HEAD 41

~Chapter 41~

Aquaouz was a city with a canal longer than most small towns.

They said the end of its hundreds of bridges reached all the way to the sea.

Lily got off the carriage with the station behind her.

She could see the whole city, and she couldn’t help but admire it.

Thanks to the water always flowing, green trees filled the spaces between the busy buildings. Every time a cool breeze came along the canal, it carried the scent of fresh leaves.

This beautiful sight was enough to make Lily’s heart flutter.

Lily walked through the streets with a shawl over her arms.

She saw sailors and city people, and even someone who looked like they were from the duke’s lands carving an oar for a boat.

“Have you been here before?” Blake came over, pulling his dark blue robe tight.

“Are you serious? Maybe in my past life.” Lily answered, since she had never been outside the capital.

“So I asked a useless question.”

“Hehe, what about you? You look like you know your way around.”

“This is the city outside the duchy with the most ‘barbarians.’ It’s the perfect stop before taking the train.”

There were three trains leaving tomorrow. The servants had already bought the morning tickets and now followed behind in robes.

“Well, it’s still better to cover our faces. It’s not a good look for a group of Uffus people to walk around together.”

Blake almost said something else but stopped.

Lily was wearing a white hat with lace, and even so, she attracted a lot of attention.

“What’s this? Some noblewoman?”

Her dress was something the maids made by awkwardly following old capital fashion books. They wanted Lily to feel confident at court.

Their wish worked. The dress was a little off, but Lily’s beauty was more than enough.

“Wow, she’s pretty.”

“Which family’s young lady is out on a stroll?”

Even though Lily’s face was half-covered by her hat, passersby couldn’t help but stare and whisper.

“…”

Blake didn’t like this at all. He felt strangely jealous.

He’d put up with the maids adding lace to the hat because it covered Lily’s face, but it was no use.

“Maybe we should just go back to the inn.”

He tried to sound casual, but the servants exploded.

“What? No way!”

“Aquaouz has so many cool things to see. We even bought dozens of travel books just to show Lily around!”

“There’s even more to enjoy because of the festival!”

The servants had no intention of listening to Blake.

But Lily watched Blake’s mood carefully.

“If you don’t want to, we don’t have to.”

Actually, Lily was the one who most wanted to see the city and the festival.

It made sense. Someone who had lived without freedom would want to see the world.

But Lily decided to let Blake choose. It was natural for her.

“Besides, I don’t really have money to look around or shop…”

“Wait. That’s strange. Why don’t you have money?”

Blake sounded surprised.

“I’m your guardian, so you get 20,000 Yubles a month. It started last week.”

“But—”

“Don’t tell me you spent 20,000 Yubles in just a few days? That’s impressive! You could have asked for more. When we get back to the castle…”

“No, the problem is 20,000 is too much.”

Lily had only gotten 1,000 Yubles a month from her ex-husband before. That was her spending money, and it wasn’t enough to follow society’s trends, but it didn’t matter since she rarely left the house.

“I was worried you’d ask for it back, so I hid the 20,000 in the back of the fireplace and only brought a little with me.”

“How much?”

Lily looked at a vendor selling skewers. The prices were posted.

“I can buy about five chicken skewers.”

“With that, if we each get one, not even everyone can eat! What if you get lost and have to go home alone?”

Lily just rolled her eyes prettily, not saying anything.

She’d been taught it was better to have no money than to lose it.

But she suddenly felt bad, like she’d ignored Blake’s kindness.

“This way, I won’t be separated from you. Isn’t that right?”

She winked and linked arms with Blake.

That kind of closeness was natural in times when pickpockets were everywhere.

“Right? Isn’t that so?”

Blake got tense, just like when Lily kissed him before.

Really tense.

So he hurried to change the subject.

“…Anyway, let’s look around the city for today.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. There must be something fun at this festival.”

Because of Blake’s long stride, Lily almost had to run to keep up, but she was smiling.

Aquaouz was a beautiful city. Some commoners filled their old but clean bikes with groceries, others read newspapers on the grass.

There were lots of couples everywhere, which showed the city was a tourist spot. With the festival, there were even more couples.

There was so much to see and buy that the servants split up.

“I’ll go buy the city’s famous water bread!”

“I’ll check if we can reserve theater tickets!”

Blake said, “Then I’ll stand in line with the lady.”

In Aquaouz, riding a small boat was a must. It could hold up to six people.

Now that they were alone, Blake looked down at Lily.

Her eyes sparkled as the canal water reflected them. She tried to hide it, but it was obvious she was excited.

‘If she likes it this much, why didn’t she just say so?’

Blake grumbled inside, but he felt proud.

Just then, some men in the line behind them started whispering, then came over.

“Go talk to her.”

“Yeah, with your face, you can do it.”

“Ask her to see the fireworks at night…”

One man reached out to Lily, but Blake caught him right away.

“What do you want?”

Blake’s eyes flashed under his robe. They weren’t a threat to him.

“Miss, do you know these men?”

“If my memory’s fine, not at all.”

The man Blake grabbed was shocked. It felt like his wrist was trapped in stone.

‘Didn’t notice with the robe, but he’s really strong.’

Plus, Blake was really tall. The men backed off.

“Let go… We thought she was alone. We’ll leave, so let go.”

“Sorry, we thought you were someone we knew.”

But their excuses sounded very different. Their faces turned bright red.

“Ha…”

Blake just let out a dry laugh and let them go.

“Crazy guys are everywhere.”

Lily was used to this.

“So you’ve finally learned the truth about life. Don’t worry about it.”

An employee called them.

“Next! Please come aboard! 20 Yubles for two, right?”

“We’re actually five—oh, here come the others.”

The servants rushed over, except one.

Blake didn’t hesitate. “Forget what I said. Five in total.”

“All right, five. Hold the rail and come aboard.”

The tired employee opened the safety bar with a long yawn.

‘It’s too much trouble to open it every time. I should just leave it undone.’

They found seats on the boat.

Lily looked over the water.

“Look at the water.”

Shops lined both sides of the clear, clean canal, and trees shimmered in the reflection.

It wasn’t as fancy as renting a private lake for a noble party, but it was still wonderful.

Suddenly, the last maid called from across the canal.

“Take me with you!”

“You’re too late!”

“But I want to ride the boat with Lily!”

She meant it.

Not even water could stop her. She jumped in and started swimming like she was digging through the waves.

Later, Lily remembered that her swimming looked like she was digging a tunnel.

The maid reached the boat so fast people in nearby boats started clapping.

“Wow!”

“Whoa!”

Blake rubbed his forehead.

“Do we have to attract attention like this? I just want to throw her away.”

“Hehehe.”

Lily took off her shawl and put it over the soaked maid’s head.

“You could’ve just taken the next boat. That was dangerous. What if you got hurt?”

“But Lily wouldn’t be on the next boat.”

“Oh, my heart just skipped a beat.”

“Hoo hoo.”

Blake muttered that everyone was being ridiculous.

Meanwhile, on shore, some men were watching.

It was the men from before.

“Did that jerk just embarrass us?”

“We’re not going to let this go, right?”

“Not if I want to keep my pride as Chris Felton.”

“Right, you’re the prizefighting champion.”

They started whispering, planning their revenge.