The eyes looking at me were so cold that even my body heat felt like it was cooling down.
Wait, it really feels cool...
Hey, that can’t be.
Anyway, the man’s blue eyes couldn’t take their eyes off my face.
I felt the same way.
A little while ago, he had said, “You’re not my type,” so I should have been the first to look away, but the man’s eyes seemed to be holding the back of my neck tightly and not letting go.
To relieve the awkward atmosphere, I brought the glass of liquor in my left hand to my mouth.
But what is this? No, what is this?
The man grabbed my left hand.
Oh my, look at this man?
I snorted haughtily, but I couldn’t slap his hand away. It wasn’t because I liked him... The man’s hand was as cold as ice, so I felt like I shouldn’t be the one to coldly reject his hand... It was because I had thoughts that didn’t even sound like words.
Still, I wanted to drink the free liquor that someone had left as a gift, so I naturally moved the glass in my left hand to my right hand and brought it straight to my mouth, gulping it down.
The glass disappeared from my left hand, but the man’s hand was still wrapped around the back of my left hand.
The man tilted his head toward me a little more and looked at me with a sharper gaze than before.
His blue pupils looked as if they were slit vertically.
Why are you glaring at me like that? Was he upset that I drank the liquor without a care when he dared to hold my hand?
Yeah, we should have toasted together, right?
No, what am I thinking right now?
Come to your senses.
I warned the man who was holding my left hand with a fierce expression.
“Hey, if you don’t let go of this hand for five counts, your finger will become six joints in an instant. One...”
Huh?
I had only said one thing, but the man let go of my hand in 0.1 seconds.
He’s a guy who gives up faster than I thought.
Was the threat of making six joints in your fingers a bit too much?
“Ahem, boss, one more like this.”
I almost panicked, but then I raised my chin slightly and ordered a drink with the whiskey glass I had just emptied.
“I think you should order another drink.”
The man sitting next to me finally spoke.
His voice was deep and resonant, as if he were speaking in an underground cave.
By the way, was that what you were talking about to me?
And why are you suddenly speaking informally?
It was a moment when my manners of always using formal language became meaningless.
It was really funny.
“You ask me to buy you a drink so confidently?”
Was it because your face was so confident?
I also asked with a sarcastic tone as I continued to speak.
“Ha.”
The man couldn’t continue his words and just snorted.
“Well, I’ll buy you another drink.”
Contrary to my sarcastic tone, I ordered another drink of the same thing from the bar owner.
He may be handsome, but he’s really not my type... Is it because humans look so cold? An unexpected sense of humanity suddenly burst out.
I’m sorry, Moiya... I spent the money I had to buy sausages like this.
“Haha.”
The man suddenly burst into laughter.
But somehow, it was a very unpleasant laugh.
“Do you think I asked you to order another drink because I don’t have any money?”
What was that? That sudden change in tone after ordering a drink?
I thought about it for a moment and then told him honestly what I felt.
“I know. I asked you to buy it for me just to try to get you to do it.”
“...Wow.”
A pure exclamation flowed from the man’s mouth, and in the meantime, two glasses filled to the brim with beer were placed in front of me.
“Here, drink. Shall we have a toast?”
I asked, pushing one of the glasses in front of the man.
Then the man put the glass back in front of me and drank the remaining beer in his glass.
What the hell was going on?
I stared blankly down at the glasses that had been returned to me.
Was he telling me to drink it all?
This is ridiculous. If that's the case, why did you ask for another drink?
"The drink I was drinking. Give me the whole bottle."
The man ordered the bar owner arrogantly.
He didn't seem to be broke.
Was he the son of a noble family?
No. This is a tavern mainly visited by the common people, so he’s more of a rich merchant than a noble?
But his appearance is too obviously noble for that to be true. I don’t know what he’s wearing under his robe, but the aura he gives off is quite noble. The way he looks down and blinks leisurely also looks elegant.
Judging from his speech and expression, he’s someone who’s become arrogant over time.
He must be a noble, after all.
...By the way, this liquor has quite a high alcohol content.
I have to be careful from now on so that my drinking habits, which turn me into a dog when I’m drunk, don’t show.
“You came alone?”
