"……Who?"

  Perez frowned slightly.

  It seemed unpleasant that someone he couldn’t remember knew him.

  "It’s Lydia!"

  The woman said her name again.

  But Perez still had a face that he didn’t know at all.

  "You have different hair colors, but I’m sure you’re Sir Herox……"

  The woman murmured embarrassingly at Perez’s cold response.

  "It’s strange…… there’s no way you can’t remember me."

  There’s no way you can’t remember?

  What was your relationship?

  I felt one of my eyebrows wriggling.

  "My parents run "Gray Rest" over there. Until three years ago, whenever you stopped by the South, you used to stay with your friends……"

  Three years ago?

  Three years ago, in the South, after the accident in Ivan, it was just before Larane moved to the East.

  At that time, Perez moved secretly in the South to meet Chanton Sushou to dry up Angenas’ money.

  "Ah."

  As if Perez had thought of it too, his eyes blinked once.

  It was only that, but Lydia’s face brightened as if it had been lit by a light.

  "Yes! Now do you remember? It’s me, Lydia!"

  "Come to think of it."

  Perez tilted his head, as if tracing his old memories.

  "To say that Lydia……"

  "Oh, by the way, that was three years ago! I’m an adult now!"

  "So is it."

  "I almost didn’t recognize you because your hair color was different!"

  The story between the two of them continued.

  It wasn’t a coincidence.

  It was completely intentional.

  From the beginning, Lydia was glancing at me next to Perez.

  So did I.

  It was the same here that her presence bothered me.

  I did not avoid Lydia’s gaze, whom I met for a moment, and looked at her.

  And I looked at her carefully.

  Brown hair and green eyes.

  Unlike me, she had calm hair without curly hair and gentle features.

  Still, the resemblance that could not be ignored scratched my nerves.

  "Well, Sir Herox……"

  Lydia frowned at me and opens her mouth.

  "Who is that……"

  Perez was then uncharacteristically surprised by ’ah’ and looked back at me.

  And for a moment, I saw the look of the guy who was startled.

  Okay, now it seems you’re getting the hang of it, don’t you?

  Perez, who saw my cold expression and swallowed his saliva, hurriedly said.

  "Ah, this one……"

  "Nice to meet you, Lydia."

  I elbowed Perez’s waist and took a step closer to Lydia.

  Then I smiled as I held out my right hand.

  "I…… my name is Larita."

  For a moment, I had an urge to reveal my real name, but I managed to endure it.

  Instead, I introduced myself under the alias I made for this trip.

  "My name is Lydia Mita."

  "I see, but what’s your relationship with Herox?"

  "What?"

  Lydia stared at me with a look of surprise and her lips clapped slightly.

  Perhaps she was shocked that I asked such a question right away, and that I was close enough to call him ’Herox’.

  "I am an old acquaintance of Sir Herox."

  "Ah, old acquaintance."

  In the end, it meant nothing, but the word ’old’ was annoying.

  No matter how old you are, you must have been older than me. (TN: ’Old’ refer to old acquaintance, not ’birth age’)

  Such satisfaction slowly lifted my head.

  Then, Lydia asked in a fairly sharp voice.

  "What about Miss Larita?"

  Look at her.

  But I didn’t even have to answer.

  It was because Perez, who was watching the conversation from the back, approached me and said, hugging my shoulder gently.

  "This is my wife."

  "Oh, your wife……"

  Lydia’s green eyes shook wildly.

  "It was nice to see you after a long time."

  Perez, who gave her a short greeting that sounded a little cold, looked straight at me and said.

  "Then, shall we go up to the room, Larita?"

  His big hand came down to my waist and escorted me.

  Lydia was already out of Perez’s mind.

  The last time I looked back, she still stood nailed to the spot.

  A big sigh came out of me as her face looked like she was about to burst into tears.

  "Sigh."

  What the hell am I doing?

  While I shook my head, a staff member of the inn approached and spoke to me.

  "You’re Mr. and Mrs. Gloa. I’ll guide you to your room. This way…… "

  "Excuse me."

  I said, slowly pulling down Perez’s hand around my waist.

  "I’ll walk outside for a while. You’re resting first."

  "Ti…… Larita."

  I could hear him calling me behind my back, but I just left the inn building.

  ***

  "Huh, you must have had a couple fight."

  The inn staff spoke with friendly eyes with a look ’It’s nice age to enjoy something they want to do’.

  Perez looked at Tia’s back as she pushed through the inn’s door and spoke weakly.

  "I have to apologize for my mistake."

