Chapter 98: Suddenly Occurred

“Where have you been?”

As Latte entered, Olivia, who had been waiting, approached with hurried steps. Though Latte tried to just pass by, Olivia completely blocked her path, forcing Latte to meet her eyes. They held a somewhat anxious look.

“I didn’t know someone would welcome me like this.”

“Welcome… no, that’s not important, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“So why were you waiting for me?”

As Latte held out her gloves to the side, a maid respectfully took them and withdrew.

“I’m tired right now, so let’s talk later.”

Perhaps because she had just met with Bliss, she wasn’t in the mood to deal with Olivia.

“When is later? I need to tell you now. Right now.”

“Sigh, what is it?”

Latte sighed and tilted her head toward Olivia. Though she barely made eye contact, just standing there facing Olivia now was already testing Latte’s patience.

“They’re following very closely behind. I heard they’ve already searched this area, but where have you been all this time?”

“Ah, so that’s why you were looking for me.”

Latte nodded as if she finally understood. Of course, this wasn’t meant to show understanding for Olivia’s feelings.

As Latte seemed to look at the wall beyond the window, anticipation settled on Olivia’s face. Surely the woman who had let her stay here would help deal with the soldiers outside?

“I couldn’t tell the Count so I kept waiting. Please quickly take care of those people outside…”

“Why should I?”

“…What?”

Latte slowly turned her head to look at Olivia.

“Why should I do that?”

“You brought me here, didn’t you? Weren’t you protecting me?”

To Olivia’s bewildered question, Latte replied with a puzzled expression.

“I just brought you in because you looked hungry.”

“Latte! You’re now…”

“I think providing food and shelter is already enough, what more do you want?”

Latte cut off Olivia’s words.

“If you want more, you’ll have to give me what I want too.”

Finally understanding Latte’s meaning, Olivia looked at her.

“What do you want?”

“You said you would kill Caelan, right?”

Latte brought up Olivia’s previous words.

“You seem to think I’ll help with that too, am I right?”

Olivia tried to grasp her intentions before forcefully nodding.

“Then shall we have another conversation? I just came back from dealing with that matter anyway.”

When Latte smiled, Olivia’s tense expression softened ever so slightly. She knew Latte was never an easy person to deal with, but seeing her without expression was unfamiliar.

“What is it?”

“Nothing much. From now on, I’m going to put all my effort into killing one person, and you just need to put all your effort into not killing another person.”

Though the words were both clear and unclear, Olivia realized that the person she shouldn’t kill was Caelan.

***

Facing the steaming bathtub, Bliss just stood there quietly staring. She wanted nothing more than to get in and soak her body in the hot water right away. However, she couldn’t because Caelan had followed her in.

“Why did you come in together?”

Even if he suggested bathing together, she would refuse saying it’s embarrassing, but that wasn’t it either. Since he wouldn’t explain his thoughts at all, Bliss couldn’t help but hesitate even as she followed him.

Caelan passed the hesitating Bliss and got into the tub. His clothes slowly soaked from his hips down. Bliss hurriedly approached him.

“Your clothes are getting all wet.”

“Come here.”

However, Caelan paid no mind to his clothes getting wet and embraced Bliss. When he pulled her toward the tub, she helplessly followed him in.

When her once full skirt not only got wet but completely floated up, Bliss showed her bewilderment openly. She tried pressing her skirt down below the water’s surface, but it kept floating back up as if mocking her futile efforts. Because of this, she felt anxious that her legs would be completely visible in the tub.

“Why exactly did we get in the water like this?”

Bliss asked Caelan, giving up on constantly pressing down her skirt. It seemed she would only understand by hearing his thoughts.

“To rest.”

“…What?”

Caelan helped Bliss sit on the middle edge of the tub.

“You always bathed before bed. But it took too long to just bathe, and you weren’t doing anything else either… I found out you were just soaking in hot water like this for a long time.”

“That’s true.”