“?”
It came out of my mouth a few seconds after I made up my mind to be careful.
As expected, the man was silent.
“You live alone?”
“!”
I must be crazy...
No matter how drunk you are, you shouldn’t talk to someone if they don’t talk!
Why are you curious about why they came to a tavern alone? What would happen if they lived alone?
I wanted to sew my mouth shut right away.
The very act of asking this question was already showing signs of turning me into a dog.
The evil energy that infected me a month ago was cured as soon as I arrived in the Tebello Empire, thanks to the Magic Tower Lord.
However, for some unknown reason, the habit of speaking without going through my brain when I was infected with the evil energy remained.
Of course, I wasn’t someone who used my brain much when I was healthy.
Even though I was free from the evil energy, the corrupted demon still visits me often, funny enough.
He says it was just a greeting and a visit out of friendship, but did all his friendship burn out?
Anyway, he’s a very affectionate demon.
“Why are you asking that?”
The man asked with a really curious expression.
“Just pretend you didn’t hear that.”
I picked up the words I had said belatedly.
The man stared at me and was about to open his mouth when the bar owner politely handed him a bottle of liquor with both hands.
The man had an indifferent expression the whole time and poured liquor into his glass and drank it twice in succession.
Seeing that, I also drank the liquor I had ordered for him in one gulp.
Then the man looked at me with an even more shocked expression than before.
He drank continuously, but he only had three glasses, so why was he looking like that?
He ordered and drank the entire bottle.
Oh, because he drank the alcohol I bought him? But he pushed the glass back in front of me!
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
I finally asked him.
“That alcohol. No, the alcohol you drank first.”
“Oh, it was sweet. Why was that alcohol?”
“...It was owned by someone.”
“What? Don’t lie.”
I was startled, but I responded calmly.
The man spoke very seriously, without a trace of teasing.
“It was my party’s alcohol.”
“!”
Oh, so you grabbed my hand to stop me from drinking?
Damn it.
No, then you should have said something! Why are you grabbing someone else’s hand and making a fuss?
What should I do? I don’t have the money to order more alcohol...
Let’s pretend not to know each other.
“I’ve been here for quite some time, but the owner of this place hasn’t shown up yet?”
“He went out for a bit.”
The man glanced at the clock hanging in the bar and replied.
“What? If he’s not coming for this long, he must have just left.”
“It’s just that he’s taking a while because he has a chronic illness.”
“...What chronic illness?”
Raphael had suffered from diarrhea right after returning to the palace from the Elanji Forest. When he was stressed, the diarrhea that he had suffered from relapsed after a long time. Many things were stressful for him, and the number of people he had to take care of had doubled.
The palace was now different from before he left for the Continental Hunting Competition.
After living in the palace like walking on thin ice every day, it was nice to feel relaxed when he finally came out to the castle, but his sphincter muscles relaxed, and he started to have diarrhea.
“If I had known this would happen, I would have bought some diarrhea medicine too...”
Raphael frowned as he left the bathroom next to the bar.
Two hours ago, he and Linel had purchased the body temperature-raising potion he was taking at the wizard Big’s clinic.
Raphael was excited to stop by the tavern for a drink on his way back to the palace, but his stomach was not in good shape.
“That’s enough. There’s nothing left to come out of here, so stop now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well. I... No, I don’t know either. Since the person involved isn’t here, I can’t ask what that means.”
Tsk tsk, your wife cheated and left home.
“...It seems like you’re weak to alcohol, too. Why don’t you stop drinking now?”
I advised the man, staring at the golden waves inside the dwindling bottle of liquor.
The man pretended not to hear me and continued to fill his glass as it emptied.
“I don’t know the circumstances, but what must have happened to your wife to have left home?”
“What do you know to say something like that?”
“I can tell just by looking at you. I can tell just by the way you speak.”
I looked the man up and down and replied in a confident voice.
The man glared at me, but ironically, his body was leaning toward me.
If a building were to lean this much, it would collapse.
If it were to lean just a little more, I would have to talk to his lips.
Other people would have seen him as showing interest in me.
How could I not misunderstand?
I asked a somewhat unreasonable question to calm myself down.
