58. Bloody Honeymoon at the Haunted Hotel (2)

The gentleman spoke in Arsetian, the language of the neighboring country across the sea.

Katya, who was weak in foreign languages, rolled her eyes and quickly looked at Nikolai.

Though she could understand bits and pieces, she could only speak basic conversational phrases.

Even then, she only knew simple grammar with greetings and subject-verb combinations from the early parts of ‘Arsetian for Beginners’ textbook.

Beyond that, she could barely string words together, let alone form proper sentences.

Though the imperial court and social circles traditionally used Arsetian mixed in, in Hersen, one could get by just fine without knowing it.

[Are you from Arsetia?]

Nikolai asked the gentleman in fluent pronunciation.

The man’s face noticeably brightened at the thought of being able to communicate.

[Yes, I am. I’m Mengano, who will be working as the manager here. Please excuse my still poor Hersen language.]

[Nice to meet you, Mr. Mengano. However, we came with a reservation, so if you could just confirm that.]

[I see! Under what name did you make the reservation?]

The manager went behind the check-in desk and opened the reservation list.

[It was booked under Boris Tranov.]

However, after searching for a while, the manager looked up again.

[I’m sorry, but there’s no such name on the list. There seems to have been some mistake.]

Nikolai closed his eyes then opened them, thinking he would not let the travel agency that handled things so poorly get away with this when he returned to Padovangrad.

He took a rough breath, like he’s trying to suppress his anger. Katya watched him carefully.

This is the expression he makes when having evil thoughts, isn’t it?

“What’s wrong? They say we’re not on the list?”

“What are the procedures for closing down a business? Report to the authorities, no, I can just directly issue a closure order.”

“Calm down. The travel agency probably didn’t make a mistake on purpose. Who would deliberately do such a thing to Your Highness?”

Katya only lowered her voice when using the title ‘Your Highness.’

“Splitting the company in two is better than dismembering bodies.”

“Now you’re not even trying to stop having evil thoughts.”

“What should I do, Tia? Anger is overflowing inside me. I don’t think this rage can be resolved without seeing blood.”

“Then shall we pray to the gods to drive out the evil spirit that’s putting wicked thoughts in your mind…?”

“Punishment is easier and faster than forgiveness.”

Manager Mengano, unaware of how terrifying their conversation in Hersen language was, just stood there with a kind smile.

To calm down her rampaging husband, Katya racked her brain hard to think of a solution.

“Um, are there really no rooms at all?”

Oh right, I need to speak in Arsetian?

What was room in Arsetian again? How do you count numbers?

From her confused mind, this was the best sentence she could produce:

[Room, none one?]

To clarify once again, Katya wasn’t being rude—she was just a beginner learner who couldn’t use honorifics yet.

[I’m sorry. It shows all reservations are full.]

[Rain hit us. Cold. Hungry. Please, room to me.]

Katya, looking like a drenched mouse, shivered with a pitiful expression and conveyed her message with exaggerated gestures.

Perhaps feeling sorry for her trying so hard to communicate with limited conversational skills, Mengano brought a key from the storage.

Just as Katya excitedly reached for the key engraved with 404, he blocked her hand.

[Actually, there’s a note in Arsetian saying not to provide this room to guests, though I’m not sure why.]

[Then can’t we ask other staff?]

[Well, tomorrow is actually my first day, and I came early to get a feel for things. But somehow, none of the staff who were supposed to work today showed up. So I ended up filling in unexpectedly.]

Given that he started working for guests even before the handover, Mengano seemed to be a man with a very strong work ethic.

[But when I looked around earlier briefly, I noticed the 4th-floor rooms only have one bed. So it might be difficult for your whole party to stay.]

[Do you have any basic medicines? She’s showing symptoms of the cold.]

Mengano brightened at a familiar question and showed the medicine bottle with a bright face.

After confirming the medicine’s existence, Nikolai turned and grabbed Boris’s shoulder.

“Since there’s only one room available, I’m sorry but you’ll have to go somewhere else. I regret we can’t stay together.”

“You’re smiling while saying that.”

“……”

“Then have a good time, you two.”

The quick-witted Boris soon disappeared with the knights.

Though they felt slightly uneasy about the temporary gap in security, both were unusually powerful and skilled individuals, and what could happen inside a hotel anyway?

And truthfully, familiar inns seemed more comfortable for them than this eerie hotel that looked like ghosts might appear.

