Chapter 25: Why are you in someone else’s bed?

“Lavella.”

Looking around, Dabel leaned closer to Lavella.

“This bracelet. You shouldn’t wear it around your wrist. It’s something you have to keep in a place where no one can steal it.”

“What?”

Who would dare touch my stuff?  Lavella swallowed her words and asked a short question.

“Let’s see. How many are there in total…”

“Dabel.”

Lavella raised her voice as if warning. Dabel’s eyes went round as if he had lost his soul.

“Lavella, do you know how much this is?”

“Well?”

Dabel carefully approached Lavella’s ear and covered his mouth with his hand.

“It’s well over 200,000 gold.”

“!”

Lavella slowly met Dabel’s eyes.

“……Really?”

“Why would I lie about something like this?”

“Hooo.”

　

“Then maybe you’ll see me again?”

　

Now she could understand Iska’s words.

So, the wealth of the prince must have been this great. Seeing how he casually put a few years worth of a budget for a small estate on my wrist.

‘Hmm, I’m suddenly attracted.’

Lavella’s gaze fell on Iska’s empty seat, who had not yet arrived.

She decided to stay with Iska for a while, but she thought it wouldn’t be bad to hold his hand like this for a bit.

　

* *  *

Breakfast began only when the Lord appeared at the end. The discussions were no different from a dinner meeting.

“We need to start tracking in earnest, so I would like to ask you to share the information you have gathered.”

“I told the aide, so let’s go together when the meal is over.”

‘I don’t think I can hear it myself.’

Lavella, who was listening to the conversation with an innocent face that she knew nothing, left her regret behind. She had something else to do.

“Do I have to be alone all day then?”

“Cough.”

Lavella’s frightened eyes caused Moot to cough as he swallowed the food wrong.

“Yes, it’s dangerous, so you’d better stay at the castle.”

Iska looked at Lavella with friendly eyes.

“You know you can’t even catch a single mosquito.”

Lavella, with Iska smiling casually, pressed on his foot under the table as if to tell him to do it in moderation.

However, Iska’s calm expression didn’t even budge.

“Oh, my. I wasn’t being considerate of the beautiful young lady.”

The Lord sighed slightly as he looked at Lavella.

“Call Brad.”

The Lord immediately gave instructions to the servant next to him.

“You called?”

And not long after, a tall man entered the restaurant.

“This is my son. He’s about the same age, so I think you will be good friends.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, I am Brad Natral.”

“…….”

Lavella put her eyes down shyly to be faithful to her role, and Iska and Canpiden simultaneously crumpled their eyebrows.

The Lord, who saw Lavella with her head bowed and her face red, smiled as if she were cute. The young lord’s face was not much different from his father’s.

“They are the top group of Campanya who will help us with our work. She’s a precious guest, so take care of her.”

“I see. It’s an honor to have you here.”

“…Me too.”

Lavella answered in a low voice, as if barely audible, and only nodded her head slightly.

“I will guide you through the castle today.”

The young lord, who smiled affectionately at Lavella, bowed and raised himself.

“Then I’ll see you later.”

The young lord, who was also exchanging greetings with her group after telling Lavella he would see her later, hardened slightly.

The young lord tilted his head and his smile disappeared.

“…You.”

When the young lord’s strange gaze was drawn to Canpiden, the guild members’ attention were also focused towards him.

“Me, do you know me?”

“…….”

The young lord bit his lip in response to Canpiden’s blunt question, then smiled softly again.

“I’m sorry, I think I was mistaken. You look a lot like someone I know.”

The young lord soon shook his head and turned his attention to Lavella again.

“Would you mind waiting in the room after you finish eating? I’ll finish what I’ve been doing and go see you.”

“…Yes.”

Lavella smiled as refreshing as a young lady.

Still, her curved eyes looked at the expression of the young lord, who seemed somewhat uncomfortable.

Lavella, who took her eyes off the young lord’s distant back, soon spotted Canpiden. He quietly continued his meal, with a calm attitude as if nothing had happened.

‘Well, they may have passed each other somewhere.’

Immediately, Lavella began to organize what she had to do in her head today.

