“This Miss Nia, everyone should have seen her that night, so I won’t bother with an introduction. As for the relationship between these two, you can all guess.”
After a few seconds of silence, the patrons burst out almost simultaneously with various exclamations of surprise, followed by a noisy chorus of chatter.
Among it all, the topic they heard the most about was her.
“El really got lucky this time. How did he manage to find such a beautiful girl!”
“I’m telling you, this lady is a mage.”
“Not just that, her aura doesn’t look like she’s from an ordinary family—she’s probably some noble lady!”
“Even the most beautiful noblewoman from the Danver faction doesn’t compare to her, right? Maybe she’s from an even bigger city.”
“Damn, how could a lady like that even be interested in El…”
Most of the young humans expressed their “envy” and “jealousy” toward him.
A small number of the older crowd, however, focused their attention elsewhere.
“Aren’t those ‘Entanglements’ from Aunt Reina on their hands? El actually got married without telling us?”
“We definitely need to punish him properly later, fill him up good and proper…”
As for why they ended up in Felt’s tavern, it all started after buying the rings.
Nia and El had just left the jewelry stall when they bumped into Felt, who was returning to open his shop after attending the celebration.
El had already arranged with Felt that he would come to the tavern for drinks that evening.
So the two naturally decided to head back together.
“Make way for our hero!”
Felt called out, ushering them to their seats and pouring drinks for them.
“No more Eureka?”
Looking at the drinks in front of her, Nia couldn’t help but ask.
“Sorry, Miss Nia.”
Felt looked at her apologetically and explained, “We’ve been preparing wine for the evening celebration all day. The two glasses of Eureka from this afternoon were the last ones.”
“But you can try this—it’s my masterpiece.” Felt pushed the glass toward her. “Sometimes it’s good to change things up.”
Nia hesitated for a moment, staring at the glass Felt had slid over, then nodded.
“Alright… I’ll try it.”
Holding the glass, Nia took a sip.
Sweet, with a hint of sourness, it resembled the fruit wine brewed by her people, but without the harsh bitterness and astringency.
It was barely within her acceptable range.
“How’s the taste?”
Seeing her take a drink, El leaned closer with curiosity.
Nia took a larger sip, frowned slightly, then swallowed. “Hmm… it’s a bit strange. Not as tasty as Eureka juice, but not bad either.”
“As long as you don’t hate it.” El also took a sip. “But why don’t you stick with me? If you don’t like this noisy atmosphere, you can always look for Meira.”
“No need.” Nia tilted her head, holding her glass. “Why do you think I wouldn’t like this atmosphere?”
“Well, just judging by your tastes.” El said, “You usually like sitting alone up in trees or taking walks… so I figured you like quiet places, right?”
“Liking quiet and liking lively atmospheres aren’t mutually exclusive, right?” Nia replied calmly.
That wasn’t a lie.
Nia actually quite liked this kind of tavern atmosphere, with everyone sitting together drinking and chatting.
Back when she was in the knight order, she often went with them to drink Eureka and listen to familiar voices.
If lucky, she’d even hear some of her people’s little secrets.
But ever since she noticed the young knights acting awkward when she was around, she hadn’t gone back.
“Uh.” El choked a little, “Yeah, I guess they don’t contradict each other…”
El opened his mouth to say more, but someone in the tavern shouted at him.
“Hey, El, how about introducing this lady to us?”
El looked over. “Didn’t Felt just introduce her?”
“His introduction isn’t the same as yours, is it?” someone teased. “Do your friends need Felt’s introduction?”
“Fair enough.”
El scratched his head and stood up from his chair.
He looked around and said in a serious tone, “Allow me to introduce, Nia, my wife.”
After saying that, he lightly patted Nia’s shoulder.
Nia understood his meaning, stood up with him, and dryly played along.
“Hello everyone, I’m Nia, I am… his… wife.”
“Wow~”
“So it really is like I thought.”
“El actually got married! Damn, when did this happen? Last time he told me we’d stay bachelors together…”
As Nia listened to the patrons’ remarks, she glanced sideways at the calm and composed El.
Suddenly, a deep admiration welled up in her heart.
Even though this was all just an act and a made-up identity, El said it as if it were really true.
Everyone present was convinced—no one doubted their relationship.
With El here, even her clumsy acting could fool them all.
“You’re really not nice! Got married and didn’t tell us.”
“We have to punish him for this.”
“Exactly, exactly.”
Starting from someone’s words, the crowd that had only been gossiping suddenly turned their attention and all focused on “attacking” El.
“Alright, alright, it’s my fault. So, how do you all think I should be punished?”
El stood up, smiling as he looked around at the tavern patrons.
“At a tavern, the punishment is obviously drinking!”
“Exactly, drink!”
“How about this—you start drinking now and keep going until we say stop.” someone suggested.
El glanced at the drink in front of him, which was practically non-alcoholic to him, and immediately agreed.
“No problem.”
“Now that’s generous!”
The bar erupted in cheers, everyone banging their glasses on the tables in rhythm, the pounding echoing throughout the tavern.
Under everyone’s gaze and cheers, El began to drink.
Glass after glass of the clear liquid was swallowed, and a faint flush appeared on El’s face.
After ten drinks in a row, Nia could clearly feel that El’s condition had changed noticeably from before.
His steps became unsteady, as if he couldn’t stand firm.
When El reached out for the next glass, Nia grabbed his arm.
From his bright eyes, she read concern.
His mood suddenly lifted.
Smiling at Nia, El raised his glass once more and drank it all down.
“El, do you want to keep going?”
Nia’s interruption made Felt hesitate as he poured the drinks.
“Of course, no one has shouted stop yet, right?”
El burped. “But Felt, if I drink too much tonight, there’s no way I’m going back. I’ll be sleeping here.”
Felt smiled knowingly.
“Of course, I already saved a room for you two this afternoon.”