Home/I Didn't Want a Honeymoon Like This/ch28

Chapter 28

"It didn't spread properly. One more time—one, two, three."

The loosely wrinkled sheet smoothed out in an instant. Alexei let go of the corners he had been holding. He patted the puffy center, and as the air escaped, the sheet settled flat. He smoothed out the remaining creases with his hands.

"Don't overdo it."

"This way it looks better."

Looking at his genuinely satisfied face, Angelina was speechless.

Who would ever think this man is the future Emperor of Latria?

There could be no more perfect disguise.

And that apron—doesn't it suit him perfectly?

Despite all his loud protests earlier, he looked quite natural now.

"Would you rather dust or wipe?"

"Dust."

Angelina tossed him the cloth. When Alexei frowned, she stuck out her tongue.

"Isn't there anything else? Like a long-handled mop?"

"Can't use that. It's been sitting so long that if you wet it, it reeks."

With a face that looked like he'd swallowed hell, Alexei took the cloth. Angelina's lips twitched involuntarily.

A husband helping with housework is a fine thing.

She was cleaning too, of course, but there was a certain pleasure in ordering the Crown Prince around.

"You're in the way—start from over there."

"How am I in the way?"

"Our paths keep crossing."

Alexei stopped mopping and snapped. Angelina had been waving the duster back and forth across the path of his mop.

"You're just saying that because you don't want to do it," Angelina retorted.

Alexei pushed the mop all the way to the window where Angelina was standing.

"Ah! Alex!"

"What? I'm just cleaning."

Glancing up at her, Alexei calmly mopped his way past.

That damn Crown Prince.

Blowing a puff of air, Angelina suddenly whacked Alexei's back with the duster.

"Ow—that hurts, Angel. What are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning. There's a lot of dust."

Alexei grabbed the duster and stood up, pulling Angelina along with it.

"Hey? Let go?"

The more she reached, the farther the duster slipped from her grasp. Even standing on tiptoe didn't help.

So he's taller than me, is that it?

Angelina gritted her teeth.

"Give it back."

"So you can hit me again?"

"I won't."

As his arm slowly lowered, Angelina snatched it quickly.

"For cleaning purposes."

With a grin, she swung the duster again. Backing away, Alexei snatched up the discarded cloth and threw it. Startled, Angelina dodged aside.

The cloth flew straight and landed on Nancy, who had just opened the door and entered.

"Oh my."

Thinking it was a mouse, Nancy screamed. Only when the black bundle of cloth dropped at her feet did she understand the situation.

Alexei gave an awkward laugh, and Angelina scrambled to explain.

"I was just about to wipe the floor near the door."

"…I have a favor to ask."

Nancy nudged the still mouse-like cloth aside and spoke.

"Deliver a barrel to the Black Lion Inn and bring back thirty Bath."

"Will do."

Alexei immediately took off his apron. Nancy stopped Angelina, who was about to follow.

"Only one person needs to go."

"Then, good luck."

Alexei disappeared behind the door with a bright smile.

"Tch."

Angelina nudged the black cloth bundle forward.

We haven't even finished cleaning properly.

If I'd known this would happen, I shouldn't have gotten in his way, Angelina regretted deeply.

---

"When I started this inn business, the Black Lion Inn opened on the same day. We started on the same day, so naturally we became rivals, but at some point, the customers naturally split. The owner there is so particular that guests who want to relax prefer this place."

Meaning that place is cleaner.

"Anyway, now we're like family. We've become mutually supportive and encouraging."

"So where is the Black Lion Inn?"

"The name 'Black Lion Inn' was actually my idea too. It used to be called Palace Inn, I think? But I told her it didn't stick, and the very next day she changed the signboard. After that, customers started pouring in. It wasn't for nothing that I offered my advice."

"So that inn is located where…?"

"The owner is a woman named Cecile—she's divorced. Ah, that's a secret. She'd be horrified if that got out, says it would hurt business. If rumors spread, she'd definitely think I was the one who told."

She's probably right, Alexei thought as he looked around.

Is there a town map somewhere…?

But in a haphazardly run inn like this, there was no such thing.

I'd be better off going back to the room and wiping the floor with that black cloth.

With barely restrained patience, Alexei asked.

"That's quite a story. So where exactly is it?"

"Oh, the location?"

Nancy beamed as if she'd found a long-lost coin.

"I'll explain it just once, so listen carefully. I'll make it very easy to understand."

Alexei felt uneasy.

"First, when you go out the door, you'll see a butcher, a flower shop, and a bakery in that order on the left. A flower shop next to a butcher—doesn't it seem odd? I told her to find another spot when she opened the flower shop, but she wouldn't listen. She said it's all the same—cutting up living things to sell anyway. Anyway, you must stand in front of the bakery. That's where the road splits. That bakery makes amazing egg tarts. They use eggs from chickens raised on a large dairy farm—or so I hear. I mean, the eggs those chickens lay. You should definitely try one next time. Actually, you can buy some on your way back. Anyway, from the bakery, go up the left street. Don't take the alley between the flower shop and the bakery—make sure you're at the bakery and take the left street. So turn your left shoulder and go up the way you see, and—"

His patience was running out, and now his concentration was too.

For Alexei, this was a first in his life.

---

He was lost.

Given that explanation, it would have been more surprising if he hadn't gotten lost.

Alexei set down the barrel he'd been carrying and looked around.

Alley, alley, alley.

This is definitely not it.

Alexei returned to the inn.

"If you're directionally challenged, you should have said so from the start," Nancy clicked her tongue.

"I found my own room just fine. Same for the other rooms."

Even inside the sprawling, maze-like palace of the Esti Strait, he had never lost his way. Of course, attendants were always with him.

"What kind of joke is that?"

"It's my first time traveling."

The noble father must have raised them indoors, afraid of the illegitimate children being discovered.

Nancy suddenly felt a pang of pity.

"Sure. If it's your first time, that's understandable. It's not that my explanation was lacking. Anyway, let's go together."

How much more would she talk during the entire trip? But having his head suffer was better than having his arms fall off.

Alexei resolutely nodded.

The Black Lion Inn was twenty minutes away. If he'd come alone, Alexei thought, he could have made it in under ten.

As expected, Nancy talked the entire way.

So engrossed in her stories, she even took a wrong turn.

"Oh my, look at me."

Each time, Alexei regretted not just asking a passerby for directions.

Just as his arms were about to fall off, they arrived at the Black Lion Inn.

"A new face—who's this?"

"Our inn's mascot."

M-Mascot?

"What does an inn need a mascot for?"

"Haven't you heard? Since we brought him in, our inn's customers have increased dramatically."

"That must be a coincidence with the passenger ship schedule."

"Looks like no one's here?"

"Everyone's out. Look at the time."

Alexei took a step back.

'Now we're like family—mutually supportive and encouraging.'

That's what you said, owner.

Alexei was not unfamiliar with women's power struggles. That was precisely why he hated parties and balls.

A suffocating war.

Angelina had once asked if he had a knife in his mouth, but to Alexei, it was these women who did. They just concealed it prettily with their fans.

Isn't that crueler?

That was why Angelina, who revealed her true feelings as they were, was easier to be around.

Then as now, without change, Alexei found comfort in Angelina Augert.

Back   Next