“But when did your wife leave home?”
In an instant, the man’s face hardened.
“A month ago...”
This time, the man answered my question, and his expression became extremely serious as he remembered what had happened a month ago.
However, apart from his serious expression, his body was getting closer to me.
Wait, it really feels cool...
Hey, that can’t be.
Anyway, the man’s blue eyes couldn’t take their eyes off my face.
I felt the same way.
A little while ago, he had said, “You’re not my type,” so I should have been the first to look away, but the man’s eyes seemed to be holding the back of my neck tightly and not letting go.
To relieve the awkward atmosphere, I brought the glass of liquor in my left hand to my mouth.
But what is this? No, what is this?
The man grabbed my left hand.
Oh my, look at this man?
I snorted haughtily, but I couldn’t slap his hand away. It wasn’t because I liked him... The man’s hand was as cold as ice, so I felt like I shouldn’t be the one to coldly reject his hand... It was because I had thoughts that didn’t even sound like words.
Still, I wanted to drink the free liquor that someone had left as a gift, so I naturally moved the glass in my left hand to my right hand and brought it straight to my mouth, gulping it down.
The glass disappeared from my left hand, but the man’s hand was still wrapped around the back of my left hand.
The man tilted his head toward me a little more and looked at me with a sharper gaze than before.
His blue pupils looked as if they were slit vertically.
Why are you glaring at me like that? Was he upset that I drank the liquor without a care when he dared to hold my hand?
Yeah, we should have toasted together, right?
No, what am I thinking right now?
Come to your senses.
I warned the man who was holding my left hand with a fierce expression.
“Hey, if you don’t let go of this hand for five counts, your finger will become six joints in an instant. One...”
Huh?
I had only said one thing, but the man let go of my hand in 0.1 seconds.
He’s a guy who gives up faster than I thought.
Was the threat of making six joints in your fingers a bit too much?
“Ahem, boss, one more like this.”
I almost panicked, but then I raised my chin slightly and ordered a drink with the whiskey glass I had just emptied.
“I think you should order another drink.”
The man sitting next to me finally spoke.
His voice was deep and resonant, as if he were speaking in an underground cave.
By the way, was that what you were talking about to me?
And why are you suddenly speaking informally?
It was a moment when my manners of always using formal language became meaningless.
It was really funny.
“You ask me to buy you a drink so confidently?”
Was it because your face was so confident?
I also asked with a sarcastic tone as I continued to speak.
“Ha.”
The man couldn’t continue his words and just snorted.
“Well, I’ll buy you another drink.”
Contrary to my sarcastic tone, I ordered another drink of the same thing from the bar owner.
He may be handsome, but he’s really not my type... Is it because humans look so cold? An unexpected sense of humanity suddenly burst out.
I’m sorry, Moiya... I spent the money I had to buy sausages like this.
“Haha.”
The man suddenly burst into laughter.
But somehow, it was a very unpleasant laugh.
“Do you think I asked you to order another drink because I don’t have any money?”
What was that? That sudden change in tone after ordering a drink?
I thought about it for a moment and then told him honestly what I felt.
“I know. I asked you to buy it for me just to try to get you to do it.”
“...Wow.”
A pure exclamation flowed from the man’s mouth, and in the meantime, two glasses filled to the brim with beer were placed in front of me.
“Here, drink. Shall we have a toast?”
I asked, pushing one of the glasses in front of the man.
Then the man put the glass back in front of me and drank the remaining beer in his glass.
What the hell was going on?
I stared blankly down at the glasses that had been returned to me.
Was he telling me to drink it all?
This is ridiculous. If that's the case, why did you ask for another drink?
"The drink I was drinking. Give me the whole bottle."
The man ordered the bar owner arrogantly.
He didn't seem to be broke.
Was he the son of a noble family?
No. This is a tavern mainly visited by the common people, so he’s more of a rich merchant than a noble?
But his appearance is too obviously noble for that to be true. I don’t know what he’s wearing under his robe, but the aura he gives off is quite noble. The way he looks down and blinks leisurely also looks elegant.
Judging from his speech and expression, he’s someone who’s become arrogant over time.
He must be a noble, after all.
