Chapter 72 – Come Back

The formerly alone ‘Arlea’ was now with the pair of Rubennhelsch siblings. Obviously, this attracted many eyes and whisperings around them.

In the noble society, it was quite well-known that Naia was someone who wouldn’t beat around the bush and couldn’t stand acting good to anyone she didn’t like, even if that someone was of a higher status than her. It was also known that Naia previously didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with Arlea, but look at what was going on.

Is the sun going to rise from the west tomorrow?

Is the end of the era near?

Lots of people thought so as they glanced at the unlikely group with amusing stares.

Such a strange occurrence naturally didn’t slip Allen’s attention. Even the prince, who was next to him, noticed it.

“Hey, look, isn’t that your wife over there? She’s with the Rubennhelsch siblings? Since when did they become friends?” Prince Kiehl asked in amazement.

“…Probably just now,” Allen surmised.

“What? What exactly happened?” Prince Kiehl was intrigued.

“Just a few moments ago, they seemed to be quarrelling,” Viscountess Vanessa said as she squinted her eagle eyes. It seemed like she had been observing what was happening, thus she could tell that they were just quarrelling. But what exactly was said during that time, she obviously couldn’t hear it from a distance. Her eyebrows were raised in curiosity.

“…Like I said before, I’ll be going back first,” Allen didn’t continue the topic and shifted it back to what they were talking about before.

Not waiting for anyone’s response, Allen walked away and headed towards the direction where everyone’s stares were at.

Although Allen was approaching, Ann didn’t notice him at all because her back was the one facing Allen.

Instead, Naia, the one who was on the opposite side of Ann, noticed that Allen was approaching, as she coincidentally locked eyes with him.

But amusingly, instead of telling Ann, Naia only cast her eyes away from Allen’s gaze and had an expression that seemed to be waiting to see a show.

Allen wondered why this new friend of his wife would have such an expression on, and he didn’t need to wait any longer.

“Eeh? Then, I’ll grow up quickly to marry you, so wait for me, Arlea-neechan!”

Norrad’s voice entered Allen’s ears, and although his voice was sweet to the ears, for some reason, to Allen, Norrad’s voice was so annoying, like a mosquito’s buzzing.

“N-Norrad, do you even understand what being married means?” Ann asked, clearly flustered because she didn’t know how to answer.

“Yes! It means being together with a member of opposite gender that you like, that doesn’t have any blood-relation with you, for the rest of your life, right?” Norrad answered smoothly.

“Uhm…,” Ann hesitated.

He clearly didn’t really get it!

Naia was holding back her laughter, but when she glanced at the man who stopped at a short distance from Arlea and saw his blackened face, she cleared her throat, knowing that she couldn’t continue this amusing play.

“Norrad. You really have a memory of a bird, huh? I already said that she was married to the Schwartzen house. I literally said that a moment ago, but you forget already?”

“E-eeh? I-I think I didn’t really hear it… I was too focused on explaining that she wasn’t a bad person…,” Norrad hung his head down in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Faye and Birdie were staring daggers at Naia who was making such a remark.

Hmph, how dare she say that?! Birds actually have a really good memory, doesn’t she know?

Faye lightly turned her head away from Naia when she noticed Allen, who was standing behind.

“A-Allen-sama!” She called out in reflex, and her voice made Ann and Norrad turn to look at the person who was at the end of Faye’s sight.

The moment he was discovered, Allen quickly changed his expression to a neutral one, but his aura couldn’t lie. It was apparent that he wasn’t in a really good mood.

“Allen, what’s the matter?” Ann quickly asked.

“We’re going home,” Allen said, without beating around the bush at all.

Naia and Norrad were both stunned at Allen’s attitude, he didn’t even ask about the two of them being with his wife. But then again, this duke was known for his calmness and curtness. They didn’t think it’d reach this level.

“Ah? …Alright. Naia, Norrad, thank you for accompanying me and it’s really nice to get to know you,” Ann didn’t forget to greet Naia and Norrad before leaving.

“Likewise,” Naia answered.

“Arlea-neechan, we can meet and talk again, right?” Norrad asked.

The moment he asked, Allen reflexively turned to look at Norrad in a bit of surprise, but to the little Norrad, Allen’s face seemed intimidating that he flinched for a bit.

“Of course. We’re friends already, right?” Ann looked at Norrad then Naia, before asking. Her eyes showed a faint hint of hesitation as she gazed at both of them.

“Obviously,” Naia quickly responded.

“Yeah!” Norrad happily answered.

With that, Allen and Ann went to where Prince Kiehl, Viscount Jonas, and Viscountess Vanessa were at, to bid them a formal goodbye before they left the residence and went inside their carriage.

