**Chapter 207 – The Lady’s Dream Destination**
With a handful of bubbly foam, the lady blew on it softly, scattering the bubbles as a smile spread across her face.
“Heheh…”
It seed like the bath, which was easing the tension from her entire body, was so enjoyable that the lady had no intention of getting out anyti soon.
“The bubbles are so soft and fluffy….”
“Are you having fun, my lady?”
“Yes. I feel like I’ve beco ten years younger.”
As expected, the lady truly loved bathing.
After playing with the bubbles for quite a while, the lady began stacking them up to create two huge mountain-like mounds, then looked at .
So plump and bouncy, those bubbles.
Poking at the bubbles with her finger, the lady spoke up.
“Ricardo, don’t these remind you of sothing?”
“No, not really.”
The lady gave a mischievous smile, which made feel a bit uneasy. Her ‘art projects’ often defied my expectations.
A pri example might be when she insisted that the poorly folded ss in front of was a crane. That traumatic experience, when she folded a rectangular piece of paper and called it a crane, was enough to make suspect that whatever she was doing now had so deep, incomprehensible aning behind it as well.
With an intense look of focus, the lady carefully added more bubbles onto her creation, making it even bigger.
“Think carefully….”
“No matter how much I look, I don’t get it.”
“It’s soft and bouncy….”
“Yes.”
“It’s huge, isn’t it?”
As I struggled to figure out what exactly the lady was referring to, I leaned closer for a better view of her artistic masterpiece.
It did seem like it would be soft and bouncy if touched.
‘But what is it?’
Just as I pondered this, my gaze, purely by instinct, strayed to an unintended location. It was like my eyes were pulled by a magnetic force.
Dripping water rolled lazily off the lady’s treasure chest, creating an unexpectedly majestic sight, and I quickly averted my eyes, bowing my head.
‘No way…’
Looking at the lady’s solemn expression, I shook my head. There was no way she could be this serious while making such a thing.
‘Then again… I really can’t think of anything else.’
I sighed inwardly, realizing that her creations were often beyond the understanding of soone as plain as myself.
The lady pursed her lips as I failed to grasp her intentions. Finally, in a sincere tone, she said:
“It looks like a pair of breasts.”
“…Sigh.”
“They’re super soft, and they’re super big, right?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake…”
I splashed water directly into her face.
Her bubble creation ruined by my hand, the lady wore an expression of sheer devastation, wrapping her arms protectively around her chest as she cried out in despair.
“My breasts!”
“What breasts are you talking about!”
“Eeeek! Ricardo destroyed my breasts!”
“That’s not…!”
Had this wicked villainess only learned naughty things? The lady’s skill at teasing was impeccable.
Seeing the bright blush spread across my face, the lady bead with delight.
“Kyaah! Why are you acting like that?”
“Why did you make them bigger than waterlons! And what’s the point of making such… things?!”
“Heheh! It’s fun!”
As always, the lady’s energy peaked when she was in the bath.
After spending a while crafting various creations from bubbles, she seed to grow bored. She started poking at the floating yellow rubber duck with her finger before speaking to again.
“You know, Ricardo.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“I’ve been thinking carefully about where I want to go on our trip.”
“You’ve been giving it so thought? I expected you’d just say we should go anywhere.”
“Ugh…”
She shot a small glare, pursing her lips. Then, as if she was about to hide her words away, the lady lowered her head and beca visibly sulky.
Watching her, I let out a small smile.
“So, where is this place you’ve thought of?”
“Well, it’s….”
“Yes, my lady?”
“That is to say…”
The lady seed quite reluctant to say it out loud.
Judging by her hesitance, I imagined she must have chosen an expensive destination. As she hugged her legs and fiddled nervously with the rubber duck floating in the tub, she kept glancing at out of the corner of her eye.
What kind of place could make her so hesitant?
For a lady who usually cared more about Gomtangi’s opinion than mine, it must be an extravagant place indeed, if she was acting this cautious.
I crouched down beside her, observing her imposing chest while waiting for her reply. Staring at her directly would surely make her feel embarrassed, and I had no inappropriate intentions either—by my honor.
-Stare…
“Ricardo, you’re a perv.”
I suppose you can’t fool the eyes of a villainess.
Sighing, the lady carefully revealed what she had been keeping inside. She ntioned a place she’d thought about, wondering how I’d feel about it.
“I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, thinking about where we could go that would be fun.”
“It must have been tough.”
“Yeah. If I let you pick, I bet you’d suggest so dragon-infested lair or go where barbarians live.”
“…I thought you liked that kind of thing. I was already planning a trip along those lines.”
“Grr…”
Even though she was the one who had mocked the idea, she tilted her head, muttering, ‘That actually does sound kind of fun…’
I was glad I seed to have an accurate read on her preferences. Still, I kept quiet and focused as she clearly had sothing more to say.
The lady was being serious now.
“So, um…”
The lady glanced nervously at once more before gripping the floating rubber duck tightly in her hand.
-Squeeeak!
The duck made a pitiful sound under her hand’s pressure. I almost burst out laughing at the poor toy’s cry, but when I saw the lady’s bashful, hesitant face, all of that amusent imdiately vanished. If I laughed now, that duck would be heading straight for my face.
