Chapter 35
‘What is this? Something really….’
That feeling like you’re about to get seriously screwed if you touch it the wrong way?
Soon, he realized that what he just felt was déjà vu.
They say married couples grow to resemble each other, but why the hell do they end up resembling this kind of thing?
The administrator’s face fell into a miserable frown.
Aelin was surprised too.
How could he throw such a huge axe — not even a hand axe, but one used for chopping firewood — like a paper airplane with such a flick?
“Keep your hands off my wife.”
Besides, she thought she had never seen that kind of expression on his face before.
He was always smiling or looking at her with crescent-moon shaped eyes.
“Floan…”
Still, his face wasn’t filled with rage.
She realized anew that his expressionless face was far more terrifying than one flushed with veins and panting in anger.
The administrator glanced at the mustache hairs that had fallen at his feet and then slumped heavily onto the floor.
He seemed to have overheard something.
There is an old saying about treasuring your body since it’s given by your parents — some men in this era put their lives on their mustaches.
‘But now is definitely not the time to be worrying about fallen mustache hairs…’
Aelin was starting to worry a little about this guy who still couldn’t grasp the situation.
Floan came up quickly and lifted her face.
His smooth brow furrowed deeply as he examined her closely.
“Did that bastard do this?”
His gaze slowly shifted back to the man who was still sitting on the floor.
“I slammed him to the ground too. So it’s a draw.”
Aelin wasn’t sure why she was defending this trashy guy, but…
Instinctively, it was either to prevent something huge from happening or because she still had a tiny shred of humanity left.
“There’s blood on your cheek.”
Only then did Aelin realize blood was flowing down her cheek.
Ah, one of those rings the guy was wearing must have scratched her face properly.
But she wasn’t the type to cry as if her life was over just because she got a scratch on her face.
“Cheap shot, hitting with a ringed hand. Well, that guy probably has a wrecked waist and shoulder now, and he just lost the mustache he seemed to treasure more than his life. Compared to that, a scratch on your face is cheap.”
“……”
Aelin studied his eyes quietly as he stared at her without saying a word.
Breaking the brief silence, she spoke again.
“It’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? Their sense of aesthetics, really.”
“……Aelin. Seriously—”
He was about to ask what she was thinking coming along with these idiots, but quick-witted Aelin beat him to it.
“Whatever. As long as we’re safe, that’s all that matters. By the way, has Dalton arrived? I’m done being treated like some crazy woman pretending to be the Duchess of the South.”
“He should be following us here right now.”
“Perfect timing.”
Aelin forced a smile, telling herself not to waste strength on pointless things, then grabbed Floan’s hand and headed out of the room.
As she went down the stairs, Aelin flinched in surprise.
‘He really made a mess, didn’t he?’
Along the path he took, people were sprawled out.
It wasn’t a gory scene with bloodshed and severed limbs everywhere…
But with people groaning or unconscious, she faintly sensed how urgently he had come to her room.
“Eek! You really made a mess here… Ah, Your Grace the Duchess! It’s truly a relief you’re safe! Of course, I knew you wouldn’t just take it lying down!”
Dalton hopped carefully to avoid stepping on the fallen.
At that moment, the Southern administrator — still not grasping the situation — came running toward Dalton from afar.
“Please save us!”
He seemed to have mistaken Dalton and the escort behind him for their saviors.
“You have to catch that bastard!”
Shortly after, the Eastern administrator came dashing down the stairs with a terrified face.
Pointing at Aelin and Floan, his face reddened as he shouted.
“Those are lunatics who fled from the East! There was a riot at the Eastern asylum and one of the madmen escaped for sure!”
He dashed behind Dalton and hid while pointing fingers, making quite the spectacle.
“What the hell is this? Lunatics? Those two?”
Dalton looked at Aelin and Floan with a baffled expression.
“Yes, that’s right. With their looks and all! They dared to impersonate the Duke and Duchess of the South, those madmen!”
“……Huh?”
“I tried to confront her, and that madman came after me with an axe trying to kill me!”
Then, Dalton’s expression gradually hardened as he alternated his gaze between Aelin and Floan, whose eyes were wide open.
“Geez, I really wondered what kind of trouble this was… Now I get it clearly… You should’ve told me right away! Why didn’t you catch those wicked ones sooner?”
Dalton barked orders.
Aelin was quietly surprised by Dalton’s unexpected fierce tiger-like demeanor, unlike his usually warm appearance.
“How dare you! Point your fingers elsewhere! Do you think you can be rude to the Duke and Duchess? No special treatment just because you came from the East! You walked right into the South on your own, but you won’t get to leave on your own terms!”
Floan interrupted.
“She even got hit on the cheek.”
Of course, the administrators were definitely at fault here, but Aelin — despite being the one hit — almost found Floan irritating for saying that.
Dalton turned his head quietly and looked at the three administrators.
“It wasn’t me, it was this guy. He was the one ogling her.”
The Southern administrator gasped and pointed to the Eastern administrator next to him.
The Eastern administrator turned pale.
“Did you really do it?”
Dalton opened his eyes wide and leaned forward.
“I-I’m sorry. I really didn’t think she was the Duchess of the South—”
“Then does that mean it’s okay to just lay hands on the women of the South?”
“Th-That’s not it—”
Dalton exploded and ran amok.
“How dare that bastard hit our precious Duchess’s cheek? I’m going to break him to pieces! Why haven’t you dragged him away yet? Throw these three in jail! We’ll interrogate them later!”
Soon the three administrators were bound and dragged away.
“I’ll bring some clothes, so please rest upstairs for a while.”
Seeing Dalton’s tiger-like authority, Aelin and Floan quietly exchanged glances.
“I didn’t appoint Dalton as my secretary just for show, Aelin.”
“Right? I have a new respect for him.”
“He was once a kind of Robin Hood in the South.”
“Robin Hood?! Dalton?! That’s an unexpected charm.”
“Don’t get too attracted to him though.”
“Why not?”
“Just… I’m jealous.”
