“That’s absurd!”

Raham grabbed her money pouch, coat, and sword before rushing out of the room. There was a clattering sound as he ran down the corridor, then he suddenly burst back through the door.

“W-where should I buy it? Carlie! Don’t fall asleep!”

A little later, Raham set out with someone Carlie had drowsily directed him to. A woman named Willa, who belonged to the Penia family, one of the Albanas vassal families.

The Penia family had governed the Riba region for generations and was also responsible for managing the mansion where Raham and Carlie were staying. Willa was the daughter of the mansion’s caretaker. This vivacious young lady, who was somewhat acquainted with Carlie, seemed thrilled to be conversing with Carlie’s infamous husband.

“Do you remember me? Probably not, right? I attended your wedding! This is the first time we’ve met since then! I couldn’t go to the lord’s wedding. Is Carlie sleeping? Why didn’t she come with you?”

However, Raham couldn’t engage with her chatter. His mind was occupied with thoughts of his wife suffering alone at home without medicine, and his quest to find the legendary recovery elixir at an apothecary shop located who-knows-where.

Of course, in reality, Carlie was sleeping soundly in the canopied bed after annoying Raham by saying the dull ache felt rather nice, and the apothecary shop was just a 15-minute walk away. The recovery elixir was also something his wife could make dozens of bottles of in a day if she had the ingredients.

Even if that weren’t the case, his conversational skills weren’t at the level required for sophisticated social exchange with upper-class people. Though he hadn’t needed to do so in the past decade living at the lord’s castle, social interaction for him basically meant women giggling without him doing anything, while men glared and whispered about him.

“Uh… yes… Um… How much further do we need to go?”

“The apothecary? It’s just down this road!”

Despite his extremely uncooperative manner of speaking, Willa remained cheerful. Carlie’s husband had a talent for making people happy just by walking beside them and looking up at their faces. Since he answered at least one or two questions out of every five, her chatter continued unabated.

“But why do you need recovery elixir? Isn’t that Carlie’s specialty?”

Raham, who had only been wishing this woman would walk as quickly as his impatient stride, snapped back to attention at that question.

He absolutely couldn’t say, ‘We were rolling around since midday and I spanked Carlie’s bottom so much that we used up all the recovery elixir we had.’ Cold sweat ran down his back.

Glancing sideways, he finally properly saw the face of the woman walking beside him and noticed her expression full of curiosity.

“We used up everything we had, and my wife has sprained her ankle…”

Willa’s eyes widened at the news of Carlie spraining her ankle.

“That’s unusual. For something like that, couldn’t we go to the ingredient merchant? Buying ready-made recovery elixir is expensive…”

Saying this, she turned her steps in a different direction. Raham hurriedly grabbed her.

“N-no, that’s not it.”

“Oh my, oh my goodness.”

Raham released her arm in alarm.

Even after living as a husband of the ruling family for over ten years, he still knew little about upper-class customs, but he did know one thing: you shouldn’t touch women carelessly. Kissing the back of their hand during greetings was the limit of what was allowed.

Raham thought even that allowance should be abolished, but in any case, grabbing someone like this was rude.

“S-sorry.”

“Oh my, it’s fine. Carlie is so—”

She fanned her face while saying something incomprehensible.

“I-I need the finished product, not ingredients. Let’s hurry.”

“Yes, of course.”

After enduring the sprightly young lady’s pace for a while longer, Raham hailed a carriage.

Willa’s face fell when she found herself sitting alone in the carriage after Raham stopped the driver on the road and climbed up to the driver’s seat himself, but he was unaware of this fact.

Raham drove the carriage fiercely to the apothecary, causing the noble young lady to clutch the carriage wall or handles in terror. There he found the recovery elixir he had been desperately seeking. The apothecary, who already knew Raham’s identity from rumors spreading throughout the city, bowed politely and said:

“That will be 490 hallons.”

Raham reached into his pocket but stopped. His eyes wavered.

‘Is this person trying to rip me off?’

Looking to the side, he saw Willa, who had been suffering from motion sickness while holding onto the counter, staring at him. Raham whispered:

“Is this price correct?”

“Yes. I told you ready-made products are expensive.”

With trembling hands, Raham bought a bottle of elixir costing 490 gold coins. Even that had a murky color, clearly an inferior elixir compared to what Carlie made. He couldn’t even guess how much the premium-grade recovery elixirs they had been using so freely at Carlie’s side would cost.

