Chapter 91

unedited

“Ugh. So annoying!”

As I stomped my feet, I gasped in surprise at a human figure that suddenly jumped out from around the corner. But maybe I was the only one who was surprised, as the other person called me in a shrill voice.

“Oh, Lady Katzel!”

“…Lady Duqran?”

It was Anisha Duqran, the number one contributor to promoting my necklaces and earrings.

‘She seems a little weird. Has she been drinking?’

Anisha dragged her swaying body from side to side and grabbed my arm.

“Where have you been? I kept looking for you but I couldn’t find you.”

“I was tired, so I was resting in the lounge.”

“You’re already tired? That can’t be true.”

Suddenly, she reached out her hand and grabbed my face.  Embarrassed by the hand rubbing my cheek, I couldn’t even think to push it away and froze.

‘If you drink so much, you’ll obviously get drunk!’

After a while, I slapped her hand away feeling uncomfortable with the way she rubbed my cheeks.

“Hey, what are you doing now?”

“I’m envious of you. I’ve always wanted a face like this!”

Ha, what nonsense is this! She’s not even listening to me at all.

I forcibly removed Anisha, who kept clinging to me, and pushed away her body. Anisha, who stumbled and barely leaned against the wall, let out a laugh like a man with a screw missing.

“You smell good.”

“It must be perfume.”

“Hmm, what perfume do you use?”

“I don’t know.”

I indeed didn’t know because the maids sprayed it on me. By the way, was it okay to talk informally when drunk? Anisha smirked as I frowned at her for speaking informally.

‘Well, I’d rather we not see each other.’

I saw Anisha’s half-lidded eyes and gave up dealing with her. No matter what I said, she wouldn’t be able to understand. Just as I was sighing at Anisha, who was half-confused, her pale white hand reached out to my neck without notice.

“I want to have it! It’s mine!”

She couldn’t take her eyes off my necklace from earlier. She finally expressed her desire.

‘I’m about to go crazy. I have to go back quickly, but why do I have to deal with a drunkard?’

Uggh, I don’t know. I can just throw her into the lounge.

As I stretched out my hand toward the swaying Anisha, someone grabbed my wrist.

“I’ll do it. So please drop your hand.”

I stopped at the low, intimidating voice and raised my gaze. Faced with bright red eyes, I calmly withdrew my hand. The woman before me exuded an impressive and intimidating charisma and air of a lot of experience.

‘Who is she?’

In the meantime, the woman who had thrown Anisha into the lounge and closed the door looked back at me with a grin.

“You can’t just trust anyone and do things like that. You could get in big trouble.”

“…Oh.”

At her words of admonition, I put my hands together and bowed my head.

Wait a minute, why am I being scolded?

I lifted my head and squinted my eyes, and before I knew it, she stared back at me with an expressionless face.

“Still, you’ve come to the right place.”

“What?”

Do you know me? I quickly searched my memory, but it was a face I didn’t know.

‘By the way, what kind of alcohol did she drink?’

The smell of the alcohol that wafted from her was awful. Anisha didn’t smell like this.

‘Wait…?’

I bit my lips because I finally realized it. Anisha didn’t smell like anything. The half-closed eyes and her staggering figure were definitely the appearance of a drunk person.

‘Could it be that she did drugs and not alcohol?’

Contrary to what she looked like, Anisha was quite a free spirit. What broke my string of thoughts was a light tap on my shoulder.

“You’re Rosetta Katzel, right? Chase’s youngest daughter.”

Chase was the Duke’s name.

“Yes, but who are you?”

Her friendly demeanor made me flustered. Whoever sees us will think that she was a close friend of mine.

“I just came here to check if I found the right person. Now I can finally relax my eyes.”

“What?”

First it was Anisha and now this person. Their words were full of nonsense that I couldn’t understand. Was it because they were both out of their minds? Just when I muttered to myself that I was unlucky to come across a drunkard twice in a row, a familiar voice flew into my ear.

“Miss Kariya, it’s time to go.”

“Lily, I told you to wait as I would be there soon.”

“I didn’t know what else to do. Huh, Lady Katzel?”

‘…Did she say Kariya?’

I couldn’t hear Liliana’s voice calling me.

Kariya…? Could she be that Kariya that I know?

‘Is she the Mage Tower’s Head Kariya?’

I closed my gaping mouth. The person whom I thought of as another annoying drunkard turned out to be the living legend, Kariya – the Head of the Mage Tower.

“Why is the legend…?”

“What legend? I’m just an old woman who’s about to retire.”

What do you mean by old woman! She was still strong enough to wipe out an entire area if she put her mind to it!

‘No wonder, I was intimidated by her presence. Her aura is no joke.’

It was to the point that I, who usually never blinked an eye, was left flustered.

“Do you two happen to be friends?”

“We became friends today.”

When I answered instead of Lilliana, who was hesitant about what to answer, Kariya patted her on the shoulder with a beaming smile.

“Lily, I wondered what was going on when you suddenly disappeared. So, it happens you were making friends.”

Kariya tousled Liliana’s hair as her face flushed red.