375 Shopping Mall Part 1
The convoy raced down the road. There was no vehicle driving near the convoy as it was cleared beforehand for security protocol. Though it was understandable that they would place such a strict protocol to protect the emperor, honestly speaking, their protocol would only let the people know that the emperor is outside of the Winter Palace.
The mall is only twelve minutes away from the Winter Palace in normal traffic conditions, but given the special privilege of being the emperor of the Ruthenia Empire, the travel time was cut down to seven minutes.
Seven minutes later, the group inside the Beast looked out of the window and saw the shopping mall they were excited to go to. The look on their faces indicates that the exterior design didn’t live up to her expectations.
“Wait…that’s it?” Tiffania said. “Where are the ornate and intricate designs? It looked like a huge hollow block of a building to me.”
“Sadly, to cut down construction costs, they didn’t include the ornate and intricate designs that you are expecting. We are in the era of modernism now, where the idea that form should follow functionalism rejects the idea of ornaments.”
“Ah…modernism. I feel like I’ve seen such a design when I visited Moskva,” Christina commented.
“You’ve been to Moskva? When?” Tiffania and Anastasia looked in her direction when she spoke that name.
“Uhm…” Christina couldn’t utter a reply. The reason was that her visit to Moskva was supposed to be a secret. She sneaked out of the palace just to meet the person whose presence she had missed.
“It must be one of the charities Christina attended,” Alexander saved her from the awkwardness with an answer that wasn’t necessarily a lie. “But, I am sure it doesn’t matter. Soon, a lot of buildings that will be constructed from this day forward would follow the idea of modernism. It might look bland from the outside but on the inside, well, you are in for a treat.”
The Beast continued driving down the road until it reached the underground parking lot. The Imperial Guards scattered around as the royal family exited the vehicle. There was no one in the parking lot except them and the Imperial Guards, making their actions quite useless but since it is a protocol, they’ll have to perform it.
“So instead of lining up, we are to enter the establishment from here?” Tiffania asked.
“Yeah,” Alexander confirmed. “With this, we are avoiding the chaos that might happen at the main entrance. It is better to be prudent. Anya, walk beside me.”
“Okay,” Anya rushed up to her and took his father’s hand.
“Let’s go, everyone,” Alexander said as he walked towards the entrance with Anya.
His sisters followed and after a minute of walking, they emerged into the establishment. The first thing they noticed is the good fragrance perfuming the air. It smelled pleasantly sweet, yet it was not overpowering, giving the impression that the perfume was very light and it had just been released a few hours ago. They looked left, and right, taking everything in. They could see through the stores through glass walls with products displayed just behind them. The temperature inside the mall was warm. It was cold outside despite the winter season already ending. The temperature went from two degrees to nine degrees on average, and the mall was fairly warm to the point they could remove their coats. Lastly, the mall was bright. Light bulbs that are installed on their ceiling illuminated the interior of the mall.
“I was expecting the interior to look like the rococo style but this one was nice and has its own appeal,” Tiffania remarked.
“I can say the same thing as well,” Christina added. “We’ve been too accustomed to living in lavish palaces, shaping our impression of the outside world, thinking that it should be the same as what we are seeing.”
“I know,” Anastasia agreed. “But, what do we do about the people staring in our direction?” she said.
Alexander looked around and saw people staring at them with inquisitive gazes. They don’t talk, it seems like they are unsure if what they are seeing is what they are seeing right now. Is it the emperor, or is it a person that looked like him? Nevertheless, the Imperial Guard disguised in civilian form acted like a customer and gave them a light push on the back.
“Are you moving or not?” said the Imperial Guard.
“I’m sorry sir,” the person said and moved forward after realizing that they were holding up traffic.
Still, even with the efforts of the Imperial Guards, the Romanoff family can’t escape fully from the gazes of the common folks. Some were awed while others remained frozen in their place.
“Looks like we’ll have to get moving as well,” Alexander said and brought up his pocketbook.
“What is that?” Anya asked, looking up at him.
“This, my dear, is called a pocketbook. Inside this book is our itinerary that we will be following during today’s journey. You see, this way, we will maximize the amount of travel time we’re able to spend together,” Alexander explained while opening the pocketbook. “Okay according to this note, we are to visit the department store of this mall.”
“What’s a department store?” Anya asked again.
“Well, a department store is an establishment within a mall that sells a wide variety of goods such as ready-to-wear apparel, adult and children’s accessories, electrical appliances, furniture, household wares, and food. Basically, it has everything the people need,” Alexander explained.
“You are not exaggerating it, brother, right?” Tiffania said. “I mean, this store having everything is just too good to be true.”
“Well, you haven’t seen it yet.”
***
In the department store, Tiffania’s mouth was agape after entering the department store. “It’s huge and just like my brother said, it has everything.”
“Don’t wander carelessly or you’ll get lost,” Alexander advised. “Stay close to the group. The department store is the largest establishment within a shopping mall so it is easy to get lost here.”
Even when he said that it felt as though no one listened when everyone is distracted by various sights before them. The entire shop was full of people, some running around, some reading magazines, some browsing clothes. Most of them were either young girls buying new things or older women picking up some random items here and there. They were dressed casually to match the occasion.
Alexander sighed, this is going to be hard for him to look over them together.
“Rolan,” Alexander called and Rolan stepped forward.
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“I can’t keep my eyes on everyone so I would like you to help me,” Alexander simply ordered.
“You got it, Your Majesty.”
The only person that stayed with him was Anya, whose hands were held by Alexander.
“Uhm…can I join them too?” Anya asked.
“We’ll join them together,” Alexander said.