Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 321: Ice cream shop

As expected of a boy his age who would like to show an adult how to do things, he gave Lucian a side look and arched a brow. "No kidding? You don’t know how to buy ice cream yourself? How old are you?"

"Twenty seven, and yes I don’t. So will you show me?"

Ian looked thoughtful for a while. He didn’t want to show how eager he was to walk an adult into an ice shop and show him how to buy one, nor did he want to forget his parents’ teaching about trusting a stranger. He didn’t know who the man was—he could be tricking him into going into the building to kidnap him. But then, he didn’t look like a kidnapper.

However, his Mom had said they don’t appear like one when they want to take someone. But then, if he knew the man’s identity, he wouldn’t be a stranger to him anymore, would he?

Arching his fine dark brow in curiosity, Ian asked, "What’s your name?"

Lucian had watched the boy analyze the situation in silence with knitted brows, and from the look on his face, Lucian could tell he was still deciding whether to go with him or not. Smiling faintly and genuinely for the first time since he’d lost his wife to time, he replied, "Lucian Pendragon. I won’t harm you if that’s what you think."

"Lucian Pendragon? Like in the history books? The beast ruler who eats his enemies and feasts on stubborn kids?" Ian asked in fascination, staring wide-eyed at Lucian.

Lucian grimaced before he could stop himself. He’d heard the modern history of his time from the housekeeper, who seemed to enjoy reading about it, and she had been glad he had asked her. The way they had described him in their books was not only disgusting but disturbingly exaggerated, and it seemed even this young boy knew of it. They hadn’t just called him a lonely ruler but a beast.

He still found it hard to piece together how time magic worked and how history had spoken about him while he was now living in the future. But he didn’t want to waste time trying to figure it out. The fact that it was different from what Ave had once told him was a reassurance that many of the Pendragon people had lived and had descendants.

When Lucian nodded at Ian’s words, the boy’s eyes widened so much it looked like they might fall out of their sockets. "Gosh darn! No kidding, you’re the beast ruler?" He looked more fascinated than frightened.

"I was named after him," Lucian lied, not wanting to trap himself in the boy’s endless questions. Young boys were drawn to things like this, and the last thing he needed was a conversation about the lies written in their history books.

Ian’s blue eyes dimmed as he clicked his tongue. "Fudge. You almost got me there, Mr. Pendragon. The beast ruler’s history is my favorite bedtime story. He’s not just cool but awesome! I wish Mom had named me after him, just like you. Can I call you Mr. Pendragon?" he asked.

Lucian nodded, then said, "Are you going to come with me to the building, then?"

Ian shrugged nonchalantly. "You have the name of my idol. Helping you is like helping him," he murmured disinterestedly, though he was internally excited to go with him to the ice cream shop. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d had one, but then again, he wasn’t taking—he was just walking a new friend through the process of getting it.

Before they could cross the street, Cal walked up to whisper to Lucian, "Sir, I think we should hand him over to the authorities to find his parents. It seems to me like he’s a lost kid. It wouldn’t be kind to your image if his parents turned out to be jerks and they accused you of kidnapping."

Lucian looked down at the boy, who was now clutching tightly to his index finger as he watched the ice cream shop with an eagerness he tried to mask. Lucian knew he shouldn’t get involved with anything, not even this kid, as things in this world were complicated and could get him into more mess, but then he didn’t know why he wanted the boy to have what he seemed to deprive himself of.

"We can take him to wherever you suggest after I get him what he wants. Where do I keep my coins?" Lucian asked, knowing he would need money to buy Ian what he was looking at in that building.

"Coins?" Cal arched a confused brow.

"Yes, my money. I need it to buy that thing," he said with a deadpan tone, as if Cal was out of his mind to act clueless.

"You mean your card. You have one in the car, let me get it for you."

When Lucian was handed a black card, he wondered silently how such a thing could be used to purchase things. But then, he didn’t think too much about it, as he knew how things here were different from what he knew in his time.

They crossed the street to the next one where the ice cream shop was, and Lucian barely did anything as Ian was taking the lead, dragging him behind. He used his small hands to push the glass door open, where a slight sound of a bell rang out.

The moment Lucian followed him inside the fancy shop, a sudden chill wrapped around him, different from the crisp cold of winter—it was completely unnatural kind of cold. His sharp amber eyes swept across the unfamiliar space as Ian dragged him along like he was the kid while the boy was the adult.

Lucian took in the strange pastel colors that coated the walls, the glowing signs that seemed to float above the counter, and the oddly sweet scent that clung to the air.

His gaze narrowed as he observed a few children and their guidance eagerly crowding around a long glass case filled with... something. It wasn’t food, at least not any he recognized. Strange, colorful mounds sat in large tubs, some smooth, others speckled with unknown bits, all of them unnaturally bright—blue, pink, even a shade of green that no proper meal should have.

"What flavor do you like to have, Mr. Pendragon?" Ian’s voice broke Lucian’s fixed stare away from the things in the long glass.

Lucian didn’t reply immediately as he tried to figure out what the thing he wanted to purchase was. He observed a little girl beside them press her little face against the glass, practically vibrating with excitement as she pointed at one of the tubs.

Lucian followed the child’s gaze, watching as an employee used a flat, metal tool to scrape the strange substance into a round scoop before dropping it into a delicate-looking cone. His brows furrowed. Was that... edible? He had seen honey hardened into sweet treats before, but this...

Lucian’s eyes narrowed when the girl took the cone, grinning wide, and stuck her tongue out to lick it.

"Should I help you pick a flavor?" came Ian’s impatient, eager voice. Though it wasn’t going to be his, Ian couldn’t help but want to pick his favorite for his new friend.

Lucian looked down at the blue eyes looking up at him and nodded his head. "Pick all the ones you like."

"Sick!" Ian made a small victory jump and then pulled his hand out of Lucian’s large one and moved to the glass to point out the flavors he liked. Meanwhile, Lucian looked down at his hand that suddenly felt empty and cold without those small warm ones. Strange.

Ian picked so much that they had to be served on one of the many tables in the shop, where they sat facing each other, none of them touching the ice creams on the table as if waiting for the other to take the first bite. Ian had said no the first time Lucian told him everything on the table was his.

"I can’t take any sweet things," Ian said indifferently as he tried to pretend he didn’t see many of his favorite flavors on the table.

"Why?" Lucian asked in curiosity, knowing clearly the boy wanted it.

Ian cleared his throat like a grown man and sat up straighter on the chair so he would appear taller on his seat. "It’s a personal reason. I can’t tell you."

"Is it going to cause you any harm if you take a bite?" Lucian asked, and when the boy shook his head, he smiled. "Then have one. I have never eaten this stuff before, and unless you eat it first, I won’t take any, and we can pour them all away in that thing where that girl threw her half-eaten cream."

Lucian could tell the boy wanted so badly to eat them, but he was holding himself back for some reason. No doubt he had useless parents who didn’t give time to their child and deprived him of what he wanted and, being a child, had also pushed him into going around the vast city alone without a guardian. He’d seen how the other kids in the shop acted, and this boy was trying to act way more mature than he was.

He knew what it was like better than anyone not to enjoy your childhood to its fullest, and he felt the need to make Ian have everything he wanted, even if just for today, before they’d take him to where Cal had said his parents would find him. But the boy was stubborn and hell-bent on not eating any. However, hearing that everything on the table would go to the bin seemed to break through his walls.