Ch. 225

“Then let’s go to the inn and drag Chad out! The money I ‘made’ to bet on Count Trenpe is in the room too!”

“You made money?”

“…I prepared it.”

I slipped up because I was too excited. I tried to gloss over it and ran ahead, but Ash easily caught up and grabbed my shoulder. I rolled my eyes away.

“Geenie? Where is that money coming from?”

“Do you think I’ll answer?”

“No.”

“Right?”

Since I was already caught, I turned and linked arms with him, laughing in delight.

“I don’t want to lie to you. So… can you just not ask things that are difficult for me to answer?”

“I’m not sure if that’s something I should be happy about…”

But the corners of his mouth betrayed him—he looked far too pleased.

—

At last, the day of Toomdra arrived.

I couldn’t remember the last time I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. I woke up before sunlight even touched my face.

From then on, I was a wreck.

I wandered aimlessly around the room, changed clothes three times, washed my face five times, and still couldn’t calm down.

I finally opened the window and sat beneath it, thinking Mana training would steady me.

It didn’t. My restlessness only grew, my refreshed body aching to do something—anything.

[Ugh, Master! You’re too jumpy! I’m twitching because of you!]

“How can I stay calm when today is the day?!”

[Will pacing make time go faster?]

“I literally can’t stand this!”

How long had I waited for this day?

There was still plenty of time before we were supposed to meet downstairs, but I didn’t care—I ran straight to the men’s room to drag the lazy guys out.

I grabbed the doorknob and skipped knocking. Locked.

Clang, clang. Someone was stirring inside. Good—they were awake.

“Rai!”

[Yap!]

We were perfectly in sync.

Without needing instructions, Rai licked the doorknob once, disarming the lock. There wasn’t a door in this world I couldn’t open.

Especially not some flimsy inn door.

I flung it open without hesitation.

“Hear ye!”

In other words—I barged in.

“The morning has—”

“…Aaaaaaah!”

“Aaaagaaaagh!”

Oh my.

[Ew!]

“How did you open it!? I locked it!”

It wasn’t intentional, but I saw Chad’s thing between his legs.

He tried to hide it with the wet towel he’d been using, but too late—I’d already seen it, and he wasn’t even covering it properly.

“What are you looking at! Get out! Now!”

Chad shrieked like it was the end of the world. Honestly, wasn’t I the victim here? I wanted new eyes.

The ambiguous part was that Ash had his back turned while wiping his shoulder—so I saw his very firm butt.

To confess, my eyes lingered much longer on Ash’s backside than on Chad’s… whatever.

The muscles from his smooth back down to that… perfect rise…

‘Excellent. Excellent.’

It belonged in a museum. A divine sculpture.

It seemed everyone was washing up. Two were fully naked, two were mid-undressing.

Enk and Gale were the luckiest—they were only holding towels and frozen stiff like statues.

Because water was scarce, people usually just wiped themselves clean rather than bathed daily.

“Hey!!”

“Huh?”

“Can’t… can’t you hear me!? Get out!! Stop staring, you crazy woman!”

I was honestly just admiring the technique of wiping down with a soaked towel, but Chad yelled like I was committing some mortal sin.

What a hothead. You can look a little, can’t you?

“Who told you to walk around naked? Even in your room, be careful. Someone might come in.”

“You’re… unbelievable.”

[A person can be this shameless!]

“Fine, I’ll apologize. Sorry for seeing your thing, and good morning.”

I slipped out before Ash—pants in hand—could turn around. Screaming erupted behind me.

My mind felt peaceful. I’d seen something very… pleasing.

Royal portraits would never show Ash’s backside. What a waste.

And even completely naked, he still wore his necklace.

I paused outside the door to savor the memory, but Chad stormed out, unable to grab or hit me, so he just raged uselessly.

“Are you trying to shame us to death!?”

“No? I could just kill you. Why would I bother with something troublesome like shame?”

“Aooo! This broken-human-disaster of a woman—!”

“Hehehe.”

“Saintess…!”

Chad even seemed uncomfortable saying the word.

“Eumhahaha! Go ahead and spread the rumor! ‘The Saintess is insane.’ No one will believe you!”

