IWAEBS - Chapter 184 < A Place to Lie Down >



Linel, who had paid for the woman’s drinks, hurriedly left the tavern.

Did she smile so beautifully and lie about waiting for him because of the money?

Surely she didn’t just disappear?

He could pay for the drinks as much as he wanted.

He spent the short time he was walking to the tavern’s entrance thinking about all sorts of hypotheses, and just before he opened the door and left, he hoped and hoped that she would stand there shamelessly.

“...She’s not here.”

Linel, who had come out of the tavern, felt depressed as he looked at the deserted streets. He was dumbfounded by the disappointment that was coming back to him more than he had expected.

He took off his robe and messed up his hair, trying to erase the smile the woman had shown him for the last time.

Should he search around the square? Since she had only been gone for a short time, he might be able to find her.

‘But what should I say when I find her?’

‘Why did she just leave? Do you want to spend time with her now?’

He didn’t know how to deal with his empty feeling, so he just stood there.

He didn’t want to go back to the tavern, and he didn’t want to go back to the palace.

The woman who was drinking next to him had disappeared, but he felt like he had lost something important.

“I just feel bad about the money I paid for the drinks instead.”

However, Linel immediately shook his head and laughed at himself.

The Emperor had too much money to say that he felt bad about the money he paid for the drinks, instead. In the place where the absurdity and regret had lingered, a resentful thought took its place.

At that moment, a wind blew. It was a cool breeze for ordinary people, but it was quite cold for him who was under the curse of hypothermia.

With this, he realized that it was not the alcohol that had caused his body temperature to rise, but that woman.

“Search the entire palace and arrest her? And charge her 100 times the amount of money for the drinks?”

For drinking and running away with the Emperor.

He was seriously contemplating the ridiculous charge.

“What are you standing around for?”

“!”

Linel turned his head in the direction from which the woman’s voice had come.

The woman was walking sideways like a crab, slowly moving away from the tavern.

As soon as he left the tavern, he couldn’t look to the side because he was staring at the clearly visible square.

Furthermore, he couldn’t even imagine that someone would walk like a crab while drunk.

Even if her gait was like that, why did she walk with her arms spread out to the side?

Ah, she must be expressing a crab.

He doubted his eyes.

‘No matter how I look at it, it’s the woman I wanted to be with... That’s right.’

He nodded and accepted the situation after seeing the woman’s clear pink eyes.

He walked toward the woman step by step.

He didn’t want to show his pitiful face like a man who had been through hardships, thinking she had disappeared, so he snickered lightly.

“Oh... I’m dizzy. You should walk sideways, too.”

“...Why don’t you just walk straight?”

He turned the woman’s body back to normal and forcibly lowered her arms that were stretched out at different heights.

“Oh, that’ll work.”

The woman thanked him as if she had just realized something, and then smiled bashfully.

“But why are you coming out so late? I thought you just disappeared!”

Ha, who would say that?

The woman asked him the question that Linel wanted to ask instead.

“The person who shamelessly made me pay for the drinks... why are you coming out so late?”

He didn’t want to be caught feeling relieved that the woman hadn’t disappeared, so his tone came out even more bluntly.

“Sorry, I have some circumstances. And I thought you would be willing to pay for my drinks.”

“Why did you think I would be willing to pay?”

“Because you’re pretty.”

The woman said with a bright smile.

This woman was drunk.

Linel deliberately looked away from the woman’s face.

In fact, he didn’t want to admit it, but she was really pretty just now.

The way she was talking shamelessly seemed prettier than her pretty eyes and pretty smile.

If she really looked like that, then maybe...

‘I guess I’m drunk too. Or crazy.’

“You’re pretty.”

The woman turned Linel’s face back halfway away from her with both hands and said,

“What are you... doing...!”

He frowned and looked down at the woman who was caressing the Emperor’s cheeks without mercy.

“I’m paying for the drinks with compliments.”

“Let go.”

...As he said that, he regretted what he had said.

The woman’s hands were warm, and he wanted to keep the warmth he felt on his cheek.

However, she was very good at listening to useless words.

The woman took her hands off his cheek and started walking like a crab again.

He decided to respect her appearance as she was and just left her alone.

However, he couldn’t completely ignore the attention of people.

So he asked while keeping a little distance from the woman who was walking somewhere with a crab-like gait.

“What do you mean when you said you had some circumstances?”

