“Stella, what’s ahead?”
Via leaned against the carriage window, gazing forward.
The sun had already sunk in the west, and the night sky was dotted with stars. Under their faint glow, a town lit with lamps appeared on the dark horizon.
“According to the navigation, the town ahead is Shim Town,” Stella explained. “We’ll need to stop once we reach it.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes. The horses have been running for a long time and need rest. Also, the magic crystal in the navigation artifact is nearly depleted and needs replenishing. Shim Town is a supply point along the road.”
“So we have no choice but to stay the night?”
“Don’t you want to spend a night at an inn?” Stella asked, a little curious.
“We’ve been stuck in this carriage for a full day and night without bathing. Don’t you feel gross?”
“Yeah… a little.”
As the Demon King of the demonkin, how could I possibly be so fussy? Bathing or not shouldn’t matter at all.
However, after living as a girl for eighteen years in this life, her body had already formed the habit, and she really did feel uncomfortable.
“Then let’s find an inn and rest properly tonight. After all, it will still take several more days to get back to Doff City.”
Via reluctantly agreed.
After all, she didn’t want to use teleportation arrays in large cities, so traveling by carriage meant they truly needed supplies.
But she was also somewhat worried.
Ever since escaping Kado City, she had no idea what actions the Holy Land had taken.
Had her identity been exposed?
What measures would the Saint Luo Empire take against her?
She couldn’t determine any of these risky factors at the moment.
The carriage stopped in Shim Town. After getting off, Stella asked some locals and quickly found the town’s inn.
“Boss, we’d like two rooms, please. We need to stay the night.”
Stella walked up to the front desk after entering the inn.
The owner was a bald elderly man wearing reading glasses, his eyesight apparently poor.
He put down his newspaper and glanced at Stella.
“I’m sorry, miss. Our inn is currently undergoing renovations. Most of the rooms are already occupied, and we don’t have two rooms available at the moment.”
“Not even one?”
“We do have one, but…”
The owner hesitated for a moment before continuing. “The only one left is the couple’s room.”
“Only a couple’s room?”
Stella glanced back at Via. To hide her identity, Via was currently wearing a robe with the hood pulled over her head. She looked somewhat distracted and had been listlessly following behind Stella since getting off the carriage.
“Via, there’s only one couple’s room left,” Stella reminded her. “There are no other rooms available.”
“Huh?”
Via snapped back to attention. She looked at Stella and frowned. “A couple’s room?”
“Yeah. Would you rather sleep on the street?”
“Not really.”
If conditions allowed, Via naturally didn’t want to sleep on the street.
“Alright, I understand.”
Stella turned her gaze back to the owner.
“Boss, we’ll take the couple’s room then!”
“You two… Um, are you in that kind of relationship?”
“This is quite… unusual,” the owner remarked with emotion.
He could sense that the blue-haired girl in front of him possessed an innate noble aura, which was quite rare in a small place like Shim Town.
“So even noble young ladies have these kinds of preferences nowadays.”
“Unusual or not, you do have the room, right?” Stella replied. “In the Saint Luo Empire, this has become a new trend. There are quite a few couples like us at Avalon Academy.”
“You two are students from Avalon Academy?!”
“Yes, boss. We’re students. Do we get a discount?”
“If you’re students from Avalon Academy, of course you do. For the couple’s room, we can offer an 8.8 discount!”
“Great. Please register us then, boss,” Stella said with a smile.
“There really is only one bed here~”
After registering and paying, Stella received the key. She led Via to their couple’s room.
Although the inn looked quite ordinary from the outside, the interior decoration was rather thoughtful. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was quite refined.
The couple’s room featured a large round bed. Aromatic incense had been lit around it, and the dim, atmospheric lighting created a rather ambiguous mood.
“Alright, Via, time to get down to business.”
Stella kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed. She patted the mattress playfully. “Via, come over here quickly.”
“What for?” Via asked, confused.
“We’re publicly claiming to be a couple right now. To avoid raising anyone else’s suspicions, we naturally have to play the part all the way. Shouldn’t we do what couples normally like to do?”
“Of course we should do what couples love to do~”
Via was rendered speechless.
Had Stella gotten addicted to playing this game? She even wanted to take the act seriously.
She walked to the side of the bed, pulled the lamp cord a few times to brighten the room. The previously ambiguous atmosphere immediately lightened considerably.
“Via, you’re really bad at reading the mood, aren’t you?” Stella fiddled with the buttons on her clothes. “I’ve already gotten myself ready.”
“This joke isn’t funny.”
Via could tell that Stella was deliberately teasing her.
“Fine.”
“Besides, we’re both girls. We can’t do that kind of thing.”
“Who says girls can’t do it with each other?” The smile on Stella’s face grew even more mischievous. “Via, I can tell you really don’t understand at all.”
“I don’t understand, and I don’t want to understand!!”
Via quickly cut off the topic, refusing to let Stella continue digging deeper.
She really couldn’t understand what kind of education the Ninth Princess of the Saint Luo Empire had received.
This probably wasn’t part of royal etiquette, right?
Because of everything that had happened in Kado City, her mind was still in chaos. She didn’t have the energy to banter with Stella like usual.
“I’m tired. I want to rest.”
“Then we’ll have to sleep in the same bed,” Stella reminded her.
“We’ll sleep together then. Like we did in the dorm before—we’ll take opposite ends.”
“We can’t. The pillow is one long piece,” Stella said, pointing at the large pillow at the head of the bed.
“Ugh…”
What a troublesome couple’s room. Why did the owner have to design it with such clever little touches?
Via felt extremely helpless inside.
There was no way around it now. Tonight, she would have to share a bed with Stella.
“Whatever. Stella, since there’s no other choice, we’ll just have to make do.”