Pardon the Abduction, Holy Knight - It's an Emergency - Chapter 3.12

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***

Swoosh-.

I absentmindedly stared at the flowing water as I washed the kitchen knife.

I sent the customer away, saying I’d reduce the consultation fee.

When I even gave him the lip service that I was reducing it because I felt his sincerity, he thanked me with tears in his eyes.

He’ll probably regret being thankful soon.

A bitter smile formed on my face.

“My Lady.”

“Yes.”

“……”

“Please speak.”

“…Did something happen today?”

“Ye… Yes?”

I, who had been answering mechanically without energy, paused.

Then I turned off the faucet and turned to face Adriel.

“…?”

It was strange.

Adriel’s expression seemed as if he was watching my reaction.

“Maaaster….”

“Hm?”

On the cutting board, Wit was looking at me while holding a tomato as big as his body.

“Why, why are you all like this?”

I tried to change the atmosphere by forcibly lifting the corners of my mouth.

But then, Adriel, who had been sitting quietly at the table, suddenly stood up.

Then he approached me with his long legs and carefully took the kitchen knife from my hand.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll do it.”

“What?”

I blinked blankly.

“Why suddenly… No, before that, do you even know how to cook?”

“Before entering the temple, I wandered the streets. In those days, I had to do anything to survive.”

“Ah….”

Adriel was at most 10 years old when he lost his family.

Imagining the numerous hardships and adversities he must have faced while wandering outside, having been raised preciously as the eldest son of a Duke’s family, made me feel a bit solemn.

“Kekek. Adriel’s cooking? Why? Why? I got it! You’re trying to get on Master’s good side! Eek! Give it back!”

“Then I’ll leave it to you just for today.”

I grabbed Wit’s wings as he tried to snatch the kitchen knife from Adriel, and sat down at the table.

“Master, Wit can cook too!”

“Really? Then you can do it next time.”

“Hmph!”

Wit plopped down on the table, puffing his cheeks in dissatisfaction and crossing his arms.

I turned my head back to the kitchen.

Come to think of it, food made by Adriel.

Will it be okay?

I watched him cook with half worry and half expectation.

For some reason, my gaze kept being drawn to his silver hair that swayed gently every time Adriel moved.

How does it sparkle like that even without special lighting?

And those eyelashes, how long they are when they blink…

“Please stop staring.”

“What?”

“It’s burdensome.”

Did I stare too much?

Somehow, unlike at first, his potato mashing seemed to be getting a bit jerky.

As I awkwardly turned my head away, this time I met eyes with Wit, who looked shocked.

“Master, don’t tell me….”

Why is he like that?

I looked at Wit, who couldn’t finish his sentence, and then turned to look at the full moon outside the window.

After all, the moon is best when it’s full. Bigger is always better.

I was just stringing together a series of nonsensical thoughts when…

Adriel approached with a delicious aroma.

“Wow. It smells good, doesn’t it?”

“Please eat first.”

Gulp.

The appetizing potato dish, wafting a strong cheese scent, stimulated my appetite.

As I had been quite hungry, I immediately stabbed the round potato dough with a fork and put it in my mouth.

And right after, my eyes widened so much they could have popped out.

“Wow….”

“How is it?”

Adriel looked at me with a tense expression.

I looked at him in disbelief.

“It’s… it’s so delicious?”

Only then did his stiff face begin to relax.

Somehow, his handsome lips seemed to curl up slightly too.

“I’ll bring something to drink.”

I found myself staring at that face as if mesmerized.

Adriel quickly erased his smile and briskly went to the kitchen.

Does he dislike me looking at him that much?

…What am I saying? Of course, he would.

To that man, I’m just a kidnapper.

“Master….”

With a strangely disappointed feeling, I sat there when a pitiful voice called me from the side.

“Wit, what’s wrong?”

Why has he been like this since earlier?

As if the world had ended, he seemed out of it.

“Master, Wit will learn cooking from today… Wit won’t grow tomatoes anymore, just learn cooking!”

“Suddenly? Well, if that’s what you want… Good luck.”

I couldn’t understand what had ignited him so much, but I halfheartedly encouraged Wit’s resolution.

***

The next day, I headed to a restaurant to fulfill a request.

And there…

“What the…”

I chuckled as I looked at the customer and the woman sitting across from him.

“So it was even an affair?”

There weren’t many customers in the restaurant, but I thought it was strange when they were whispering with their faces so close together.

“Why did you ask to meet? Don’t you remember I said we should stop seeing each other?”

“Emily….”

The man, who was the protagonist of this request, called out to the red-haired woman sitting across from him with a desperate tone.

Then the woman called Emily snapped irritably.

“I told you not to call my name outside! What if someone we know is here!”

“But….”

Why are they being so cautious?

As I was wondering, Wit, disguised as a servant, said with an innocent smile.

“Master, these humans have a unique taste.”

“What do you mean?”

“Humans who enjoy danger. The kind of humans Wit likes to play tricks on. Kekeke.”

Enjoy danger?

As I was puzzled, I heard the man’s quiet voice.

“I’m sorry for disappointing you, Emily. I’ll definitely buy you that ring you wanted back then….”

“How? You don’t have any money left now, do you?”

“That’s….”

“You said your wife and parents have started to suspect where all the money they lent you for business is leaking to.”

I was nodding along, but then I paused.

…Wife?

“That may be true, but… No, no. I can do it without that kind of help. I can earn it myself.”

“Ha. You?”

The woman mocked the man as if she had heard nonsense.

I was confused.

Wait. Wait a minute.

So this man came to the ‘Red Thread Information Guild’ while clearly having a wife? Is he in his right mind?

“Emily. I know you don’t trust me. But I’ll somehow….”

“If you’re going to keep making promises you can’t keep, I’m leaving.”

They’re both crazy. Insane.

He acted like it was the love of the century when asking me to take the request, but in the end, it was an affair.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Master, can Wit play a trick on these humans? Wit wants to play. Kekeke.”

“……”

I don’t know what kind of trick he was planning, but I almost told him to go ahead.

“Ah! Emily. Wait. I have. I have some extra money.”

“Where? Did you suddenly remember some money you buried in the ground?”

“My parents give me money to add to Jenny’s medicine costs. I’ll use that to buy you the ring. That works, right?”

“Jenny… isn’t that your daughter? You’re saying you’ll use your daughter’s medicine money?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like she’ll die if she doesn’t take it for a few days. And Jenny often exaggerates her illness, so she’s not really that sick anyway.”

“Hmm. If you insist on it that much. I won’t stop you.”

“Emily…!”

The man, overcome with emotion, tried to grab the woman’s hand with tears in his eyes, but the woman heartlessly pulled her hand away.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m just saying I won’t refuse a gift you’re offering. It doesn’t mean I’m getting back together with you.”

The content of their conversation was getting more and more outrageous.

His daughter’s medicine money? Hasn’t this crossed the line too far?

Sigh.

I sighed and stood up from my seat.