“Oh, that? It was money that wasn’t supposed to be used for alcohol. I was on my way to buy something.”

“What were you going to buy?”

The woman’s pink eyes wandered at his question.

She seemed to be seriously considering whether or not to speak.

“I have a little... sick... younger sibling at home.”

“You mean it was for medicine?”

Linel looked at her incredulously.

She really was an unfathomable woman.

She came to the tavern to drink with the money she had for her sick younger sibling’s medicine?

“I wasn’t on my way to buy medicine... Oh, well. It’s like medicine to that kid.”

The woman glanced at the sausage shop near the tavern and smiled.

“What’s wrong with your brother?”

Linel asked the woman, thinking of his brother Joseph.

Joseph, who had escaped the cursed ice, was still not in good health.

However, he was grateful just to be able to talk to Joseph, hold his hand, and see his expression change.

Perhaps because he had a sick brother himself, he began to feel sorry when he heard the woman mention her sick brother.

“He... has a headache.”

“Headache?”

“He has a mental problem. He’s obsessed with one food. It’s an addiction.”

The woman replied, watching the sausage shop moving away, thinking that it would be better to buy something later on the way rather than going there now.

“...Oh. I see.”

The woman didn’t seem to be in her right mind either. Could it be her family history?

He didn’t ask any more.

“But, where are we going?”

The woman stopped walking and asked him.

He hadn’t thought about the details, so he couldn’t answer right away.

“Isn’t there a place to sit nearby...?”

The imperial palace was a few steps away, and there was a room, but this place was really awkward.

Linel looked around and trailed off.

“I’d like to lie down...”

The woman suddenly blinked and stumbled.

She didn’t look like she would fall even if she was left alone, but Linel instinctively supported her.

“Is it okay if I go to a place to lie down?”

He swallowed hard before he knew it and asked.

“Yeah, if you’re not confident that you can do anything.”

“...I think your words changed a little?”

If you’re confident that you can do nothing, then yes.

“What did I say?”

The woman asked, straightening her body again.

She seemed unaware that she had slipped up.

Linel didn’t bother to correct her.

He didn’t have the confidence to do anything if he went to a place where he could rest comfortably.

He went in with an eagle eye and started looking for a place to rest.

“I know a good place.”

The woman suddenly grabbed the man’s wrist and led him to a nearby alley.

He was momentarily conflicted by the woman’s quickened pace and the mocking stares of the people passing by.

‘Should I just go back to the palace...?’

However, while thinking that, his normal pace faithfully followed her abnormal pace.

The existence of Raphael, who had come out of the palace with him, completely disappeared from that moment.

***

I didn’t leave the tavern with him because I was attracted to the man’s appearance.

Of course, his genius-like front and artistic side were indeed a big influence, but they weren’t decisive. I thought that if I rejected the man’s offer, I would definitely regret it for a long time.

I don’t know what, why, or how I would regret it.

I was just moved by the vague thought of wanting to stay in the same space longer.

I thought it would be nice to talk more and drink more.

I left the tavern with that simple thought...

I kept wondering if it was the alcohol, the night, or my body.

My mind was already troubled, and the man kept distancing himself from me.

At the tavern, he had been quite active in suggesting that I go out with him, but when we actually went outside and got some cold air, did he change his mind?

I was anxious that I might just wander around the square and part ways.

So in the end, I took him to the inn where I was staying.

If anything happened to me, I thought it would be better to go to a place where I had friends who could help me if something happened rather than going to an unknown place.

To be honest... The location was actually an excuse.

There was a bigger reason why I had to take the risk and bring him here.

That’s because I remembered what the owner had said when I first came to this inn.

If you bring a guest, you get a 10% discount.

If they only gave a discount to the guest you brought, I wouldn’t have bothered to bring him, but they said they would give a 30% discount to the person who introduced you.

Even though it was only a discount that applied for one day, where was that?

It was really a problem I couldn’t give up on.

The Lord of the Tower and Empress Elan had told me over and over again not to worry about money, but since I had been living off their pockets for a month, I wanted to help them in this way.

In addition, the amount of food Moiya ate was considerable, so it was days when I had to be very careful.

Fortunately, the inn building was divided into the main building and the annex building. So there was no awkward encounter with the group staying in the main building.

“I’m going to rest.”

As soon as I entered the inn, I walked to the table where the owner was sitting and said.

