“Wha—?!”
Abel wondered if his ears were malfunctioning.
Mistress? Child? What the hell was this?!
In his entire life he had barely even held a woman’s hand properly a few times.
Of course, Elfi didn’t count—that was just a childhood habit.
How could he possibly have a mistress and a child?!
“Mr. Sebas, are you sure you didn’t mishear?” Abel pressed a hand to his forehead. “Did she get the wrong person?”
The old butler’s expression was equally awkward.
“The young lady… specifically asked for ‘Abel Noct, the second son of the Noct family,’ and she said…”
He paused, carefully choosing his words.
“She said you must take responsibility for what you did to her.”
The inside of the carriage fell into a silence so complete a pin could have been heard dropping.
Then—
“Young Master?!” Elfi’s eyes widened like saucers, her grip on Abel’s arm tightening abruptly. “You… you outside…”
“I didn’t!” Abel denied immediately.
Sutis lifted her head from Abel’s body, her emerald eyes narrowing slightly.
“My knight, who is that woman? What did you do to her that requires you to take responsibility?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
The corners of Prim’s mouth curved upward slightly.
This was a perfect opportunity to make Abel look bad in front of her.
“Young Master Abel, so you have this kind of romantic debt as well?”
Her tone was sarcastic.
“Truly, one can never judge a book by its cover.”
Aiko’s face paled a little, but she bit her lip and stayed silent.
Only her azure eyes held a few layers of complicated emotion.
“I already said it’s not like that!” Abel felt his head pounding. “Let me get down and see!”
He shook off Elfi and Sutis’s hold and jumped out of the carriage.
Beside the official road at the city gate, a “flamboyantly dressed” woman was indeed standing there—
Heavy makeup, bright red lipstick, exaggerated eyeshadow, wearing a gorgeous long dress that clearly did not fit her.
She was holding a “child” wrapped in cloth—but its shape looked exactly like a bundle of luggage.
Abel stared at that face for three seconds and finally recognized the original features beneath the thick powder.
“…Aruma?!”
“Young Master Abel~!” The woman—no, Aruma—lit up the moment she saw him. She trotted over “elegantly” in small steps, the “child” bundle in her arms swaying with her movements.
Abel instinctively took a step back.
“I finally found you!”
Aruma stopped in front of him, tossed the “child” bundle to the ground—it really was luggage, with half a sword hilt poking out—then spread her arms and lunged at Abel like a hungry tiger pouncing on prey—
“Come on! Give me a child!”
Abel sidestepped, and Aruma missed.
“Are you crazy?!” He stared at the blonde female warrior in shock. “What child?!”
Aruma steadied herself, turned around, her red eyes sparkling.
“It’s our tribe’s tradition! Bearing offspring for the strong is the highest honor!”
She pointed at herself. “I am the ‘Crimson-Eyed War Demon,’ Aruma Noyn! Our nomadic tribes in the northern desert believe in the supremacy of the strong. If I can give birth to the child of a powerful man, the entire tribe will rise because of it!”
She pointed at Abel again.
“And you—one punch to take down that silver giant! You’re the strongest man I’ve ever seen in my life! So—”
She spread her arms, completely serious.
“Just one round! Just one! Give me a child! Please!”
Abel’s brain completely shut down.
“You… do you even know what you’re saying?!”
“Of course I do!” Aruma blinked. “Having a baby! I’ve never done it before, but our tribe has midwives, so when the time comes—”
“That’s not the problem!”
At that moment, the women in the carriage could no longer hold back.
Elfi was the first to rush down, planting herself in front of Abel, her crimson eyes blazing with fury.
“Where did this crazy woman come from?! Spouting such shameless nonsense in broad daylight?! Young Master’s child can only be born by me!”
Aruma tilted her head, looking at the black high-ponytail maid as if she were some strange creature.
“You’re competing too? Fine, then we’ll follow our tribe’s rules—a duel! Winner goes first!”
“You—!”
Sutis jumped down from the carriage as well, her emerald twin-tails swinging, her small face full of anger.
“No way! My knight is mine! No one is allowed to steal him!”
Aruma looked down at the little one and scratched her head in confusion.
“You? Have you even grown all your hair yet? Can you even have children?”
“Does having children have anything to do with whether the hair is grown or not?”
Sutis blinked her innocent, wide eyes, looking at the several “adults” around her.
She was actually driven purely by possessiveness and had no idea what “having children” even meant.
Asked this way by Aruma, she fell into deep thought.
Then her eyes brightened: That’s right! If she had a child, Abel would belong to her forever!
But how exactly did one have a child?
She fell into confusion.
She should have asked Sephilia properly before leaving.
Never mind, she could ask Miss Aiko later.
She was Sephilia’s disciple and must be very smart!
Thinking this, she looked toward Prim and Aiko who were stepping down from the carriage.
The pink-haired princess crossed her arms, a smile of amusement on her face.
“Heh, what a lively scene. Young Master Abel, your charm is truly something. Even this shameless woman has chased you all the way here.”
Aiko stood to the side, her azure eyes full of complicated feelings.
Ah, it was Miss Aruma.
Of course she recognized her—the rival of her best friend Ingrid.
The berserker from the north, her strength was indeed impressive, and she looked good too.
At least her figure… was much more developed than Aiko’s own still-maturing body. Probably only that pink-haired cow could compare!
For some reason, Aiko felt a huge sense of crisis.
Beside the carriage, old butler Sebas had already covered his face, unable to watch the scene.
Julius glanced back this way, ordered the convoy to pause temporarily, and wore an expression of enjoying the show.
As for Abel, he just wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
“Aruma!” He pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to calm the chaotic situation.
“Stop messing around! How are you here? Who told you I was here?!”