*   *   *

“If you go this way, it leads to the garden. Would you like to go?”

“…Yes.”

Lavella nodded slowly at the guidance of the young lord. She had already followed him from the castle’s office to the library.

‘Isn’t the structure of the castle the same everywhere?’

It was the first time to walk inside a Lord’s castle in broad daylight after coming to Imperia. Usually, she infiltrated most of them at night because of requests.

At this point, she was about to look at the internal structure for sure. It would have been better if she had gone alone, but it would have been difficult to see the secret places of the castle like she was able to do now.

‘The dance hall would be perfect. Would it be difficult to store weapons there?’

“I think the Lord is a good person.”

Lavella, who stepped into the garden, whispered softly while looking at the young lord and measuring the angle.

“You think so?”

The young lord immediately tilted his upper body and responded.

He enjoyed seeing Lavella’s mouth open little by little. As time passed, this shy lady seemed to open her heart up to him.

“I can feel that just by looking at the way you treat us.”

Lavella pointed out again at the meal when the Lord mentioned her as a valuable guest.

Even if they worked together for a while, he was Duke Natal, a noble above the nobility. It was not just a title that could be used to refer to upper-class people.

“He is my father, but he is a wonderful man. He is also someone who looks at people without prejudice.”

“It seems that The young lord is very similar to the Lord.”

As she shook her head shyly clutching the hem of her skirt, The young lord seemed overjoyed. Still, he pretended to be polite.

“Isn’t the garden beautiful?”

He asked for Lavella’s opinion, capturing the well-groomed landscape in his eyes.

‘I think you just need to be coaxed a little more.’

“Yes, it’s very pretty.”

I really want to see the weapons warehouse. While she was thinking differently, Lavella curled her round eyes beautifully.

“The gardens of Promschel Castle are famous for being the most beautiful in Imperia. Oh, except for the Imperial Palace, of course. Nothing can surpass the Imperial Palace.”

“Have you been to the Imperial Palace?”

“Of course.”

Lavella raised her head and stared at The young lord for the first time. Then, when their eyes met, she bowed her head.

“I’m just curious…”

When Lavella muttered softly, The young lord nodded as if he understood. 

She was not a woman from any noble family, but the younger sister of a newly born upper-classist. The chance that she would set foot in the Imperial Palace was more likely to  never be in her lifetime.

He decided to satisfy the lady’s curiosity.

“The Imperial Palace, um… It’s a place that’s incomparable to Promschel Castle. Should I say there are two or three more of these castles?”

“Are the people in the Imperial Palace like The young lord or the Lord?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Then….”

The young lord smiled awkwardly, and Lavella stopped walking and wiggled the tips of her fingers.

“Have you ever met the crown prince?”

“Ah.”

The young lord, who stopped walking, crossed his arms and rubbed his chin.

“Of course, I’ve seen him before.”

Any lady would dream of the existence of the Imperial Family. The young lord purely accepted Lavella’s question.

Of course, it was a thought without knowing Lavella.

Lavella was watching the young lord’s reaction sharply with an innocent face.

She was planning to gather a lot of information about the Crown Prince. Furthermore, she could even learn how Natal views the Crown Prince and the Prince.

“The Crown Prince has silver hair unique to the imperial family, and when I look at it, it sometimes feels mysterious.”

The young lord, who raised his gaze as if looking into a distant place, recited his thoughts on the Crown Prince.

“When I think about it, I think he always had a friendly smile on his face. Well, yes…he did.”

“Then what about the prince? Isn’t there another prince?”

Lavella, who caught the subtle hesitation buried in the young lord’s words, changed the subject to Iska.

“Oh, Prince Rubitz.”

He nodded in reply.

She wondered what kind of words would come out.

I was a little looking forward to what would flow through the young lord’s lips.

“Actually, I’ve never seen him.”

“?”

Seeing Lavella’s head tilted slightly out of curiosity, the young lord licked his lips.

He seemed to be agonizing over whether he could say this.

Lavella waited silently. Then the young lord opened his mouth again.

After all, she was not a noblewoman. With her innocent face, he wondered what she would do if she had heard some rumors about Prince Rubitz.