His suffering was delightful.

But then I locked eyes with Ash.

Ah. Those eyebrows. Those were the angry eyebrows. A ten-minute lecture incoming.

Whenever Ash called my name without affection, that’s what it meant.

“Geenie.”

“Yes? My name is Geenie though?”

“This is not the time for jokes. I don’t mind what you saw, but apologize to Chad properly. You were wrong.”

“…You don’t mind?”

“…Don’t sparkle your eyes at strange things.”

“Well, of course you don’t mind. You’ve already seen me naked bef—”

He was fast.

Before I even registered it, Ash covered my mouth. Even rushed, his touch was careful—just blocking speech, not choking me.

“…What did you just say? Ash? What did you see?”

Of course, Chad had excellent hearing. Shame he didn’t have the same awareness.

His face when he learned I was the Saintess had been iconic—but this topped it.

“Chad, it’s a misunderstanding.”

“When did you two… get like that…”

“No, it’s not like that.”

Hehe. Exactly according to plan.

“I know what you’re imagining! It wasn’t intentional!”

“Me too!”

“I didn’t mean to see it!”

“Me too!”

“…Geenie!”

Ash fell straight into the trap, sweating as he explained himself—looking more like someone making excuses than clarifying.

Chad was too flustered to keep yelling at me.

Ash shook his head in despair. I felt a tiny bit guilty. Tiny.

Using their chaos, I slipped out.

Lululu~ Time to get ahead.

“I’m going first! See you at the Duel arena!”

“Wait! We were supposed to go together!”

“It’ll take you a while to get ready. Ah—I’ll grab Akia and meet you there. Goodbye.”

A woman must know when to vanish.

“Hey! Stick to the plan! Stop doing whatever you want!”

“If you have complaints, formally request a Duel.”

“…Ash! Control her! You’re the leader!”

“Haa… I’m sorry, Chad…”

Originally, the plan was for everyone to gather downstairs and pick up Akia together. It wasn’t safe for her to walk to the Duel arena alone.

But if I went to get her myself, it saved time—and avoided moving as a conspicuous group.

Of course, it was also dangerous for me to go alone, but only because of the thugs.

“Keu, the weather is perfect today.”

[To me, that sounds like ‘If I catch anyone today, they’ll regret it’.]

“Exactly! Rai!”

[Ahem. I’m happy when Master is happy!]

I hummed and walked with a light step, unable to contain my rising mood.

The streets were packed with people.

Chad’s voice calling for me drifted faintly from outside the inn, but that was just background noise.

Nothing could stop my pounding excitement. I wanted to see Rovenin get smashed to bits.

Nothing!

—

Sadly, no thugs tried to pick a fight.

“Akia, did you place any bets?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d bet about 1 silver… as a memory.”

Akia walked close beside me, shy as usual.

Her outfit today was more polished than normal—a deep green dress with bright patterns that looked cute and modest at once, tied with a white lace belt.

The bright yellow silk headband suited her brown hair perfectly.

I had been too occupied thinking about Rovenin to notice earlier, but even her shoes were new—sparkling whenever they peeked from under her skirt.

“I should’ve said something when we met earlier.”

“Something?”

“That you look pretty today. Well, Akia is always cute.”

“…You’re embarrassing me. And… you know I’m older, right?”

“Of course.”

“Oh my… you say it so easily that it makes my heart flutter. You’re dangerous, Geenie-nim.”

After learning I was the Saintess, she switched from calling me Geenie-yang to Geenie-nim. She kept the secret perfectly—not even tempted to reveal it.

Of course I would show goodwill to someone so trustworthy and kind.

“I’m relieved you think so. I don’t dress up often… I worried it might look strange.”

“There’s no way. Everything suits you. The shoes and headband look like they were made for you.”

“You’re exaggerating. You seem in a great mood today. Did something good happen?”

“Yep. Feels like a guy I hate will die today.”

Akia was a very mature lady—she knew how to pretend she didn’t hear something she definitely heard.

“So why did you dress up so nicely today? It can’t be for me… Is it Chad?”

“W-What!? How did you know…”

“I could tell.”

“I-Is it that obvious?”

Actually, I just read your mind.

Easy.