Aruma blinked, finally turning a little serious. “Oh, His Majesty the King told me.”
“The king?”
“Yeah.” Aruma pulled out a piece of parchment from her bosom and handed it to Abel.
“Look, it’s His Majesty’s handwritten order. He said you’re a great hero and told me to assist you. He also said that if I can help, he’ll reward our tribe with lots and lots of money and food.”
Abel took the order and scanned it quickly.
It was indeed the king’s seal, and the content was roughly what Aruma had said—ordering the “Crimson-Eyed War Demon” Aruma Noyn to act as the kingdom’s representative and assist “Protector Duke” Abel Noct in handling subsequent matters.
“Then why did you dress up like this?!” Abel pointed at her heavy makeup and the ill-fitting long dress.
Aruma answered matter-of-factly.
“Butler Sebas said you’re a noble, right? I figured nobles probably like women dressed like this, so I specially asked the innkeeper’s wife and borrowed her clothes and cosmetics…”
She looked down at herself, a little uncertain. “Doesn’t it look good?”
“…”
Not just not good.
It looked like someone had dumped a basin of rouge on her face and wrapped her in mop cloth.
“And,” Abel pointed at the bundle of luggage on the ground, “what were you holding?”
“Oh, that.”
Aruma picked up the luggage, unwrapped the cloth, revealing a giant sword almost as tall as she was, along with a few changes of clothes.
“I heard it’s easier to talk if there’s a child, so I wrapped up my sword and pretended it was a baby.”
The whole group fell silent.
Elfi’s mouth twitched.
Sutis’s jaw dropped.
The amused expression on Prim’s face froze.
Aiko couldn’t help letting out a “pfft” of laughter, then quickly covered her mouth.
Abel took a deep breath, then another.
“Aruma.” He tried to keep his voice calm. “You’re not a noble, so you don’t need to copy this. Just be yourself. Understand?”
“Really?”
Aruma tilted her head. “But His Majesty the King said to listen to you. You don’t like this?”
“I don’t.”
“Alright then.” Without another word, Aruma began taking off her clothes—more precisely, she started unbuttoning the tight long dress.
“Hey hey hey! What are you doing?!” Abel retreated three steps in fright.
“Changing clothes.” Aruma looked innocent. “You said you didn’t like this, right? I’ll just change back. My gear is on the horse.”
She pointed not far away.
Sure enough, a fine horse was tied there, with her leather armor and weapons hanging on its back.
“But you can’t strip in the middle of the street!” Elfi shrieked and rushed over, grabbing Aruma’s hands. “Go change inside the carriage! Inside the carriage!”
“Oh.” Aruma obediently followed Elfi toward the carriage. As she passed Abel, she still turned back. “What about the child thing? You agree?”
“I don’t!!”
“Sigh…” Aruma let out a disappointed sigh, but quickly perked up again. “It’s okay. We’re going to travel together anyway. There’s plenty of time!”
Beside the carriage, Prim finally couldn’t hold back.
“Young Master Abel, this… Miss Aruma, although she acts recklessly, she is indeed someone Father sent. She also tried to fight that silver giant in the arena yesterday. Her strength should be decent.”
She paused, looking at Aruma’s back with a subtle gaze.
“Moreover, she comes from the nomadic tribes of the northern desert and has no direct conflict of interest with our royal family. She’s… an ally worth recruiting.”
More importantly, Prim calculated inwardly, this woman clearly wasn’t very smart and only had having a child on her mind.
Someone like her wouldn’t compete with Aiko for favor, and as long as she used the threat of the king, she would be on their side!
One more helper was always better than one more enemy.
Aiko seemed to see through Prim’s thoughts and frowned slightly, but said nothing.
Abel sighed.
He knew the king’s handwritten order was an official command and could not be ignored.
He would give His Majesty the King some face.
Moments later, the carriage curtain lifted.
Aruma, now back in her leather armor, jumped down. Her short golden hair looked sharp and valiant, her red eyes bright and full of spirit.
She had returned to her warrior appearance.
“Is this better?” She flexed her arms. “That crappy dress was so uncomfortable. This feels much better.”
Elfi followed behind her, her expression complicated—during the process of helping the crazy woman change, she had fully experienced the other party’s “simplicity.”
“Then let’s go together.”
Abel said resignedly. “But let me make it clear upfront—first, no more mentioning having children; second, you must listen on the road; third, obey commands when we encounter danger.”
“Got it!” Aruma agreed readily. “I won’t mention it. But…”
She leaned close to Abel and lowered her voice. “Whenever you change your mind, just tell me~”
Abel ignored her.
The carriage set off again.
But this time, it was even more crowded inside.
It had already been packed with five people, and now with Aruma squeezed in, everyone was pressed almost right against each other.
Aruma, however, didn’t mind at all.
She boldly squeezed in on Abel’s other side, curiously studying the others in the carriage.
“Are you all Abel’s women?” she asked.
“No!” The four answered in unison.
“Oh.” Aruma nodded thoughtfully.
“Then we’re competitors. Good, fair competition! Our tribe’s rule is—”
“Shut up.” Abel pressed his temples. “Let me have some peace for a moment.”
Aruma obediently closed her mouth, but her red eyes still darted around at the others, as if evaluating the “competitors’” strength.
Right, she remembered that before leaving, both His Majesty the King and the archbishop had told her something.
It seemed a certain knight from the church had run away, and she was supposed to bring her back.
But Aruma hadn’t listened carefully and couldn’t remember the exact details of the mission.
Whatever. Who cared about that stuff!
How to get Abel to have a child with her was the urgent matter at hand.
In a small grove by the roadside, a pair of honey-gold eyes stared straight in the direction the carriage had departed.
“Aiko…”
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