Chapter 44

I was currently on edge because of a man named Ahel who clung to me no matter where I went inside the inn. A leech—yes, I figured there couldn’t possibly be another man to whom the word “leech” applied so well.

He had annoyed me so much that the name Ahel wouldn’t leave my head, and as I kept mulling it over, a memory I had completely forgotten suddenly popped into my mind.

Hadn’t he stated it openly right from the start? He had called himself the genius mage Ahel. He was a man who used magic as freely and casually as eating meals, and he was the third male lead of [Harmiel].

Still, something’s strange.

The more I thought about the character Ahel, the more perplexed I became. Unlike Carusien or Fren, Ahel was someone who had liked Miel from the very beginning. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he was suddenly showing this kind of interest in me instead of Miel.

“Why do you look so puzzled, Lady Armienne?”

“Because of you, Mage Ahel.”

“Please, just call me Ahel, Lady Armienne. We’re going to be seeing each other often, so it hurts my feelings if you keep calling me so formally.”

Who gave him permission to decide we’d be seeing each other often? Still, finding it a bother to keep tacking “Mage” onto the end, I gave a reluctant nod.

“Hah.”

Anyway, watching Ahel stubbornly stick to me no matter where I tried to run off to, I let out a sigh. Just to be clear, right now I was inside our room.

In other words, not only had this guy broken into a room reserved exclusively for women(?), but he was brazenly sitting there drinking tea with me. Ugh, I had expected a fun trip with Miel, but was a luxury like that truly too much for someone as unlucky as me?

“Kya! Aria, you’re so cute!”

Miel was playing with Aria without paying any attention to our side of the room, while Yul stood by blankly in silence. Seeing Miel pay not a single shred of attention made me realize once again that there wasn’t really much of a relationship between her and me yet.

“Wee~, flying!”

“Teehee, it’s fun! Do it more, Auntie.”

Miel, whose stamina was usually weak, grabbed Aria’s two arms and spun her around in circles while beaming brightly, somehow finding the strength from somewhere. Somehow, she looked even happier than when she was with me.

Gasp, wait a second. Am I somehow losing to Aria right now?

I had met Miel at least a couple of months earlier than Aria, and I was even the one who had drawn up a rosy future of spending my days together with Miel. To think I was getting beaten out by a brainless, freeloader dragon.

“Hmm. I need drastic measures.”

Hearing my thought—which seemed to keep slipping out of my mouth lately—Ahel snapped his fingers as if he had been waiting for it. Instantly, delicious-looking food and various alcohols materialized out of thin air.

“I’m not sure what kind of drastic measures you need, but since we’ve come all the way on a trip, shouldn’t we drink and enjoy ourselves?”

“Hah, alcohol? What are you planning to do by getting us drunk?”

I couldn’t trust the smiling Ahel sitting right in front of me. If there were things in this world one had to be most cautious of, they were gambling, alcohol, and women—and Ahel had just pulled out one of those very things.

Despite my continued wary and sharp tone, Ahel covered his mouth with one hand, chuckled, and then whispered right into my ear. Lacking any hobby of exchanging sweet nothings with a man, I was about to slap him across the cheek on the spot, but what he said next caught me completely off guard.

Don’t you want to get closer to Lady Harmiel?

Gasp! How did he know?! Could this guy possibly be a mind reader like Yul, capable of reading my thoughts?

Worried that Miel might catch on, I whispered back in a low voice.

How did you figure that out?

At my words, Ahel covered his mouth and chuckled again before giving his reply.

I just threw it out there on a hunch, but it turns out it was true. You’re pretty simple-minded, aren’t you, Miss Armienne?

Would you look at this punchable bastard. How dare he make fun of someone with the purest heart in the world. On top of that, he had smoothly transitioned from calling me “Lady” to calling me “Miss” before I even noticed.

Ugh, if I pointed that out, I might go from being a simple-minded wretch to a petty wretch with the courage of a flea, so I couldn’t say a single thing and just glared at Ahel with eyes full of rage.

Seeing me like that, Ahel continued his devilish whispering.

They say there’s no wall in this world that alcohol can’t scale, Miss Armienne.

To think such fine words existed in a world as desolate as this. I was learning this for the first time.

I have no intention of making an issue out of the fact that you, Miss Armienne, happen to fancy Lady Harmiel, who is a fellow woman. In fact, I want to help you. Let me ask you once more. Don’t you want to get closer to Lady Harmiel?

Honestly, why was this fellow acting this way toward someone he was meeting for the first time? But before long, I fell completely for Ahel’s sweet words about getting closer to Miel. Call me a pushover if you want. If it meant moving my relationship with Miel forward, I was prepared to sell my very soul to the devil.