“The prince has never appeared in front of the public because he is weak.” 

“…….”

You’re weak?

Recalling his strong and muscular body that she had seen with her own eyes, Lavella swallowed a laugh.

The prince, I have him now. I’m properly making use of him, too.

Lavella wondered what kind of life he had lived in the Imperial Palace.

“Rumor has it that…”

The young lord bowed to Lavella and lowered his voice.

“It was said he was more beautiful than anyone else in Imperia.”

Oh, I agree with that.

“Really?”

Instead of agreeing, Lavella’s eyes widened. She didn’t forget to put her hands together and cover her mouth like a cute young lady.

“According to another rumor, he is also a very famous flirt.”

“…….”

“Another rumor says he’s a fierce and vicious person…”

“…….”

“Another rumor is that he’s like an angel.”

“……I’m really curious about who he is.”

“Yes, so am I. He’s a man of many rumors.”

When Lavella blinked a couple of times, The young lord made a loud noise and laughed.

“Oh, my. The sun is about to set.”

The young lord looked around at the clear sky and sighed regretfully.

“I had so much fun that I didn’t even know time was going by.  Would you like to go to the village with me tomorrow?”

“You’re busy, but because of me…”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m doing it because I want to.”

He sounded determined as if reassuring Lavella, who blurred the end of her words.

“Then may I ask you again?”

Lavela smiled shyly and raised only her round eyes up.

*   *   *

“Are noble families always that greasy? Huh?”

Pessini scratched the back of his head as if he didn’t understand.

“You should try it, Pessini. Like this. ‘My lady’, do this.”

Argen stopped on the spot, put one arm near his stomach, and bowed his back.

“Or, like this?”

Argen holding Pessini’s thick hand again pretended to kiss it, and Pessini freaked out and pulled out his arm.

“What are you doing?!”

“I was imitating The young lord from earlier.”

It was on the way back to the castle with two quarreling people at the forefront.

Throughout the morning, the Lord’s aide shared the traces of the smugglers, and in the afternoon, he spent all his time tracking after them.

It was a pretty busy day.

Iska was more busy wondering what Lavella would do once in the castle.

“Everyone worked hard, let’s finish it quickly and go back to Calibel.”

“Hey, are you trying to build trust when you say that?”

Argen giggled and slapped Iska on the side when he left a farewell before heading to the room.

Argen could not tell that he wanted to hurry because he had yet to fill the 1 million gold promised in the contract.

“I’m going.”

Ignoring him moderately and turning around, Iska glanced at the door where Lavella was staying.

‘She must be sleeping.’

Iska, who quickly gave up his mind to stop by, opened his door without regret.

He wondered what she was trying to do while staying in the castle. He burst into laughter again as he recalled how she was imitating a young lady.

“!”

Iska, who was unarmed with a smile, stopped working.

It was because he found a guest lying comfortably on his bed like they were the owner.

“…Haha.”

Iska, who swept his hair back, approached the bed.

The person with her eyes closed as quietly as if she were sleeping was definitely Lavella.

Despite his presence, she was immovable. She even put her hands together on the blanket that had been pulled up to her chest.

“You’ve gone too far raising people’s heart rate.”

Iska groaned as he sat down on the bed. It was, of course, accompanied by his satisfied sigh.

When he came back from the end of the day, in his room. He didn’t expect her to lie in his bed and wait for him.

And this was a pretty new feeling.

Iska, who had quietly looked into Lavella’s face, quietly extended his hand. Her blonde hair, braided to one side, was loose and a little messy, so he was about to tidy it up.

Just when he was about to touch her hair.

“!”

Lavella’s hand unwittingly grabbed his wrist.

“What? You weren’t sleeping?”

One of the eyebrows was wrinkled and Iska smiled.

“Aren’t you late?”

“Why are you pretending to be sleeping and why are you in someone else’s bed?”

Iska twisted his wrist and spoke bluntly.

“So you don’t like it?”

Lavella, who laid her body sideways, put her hands together and put them down beautifully next to her face.

The relaxed smiling face seemed to say, ‘It couldn’t be possible’.

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