  To him, who had always been accustomed to Tia’s relaxed smile, her cold, hardened figure was a little strange.

  And he felt an unbearable guilt that it was he himself that made such a face.

  "Yes. When your wife comes back, do it unconditionally. That’s the best."

  The staff, who taught him the wisdom of life with a smile, soon opened the door to the second floor and said,

  "This is the room. She will be satisfied with the large windows and plenty of sunlight."

  Perez walked in with great strides and stood in the middle of the room.

  He looked around the room carefully, shook his head and said.

  "Give me another good room."

  "Yes? If you don’t like this room, go to the next room……"

  If you go to the next room, it must be a similar room.

  Last time they stayed in a shabby room because there was lack of time, but he couldn’t put Tia to sleep in such a place again.

  Perez smiled skillfully at the innkeeper.

  "This is our honeymoon."

  "Oh, I see."

  "Please."

  Saying so, Perez took a check from the Lombardi Bank and handed it over.

  "Oops."

  The innkeeper, who checked the amount written on the check, was surprised and opened his eyes wide and nodded.

  "All right. Please wait here. We will prepare a suite room that our inn is proud of."

  The staff hurriedly left, and Perez, who was left alone, sat on the bed to make a clicking noise.

  Laying on his knees with his elbows bent over his body, he buried his face in both hands.

  The sweet silence mixed with sighs of self-talk.

  "Jealousy…… did it."

  Only reddening the tips of his ears, Perez could not get up for a while.

  ***

  "Crazy, are you crazy?"

  I sat down on the little bench and muttered.

  As I left the inn and walked aimlessly, my feet reached the outskirts of Arcadia again.

  No, this is not important now.

  "What are you going to do with being so jealous of a child? Ugh."

  As I recalled what happened a while ago, a strange feeling came over me again.

  I wanted to stamp my feet and mess up my hair, but I only had a deep sigh because of my tight hood.

  "Let’s calm down……"

  Lydia’s sad face, which I saw last time, kept on getting caught in my eyes.

  "I was sorry if I ran into you. Should I apologize?"

  It was strange.

  Usually I’m not the kind of person who’ll lose my composure over something like that.

  When fighting with Empress Lavini, or when dealing with Chanton Sushou, who scratches people’s insides with a bold face.

  I have always been a person with a cold reason.

  However.

  "I want to reveal Lombardi’s name."

  Unless I’m really crazy.

  "Ugh."

  I covered my face with both hands in embarrassment that made my face red again.

  But the fact that I was truly jealous of a young child wasn’t the only thing that made my face blush.

  "This is my wife."

  The voice of Perez who had said that seemed to still remain in my ears.

  I rubbed my left ear, which was somehow itchy, and lifted my head again.

  "Calm down, mind."

  You’re on a trip, but you’re not really out to play, are you?

  But the guy who introduced me as ’wife’ kept coming to mind.

  It’s not repeat play.

  I looked around, trying to distract my mind.

  "They look like they’re living well."

  Little by little, Perez was pushed out of my head, and the figure of Arcadia began to catch my eye.

  "If the outskirts of the city is like this, it’s great."

  In general, it was the outskirts of the city that even with a large floating population, living standards would fall.

  However, even at a glance, the life of the people of Arcadia seemed to be prosperous.

  Although the inns that used to do business with them seem a bit idle as the Lombardi Top and the Pellet Corporation were cut off.

  The atmosphere was different from other territories, where it was great for most commoners to continue their daily meals.

  "That’s why I can’t hate Chanton Sushou."

  Sushou drastically reduced taxes on commoners and merchants and raised the price of their produce, the grain.

  Besides, how strict are the vicarious lords who rule each region.

  Although it was really unfortunate, Chanton Sushou, the head of Sushou, was a good lord.

  "Besides, the soldiers’ supplies look good…… Huh?"

  It’s not even a war, but why are the soldiers’ standards so high?

  It was when I thought so and watched the situation at the outer checkpoint more carefully.

  "Come on, hurry up!"

  The door of the large building, which appeared to be a gathering place near the checkpoint, opened and soldiers poured out.

  Paired up in pairs, they quickly spread across Arcadia.

  There were several pairs of people riding horses running into Arcadia, and some going out of the checkpoint.

  In particular, the soldiers who went out of the wall approached the people queuing to enter Arcadia.

  And in their hands was a piece of paper with a drawing on it.

  "What is it?"

  When I thought that something was wrong with the soldiers looking at the pictures in their hands and the faces of the people in line.

  Two of Sushou’s soldiers walked over to me and asked.

  "Hey, there. Why don’t youtake off your hoodie for a second?"