Though if he actually told me to sell my soul, I would’ve just chopped off the devil’s limbs instead.

Let’s hear it out, Ahel. But if I don’t like the plan, I’ll pretend I never heard it. And you’re going to have to explain why you’re helping me, too.

At my words, Ahel laid out his plan, and hearing it made my eyes go wide. It was pretty simple, yet it was a foolproof method.

And as a bonus, I also found out why Ahel was helping me out.

Because it’s fun.

I see. I accepted that immediately. I could understand it completely since I’d pulled all sorts of stunts myself just for the sake of entertainment.

“Well then, let’s all have a drink together!”

Ahel called out to everyone in the room, locked eyes with me, and then gave a subtle wink. Honestly, I wanted to poke those eyes out, but since the plan was already in motion, I held back and played along with him.

“Right. We came all the way on a trip, so we’ve got to have a drink. Aria, stop bothering your aunt and come over here.”

“Okay~!”

At my words, Aria—who just moments before had been holding Miel’s hands and giggling while playing the flying game—promptly let go of Miel’s hand, scurried over, and plopped right down onto my lap.

That action alone was too cute and adorable. Seriously, Aria. Why on earth were you born looking so cute? Mom is always worried someone’s going to kidnap you. Mostly out of fear that you’d starve to death before the kidnappers even had a chance to issue a ransom demand.

Just then, Miel walked over toward me and spoke.

“Hmph, Armienne, you’re being mean.”

Watching Miel puff out her cheeks while repeating the exact same line she used when we first met, I realized Miel was adorable, too. But wait, why was Miel sulking at me?

“Teehee, Mommy. What is this?”

“Oh, that’s a type of seafood called an abalone, it’s a high-class…”

“Hmph!”

Just as I was trying to explain the chunky abalone to Aria, Miel turned her head away again. At this point, even someone as dense as me could figure it out.

Miel was feeling jealous right now because she thought I had stolen Aria away from her.

Gasp! Jealousy?!

It wasn’t quite what I had in mind, but it felt great. Part of me wanted to hand Aria over to her, but what could I do? I was the mom and Miel was the aunt.

Welcoming Miel’s jealousy instead, I treated Aria even more kindly than usual.

“Say ‘ah’.”

“Aaaah~~~~♥ munch munch It’s delicious!”

When I picked up a piece of sashimi, slathered it generously in red pepper paste, and popped it into her mouth, Aria inhaled it like a vacuum cleaner running on empty. And Miel looked on, stewing in jealousy.

I was living the dream right now.

“Hehe, I love you, Mommy.”

“Hmph. Whatever!”

Whether she liked the sashimi or not, Aria casually blurted out words she didn’t really mean. To this day, the way Aria looked at me was no different from how a child looked at their father. But Miel looked so intensely envious of that gaze that she was glaring at me with her fists clenched tight.

While I had completely forgotten the plan I’d cooked up with Ahel—as if I’d eaten crow’s meat—Ahel gave a fake cough to remind me of what we were doing.

“Seeing Miss Armienne having such a good time makes me happy, too. Shall we all share a drink together now?”

“S-Shall we?”

I hurriedly jumped in to back up Ahel’s suggestion. The plan we had come up with was the so-called “Get Lady Harmiel Drunk and Knock Her Down” operation.

True to its name, it was a simple strategy. Get everyone to drink until they were tipsy, and in that moment when their emotional walls were lowered, rapidly advance my relationship with Miel.

Yet, precisely because it was simple, it was also the ultimate method.

Weren’t there countless people in our own world who built the Great Wall at clubs or found new relationships at bars? The only reason that was ever possible was entirely thanks to the power of alcohol.

“Mommy, what’s alcohol?”

Thinking of it as some new kind of food, Aria beamed with brimming anticipation.

“Um, I’m not really good with alcohol.”

Miel expressed her reluctance, looking a bit troubled.

“I apologize, Young Lady. Couldn’t you perhaps spare me from that particular part?”

Yul begged me, looking thoroughly distressed.

Still, now that we’d come this far, there was no backing out, and not a single person was allowed to sit this out. I filled everyone’s glasses to the brim with alcohol, including Aria’s.

“No way, no way! Come on, let’s all make a toast together! As you know, the first drink is a bottoms-up shot!”

“Hah, nothing for it, then. Cheers.”

“Teehee, cheers!”

“Haha, to think I get to drink with such beautiful women, I’m truly honored. Cheers!”

“C-Cheers.”

And after everyone clinked their glasses together and swallowed the alcohol down their throats, that marked the true opening salvo of this entire incident.