Chapter 38 A Surprise for His Highness
"How did you kill him?"
After the signing was completed by everyone, Glaya finally came to Lynn's side.
Looking at Mark lying on the ground, he asked with some regret,
"If we had captured him and interrogated him properly, perhaps we could have uncovered the mastermind behind the scenes he mentioned."
"Sorry," Lynn said with a helpless expression, "When I heard him say that he wanted to pin the deaths of these three hundred people on Princess Ivyst, I was too angry and acted impulsively."
"Uh, I understand, don't be too hard on yourself."
Seeing his loyally concerned expression, Glaya suddenly found himself at a loss for words and quickly offered consolation.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
After all, everything that had happened today was thanks to Lynn.
Otherwise, he would still be scrambling around, trying to figure out how to extricate himself from this mess.
Fortunately, it was all resolved.
Watching the refugees enter Orn City one by one after receiving permission, Glaya's heart completely settled.
"Leave the rest to me. I'll temporarily house these refugees in the properties of the Augusta Family."
"After you return to the manor, you're to report back to your duties; it will also be a surprise for the princess."
Glaya winked at him and threw the stack of completed Extraordinary Contracts to Lynn.
Then, he briskly walked away with the two Sheriffs, whose thoughts were all over the place.
As they left, one of the Sheriffs gave him an inexplicable look up and down, leaving Lynn wondering what was on his mind.
Watching their retreating figures, Lynn smirked.
The words he had just spoken were all nonsense.
He would have run away if he could; how could he possibly have felt angry for that woman Ivyst?
In truth, he had never encountered anything in either of his two lifetimes that could anger him so much that he lost his reason—even if he suffered a temporary setback, he would eventually find a way to take revenge.
The reason Lynn had killed that man without hesitation was to avoid getting too entangled with the King's election.
There weren't many who would reach for Orn City at such a time.
Having read the original story, it was easy for him to guess that the suspect was likely one of the Princes.
If he followed the clues and dragged him into the light, wouldn't he become complete enemies with that Prince?
This was Lynn's initial concern.
Since he was currently working under Ivyst, it was inevitable that he would be seen as her ally by others.
A small matter like today's incident was still manageable, but if he helped Ivyst to severely dent the pride of a Prince, it would mean that he was irrevocably on her side and could never wash himself clean of the association.
After all, he knew that one day he would have to flee.
It was better to have one less enemy than one more.
With this in mind, Lynn sighed and walked towards the carriage Glaya had left behind.
At that moment, Aphia was lying on top of the carriage, squinting her eyes to enjoy the afterglow of the sunset, purring continuously.
Seeing Lynn approaching, Aphia lazily flipped over, stretched, and unconsciously exposed her belly.
"Are we done here, meow?"
Aphia said languorously.
Her voice, for some reason, had taken on a gentle tone that made Lynn quite uncomfortable.
"Are you sick?" he looked at Aphia with a puzzled expression, "Suddenly acting like such a lady, it's a bit too much for me to handle."
"I've figured it out," Aphia huffed, "Being angry with someone like you is endless, so from now on, whatever you say, I'll just pretend I didn't hear it."
Oh?
Quite a prideful Hakiemis.
Looking at her smug expression, Lynn felt an inexplicable urge to tease her.
So he looked at Aphia and said, "By the way, there's a question I've been wanting to ask you... How was my technique when you were in heat at the inn?"
The atmosphere suddenly turned silent.
For the next dozen seconds or so, Aphia vividly demonstrated what it meant to be mortified to death.
She first looked at Lynn with some confusion, as if trying to grasp the deeper meaning of his words, then slowly tensed up, baring her small white fangs as if to enter a fluffed state.
"I, I'm going to fight you!!!"
With a sorrowful expression, Aphia pounced forward, clinging to Lynn's face like a burrowing bug, biting fiercely onto his forehead.
"Ouch—It hurts, it hurts!!!"
Lynn's voice was muffled as his face was buried into Aphia's belly.
...
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"Guest, welcome to... hey, hey? Guest, your face..."
"Oh, I'm fine."
Lynn felt Aphia on his face and nonchalantly waved his hand.
At this moment, he was in a commercial district of Orn City, stepping into a luxurious-looking women's clothing and hat shop by the roadside.
Perhaps because the sight of a customer with a cat on their face was too peculiar, all the shop assistants had stopped what they were doing.
Hearing Lynn's response, the shop assistant managed a forced smile, "Then, what do you need?"
"Do you sell women's shoes here? Bring out the most expensive pairs for me to see."
Upon hearing this, Aphia, who was clinging tightly to Lynn's head, twitched her ears for some reason.
Soon, the most expensive shoes in the store were brought out.
Because of the creature on his face, Lynn had to assume a rather comical posture, using his peripheral vision to examine the styles of the shoes.
In the end, he pointed to a pair of cute-style black princess shoes, "I'll take this pair."
"That will be three Gold Coins."
The shop assistant replied very politely.
That's expensive... Though Lynn felt some pain in his wallet, he still took out the Gold Coins he had earned from the greed magic box earlier in the day.
After paying, Lynn went to the changing room within the shop and patted Aphia hanging on his face.
"You come down first and try on these shoes to see if they fit."
"?"
Aphia seemed a bit confused.
She loosened her teeth and landed on the ground with great nimbleness, looked at the pair of exquisitely made cute princess shoes and frowned, "What are you doing?"
Hearing this, Lynn shrugged his shoulders, "I saw you take human form without wearing shoes last time, so I'm giving you a pair as an apology gift."
Upon hearing this, Aphia's expression turned extremely complex.
She didn't expect him to be so thoughtful.
She was conflicted for a moment, then said softly, "You... you're the second person who's given me shoes."
Now Lynn was a bit miffed.
Last time, in front of Ivyst, he had been the second one to get a collar.
Although that wasn't something to boast about, at this very moment, his competitive male spirit surged again.
He asked seriously, "Who was the first?"
"It was His Highness."
"Oh, that... that's good."
Lynn averted his gaze.
The atmosphere turned silent all of a sudden.
After a brief silence, Aphia was the first to break it.
"You're a good person, but I'm sorry!"
For some reason, after a moment of indecision, Aphia suddenly said this with a tense expression.
Then she picked up the shoes and ran off in a flash.
What's going on?
By the time he left the changing room, Lynn was still befuddled.
Seeing him like this, the shop assistant who saw him out couldn't help but show an auntie smile, "Doesn't the guest know?"
"What?"
"For females of the Beast Clan, they do not wear shoes in their lifetime, with one exception."
"That is during marriage when the husband-to-be will give them a pair of shoes as a marriage proposal gift."
"?"
Lynn felt dumbfounded.
No wonder she had said that.
Had he been forcibly handed a good guy card?
In a moment, an overwhelming sense of embarrassment rushed over him.
Not only that, but he had also lost a pair of shoes worth three Gold Coins for nothing.
So, accepting a gift ≠ I agree?!
Looking at the evening streets, Lynn stepped onto the carriage parked by the roadside feeling extremely displeased.
"Back to the manor!"
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