“Don’t laugh when I tell you.”
“Of course not.”
“I’m serious.”
“I won’t.”
In a voice that was a notch quieter than before, she spoke cautiously.
“I’ve been, well…”
“Yes, my lady has been…?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the ocean… and mountains… and valleys….”
“How uncharacteristically wholeso of you, my lady. I’m surprised.”
“Yeah…”
“Honestly, I thought you were going to suggest we go to the Dwarf Kingdom or even invade the Elven Kingdom.”
“Could you?”
“If you order it, I’ll make it happen.”
“Ew… no. Maybe later. Way later.”
“Let know when you change your mind.”
“Yeah.”
The lady shook her head and finally spoke, cautiously.
“For real, don’t get mad.”
“I promise.”
“For real-real… You told to pick the destination.”
“I did.”
Taking a deep breath, the lady dipped her head lower, and in an embarrassed voice, whispered:
“I really want to go soplace cold.”
“…Huh?”
“The north…”
“Wait… what?”
“I want to visit the northern lands.”
Her words left shocked beyond belief. The northern territories, especially at this ti of year, were practically unlivable.
It’s unbearably cold.
Overrun with monsters.
Infested with cultists.
And…
It was also Yuria’s hotown.
I gave a small, bitter smile and ruffled the lady’s damp hair gently.
“Actually, that’s perfect. The weather’s starting to get hotter now, so a northern trip sounds ideal.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad?”
“You picked sowhere seriously cold, though.”
“If my lady wants to go, why would I be angry? It’s not like you suggested sothing crazy.”
“Still…”
“Honestly, I thought you’d say the beach. Didn’t you ntion before that you wanted to wear a bikini, my lady?”
The lady squeezed her small belly under the bubbles and shook her head. She said it still wasn’t ti for that yet.
“I’ll go to the beach after I lose a bit more weight.”
“You look slim enough as it is.”
“Hehe…”
As expected, it seed that when it ca to matters of her weight, both villainesses and saints shared the sa concerns. With a lighthearted smile, I nodded and spoke brightly, acknowledging that we’d decided on a destination.
At least we’d save money on accommodations.
“This works out perfectly. The Desmond family has a vacation ho in the North, so we don’t have to worry about lodging.”
“…”
The lady imdiately clamd up, avoiding my gaze.
I chuckled softly and turned to the lady.
“You don’t have it, do you?”
“…My dad sold it because he said he was broke.”
For so reason, Desmond Olivia seed a lot more pitiful today.
*
A cold wind blew across a small village in the northern barrens.
“…”
Yuria’s father, ‘Jas,’ was stretching his stiff shoulders, letting out a long yawn.
“I wonder if Yuria is doing well.”
Jas’s thoughts always drifted toward his daughter, Yuria. He worried about how she was faring in the capital and knew better than anyone how hard it could be to live away from ho.
It was the ordinary concerns of a father.
The capital was likely more comfortable than the freezing northern regions, but it wasn’t ho. A father’s heart could never stop worrying about a distant daughter, and Jas thought about Yuria every chance he got.
-Dad… Please make sure to eat breakfast, even if I’m not there.
-Don’t cry, Yuria. I’ll be fine. Just focus on doing well.
-And please stop working so much….
-I’ll try, I promise.
Despite that promise, Jas still worked.
He had recently picked up monster extermination jobs after a sudden increase in activity. Even though he had retired from his adventuring days due to injury, he had returned to work driven by the desire to send so extra allowance to his daughter living in the capital.
Glancing at the bite marks left by a recent encounter, Jas gave a hearty laugh.
“Yuria’s going to have sothing to say if she sees this.”
Tis like this made him feel the absence of his daughter all the more.
Jas had two jobs.
One was being an adventurer.
The other, his original profession, was serving as an innkeeper, although the inco from the inn had never been as steady as his adventuring work.
The northern lands attracted a reasonable number of tourists during the sumr flocking to the snowy mountains and beautiful scenery, with strange mirage patterns sotis appearing in the sky.
Although spring was usually quieter, sumr brought in more than enough for Jas to send Yuria a good amount of allowance. But recently, monster appearances in the region had reduced his profits by half.
Rotating his aching shoulders, Jas sighed deeply.
“Looks like I won’t have any custors for a while.”
Jas thought it would be strange for anyone to visit the north at a ti like this, especially with monsters swarming all over.
Who would choose death over taking in the pretty sights?
Jas pondered bitterly over these thoughts when suddenly—
“Heheheh!”
A strange laugh echoed from the mountain range in the north as a wheeled chair zood down at high speed.
It wasn’t a sled.
It was a chair.
Jas rubbed his eyes and let out a dumbfounded gasp as he stared at the unbelievable sight. In his 30-plus years of living in the north, never had he seen sothing so absurd.
“…”
“Hehehehehe!!! It’s so fast!!!”
A woman with flowing white hair raced past Jas in the bizarre chair. She whizzed by so fast that his eyes couldn’t follow her movents, leaving him completely stunned.
When a man with fiery red hair chased after her at the sa speed, Jas could only shake his head and nod in understanding.
“Guess I must be seeing things. Ti to head ho.”
None of this made sense to Jas.
And he really hoped those two weren’t his guests.
End of Chapter.
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