ANGSD 34

Chapter 34

Having washed away the grime of the past few days, Aelin finished changing clothes with a much lighter heart.

Whether it was because the officials had handed over many women before, or due to the southern administrator’s secret tastes, the wardrobe was packed with dresses that looked like flashy candy wrappers from the outside world.

“No, what is this tacky outfit even—”

“The administrator ordered you to wear this dress, so don’t complain and put it on.”

Aelin was more bewildered than ever by the design of the dress before her eyes.

Covered thickly with all kinds of ruffles and ribbons, it had not a trace of sophistication.

Seeing a pile of such dresses together was truly a sight to behold.

Aelin looked at herself in the mirror with a disgusted expression.

She felt the tattered dress she had been wearing before was better by comparison.

She sighed softly and glanced out the window.

‘By the way, the carriage should be arriving soon…’

Since it hadn’t rained all night, unless something unexpected happened, Dalton should have arrived in the village by now, leading the carriage and servants.

Of course, the reason Aelin had followed the three sly administrators wasn’t just because she was certain someone would come to save her soon.

She believed in herself.

In the core strength she had honed through yoga all this time!

Just as she was thinking about her escape plan, the administrators barged into the room to gawk at her after she had changed.

Their behavior, as if visiting to see a monkey in a zoo, left Aelin speechless.

“Wow, wearing this really makes you look like a duchess.”

“I wonder if it’s okay for me to kidnap the Southern Duchess like this—hahaha!”

They chuckled among themselves while looking at her in the new dress.

‘Are these guys seriously crazy? What? This dress looks good on me? This candy-wrapper dress…?’

Aelin glared at them fiercely, feeling humiliated.

But they couldn’t care less about her feelings.

They merely regarded her as a trivial amusement for their evening banquet.

The administrators kept giggling and asked her various questions throughout the dinner.

“Duchess, what are your plans for developing the South? You recently opened a café — do you have plans to expand to the East?”

“I haven’t thought about franchising yet. But asking about development plans isn’t the worst question. First, I need to fix this ridiculous distribution margin. Build infrastructure. Create local brands to generate jobs. There’s so much to do, I don’t even know where to start.”

Well, Aelin had never really expected them to take her seriously…

The men exchanged looks, no longer mocking but bewildered by the strange words coming from the woman before them.

Ignoring the dumbfounded administrators, Aelin reached for a delicious-looking goose leg in front of her.

Just as she was about to feast for the first time in a while—

The administrator’s pale-faced steward rushed in, clattering loudly.

Seeing his desperate expression, Aelin immediately sensed that Flon had come looking for her.

Probably with Dalton.

“L-Lord Administrator, we have a big problem—!”

“Why, did that mad husband come wielding an axe?”

“What?! How did you know?”

“What?”

“That crazy man did come with an axe! Like he was going to kill someone! He’s already knocked out all the soldiers guarding the front! He’s huge and incredibly strong! You have to evacuate! Quickly!”

The three administrators were stunned by the steward’s report.

“No matter what, the soldiers at the administrator’s mansion aren’t just some riffraff. Mercenaries who got knocked out? What is this nonsense?”

“Don’t worry. No matter how much he runs around with an axe, he won’t get through. I’ll send out all the mercenaries to clean up. Don’t bother yourself.”

Then the tactless steward interrupted impatiently.

“He’s already knocked out about ten! Even the mercenaries from the East! He lets the ones who don’t fight go, but the others… well, they’re almost half-dead. You really need to avoid him! Oh, it’s so frustrating!”

Then, without waiting for a response, the steward fled.

The three administrators sitting in chairs all turned pale.

They all stood up at once.

And simultaneously said:

“We need to lay low for a while!”

Despite everything, one Eastern administrator who seemed to value his woman more than his own life dragged Aelin upstairs.

“What? Why are you bothering with her? Just leave her be!”

“We might need her as a hostage! Besides, I have my pride! You’re in charge of gathering all the mercenaries at home to handle this situation! This has to be fixed, especially for future dealings!”

The Southern administrator looked resentful but hurriedly began assembling the mercenaries.

Meanwhile, Aelin quietly followed the Eastern administrator up to the third floor.

After climbing the stairs with his tail between his legs, he locked the door, which made Aelin incredulous.

“What? Why did you act so cowardly after being such a jerk?”

“What? What did you say?”

“How pathetic. To think you lived off your good fortune with such cowardice and incompetence. And you even dared to do it to my people.”

The crazy woman’s words baffled the administrator.

He looked at her with a pale face.

Without composure, he couldn’t just go along with her anymore, and shouted at her in an agitated voice.

“Can you shut that mouth of yours?!”

“That’s why I said you shouldn’t mess with crazy people. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to come with an axe either—but thinking about it, he’s quite the maniac.”

My intuition was right after all.

Aelin smiled.

If the Northern Duke was cold and distant, the Southern Duke was warm and crazy.

The Eastern administrator still hadn’t grasped the situation.

He looked at Aelin like he had been punched, then slowly walked toward her.

Then—

Smack!

“I told you to shut up!”

At the same time, Aelin’s body staggered sharply to the left.

‘This crazy bastard…!’

She cursed inside when suddenly slapped.

But although her body swayed, she didn’t fall or move otherwise.

“That crazy woman won’t even fall?! What kind of iron will does she have?!”

What else but core strength?

Though she had lived somewhat lazily after moving South, this was nothing.

“It’s not willpower.”

She wrapped the administrator’s arm around her shoulder and literally slammed him onto the floor.

It all happened in a flash.

The administrator stared at the one who had thrown him down with a stunned look.

“It’s core strength.”

“……”

“Look at my forearm. It’s thick, but all flesh. No muscle at all, so it doesn’t hurt when I hit someone.”

“What… what…?”

“What else? It just means I can protect myself.”

She had learned all sorts of self-defense from her terrible ex-boyfriends.

Jujitsu, hapkido, kickboxing, and more.

Though dieting was also a factor, she had consistently trained in self-defense.

But the man before her looked utterly unable to understand how a woman could do such a thing.

“I cut you some slack for being a woman!”

The furious man reached out to grab Aelin’s collar.

At that moment, an unknown object flew past the administrator’s face and slammed into the wall.

“What was that just now?”

Something heavy and mirror-like passed by and seemed to meet his eyes.

As the administrator turned his head slowly, something dropped to the floor.

“Uh…? That’s… a beard?”

And what was stuck in the wall was none other than an axe.

A massive, crude axe.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, and the administrator looked as clueless as when Aelin had slammed him down.

Then he met her gaze.

“Keep your hands off my wife.”

From afar, the crazed, clear eyes shone brightly.