Rather Than The Son, I'll Take The Father

Chapter 75

“Alright then, get back to the castle on your own! I’ll go first!”

I lifted my head only after Shaula had disappeared.

I could see the dark alleyways under Esmeralda’s sun, which was setting quickly.

This was supposed to be a hotbed for crime, but it was still a place where people lived.

Should I say thank you for not dumping me out in the beast-infested mountains?

And thank you for letting me go before I got attached to you.

I took out the small bottle I had in my pocket.

I brought it just in case.

Even if the contract I got this blood from was broken, the blood’s power wouldn’t change, so there was no need for me to worry about it being useless.

Hmm, so Aedis was in the castle?

And he would have known if he had been paying attention to me?

I can understand why Shaula thought I would feel bad after she told me that.

As usual, Aedis desperately tried not to interfere in my personal life.

And I knew that the secret he wanted to hide from me naturally still existed.

“…Should I wait a moment?”

Still, now that Shaula went home alone, he’ll definitely care.

When she told me that Aedis hadn’t left the castle, my heart had become more relaxed.

Maybe we’ll meet again after he starts looking for me and asks Sarah and the butler about my whereabouts.

Drinking the beast’s blood right now would help protect my body.

But I was reluctant to break my promise to Aedis just because of Shaula, so I put the bottle back in my pocket.

Ugh, it’s cold. How long will I be able to go without collapsing?

After thinking about it for a bit, I went back into the first bar I’d entered.

The owner was still smoking a cigarette, but as soon as he saw me, he immediately denied it.

“I don’t know him.”

” I’m here as a guest now.”

“…..”

He had a very shaky expression on his face and bit his lips.

I hesitated in front of the menu board.

Forget it, I didn’t bring any money.

I could take the jewelry off of the buttons on my coat, but that would be very noticeable.

I ordered with my fur hat pressed down.

“Give me a glass of the cheapest one.”

The owner noticed that my pockets were empty right away and clicked his tongue.

“You seem to be a precious lady, you should get going before sunset. Don’t you know that it’s hard to leave this place?”

The owner roughly wiped the dusty glass and poured the drink.

After that, I just sat in the corner of the room while sipping my hot drink.

I was the only customer in the store, and the owner seemed to have no intention of cleaning the place. It was as if this was a part of his daily routine.

I think I can hear some rats squeaking…

I glanced around and found a newspaper. It was published a year ago.

I grabbed the edge of the newspaper, avoiding the moldy parts, and carefully turned the pages.

A few articles contained as much expert knowledge or factual content as the nobles needed, and most of them were interesting stories.

“There is a secret cave in Eire Forest where gold and silver treasures are hidden, and there are similar caves scattered here and there towards the northern area,” anonymous Person A claimed.

Both the reporter and Person A speculated that some great wealth might have been hidden just in case a war happened.

Thanks to Paimon, I already knew that there was a cave in Eire Forest with a lot of treasures hidden inside.

If it’s true that there are secret caves in other places, then sooner or later, I’ll have to find them and get rid of them.

To pass the time, I read the newspaper carefully and found another interesting article.

It was a story about the people of the Rosa Estate and how Person B witnessed a spirit.

Not long ago, Person B reported that they chased away a small spirit the size of a palm with a broom.

This was the second time Person B had seen this little spirit.

They were convinced that the spirits were monitoring the people of the Rosa Estate, including themself.

To say that spirits were monitoring people, even if they were lying, was both funny and really strange.

Maybe it was because I had a contract with a spirit, Paimon, that I didn’t immediately move on to the next article and just sat there thinking about nothing in particular.

Come to think of it, is Paimon doing well?

The connection between spirits and their contractors usually meant that if one side had a major problem, the other would also know, but I’m not sure if it’s the same case for me and Paimon.

I didn’t follow the standard procedure for summoning a spirit or signing a contract with my own power.

Even after signing the contract, it was difficult for me to summon Paimon.

Whistle…

I patted my mouth for no reason, and then went back to looking for other articles about Person B.

Suddenly, someone took the newspaper from my hand.

