Chapter 17

The elder led me to a splendid building.

“I’m sorry, there’s only one place like this.”

He closed his eyes tightly and bowed again.

I looked at the two-story building with warm lights.

“It’s all right, why?”

My words surprised the elder so much that he couldn’t control his expression.

He seemed to think that it would be particularly difficult as it was the Duke of the Empire. However, tired of camping, I was grateful that there was a place with a ceiling for once.

Whatever it may be, it’ll be warm inside, right?

“Well, please wait here for a while.”

The elder hurried inside.

“I’ll tell the other guests to leave in no time.”

“No, sir.”

I stopped him right away.

“I don’t mean to disturb other people’s businesses, so let it go.”

The elder’s eyes widened.

“Well, I heard there’s only one guest staying in the room today.”

I shook my hand.

“Let it go, let it go. It seems that business is not doing well, but you can’t kick out the only customer.”

I just opened the door and went in.

“All I need is a bathroom and a bed.”

“Well, then, please rest well”, said the elder, shaking like a goat.

Immediately after entering the building, I could see why the elder was so surprised.

It was certainly not an ordinary place.

In one corner, hooded people were whispering among themselves and drinking, while in the other, barely-clad women were pulling each other’s hair.

The empire was a vast place, and each territory must have its own culture.

This would also have been the unique scenery of the village bar.

I walked past the fighting women and went up to the second floor with the owner, who was very conscious of me.

“This is the room. It may be uncomfortable, but I changed the bed sheets to a new one, and I put a new tub in it.”

The master bowed to one door.

“Yes, the bath was hot enough.”

Then the other door slammed open.

“The water in the bathtub is as cold as ice! It’s been a while since I’ve done this!”

From the open door, appeared Cardan with an angry face, dripping with water.

Perhaps he rushed out in a hurry, because only a towel was wrapped around his waist.

My whole body stiffened with astonishment.

I managed to hold my head together and barely avoided looking through his bare body dripping with water with my eyes.

“I’m sorry! I’ll get you warm water right away!”

When the owner, who shouted while trembling, disappeared immediately to the stairs, only the two of us remained in the hallway.

“Well, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

I managed to greet him with a stiff neck and saw a glare at Cardan’s face.

Then behind him came a woman’s charming voice.

“Oh, where are you going?”

And at a glance, a woman barely dressed clasped Cardan’s waist.

It was only then that I realized what was going on here.

I had a hard time controlling my widening eyes.

“Well, then, have a peaceful night—”

Bang!

Immediately the door was shut with harsh curses.

Below the stairs, the voices of women fighting on the first floor were heard all the way here.

“You said you’d play with me tomorrow!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! He said he’d go out with me alone!”

“You said you’d take care of everything! So, keep your turn!”

So, the women who were fighting earlier was because….

“Ah, I don’t hear anything.”

I covered my ears and hummed into my room.

But once I realized it, I kept on thinking about it.

I stared at the huge bed that filled the room. Then I shook my head in a hurry.

“No. It’s the first sheet I’ll be using after a long time.”

The small bathroom attached to the room had a wooden bathtub filled with steamy hot water.

“It’s a new barrel.”

I began to take a bath humming ‘new, new’ one after another.

Then, I tried not to recall the situation in the next room.

When I came out of the bath, Cardan was sitting on my bed. Fortunately, she was all dressed up.

I could barely hold back a startled jump.

“Ah-ha-ha, what are you doing here, if there’s any inconvenience, I’ll call the owner right away.”

She tried to hurry out of the room, but Cardan shook his hand.

“Ah, you don’t have to go out.”

I swallowed a curse in my heart. I was left alone in the room with Cardan.

My mind began to spin violently, as if overloaded.

Why did he come here? There were certainly more than one woman waiting for him downstairs.

In a few seconds, I had a lot of thoughts.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding. The woman’s sleeping in the next room.”

I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up agreeing roughly.

“You must be tired, aren’t you?”

Cardan’s face crumpled at my response. It didn’t seem to be the response he wanted.

“No, she’s been so drunk that she’s been sleeping the whole time.”

“That’s great, isn’t it?”

Cardan twisted his head and uttered a small swear word.

“No, I mean! Don’t get me wrong, I’m just playing along with your great play.”

I recognized it instinctively.

