise.

Now, there was nothing in this world he wanted. He already got what he had been dreaming of, day in day out. His wife returned to him.

There was no place he would rather be, than here with Elise.

He didn't know what had happened to her from the moment she left him, until the moment they met again, but he was determined to find out.

He would make up for his past mistakes. Now that Elise had returned to be with him, Loriel had a lifetime to do things right.

The man was overjoyed and relieved after confirming Elise's identity this morning. He was so happy that he was shaking.

Marc's phone call made him suspect that Elise was really his wife. And when he saw her use magic earlier, all her suspicions were confirmed.

This was such a good day.

After he pulled himself together, Loriel decided to pick up his phone from the floor and contacted Marc again. He needed his nephew to make their shopping spree a seamless experience for Elise.

The woman didn't have much money with her, and it was obvious she wouldn't want Loriel to help her with monetary aid. So, Loriel had offered her to use his loyalty points, which would expire anyway if he didn't use them.

That way, Elise wouldn't feel bad about getting free clothes.

Well.. there was one problem. There was no such thing as the loyalty points he mentioned earlier to her. Loriel didn't even have the membership card. He never shopped in Bloomingrose departement store, obviously.

All his clothes were tailor-made just for him. He had his personal designer and seamstress who provide him with clothes all year round. And for other things that needed to be bought, he had Horatio to do it.

Loriel didn't even like going to such crowded places like the mall.

Now, how could he make sure he could have a card with loyalty points when he and Elise arrived in Bloomingrose?

"Marc, I want to shop for clothes in Bloomingrose this morning. Can you get staff ready to give me one of those loyalty membership cards with unlimited points that can be redeemed with free products?"

Loriel spoke without further ado. Marc who was enjoying his coffee in the office, to get ready for another weekend meeting with his board of directors, almost spouted his drink.

"What did you say, Uncle? You want to shop in Bloomingrose?" Marc couldn't believe his own hearing.

Did his great uncle just say he wanted to shop???

"Yes, is that wrong?" Loriel pursed his lips when he heard Marc's reaction. 

"No.. nothing wrong with that," said Marc with a chuckle. "I am just surprised. This doesn't sound like you."

"Well, get used to it." Loriel cleared his throat and repeated his request. "I need those points. Can you make it happen?"

"Definitely! I will send someone to stand by at the cashier and help you. You can just show them my business card, they will know what to do," said Marc. "Have fun shopping!"

Loriel already hung up the phone.

*** 

At 10 am, Loriel and Elise left the penthouse together for their shopping trip. This time they took a taxi, ordered by Horatio.

Elise had stopped asking questions about why Loriel suddenly could afford a taxi when yesterday he said he didn't have the money to get one.

She believed him when he said his circumstances were quite unique and personal. So, she accepted the fact that he didn't want to share it with her, yet. She would just wait until he was open to her

The two of them soon arrived at Bloomingrose. It was the biggest and fanciest high-end department store, which also happened to be a subsidiary of Sanderman Group.

It was easy for Marc to arrange a nice shopping experience for his uncle. He knew Loriel hated the crowd, so he made a point to tell the staff to put a CLOSED sign by the windows, as soon as Elise and Loriel entered.

This was something he did without Loriel asked him since Marc knew his uncle very well. He hoped this little surprise would get noticed by Loriel and Marc would get a compliment. Hehehe.

"This place looks really fancy," said Elise when she and Loriel arrived at the store.

She looked up and noticed the beautiful sign hanging outside written in beautiful and glossy letters. There was a certain luxury feeling to it that made most of the people just gawk outside of the place.

Loriel led her into the store.

Once they entered the boutique of Bloomingrose, the two were quickly welcomed by two attendants, while another one switched the OPEN sign on the window into CLOSED, to prevent more people from entering the shop.

"Good morning and welcome to Bloomingrose. How can we serve the two of you today?" one shop attendant spoke with a big smile.

"Oh, good morning." Elise greeted.

"We're here to look around, I want to use some of my membership points that I've gathered here before." 

Loriel smoothly pulled out a card from his wallet and showed it to the two ladies. It was Marc Sanderman's business card. 

From that angle, Elise didn't see what card it was, so she assumed it was really the membership card, but the two shop attendants knew. These were really the people that the big boss told them about.

Everyone in the entire store was expected to provide the best of service or risk losing their jobs if they performed any less to the high expectations provided to them.

"Is that your membership card?" Elise glanced at Loriel's face. The man nodded proudly. Elise furrowed her brows. She asked him again. "So, you are a member here?"

Loriel glanced at their immediate vicinity and noticed that most of the items on display were for women. 

Shit! He forgot that Bloomingrose catered to mostly women's fashion. It would be weird to admit that he was a regular shopper here, to collect that many loyalty points.

When he offered to take Elise shopping for clothes, he just mentioned the name of this store without thinking too much about it.

Now, how could he explain his membership at a women's fashion shop?