The innkeeper, who was counting gold coins, looked up and looked at me.

When I gave him a small wink, the perceptive innkeeper noticed me and looked at the man standing next to me with his head down like a criminal. He smiled again and gave me a discount.

“Let’s go to the room at the end of the annex on the third floor.”

The innkeeper said while handing me a heart-shaped keychain.

“Thank you.”

I gave the innkeeper a short greeting and grabbed the hem of the man’s robe and headed to the annex.
 
Even when we were going up the stairs, when someone came down the stairs, and when we arrived at the room where we were going to rest, the man kept coughing in vain, conscious of the people.

He must have been from a famous noble family, because his face was always facing the floor.

I turned to him as I turned the door to the room at the end of the third floor with my key.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

I was originally going to tell him, “If you’re feeling unwell, let’s go back here.”

But the moment I turned to the man, my heart pounded at his face that was dripping with cold air, so I unconsciously pushed his back into the room and swallowed what I was going to say.

The man also entered the room obediently, wondering if he was feeling well enough to go back.

I closed the door, locked it, and followed him.

He walked straight to the bed, then hesitated and changed direction again, sitting on the chair in front of the bed.

It was a bit funny to see me sitting on the bed, but I decided to act calm.

I thought about standing up again and sitting in front of him, but that would be even more awkward.

And then I thought about it... In the first place, the man wanted a place to sit, and I had found a place to lie down.

So this was a natural choice of location that each of us wanted.

“What are your hobbies?”

“...Huh?”

After a moment of silence, an unbelievably stupid question was heard.

Since there was only me and that man in this room, it was definitely the man who said it.

When I gave him a look of contempt instead of answering, the man turned his gaze outside the window and muttered to himself.

“I know you’re good at walking around... but your hobby is... hit-and-runs?”

Oh my.

“The cost of drinks.”

Oh, but that’s a bit much.

How much do you have to have to have something to say to ask such a question?

I decided to ignore the man’s words as if I hadn’t heard them.

The man’s reddened neck seemed to want me to do the same.

I stared at the man for a moment and then opened my mouth.

“Hey, what are you looking at outside the window right now?”

“Just... watching people? Hmm, I thought I heard a familiar voice, so I looked down, but it was too dark to see.”

The man touched the back of his neck, where the redness had slightly subsided, and replied.

“Wow, do you have clairvoyance?”

“What?”

“This is a room without a window. There are rooms with balconies, but the cheap ones don’t have windows. They’re just for decoration.”

The main building we were staying in had the same layout, so this place would have the same layout.

The man looked incredulous at my words.

“Open that window. It’s just a wall.”

I gestured to the window with my chin, and the man opened the window with a look of incredulity.

He opened the window and banged his fist on the wall.

“I didn’t know because my eyesight is bad...”

He nervously pulled the curtains and picked up the water jug ​​right in front of him, pouring water into a cup and drinking it.

“But how did you know so well? Do you come here often?”

He emptied the entire glass of water in one gulp and asked in an annoyed tone.

“Well, you can think of it as similar to a regular.”

If there were no particular inconveniences, I was planning to stay here long-term, so it wasn’t completely wrong.

However, it was an answer that could easily be misunderstood by the man.

“!”

He opened his mouth as if he were shocked.

Was my attitude of answering too brightly to the problem?

Silence flowed again.

After some time, the man’s expression was still extremely cold, but his pale complexion was slightly pinkish.

The combination of his blue eyes and light pink cheeks was so pretty that I stared blankly at the man’s face for a moment.

He smiled slightly, perhaps because he found my gaze awkward.

I pouted my lips and asked him teasingly,

“You must be feeling awkward too, judging from the way you’re smiling?”

“Because it’s my first time.”

“Don’t worry. Just trust me... No, you’re married, so why is this your first time?”

“...No, what I mean is... This is the situation.”

Although I meant that this was the first time, the man’s expression right now was like someone who was about to have their first night together.

The words I had been thinking inside blurted out without me realizing it.

“You know what? You look like you really want to eat me.”

The man took a considerable amount of time to understand what I meant, then snorted and replied.

“That’s harsh.”

For a moment, a playful tone set in at his words.

“It’s even harsher in bed. Is that okay?”

I crossed my legs and slurred my voice as I provoked him.

Then the man suddenly stood up from his chair.


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