Duke’s Mansion dining room.
His sat at the head of the table, while Ai Lin naturally took the seat beside him.
Since it would still be a while before the meal was served, Rafina placed a plate of cut fruit in front of Ai Lin.
“Miss Ai Lin, these are local specialties from our estate. You must be weary from the journey—please have some to quench your thirst.”
“Thank you.”
Ai Lin smiled and nodded to Rafina.
Though she was the guest, Ai Lin carried herself with the ease of someone who belonged here, as if she were the true mistress of this house.
Ni Wei stood off to the side, silent, yet her attention remained fixed entirely on Ai Lin. From time to time, she shot warning glances at His, like a protective cat guarding its food.
Of course, Ai Lin noticed all of this, but she naturally wouldn’t call it out to anyone’s face.
Since tonight’s dinner was meant to welcome Ai Lin, the meal time had been arranged around when she would arrive at the Duke’s Mansion. After dinner, the sky was still fairly bright.
Feeling that staying at home meant enduring Ni Wei’s piercing stares for the rest of the evening, His took the initiative to suggest a walk outside with Ai Lin.
“Your maid is quite something.”
Only once the two were strolling down the Commercial Street did Ai Lin voice her thoughts.
“Th-… is that so?”
His felt a pang of guilt.
After all, this woman before him was his fiancée, and they didn’t spend much time together.
He was keeping two beautiful girls in his home, and one of them was openly showing hostility toward his fiancée.
No matter how he looked at it, he was clearly in the wrong!
“That little girl—she was the one who went to the Royal Capital with you before, right?”
“You mean Ni Wei? Ah… that time I actually had some business in the Royal Capital to discuss with my father, so I brought her along for the trip.”
“Oh, really?”
Ai Lin stopped in her tracks, turning her head to look at His.
“The journey from here to the Royal Capital requires at least one overnight stop, doesn’t it?”
“Yes… that’s right.”
“You two slept in separate rooms, right?”
Ai Lin narrowed her eyes.
“Of course! There’s no way I’d share a room with my own maid.”
His swore, patting his chest, though his mind couldn’t help but conjure the image of Ni Wei drunk from that night.
“Well, whatever.”
Ai Lin gave His’s shoulder a firm pat.
“I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I keep getting the feeling that little girl holds a lot of hostility toward me.”
“Th-… it’s probably because of how we met in the Royal Capital. She must have thought you treated me poorly.”
“Did I?”
Ai Lin covered her mouth with one hand, feigning a surprised expression.
“All I did was greet my fiancé whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, didn’t I?”
“W-… was that all?”
“Of course. Who knew that little girl would suddenly lunge at me, baring her teeth like that? She made me feel like I’d committed some grave offense. You can tell she really likes you.”
“Th-… well, I…”
Seeing His at a loss for words, Ai Lin—normally so cold—actually cracked a faint smile.
“Alright, I’ll be honest. The real reason I came to see you was just to check how you’re doing.”
“Huh? How I’m doing?”
His blinked and pointed at himself.
“Mhm. A while back, the Captain was summoned by the King for a meeting. When he came back, he told me the Church of Light was negotiating with the King to take a portion of the Gray Crystal resources from you.”
“That’s… actually true.”
“So, how’s that going now?”
“It’s already resolved. Don’t worry, your side’s weapon supply won’t be affected.”
“Who cares about that…”
Ai Lin muttered under her breath.
“But lately, the Church of Light’s presence in the Royal Capital has clearly grown. Even someone like me who spends most of her time at camp can feel it. And now, out of nowhere, they’re talking about working with the Kingdom to fight the Demon Race… I can’t help but find it suspicious.”
“Ah? But having more people willing to go to the front lines with you is a good thing, right? At least you’d have more support.”
“Is that what you think?”
Ai Lin let out a soft sigh.
“The Demon Race has been causing trouble at the Border for years. We’ve had even more brutal wars before. But the Church of Light always stayed on the sidelines. Why would they suddenly want to cooperate with the Kingdom now? Don’t you think something’s off?”
“Eh, don’t overthink it. Maybe they finally realized how powerful our Gray Crystal Weapons are, and that’s why they decided to step in.”
His changed the subject with a chuckle.
“Right, so how did you handle those Church of Light people? You didn’t actually just hand over the resources directly, did you?”
“Haha, well, I didn’t have much of a choice. They came bearing the King’s official decree, after all.”
His wasn’t ready to tell Ai Lin about the Decomposition Agent yet, so he played along with her assumption and painted himself as the victim.
“That’s… absolutely outrageous!”
Ai Lin gritted her teeth.
“We still owe you a considerable amount of money, and now they’re pulling something like this. Are you going to be okay financially?”
“Well, that all depends on whether my dear father decides to approve a bigger budget for me.”
His shrugged.
“But it’s fine. As valuable as Gray Crystal Weapons seem, they can only really be sold to people like you who need to fight the Demon Race. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless the Demon Race launches a full-scale invasion… ow!”
Before His could finish, Ai Lin reached out and flicked him right on the forehead.
“Don’t jinx it! Defending the Border is my responsibility, you know. Are you trying to wish your fiancée dead on the battlefield?”
“No, no, I absolutely didn’t mean that.”
His rubbed his forehead.
“Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’ll think of other ways to make money later.”
“Hmph. You’re pretty confident, aren’t you?”
“Well, I have no choice. I might have a wife to provide for in the future.”
“Who… who’s your wife?!”
Seeing Ai Lin’s finger extend toward him once more, His quickly hopped back a step.
“Hey! That hurts, you know!”
“Serves you right for running your mouth!”
Watching Ai Lin chase after him, His spun around and took off running. The two of them ended up racing through the Commercial Street.
By the time they returned to the Duke’s Mansion, it was already quite late.
“Young Master His, Miss Ai Lin, you’re back.”
Rafina was already waiting at the door to greet them, though Ni Wei was nowhere to be seen.
“Mhm. Rafina, please show our guest to her room to rest.”
“Yes.”
“Mm~” Ai Lin stretched her arms above her head. “Speaking of which, His, you have a bathroom in your room, right?”
“Yeah, I do… huh? Why my room?”
“Hm?”
Ai Lin paused, turning to look at His.
“Does that mean tonight we’re… not sleeping in the same room?”