Banished Villainess – Under Observation!

The lodging they found was a three-story building and cannot be called extravagant even by false flattery. It had integrated itself with a church seemingly about to collapse and by the looks of it, just a single assault of the demonic beasts would easily demolish the building. But then again, a lodging house this close to a dungeon would obviously erect sufficient barriers to protect it.

“Shin, we are to pretend as travelers, so you have to watch my words, do you understand?”

Before Chloe knocked on the door, she momentarily turned to Shin to say that.

“Welcome, how many are people are staying?”

Right after Chloe knocked, a middle-aged woman with a considerable physique opened the door. She seems to be the mistress of the building from the looks of it.

“My apologies, but we have been raided by the bandits earlier and we’re out of hand. We do not mind even if it’s a small corner, but could you spare a room for us to borrow?”

“Oh, were you chased off from the main highway. That’s pretty unlucky for you two… but it do happen a lot within this area. I wouldn’t mind sparing you a room and a meal for the night but, tomorrow some customers will come you see… That said, my husband runs a church right at the back, so if you want a place to stay, you can use that instead. There’s hardly any people who’ll come there to pray anyway.“

“We are very grateful.”

Entering the building, its first floor had both the reception as well as a pub and the lodging rooms are located in the 2nd floor and upwards. After they sat in one of the chairs of the many tables, the mistress carried a food towards their table. They were handed hard bread, meat soup as well as a darkish liquid for refreshments.

“Sorry, they were just left overs.”

Chloe smiled as she tore a piece of the tough bread and soaked it in the meat soup. If she was the same as she had been before, she would’ve refused it all and called it nothing but dog food. It looked as though she had already gotten used to traveling in a mere days of journey, to the point that nobody would even think that she was a former ducal lady, unless somebody told them.

“By the way, this might be an insensitive question but… are you two eloping?”

“He is my older brother.”

Shin nearly cough and nearly choked on his drink. It was either due to how Chloe had nonchalantly lie without hesitation or because he knew his actual brother very well, or both. As for the aforementioned brother however, his eyebrows only furrowed watching it happened.

After running a lodging close to a dungeon for higher grade adventurers, the mistress must’ve seen her fair share of ruined nobles. Shin and Chloe’s eyes met for a moment, and this time revealed their real circumstances…, or not.

“As mistress had said, we are nobles. However, I was disowned by my parents just a day ago. My older brother was the only one who went against it and chose to come with me instead.”

“Is that so. I don’t know the circumstances but, throwing you out on such a dangerous mountain, what a terrible pair of parents. That aside, you sure are a really thoughtful brother. You have to protect your sister well, alright?”

“She sure blabbers a lot about other’s circumstances for someone who knows absolutely nothing.”

“Let it slide, Darck. There’s no way Chloe would foolishly flat out say that she was driven off for harassing the Saintess.”

The prince shows his generosity as he chided Darck who was visibly irritated. This much of a lie is adorable compared to how they have been deceiving Chloe this entire time, he thought.