...By the way, this liquor has quite a high alcohol content.
I have to be careful from now on so that my drinking habits, which turn me into a dog when I’m drunk, don’t show.
“You came alone?”
“?”
It came out of my mouth a few seconds after I made up my mind to be careful.
As expected, the man was silent.
“You live alone?”
“!”
I must be crazy...
No matter how drunk you are, you shouldn’t talk to someone if they don’t talk!
Why are you curious about why they came to a tavern alone? What would happen if they lived alone?
I wanted to sew my mouth shut right away.
The very act of asking this question was already showing signs of turning me into a dog.
The evil energy that infected me a month ago was cured as soon as I arrived in the Tebello Empire, thanks to the Magic Tower Lord.
However, for some unknown reason, the habit of speaking without going through my brain when I was infected with the evil energy remained.
Of course, I wasn’t someone who used my brain much when I was healthy.
Even though I was free from the evil energy, the corrupted demon still visits me often, funny enough.
He says it was just a greeting and a visit out of friendship, but did all his friendship burn out?
Anyway, he’s a very affectionate demon.
“Why are you asking that?”
The man asked with a really curious expression.
“Just pretend you didn’t hear that.”
I picked up the words I had said belatedly.
The man stared at me and was about to open his mouth when the bar owner politely handed him a bottle of liquor with both hands.
The man had an indifferent expression the whole time and poured liquor into his glass and drank it twice in succession.
Seeing that, I also drank the liquor I had ordered for him in one gulp.
Then the man looked at me with an even more shocked expression than before.
He drank continuously, but he only had three glasses, so why was he looking like that?
He ordered and drank the entire bottle.
Oh, because he drank the alcohol I bought him? But he pushed the glass back in front of me!
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
I finally asked him.
“That alcohol. No, the alcohol you drank first.”
“Oh, it was sweet. Why was that alcohol?”
“...It was owned by someone.”
“What? Don’t lie.”
I was startled, but I responded calmly.
The man spoke very seriously, without a trace of teasing.
“It was my party’s alcohol.”
“!”
Oh, so you grabbed my hand to stop me from drinking?
Damn it.
No, then you should have said something! Why are you grabbing someone else’s hand and making a fuss?
What should I do? I don’t have the money to order more alcohol...
Let’s pretend not to know each other.
“I’ve been here for quite some time, but the owner of this place hasn’t shown up yet?”
“He went out for a bit.”
The man glanced at the clock hanging in the bar and replied.
“What? If he’s not coming for this long, he must have just left.”
“It’s just that he’s taking a while because he has a chronic illness.”
“...What chronic illness?”
***
Raphael had suffered from diarrhea right after returning to the palace from the Elanji Forest. When he was stressed, the diarrhea that he had suffered from relapsed after a long time. Many things were stressful for him, and the number of people he had to take care of had doubled.
The palace was now different from before he left for the Continental Hunting Competition.
After living in the palace like walking on thin ice every day, it was nice to feel relaxed when he finally came out to the castle, but his sphincter muscles relaxed, and he started to have diarrhea.
“If I had known this would happen, I would have bought some diarrhea medicine too...”
Raphael frowned as he left the bathroom next to the bar.
Two hours ago, he and Linel had purchased the body temperature-raising potion he was taking at the wizard Big’s clinic.
Raphael was excited to stop by the tavern for a drink on his way back to the palace, but his stomach was not in good shape.
“That’s enough. There’s nothing left to come out of here, so stop now.”
He walked in and out of the bathroom and the building entrance several times. Before walking to the tavern, he stood at the entrance of the building where the bathroom was, rubbing his stomach and waiting for the signal to stop.
“Wait... No way?!”
Raphael, who was staring straight ahead, turned his head here and there and found familiar people diagonally across the square. It was Magic Tower Lord and Commander Macrom. Both of them were wearing robes and hoods and had their heads down, but when Magic Tower Lord slightly raised his head and looked around as if he was looking for someone, Raphael recognized his face.
“Huh? Over here...!”
Raphael raised his hand to call them, but quickly hid himself in the corner of the building. Since the two of them had returned to the Lapion Empire, there was a high possibility that the Empress was with them. Raphael’s heart raced. His head became confused as to what to do about this. One thing was certain: if they, as well as the Empress, were here, it would be dangerous.