Now he is talking about the “contract.” And it was also the most fatal weakness for me, who didn’t know anything about the contract.

I had to change the subject.

“It’s late at night, so hurry up and get to bed soon. It would be a great loss for the country if you get sick.”

Cardan stared at me.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

I didn’t know what to say, so as I was choosing my words, then I heard a smirking laugh.

“Why, do you think I’m going to abandon Eleanor, for the living must live?”

It was a blunt remark, but there was a bone in it.

I quickly shook my head.

Eleanor?

It’s obvious that she’s involved in the contract…

I instinctively remembered the woman in the portrait.

The only thing in the duke’s office that has no apparent practical use.

If it is of no use, there is no reason for the Duke of Baloa to have it.

The woman in the portrait was likely to be Eleanor.

But it was hard to believe that this scum, who replaces his women every day, had signed a strange contract with the Duke of Baloa because of a woman.

I ended up closing my mouth even more tightly. There was a high risk of being caught if she says something wrong here.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who can immediately turn my back just because my utility value has declined.”

A clear laugh. If I defend myself here, he’ll only get angry.

It was as important to distinguish between speaking and not speaking as well as speaking well.

As I stood there foolishly, Cardan clicked his tongue.

“I’m an idiot for trying to make excuses.”

Then he lay down naturally on my bed.

“All right, let’s go to sleep, just like you said.”

“Ha-ha. Are you sleeping here, Your Majesty?”

Cardan closed his eyes, moving his arms up to his head.

“The bed over there is already occupied.”

“Ah ha ha. Then rest well.”

I was really looking forward to sleeping in bed. Even today, I couldn’t escape from the bottom.

I tried to curl up on the old rug on the floor, but stopped.

They didn’t say they’d replace the rug with a new one.

I ended up sneaking into bed.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

But anyway, you can’t kill me because of Eleanor, right?

I carefully laid down at the edge of the bed, looking at him carefully. Fortunately, Cardan did not budge.

However, even though I lay on my bed, which I had longed for, I couldn’t sleep.

I thought for a long time, blinking my eyes like that.

What on earth did the Duke of Baloa do to Eleanor, so that Cardan could not go against the Duke of Baloa?

However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of anything.

After biting the tail of my thoughts, I fell asleep.

。+.。☆゚:;。+゚ ☆*゚¨゚゚・*:..゙

Three knocks on the window rang.

After confirming that the Duke of Baloa was fast asleep, he carefully left the bed.

When I opened the window, a crow sitting on a tree outside the window flew over Cardan’s shoulder.

Cardan took out a small dictionary, and the crow turned the page with its feet and tapped it here and there.

Runaway, injured, three, inn.

There were only four simple words, but Cardan was able to infer the situation without difficulty.

“Sir Ethan escaped.”

Cardan clicked his tongue. Perhaps if he hadn’t left, Sir Ethan wouldn’t have tried to escape.

For Sir Ethan, who had often sparred with him, would have immediately recognized his opponent as soon as he met him, and would have known that it would be no use running away as long as he was with him.

The crow cried and knocked on the window.

“I don’t know either.”

Why did the Duke of Baloa left the inn and came here?

I knew too well the nature of the duke, who thoroughly used others and abandoned them, to believe that she gave up the inn for the injured.

No, perhaps the duke was not the only one to blame.

For every noble man would have taken care of their own convenience rather than their wounded soldiers.

Cardan threw a snack at the crow and went back to bed.

The Duke of Baloa, who was lying in the corner of the bed at first, was snoring shallowly in the middle of the bed.

“Kuuk.”

Cardan rolled the duke sideways and stuffed her nose with a pillow.

“Ugh.”

Usually, the Duke, who was sensitive to scents, would have woken up immediately, but now, she only uttered a breathless sound and fell asleep again.

Cardan stared at the Duke of Baloa, as she hugged the pillow, rubbing her face against it.

The more I looked at it, the less I understand.

Is this the Duke of Baloa he knew?

But Cardan soon rubbed his forehead and lay down on the bed. It was meaningless to think about it further.

The fact that the duke was an unforgivable person, whether she was playing tricks or really changing, remained the same.

Then the Duke of Baloa, who had thrown her pillow away, rolled over again and clung to him.

“Don’t go to the stove”.

In the end, the swearing came out.
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