Ann and Allen were sitting facing each other just like before, but for some reason, something felt off. The two of them sat in an awkward silence for a while before Ann finally decided to break the silence.

“What’s on your mind?” She asked.

“…”

“Say it,” Ann firmly said, seeing that Allen was just looking at her with his mouth tightly shut.

“Why didn’t you tell him right away that you were married?”

What came out of his mouth was something that Ann didn’t expect to hear. Though Allen was glad that his wife managed to befriend someone in the noble society, he was still sour about this.

“Uhhh…,” Ann was at a loss.

That’s right, why didn’t she just answer it right away? Why is that simple answer thrown to the back of her mind?

Is it because she still thinks that once this body’s real identity is exposed, she’d no longer be married to Allen?

It is most likely that, right?

“I-I… My mind blanked out, that’s why,” Ann came up with an excuse quickly, but her excuse seemed to be a poor one, as Allen’s mood seemed to worsen.

“So, you forgot that you were married?”

“…That’s…”

She didn’t know how to get out of this situation… She wished that a dialogue option window would pop out to help her, but she wasn’t even the heroine anyway, would there even be a dialogue option window to help her?

Curious, she mumbled inaudibly, ‘Dialogue option window, open.’

In an instant, a half-transparent small window popped up very close to her eyes, causing her to reflexively move her head behind.

N-no way, right?

But she started reading the dialogue option window with eyes full of expectation.

Select an option:

> “You dare to dictate what I do or say, huh?!”

> “Right. I forgot, so what? It’s not like you’re a good husband, anyway.”

> “Shut up.”]

…

Her high expectation of being saved was crushed with a very strong force.

Right!

What was she expecting?

Her role was a villainess!

Would the game be so kind to provide her with an answer that could save her?

Obviously, no!

With a deadpan expression, Ann mumbled, ‘Close… tch, useless.’

And the window really closed.

Meanwhile, Allen was confused with Ann’s change of expression and inaudible mumbling. What was even more confusing was Ann’s mood that was clearly worsening in an instant.

Though he still wanted to continue asking her about his previous concern, he was even more concerned about this sudden change of a mood.

He was about to open his mouth to ask her when the carriage abruptly stop. The stop was so rough that the carriage shook terribly. It was a blessing that the carriage didn’t get overturned.

“What’s the matter?” He raised his voice to ask the coachman.

But nobody answered his question, causing Allen to be suspicious of the situation.

He quickly stood, opening the seat where he was sitting on, retrieving a sword from within the storage beneath the seat, and turned to say to Ann, who was hugging Faye.

“You stay inside, I’ll take a look at the situation,” Allen then opened the carriage door and jumped down with a sword in his hand.

Curious, Ann approached the carriage window to peek at the current situation and almost had her heart jumping.

How could she not?

Allen was surrounded by a lot of suspicious men in black… and he was oddly alone!

Where are his people?

The current situation didn’t look good as it was clear that Allen was cornered. No matter how strong he could be, it was many against one. Even if he could win, he would’ve suffered some injuries.

Ann’s hand got the better of herself as it was already holding the door knob, ready to open it when she stopped.

Just… what could she do?

She could only do magic, and the only magic she knew would be… water.

It happened to be a strong one, thankfully, but that’d just risk exposing her identity!

She was hesitating when she heard an unknown man’s voice loudly demanding.

“She is inside, isn’t she? Tell her to come out, we promise we won’t harm her… and who knows? We will probably let you go.”

“No,” Allen firmly answered.

…They are after me! But why?

Ann pondered.

“Then, we’ll have to push through by force!” The man declared loudly, followed by the other men’s vigorous screams.

In no time, Allen was surrounded in all sides.

It was then that Ann decided.

Screw that! How can I stay here watching with folded hands as he’s attacked unfairly like this, when I can fight alongside him?

Even if I were to expose my power and have my identity be doubted even more, I can just negotiate with him to let me go since he’d owe me one!

Ann quickly opened the door and jumped down.

“Arlea-sama!!!” Faye was surprised at her mistress’ sudden and careless action, but she knew she’d hinder them more if she were to follow, so she could only hug the carriage’s body as she looked outside anxiously.

“I’m right here, what do you want?!” Ann asked with an unwavering voice.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay back?!” Allen quickly turned around and asked.

“I couldn’t just stay back and watch as—”

Ann didn’t manage to finish her words as suddenly, a loud hand-clapping was heard.

Ann and Allen turned to look at the direction where the handclap was coming from, and after seeing the man who was approaching, clapping his hands while chuckling, Ann’s face paled.

“Well done, my daughter! We’ve got him trapped now!” As the man lifted his head proudly, the hood that was covering his head fell down, exposing his grey hair and red eyes.

The man spread his arms as he said, “Now, come back to us, my dearest daughter.”

She’s totally done for, isn’t she?!