Chapter 4

“Miss Amelia, this tea…….”

“Delicious, right? My father and mother sent it. They said someone they happened to get to know and became friends with gave it to them as a gift.”

“……A friend, you say?”

“Yes. I usually prefer soft drinks or coffee to tea, but this one smells nice and tastes good, so I kept reaching for it. But it’s impossible to get in the Empire, so when I told my parents, that friend started sending it regularly.”

Only now did Edwin become curious about what exactly this young lady did. Come to think of it, hadn’t she said she originally lived in an estate in the bustling district? Even if one broadly called it a bustling district, the size and price varied tremendously depending on the exact location.

Edwin set down his teacup and asked politely.

“If it is not rude of me, may I ask where the estate you originally lived in is located, Miss Amelia?”

“Ah, it’s on Laplace Street.”

“Laplace…….”

It was not some absurd place. Laplace Street was where wealthy commoners and merchants mainly lived. Of course, the mere fact that she owned an estate in such a place was enough proof that she had lived quite comfortably.

But that was not the end of it. Amelia added more, folding down one finger at a time.

“And there’s one on Celine Street too, and another one by the west gate.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s not an estate, but I also own a building in Rosa Square, and this bookstore is mine too. There are a few more, but they’re probably empty right now.”

Edwin became thoroughly confused. Celine Street was where the estates of nobles staying in the capital were built. The Redford Earldom’s estate was there as well.

The area near the west gate did not have much in the way of distinctive features, but house prices were still high because it was close to the city gate. And on top of that, she apparently also had a building in Rosa Square, the place with the most foot traffic of all.

He had thought it odd that a young lady running a bookstore alone seemed not to care in the slightest about selling books, but it turned out there had never been any need for her to care in the first place.

“So the bookstore really was just a hobby for you, Miss Amelia.”

“Yes. My dream was to live by just eating, playing, and only doing the things I like.”

Amelia’s brown eyes shone brightly.

“The things you like…….”

Meaning reading obscene novels. Edwin silently tipped his teacup once more.

And crunch, crunch. As he blankly watched Amelia nibbling on a cookie with her small mouth like a squirrel, he too picked up a cookie and put it into his mouth. Just like his personality, his tastes were not fussy, and he liked sweets very much as well.

Before long, the teacup he had been leisurely sipping with the snack was empty. Amelia smiled brightly and said:

“Would you like some more tea?”

“Ah, thank you.”

Yes, whether she read obscene novels or whatever sort of novels, Amelia was not particularly harming anyone; it was merely her hobby, so what did it matter. Even in the knight order, there were many who spoke brazenly of vulgar things with perfectly neat faces.

In any case, Edwin liked this quiet and peaceful space very much.

“Miss Amelia, I look forward to your continued favor. I will not trouble you, so please do not worry.”

“Huh? Ah, yes!”

It was a good arrangement for both of them: Amelia could read at ease without worrying about robbers or thieves, and he, in return for offering a little labor, gained a place where he could rest comfortably.

***

It was a gloomy day, with thick rain pouring down since morning.

Mixed in with the rushing sound of rain falling and the crackling of firewood burning in the fireplace was a faint m*an.

Amelia, lying on her side and squeezing her thighs together as she softly groaned, had eyelids that trembled faintly. Her small fingers were gently rolling over her stiffly peaked n*pples.

“Uht, ngh…….”

She had been chasing pleasure while recalling the novels she had read so far, but though the stimulation had left her lower body damp, she had not reached cl*max.

Amelia’s imagination was terribly poor, so she could not be satisfied by merely picturing things in her head.

“Haah…….”

In the end, she loosened the tension that had filled her body and raised her upper body. Because the weather was chilly, she had even turned on the heater, but regardless of the cold air, her body was hot with gathered heat.

Shoving her feet into her slippers, she trudged forward. Her damp underclothes and sweat-wet body felt uncomfortable, but the half-kindled excitement felt even more uncomfortable.

But she had already read all the books she had brought to her room, so there was nothing that especially appealed to her. To get new books, she would have to go down to the shop, and that felt terribly bothersome.

In fact, Amelia had not left her room for nearly ten days now.

When Edwin came, she would briefly show her face to greet him, but lately, perhaps because he was busy with work, he had not come at all.

Even though all she had to do was go down the stairs, Amelia clearly separated private space from everything else, so whenever she went to the shop, she always made sure to dress neatly.

But when she was not even going to open the door, just bringing up a few books, washing herself and taking out clothes to put on was no small trouble. Besides, the hair she had left damp was sticking out in all directions.

After trudging across the room, Amelia took sparkling water and ice out of the magic stone refrigerator. Then she mixed them with lemon juice in a clean glass and downed it in one go, and the sight of her using luxuries that did not suit the humble space so naturally felt oddly strange.

After coolly soothing her dry throat and carelessly setting the glass down, she stared blankly at the stairs.

That’s right, she would not be opening the door. If she just went for a moment and brought back a book, would it really matter much if she went like this?

Having mastered the art of changing her mind as easily as turning over her palm, she did not think about it further and went down to the shop. Because the weather was dreary, the inside of the bookstore felt even quieter than usual, and the smell of paper spread damply through the air.

They said humidity was not very good for books, but Amelia did not care in the slightest about maintaining them. They were only there to make the store look properly stocked, after all. Later, when she eventually cleared out the bookstore, she planned to give them all away to customers for free.

Even in an atmosphere that felt as if something serious was bound to happen at any moment, Amelia was fearless enough to be thinking such idle thoughts.

Her personality had always been rather dull to begin with, and among the things her parents sent her were dolls and masks with bizarre, chilling appearances, as well as relics said to be cursed. Compared to those, this was nothing at all.

That was why, though she did look after her own safety, Amelia was in truth dangerously insensitive to danger. Even now, though the outside kept flashing white and thunder and lightning were crashing as well, she did not so much as bat an eye.

Picking at her ear, Amelia stepped behind the counter and pulled over the box she had placed neatly below. Inside, there was a pile of adult novels she had bought but had not managed to finish reading.

After quickly scanning the titles, she hesitated for a moment, then pressed hard on the newly installed sofa. Once her weight was placed on it, the sofa flattened out like a bed. Amelia had generously put it there so Edwin could read in comfort. Of course, Amelia understood this as Edwin being very grateful.

She had no intention of reading here, but if she brought up a boring book, she would have to come back down again, and that would be terribly annoying, so since she was already here, Amelia decided to skim through them and only take up the interesting ones.

The first one she pulled out was a fairly common adultery novel among adult novels.

The plot was that a merchant husband had become too busy and neglected his wife, and in her loneliness, the wife ended up sleeping with her husband’s assistant. Whatever the content was did not really matter; Amelia only wanted to know how explicit the novel was, so she flipped through a thick chunk of pages.