After successfully bringing Shion back to the main traveling party, everyone had a lavish dinner together around the campfires. Afterward, except for the Royal Guards on night watch, everyone retired to rest and prepare for the long journey ahead.
As for Shion herself, she was naturally invited by Regulus to share his luxurious royal carriage.
Normally, as a cautious traveling merchant, she would have definitively refused such an offer from a man. But to celebrate recovering her lost fortune and to express her deep gratitude to her new employer, she opened a cask of the vintage wine she had managed to salvage.
Having drunk a few cups, Shion became somewhat tipsy, and her usual timid courage grew considerably. Of course, although she was a bit intoxicated, she wasn't truly, blindly drunk. Having traveled the perilous roads for so many years, she still kept her guard up against others, even though she had confirmed that this party was indeed an official royal diplomatic convoy.
After all, the political news of humanity fully reconciling with the demi-humans hadn't been widely confirmed yet, not to mention... as a lone girl, she simply couldn't afford to completely relax while sleeping outside.
The next day.
The moment Shion woke from her deep sleep, she groaned and clutched her forehead. Her head throbbed with a dull ache, and she felt a bit physically unwell.
'Is it because it's been far too long since I've had any alcohol?' Shion muttered to herself, rubbing her temples as her gaze swept around her immediate surroundings.
The interior of the royal carriage was incredibly opulent. Silk cushions, intricate mana-lighting, and perfectly temperature-controlled air. She had long wanted to switch to such a luxurious carriage for her own business; after all, living in such a palatial space during long merchant travels would undoubtedly be the ultimate kind of enjoyment. It was just that the upfront price was a bit too outrageously high, and she was always worried about potential bandit damage on the road.
Now, looking back, it seemed incredibly fortunate that she hadn't bought one back then. Otherwise, the financial losses from the five-year monster incident would have been even more devastating.
Just as she was secretly congratulating herself on her past frugality, the heavy carriage door was suddenly pulled open.
It was Regulus who stepped inside.
"You're awake," he noted casually, a faint smirk on his lips.
"..."
"What's wrong?" Regulus tilted his head.
"Eh! Ah... nothing... I'm perfectly fine!" Shion, who had been staring at him in a daze, immediately averted her gaze the moment she came to her senses.
She felt very strange. Why did her heart suddenly beat so incredibly fast the moment she saw Regulus? And why were her cheeks suddenly feeling inexplicably warm and flushed? She had been perfectly fine yesterday when dealing with him, with absolutely no such embarrassing symptoms.
"Is that so?" Regulus smiled, his eyes glinting. "In that case, come out and have some breakfast. After we eat, we should be ready to continue our journey."
"Mm..." she nodded slightly, refusing to meet his eyes.
Regulus looked at Shion in this flustered, blushing state and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
'The effect of that little concoction is truly excellent,' he thought with deep satisfaction before turning to leave.
It wasn't until Regulus had fully left the carriage that Shion slowly let out a shaky breath.
'What on earth is wrong with me?' she wondered, touching her burning face, utterly perplexed.
However, in her confusion, her mind instantly went to some of the cheap romance storybooks she had read to pass the time over the years—books that could be bought for a few coppers during merchant journeys. Among their dramatic pages, there seemed to be specific descriptions perfectly matching her current, racing heart.
'Could it be...? No, that's absolutely impossible!' Shion mentally scolded herself, unhesitatingly denying the scandalous thought that had surfaced in her mind. 'We literally just met yesterday, and he already has a beautiful fiancée he's traveling to marry! How could I possibly harbor such improper, romantic thoughts about my boss?!'
She shook her head vigorously, casting everything out of her mind.
It was best not to overthink such silly things. According to what the romance novels said, the more a maiden thought about a sudden crush, the more she would care about it. If she simply didn't think about it, she would quickly forget about the man and return to normal.
After briefly composing herself and slapping her cheeks, Shion proactively exited the carriage.
But what made her incredibly frustrated was that when she inevitably interacted with Regulus again during breakfast, her strange, fluttering symptoms had not eased in the slightest...
After half a day's smooth journey, it was dusk when the royal caravan finally reached a nearby, bustling border town.