That had been an excuse to avoid Caelan.

“I prepared this today so you could soak and rest like that. But while talking with me.”

Caelan sat opposite Bliss. With both of them there, the spacious tub felt cramped and the water somehow felt even hotter.

“You seemed to have a lot on your mind, so I brought you in – did I think wrong?”

“Half right and half wrong.”

Now that she knew the reason, she erased the thought of wanting to leave. Bliss leaned back comfortably and looked at Caelan. Though her skirt was still floating, it was much less burdensome than being completely undressed.

“It wasn’t because I had a lot to think about. We’re husband and wife in name, sharing a room and bed. But I suddenly became Bliss. What if you demanded a deeper relationship? What if I died in my sleep? I used this excuse to buy time because I had all these complicated thoughts.”

Bliss smiled gently as she recalled that time. Not knowing that every moment her steam-moistened lips pulled taut in a smile was etching itself into Caelan’s eyes.

“So I used it as an excuse and kept the water hot so it wouldn’t cool quickly, and sat there all day, but it turned out to be… quite nice.”

She came to enjoy it so much she didn’t notice the water getting cold.

“At first your body feels like it’s melting like chocolate in the warm water, but before you know it, the weight of the water gives you a sense of stability. So I could think about various things more calmly.”

“So…”

“It’s nice.”

Bliss summarized simply. Then, as if something occurred to her, she seemed about to say something but closed her mouth. She let out a long breath to Caelan as if it was nothing, and her body quickly became languid.

The forest path drained a lot of energy even though the ground was flat. On top of that, the tension and stress from meeting Latte had all accumulated into fatigue.

After confirming that Bliss was fully enjoying it, Caelan took her hand. He would grip her hand firmly in the water then release it, or gently caress each finger.

“So who are you trying to stop?”

“Obviously your stepmother, right? Olivia, was it?”

Bliss muttered, recalling the name she had heard.

“You don’t have to push yourself. She’ll come to meet me, so it’s fine to just wait.”

“How can I just wait without knowing what preparations to make?”

Though Caelan spoke as if she didn’t need to do anything, Bliss shook her head.

“I’m trying to protect you, so please trust and follow me. Then I’ll trust you too.”

It was a request to protect him from Latte Hice. Bliss, who had been muttering what she said earlier, looked at Caelan.

“So about that…”

Bliss pulled her hand from Caelan’s grip and grabbed his hand instead. While massaging his hand just as she had received, Bliss spoke.

“There’s something I keep thinking about but can’t find a good answer to.”

Honestly, things like Latte and Olivia had clear answers. It was just a matter of making plans and preparing not to be caught off guard by them. But…

“I’m still unsure about how to make money.”

The ledger placed in front of Bliss still sat like a stone in her heart.

“About that, you sold me the sword. Saying to set a price worth the help it provided.”

“That’s true, but those opportunities don’t come often and I don’t even know how much I’ve paid back.”

Bliss shrunk dejectedly.

“I’m studying how to manage territory but it takes so long…”

Watching Bliss continue talking about various things, Caelan’s eyes narrowed. She seemed to have something she wanted to say but wasn’t easily saying it. What scheme could she be thinking of now?

“So I had a lot to worry about. Um… until getting in this tub?”

“What do you want to say?”

“It just occurred to me quite by chance.”

Bliss raised her sparkling eyes. Thinking about why she used to take long baths made her realize. Before, it was because of being married to Caelan, or because she couldn’t let her identity be discovered, but now there was no need for that.

Now that Caelan knew about her, they could try negotiating again.

“How about expanding the range of showing new things, like when I made the sword? It doesn’t have to be only helpful things, right?”

As Bliss looked at him full of expectation, Caelan seemed to consider carefully before nodding.

It wasn’t bad.

“Alright.”

“That’s good.”

Since he already knew she was a different person, it seems he hadn’t thought about asking to clear the previous debt. He decided not to mention it.