He agreed with Carlisle’s words that he had once thought nonsensical: Carlie definitely lacked economic sense. To think she had been using such expensive items like water just to play with a former slave.

He decided he should refrain from spanking Carlie’s bottom in the future as he tucked the vial into his pocket.

“Let’s go.”

“Ah, Sir Desit… I’m sorry, but please go ahead…”

Raham looked at Willa with a puzzled expression. She waved her hand, forcing a smile with a pale face. Bewildered but not wanting to waste time, he agreed.

“Alright. I’ll send the carriage back here.”

“This is practically our front yard… I’ll be fine… urgh…”

“I see. Then I’ll take my leave. Thank you for today.”

After leaving only a perfunctory greeting, Raham hurried out of the building and drove the carriage even more urgently than before.

On the way, he saw the driver who had nearly lost his carriage standing forlornly by the roadside, waiting. Raham picked him up too. The carriage sped toward the mansion with the screaming driver aboard.

Raham rushed inside, leaving behind the driver who was grateful both for his life being spared and for the generous compensation.

“Carlie!”

Carlie, who had been sleeping well until she was awakened again, expressed rare irritation.

“Husband… Do you want to die, really?”

“Hnnng.”

Carlie, who had been mumbling with her eyes still closed, opened them wide at the half-sobbing sound.

“What’s wrong? Did someone hurt you?”

In her mind, heads were dropping one after another. Raham, unaware of the massacre that had just occurred in his wife’s imagination, pulled away the blanket wrapped around her white legs.

“What are you talking about? Show me your b*tt.”

“Ah, what…”

Carlie grumbled as she sluggishly moved to present her bottom. All this fuss over a few spanks. Raham’s hands were large, so he couldn’t even hit that hard.

Regardless, Raham placed her waist on his knee. The fair bottom that had been wrapped in white sheets now showed no trace of marks. Still, he carefully applied the elixir with gentle hands.

As he repeatedly applied more, massaging the soft mounds with his hands, Carlie purred contentedly. After finishing the treatment, Raham exhaled a long sigh.

“Let’s not do this anymore.”

“…Do what?”

“The games. We don’t know what might happen in life, and if we use up even the emergency medicine, what then? We should play more carefully until we go home.”

Carlie sat up abruptly, her face shocked. Raham made an “uh-oh” sound and hurriedly pressed her back down. Carlie protested while lying face down.

“We can’t make our trip wholesome like that!”

“Isn’t wholesomeness the default for travel?”

“Don’t say such nonsense. This is our chance to have fun!”

“As if we don’t have fun otherwise…”

Raham grumbled, but Carlie launched into a speech, which he half-listened to. What kind of person would use up emergency medicine for playing around?

“The wedding rings provide all the protection we need. Nothing else can possibly happen to us—”

“I’ll tell the lord.”

Carlie’s expression turned sulky. Her husband would bring in her brother to outnumber her whenever he couldn’t win an argument alone. Her brother did the same, so they were quite the compatible pair in this regard.

“We can just make more medicine.”

As Carlie was slowly picking up her clothes, Willa arrived with porters. After Raham had rushed back, she had bought reagents and come to visit.

“Lady Carlie!”

“Willa! It’s been so long.”

The two embraced, making Raham sulk, then asked after each other.

“But why do you look so pale?”

“Lady Carlie, I heard you sprained your ankle?”

“Umm……”

“Huh?”

Raham avoided eye contact and went to get refreshments for the guests. He grabbed some fruit, cookies, and tea, hastily arranging them on a large tray. As he returned, he could hear the two women’s conversation echoing from the corridor.

“Ah— but parties are such a bother.”

“Oh come on, since you’ve come all this way, please attend and grace us with your presence. We’ll be boasting about it for the next 10 years.”

Raham burst through the door in horror.

“A party?!”

Carlie and Willa, who had been chatting while mixing elixirs, turned to look at him simultaneously. They exchanged glances and started giggling.

Willa covered her mouth with a white lace fan and whispered.

“Is he still like this?”

“We haven’t really held any parties since then, but I imagine he would be.”

“Oh my, my, my.”

Raham’s face reddened slightly as he set the tray on the table. He had realized they were talking about the wedding reception.

Of course, he admitted his behavior had been somewhat… slightly… rather disapproving. He’d been horrified every time someone came to greet Carlie and kiss her hand, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her for a second when she danced with other men while he danced with other ladies.