For Shion, this was undoubtedly great news. Because whenever she was near Regulus today, she—who wasn't normally the type to be shy or afraid of strangers—couldn't help but feel incredibly reserved and hyper-aware of his presence. Even though she roughly guessed why she had become this way, her elven pride couldn't bring herself to accept it.
'I'll buy a separate carriage first thing tomorrow morning,' she muttered to herself as she unpacked her bags in her assigned inn room. She no longer wanted to share a confined space with Regulus if she could help it.
As she prepared for a much-needed bath, she undressed.
"Hm? What's this?" Shion frowned deeply, looking down at her lower abdomen.
A strange, intricate pink tattoo had mysteriously appeared on her pale skin, sitting low on her stomach. If she hadn't been completely undressing to bathe, she wouldn't have even known such a peculiar, embarrassing mark had appeared on her body.
But when exactly did this appear?
Yesterday? No, she had been wearing her clothes all day yesterday, and after drinking the wine, she had rested in the same carriage as Regulus, so she hadn't washed or changed her clothes at all. That logically meant it appeared sometime between the morning of the day before yesterday and right now.
But what was the exact time, and what on earth was the magical reason for a crest suddenly appearing?
She gently stroked the intricate design with her fingertips. It didn't hurt or itch, and it seemed entirely harmless, but that was only how it felt on the surface.
'I should still ask Sphinx to take a look at it immediately. It would be terrible if it were some kind of delayed-activation curse from those monsters,' Shion thought, panic rising. She quickly threw her clothes back on.
She wouldn't joke around with her own life.
She quickly marched down the inn's hallway, found Sphinx's assigned room, and, feeling somewhat anxious about a potential curse, pushed open the door directly without knocking.
The scene inside the room made her freeze instantly in the doorway.
She saw Sphinx playing a very intimate 'game' with Regulus... or more accurately, given the highly compromising position and what she was doing, they were 'eating'.
"Excuse me!" Shion shrieked, her face turning crimson as she quickly came to her senses and immediately slammed the door, sprinting back into the hallway.
While leaning against the wall and blaming herself for being far too rash, an indescribable, suffocating feeling of melancholy and deep jealousy suddenly lingered heavily in her heart. Although this dark emotion wasn't logical, it still made her feel very uneasy and incredibly envious of the Witch.
'Haa~ Really,' Shion exhaled softly, clutching her chest. She prepared to go back to her room first and return to find Sphinx later when they were... finished.
Click.
The door behind her suddenly opened.
"Are you looking for me for something specific?" Sphinx asked flatly, stepping out into the hallway and adjusting her somewhat disheveled collar.
Facing the sudden question, Shion subconsciously peeked into the room at Regulus, who was casually leaning back and staring right at her with an amused smirk. Shion immediately shifted her gaze to the floor. She couldn't meet his eyes at all.
"Um... I have something very strange I'd like you to help me look at," Shion stammered. "I wonder if you're free to come with me to my room now?"
"Let's go," Sphinx agreed monotonously.
"Thank you. Please follow me." Saying this, Shion hurriedly led the way down the hall.
It wasn't long before the two arrived at Shion's private room.
"What exactly do you want me to look at?" Sphinx asked directly; she didn't want to waste too much time. After all, the night belonged exclusively to her and Regulus. Especially this rare opportunity for them to be alone on the road; whether there would be another such peaceful night in the future was an unknown variable.
"Please wait a moment," Shion said nervously.
Saying this, Shion grabbed the hem of her top with one hand and the waistband of her trousers with the other, slowly pulling them apart to fully expose her bare stomach and the intricate pink tattoo to Sphinx's analytical view.
"Miss Sphinx... this crest suddenly appeared on my body," Shion explained, her voice tight with worry. "Do you think it's some kind of Mabeast curse or something?"
Sphinx stared at the mark for a moment, her deadpan eyes completely unreadable.
"Do not worry," Sphinx stated plainly. "It is not a curse."
'How could it possibly be a curse?' Sphinx thought internally, her expression remaining perfectly blank. 'Last night, I personally watched Lord Regulus feed a highly concentrated alchemical potion to the sleeping Shion, and then meticulously engrave this exact crest of absolute obedience onto her flesh himself.'
....
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