CH 23

“Here it is.”

The place where the carriage stopped was a hill with cool wind blowing. A river flowed down the hill. The sunlight hit the river, sprinkling jewel-like light. It was a magnificent view.

There was a mansion on a simple hill. The mansion, which was so enormous that ordinary nobles could never dream of, was modeled after the foreign architecture style along the beach. Just standing there felt like a refreshing sea breeze. In particular, I liked the combination of the white bricks and blue roof.

“It’s a pretty place.”

“Right, it’s my mansion.”

“Aha. You have a beautiful building in a good place.”

“Do you like it?”

There’s no reason to hate it. If I wake up from a long oversleep until the sun rises in the middle of the sky and drink a cup of tea on that balcony, it’ll be heaven.

I nodded my head. Rodrigo’s mouth bent nicely.

“That’s a relief. Then let’s move on.”

What? Aren’t we supposed to go over there? Are you here to brag?

I wanted to feel more of the strong wind, but Rodrigo hurriedly pushed me back in the carriage.

The next place was a vast expanse of dozens of greenhouses. Rodrigo led me to the largest greenhouse among them. Inside the greenhouse where edible flowers were grown, the temperature and humidity were high. When Rodrigo snapped his finger, a window sprung to the ceiling and opened at the same time, making it easier to breathe.

“It’s a great skill.”

“It’s magic.”

Rodrigo corrected my remarks and led me inside. Colorful flowers bloomed. Without realizing it, I opened my mouth and looked around. Either way, I just liked the strange and pretty flowers.

The edible flowers were luscious. Red, yellow, blue… It was like looking at an artist’s palette.

“Can you eat it all?”

“Sure. Would you like to have one?”

At my question, Rodrigo picked up a red petal and put it in my mouth. When I chewed it, it tasted bitter. I could never say it tasted good. However, the scent that filled the mouth was good. The downside is that my lips and tongue are stained red.

“One more?”

Rodrigo asked and I did not decline. I was slowly getting hungry. I was expecting an obvious date course, but I just had a light lunch, and now is a good time for a light tea and refreshments. We looked around the greenhouse holding a coveted flower in our hands and chewing it.

“But why are you growing flowers? Is that also edible?”

“It’s not just about growing flowers.”

Rodrigo’s explanation continued. Vegetables were scarce in winter. But the nobles wanted vegetables even in winter. Although meat was the staple food, it was considered noble to put vegetables on the table to match the assortment even if they did not eat it. So, in winter, vegetable prices soared.

“I’ve made quite a bit of money. It is still very profitable.”

So it was like that.

I nodded my head bitterly.

“Aren’t you interested?”

Rodrigo, who was walking alongside me, stopped. I was walking without knowing it, and stopped a couple of steps ahead of him.

“Why?”

He came up to me. The lightness wandering around him evaporated somewhere. When his deep eyes, which were like an abyss, stared down at me, I felt my heart beating faster.

I wanted to avoid his gaze, but with the narrow greenhouse road, there was no place to escape. I rolled my eyes and stopped at one point. A smirk spread across my lips.

“It got on you.”

I pointed at Rodrigo’s face and said. The edible petals he ate earlier colored his lip. Rodrigo fumbled with his hand to where I pointed.

“Where? Here?”

“No, not there.”

“Then where?”

After a few times Rodrigo’s hand slipped away from the spot, I became frustrated.

“Hold on a second.”

I closed my distance with Rodrigo. I stretched out and placed my hand on his left lip. His lips were hot. I’m worried that he’s not feeling well.

Rodrigo, who knew I was going to pull my hand away, didn’t take his eyes off me, just watching  what I was doing. I could have just told him the location and had him remove it himself, but I tried to erase the traces of the petals on Rodrigo’s lips, just like I had wiped off the monster blood on Stefan. However, it was not erased as easily as I thought.

If I rub lightly, will it be wiped off?

I immediately cleared my thoughts. Even though I hadn’t rubbed too hard, the color of Rodrigo’s lips was even redder. The harder I rubbed, the more his blood would seep out.

So, shall I bury it with my saliva? Saliva on the lips…? A scene of a young man and woman kissing came to mind.

“What are you thinking?”

I thought  about it every time I heard it, but his voice was really good. It was a low, deep voice that resonated in my heart. The feeling of his lips moving under my fingers was strange.

“…I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

A light sigh followed at the end of Rodrigo’s question.

“It doesn’t erase well. Would you like to come a little closer?”

It was difficult for me to keep holding the stance. I could leave it to Rodrigo, but there was a secret misunderstanding.

Pls read at pink muffin tl only.

As Rodrigo bowed his head, a shadow fell on his face. I couldn’t see the red mark which had faded to a certain extent, so I pressed my face to Rodrigo’s. My eyelashes trembled as they were touched by Rodrigo’s breath.

It felt like I was out of breath. The place was quiet. Maybe that’s why, I felt as if I could even hear the sound of blood running under his veins. And the beating heart… Is it mine or is it Rodrigo’s? It was around the time when Rodrigo’s hot gaze became heavy.