A man with a greasy face shook the newspaper he had taken from me and laughed softly.

“Lady, did you run away or something?”

The man wasn’t alone.

Perhaps it was because he had a group of four with him, but he spoke confidently.

“You don’t like cheap drinks like that, do you? Shall I buy you a drink at a good place?”

Why did these guys want to get into trouble?

“I’ll have cocoa, please. And I’d like to read the latest newspaper, so can I have that one please?”

I asked gently, and the man’s group held out a more recent newspaper.

“Do, do you really want to read this? It’s a little dirty, but…”

“Are you going to give it to her or not?”

“I just thought it would be…”

While they were arguing with each other, I grabbed the newspaper. It was published last month.

“Doesn’t she look like a rich girl?”

“What if she’s a noble?”

“Ah, no way”

“What would a noble be doing in this backwater place? And did you hear her ask for cocoa earlier? Does she not know that this is a bar?”

Go away and make some noise over there.

I looked through the headlines and came across the word ‘spirit’.

The current situation of Rosa Estate’s ‘Person B’, the person who had seen a small spirit, was included.

Person B said that they were extremely stressed because everyone treated them like a madman, and spoke of their plans to leave the North.

Still, they gave a warning to the few people who believed them about some little spirits that appear in the Rosa Estate three to four times a year.

They added that although they couldn’t be sure because they’ve only lived in the Rosa Estate, that there was a high probability that this spirit spies on other estates as well.

〈‘Maybe it’s because of a contractor’s order that they’re doing it. They might be aiming for certain territories and trying to figure out the North’s trends.’〉

There were a few more lines after that, but the content was essentially the reporter being sarcastic and calling Person B crazy.

If I hadn’t met Paimon, I would have treated it as nonsense too.

It’s not very reliable, but still…

In the present age, it was so difficult to see a spirit that they’re perceived as just mythical beings now.

That’s why I got so angry when it became known that I had signed a contract with Paimon.

But what if there are other contractors besides me? And what if they are monitoring the North?

I tore up the article in which Person B’s interview was written.

“Hey, she tore it up!”

“What’s wrong with her?!”

I showed them the newspaper article I had just ripped.

“Do you think this is real? It said that there are little spirits watching people.”

I didn’t mean it as a joke, but their faces were frowning.

“Hmm.”

“Hahaha. The lady has a lot of flowers in her head, ah, she’s innocent.”

The guy who stole the moldy newspaper sat across from me.

I paused as I lifted his glass, thinking about pouring a lot of alcohol onto the greasy man’s face.

A young crow could be seen through the foggy window.

Raven was looking at me with wide eyes.

Eyes that basically said, “You’re caught now.”

I didn’t have to waste my stamina, so I took a sip and put the cup down naturally.

The man, who had no idea that Aedis had found me, grinned.

“Come on, stop watching this boring stuff and come have some fun with us.”

“What about my hot cocoa? Do you not sell it here?”

When I asked that with an idiotic look on my face, the man completely relaxed.

“Isn’t this a bar? Don’t worry though, I’ll go out and buy it for you”

At that moment, the shopkeeper put a cup of hot cocoa down on the table with a loud, cracking sound.

“Pay up.”

The owner reached out to the man who was trying to pull me to leave, not me.

The man counted the money with a face as unhappy as if he was eating poop, and then started flirting again.

“Lady, do you have a boyfriend?”

I answered while stirring the cocoa with a teaspoon.

“I have a husband.”

“What? You’re not even wearing a wedding ring!”

“You’re married?!”

The greasy-faced guy wasn’t the only one that jumped when I said that, the other people did too.

I tilted my head.

“Wedding ring…?”

Oh, the ring with the seal of the Kalakis family engraved on it.

It was worn by the previous Grand Duchess too, and although it didn’t have the same influence as the Lord’s, it was sufficient enough to prove my identity.

I put it on once just to check the size and then put it back in my room.

Hmmm, my wedding ring.

Should I refuse to give the wedding ring back and just tell Aedis that we won’t be getting a divorce?