He thought about going back to the tavern and telling Linel that the Empress's party had returned, but he had no idea how he would react since he had no memory of the Empress. The first thing he heard about the Empress who had disappeared from his memory was that she was an 'acting Empress' temporarily sent from the Kingdom of Shattonil.
That fact was revealed a month ago, that day, in the monastery. Princess Roxana had brought it up first, followed by Prince Tesla's testimony. It was true that Zelda had been sent from the Shattonil royal family as an 'acting Empress', so there was no other way to explain it. After that, Linel's close associate, Raphael, told him several times about the affectionate feelings they had shared, but he tilted his head every time. It was a fairy tale-like honeymoon story that the current Emperor could not believe.
"But... why did Macrom end up like that?"
Raphael was shocked when he saw the beard of Commander Macrom. The Commander had always been neat and tidy, both before and after losing his eyesight. He had never seen even a bluish beard grow on his face, but what on earth had happened to the Commander's face that made him look at least ten years older?
“Why is your expression so dark again?”
It could have been even more so because he was next to the neat and tidy man, but Raphael sensed that something had changed in Commander Macrom’s presence.
“If the two of you came to the palace, then Her Majesty the Empress must be there too.”
First, he needed to follow the two of them and find out where they were staying. If he approached them rashly and pretended to know them, everyone could be in danger. Raphael quietly followed the two of them at a certain distance.
***
The man never told me what illness his companion had. Was it a serious illness? It couldn’t be. If that was the case, he wouldn’t have ordered drinks. Then did he lie when there was no companion? Well, we’ll have to wait and see if the man had a companion, but I’m going to run away when I have the chance. Just as naturally as if I had been sitting here.
“Are the companions you came with women?”
The thought that just occurred to me came out without even going through my brain. My body should be moving, but my words keep coming out carelessly. What should I do?
“Why are you curious about the gender?”
The man asked rudely.
“Just let that go. I’m saying this because I don’t want you to fall for me if you’re married.”
After I finished speaking, I felt like I had been caught.
“It sounds like you’re saying you’ll fall for me if you don’t have a partner.”
The man pointed that out again and twisted his lips. I wanted to twist my lips too.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m married!”
I got angry for no reason and raised my voice.
“...There’s no reason for us to misunderstand each other.”
The man muttered quietly and poured himself some liquor and drank it down in succession. The bottle of liquor had already emptied more than halfway.
“Does that mean you’re married too?”
I felt strangely dirty.
“Yes.”
But why was it in the past tense?
“...You got divorced?”
“Divorce... I guess the marriage was completely invalidated.”
The man spoke as if he were talking about someone else. But you always answer my questions, but why do you keep talking to yourself like you're mumbling to yourself? That's really presumptuous.
"What, how can you invalidate a marriage? Was your wife a total idiot?"
I wasn't particularly interested in other people's business, but this was pure curiosity.
"She was my wife, but she wasn't."
“What are you talking about?”
“Well. I... No, I don’t know either. Since the person involved isn’t here, I can’t ask what that means.”
Tsk tsk, your wife cheated and left home.
“...It seems like you’re weak to alcohol, too. Why don’t you stop drinking now?”
I advised the man, staring at the golden waves inside the dwindling bottle of liquor.
The man pretended not to hear me and continued to fill his glass as it emptied.
“I don’t know the circumstances, but what must have happened to your wife to have left home?”
“What do you know to say something like that?”
“I can tell just by looking at you. I can tell just by the way you speak.”
I looked the man up and down and replied in a confident voice.
The man glared at me, but ironically, his body was leaning toward me.
If a building were to lean this much, it would collapse.
If it were to lean just a little more, I would have to talk to his lips.
Other people would have seen him as showing interest in me.
How could I not misunderstand?
I asked a somewhat unreasonable question to calm myself down.
“But when did your wife leave home?”
In an instant, the man’s face hardened.
“A month ago...”
This time, the man answered my question, and his expression became extremely serious as he remembered what had happened a month ago.
However, apart from his serious expression, his body was getting closer to me.
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