Bam!

Suddenly, there was a noise.

(TL/N: bruhhh)

(PR/N: No snusnu for Rodrigo and you)

Bam!

The noise continued. The ceiling of the greenhouse was broken, and shards of glass poured onto the floor. Rodrigo immediately took off his jacket and draped it over my head.

“It’s my brother.”

Kaylan threw a bomb. I’m sorry; I thought I was going to die.

The pretty greenhouse was a mess in an instant. Even the delicious flowers withered or burned in the heat of the bomb. No, even if they were fine, we wouldn’t be able to sell them for food because of the scattered glass.

“I’m sorry, Rodrigo. I will make amends.”

“No compensation required.”

Rodrigo just cut it off. I glanced into his eyes at his cold and decisive tone. This time – as always – Kaylan, Ether and Eyla were at fault.

You thought you could shoot arrows, but you blew up the greenhouse.

“It’s more upsetting than that.”

I removed the hand that Rodrigo had placed on my shoulder. I was concerned about his messed up head as he ran while holding me.

He brushed his messy hair up.

“I’m so sorry. How much is this greenhouse?”

I don’t know much about business, but at least I knew it would cost a lot of money to maintain a greenhouse of this size with the technology of this world. Even a passing dog would know.

“It’s not the ruined greenhouse that upsets me. I was upset that the gift was ruined.”

Gift?

Aha, you were going to present the flowers here to someone.

“I don’t know who it is, but I apologize.”

Rodrigo chuckled.

Why are you laughing? Did you laugh at the messed up greenhouse? Anyway, you have a good personality.

I couldn’t believe that a man like this could turn black.

“I just had an idea, Estiya.”

“Yes, tell me. Rodrigo.”

“I think we need to have a conversation.”

Of course. We need to discuss compensation in detail. It’s not just one or two things that need to be compensated.

“Before that, you should calm down your brother first.”

Rodrigo took a step forward, and a mace flew into his face.

(PR/N: He says conversation, she says compensation, and I say composition).

(TL/N: LMAO)

(3rd person pov)

“Take that too.”

“This? Isn’t this a bomb that you dropped in the middle of the city?”

At Kaylan’s question, Ether nodded her head.

“Yeah, take it, Brother.”

Ether and Eyla were usually mean to Kaylan, but sometimes they called him brother when their irritability was extreme. It was a sarcastic fight with a sense of humiliation, saying, “You should look bad too because I feel bad for you rather than feeling respectful.” Kaylan put the bomb Ether had thrown into his bag.

“Are you going to hunt monsters?”

The butler who was serving the tea to Kaylan and the others stopped. It was strange that Eyla and Ether, who came back from the monster hunt in a hurry yesterday, left immediately.

“It’s not hunting.”

Eyla smiled faintly as she wiped Ether’s sword.

“Then where are you going for you to pack your luggage…?”

The butler carefully looked at the luggage scattered on the floor. A set of 10 poisons with A-grade handling precautions, a mace that looks heavy on the shoulder, smoke grenades and bombs with the power to blow up an entire mansion… No matter how you looked at it, it was a preparation for hunting monsters. Or go to war. (PR/N: Technically, he’s not wrong.) However, an answer that the butler did not expect came out of Eyla’s mouth.

“Following Estiya on a date.”

Up until then, Kaylan wasn’t going to use bombs as much as he used to. If Rodrigo did anything bad to Estiya, he planned to quietly pluck only his neck. That’s because Estiya doesn’t like being around noisy people. So he didn’t want to use a bomb!

“You bastard, are you aiming for that?”

The date place was not unusual.

It was the kidnapping route that kept  failing.

When he arrived at the mansion, the play of confinement came to mind naturally.

Whip, rope… Why is this coming to mind?

As Ether was about to run out in search of various clubs, Rodrigo and Estyia got back into the carriage.

“I don’t think it’s here.”

When you kidnap, the basic thing is to stop by several places to set a smoke screen and then go to your destination.

“Let’s be patient. We need to find our home base.”

Destroying it could damage Rodrigo. It’s okay to blow away Rodrigo’s head with a mace.

The second place they arrived was the greenhouse. The two entered the greenhouse side by side. Unable to follow along, Kaylan, Ether, and Eyla climbed up to the roof of the greenhouse.

The three of them lay flat on their backs and moved very carefully. It was easy to roll down if they made a mistake. But why was Rodrigo feeding Estiya flowers?

Kaylan suppressed the surge of emotions. As he watched for a little longer, the mood between Estiya and Rodrigo changed bizarrely. Estiya came to him first. It was hard to accept that too, but Estiya put her hand on Rodrigo’s face first. And Rodrigo lowered his head towards Estyia!

“Did you light it?”

Kaylan reached out to Eyla standing behind him.

“The preparations are already over.”

Eyla put a bomb on the ceiling of the greenhouse with a icy cold look.

The three of them laid their bodies on their backs and flew in mid-air. As soon as they landed on the ground, the greenhouse collapsed with a bang and roar.