Nikolai also didn’t seem to mind this situation where he could spend time completely alone with Katya.

No, he rather liked it.

“Well… shall we go?”

He picked up the medicine bottle and Room 404’s key and spoke to Katya in a low voice.

At that moment, she suddenly linked arms with Nikolai and pressed close to him.

“What’s this? Why suddenly?”

“We should act like a normal newlywed couple.”

“We are newlyweds though?”

“Ah, right. Anyway, let’s try to look natural.”

At those words, Nikolai wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders while forcing down his constantly rising smile.

This contract marriage turned out to be better than expected.

He could naturally touch her under the pretense of acting.

Unaware of the scheming man’s inner thoughts, the innocent miss—no, innocent married woman—just softly rested her face against his firm arm.

“How is it? Do we look more like a couple now?”

“I think it would look more natural if you came a bit closer?”

“Like this?”

Katya rubbed her cheek against his arm and looked up at him with bright, sparkling eyes.

The fatal loveliness sparked a strong urge in Nikolai to kiss her.

After sending the knights away, Katya and Nikolai went up to the room together to unpack.

Even until the moment they entered the room and closed the door, reason and instinct were waging a bloody war inside him.

“Your Highness, look at this!”

Katya, who had scurried into the bathroom as soon as they put down their luggage, called out as though she found something interesting.

“What is it?”

“There’s a magical device here that heats bath water!”

Unlike Arsetia which actively cultivated mages, in Hersen, mages made up less than 10% of the population.

Conservative noble families avoided using magical devices, citing accidents due to improper operation.

The Smirnov ducal family was the same.

Baptiski, who prioritized his daughters’ safety above all else, had long given up the convenience magical devices provided.

“Come to think of it, there wasn’t a single common magical device in the Duke’s mansion.”

“Father didn’t allow any in the house saying they were dangerous. He also thought one magical device would block employment opportunities for many people.”

“At the palace, there are experts on standby for safety accidents, so you can use them freely there.”

“Can I really?”

Katya spoke like an excited child.

She was already heating the water following the instruction manual.

Seeing her so happy made Nikolai want to buy her hundreds, thousands of them.

“It seems fine, so I wonder why they blocked off this room?”

“They might have been doing repairs, so be careful.”

“Your Highness, can I bathe first?”

At those words, Nikolai suddenly unbuttoned his wet chemise and strode into the bathroom.

“Why? Aren’t we bathing together?”

“What?”

“We used to bathe together in the tub just fine before.”

“Um, Your Highness, you’re too close right now…”

As he kept approaching, Katya backed away step by step with her palms up.

When her back finally hit the wall, she found herself trapped between Nikolai and the wall.

He placed one hand on the wall and looked down at her intently like a rabbit caught in a trap.

“I washed your hair when we were strangers, and now that we’re married, I should be able to wash your body too.”

Nikolai took her hand and placed it against his chest as he spoke.

Through the rain-dampened fabric, Katya’s palm could feel the shape of his firm muscles.

Like the bathroom interior heated by the magical device, his gaze burned with unprecedented emotion.

Katya rolled her eyes this way and that, trying to avoid his intense gaze that was like the sun.

“Um, strictly speaking, I don’t think we were complete strangers even then.”

“We went straight to bed on our second meeting, so we must have been destined.”

“When you put it that way, it’s starting to sound really strange?”

“The order is the same as back then. Bathing together, sleeping in the same bed.”

“I want to bathe alone today.”

Katya insisted in a trembling voice like a lost young goat.

“Why is it okay then but not now?”

“The situation is different now.”

“So you teased me because I was easier to handle when you thought I was a commoner.”

“When did I ever tease you!”

“You dragged me into the tub when I refused. Plus you suddenly jumped onto my bed when I was trying to sleep.”

“That’s because you scared me saying cockroaches would come out of the floor!”

“So I need to release bugs to share a bed with you. Thanks for the advice.”

Seriously, this guy—!

Katya was speechless seeing this snake who had become even more devious after marriage.

That’s when they heard someone suddenly opening Room 404’s front door and walking in.

While humming a tune, the woman naturally sat at the vanity and started fixing her hair with a brush from the middle drawer.

While in the middle of tidying herself up, she met eyes with the two people standing in the bathroom through the mirror.

“Kyaaaa!”

Screams burst simultaneously from Katya and the intruder’s mouths.