Chaotic Nights — Chapter 24. Return (2)

Translator: Atlas

The bookshop owner agreed with that idea, so he accompanied Eunha for a while before he took his leave.

To get to Jihak’s house, she had to walk through the market, then a rather rough forest road. Eunha looked at the soles of her shoes once more, then held two warm stones in her hands.

Only then could Eunha contemplate the town’s landscape.

It had been a long time since she had seen these people, she smiled when they asked her how she was doing. Sir Kang’s grandmother, the Apothecary, laughed heartily because she had said she was going to make too much money.

Eunha walked quickly toward the pine forest with the pumpkin candy Grandma had given her in her mouth.

“The trap is ruined!”

At that moment, hunters and mountaineers coming down the mountain passed Eunha. She was surprised when she saw the traps in their hands.

“Isn’t that a tiger trap?”

The leader, who was wearing thick hunting skin clothing, shook his head.

“The tiger is so smart it ruined all the traps. We also found footprints, it has larger feet than most newborn babies. Be very careful, Eunha. I can’t take you on my next hunt. It’s too dangerous.”

“Really? Do you want to go down to the town?”

“I brought ten boars with me, so they should last a few days.”

The leader, who looked at Eunha’s worried face, smiled.

“Don’t worry, stay at home.”

“Yes, I will. Be careful too.”

“Alright.”

Eunha waved goodbye to the people coming down the mountain, then moved on. It was a busy road, so tigers rarely appeared. When she imagined a large tiger, she felt chills.

She ran until she reached Jihak’s mansion.

When she knocked on the door, the droopy-eyed butler happily greeted her.

“Good thing you got here early.”

“Yes, how are you…? What do you mean by ‘good thing’?”

The person who responded to that was a maid, who had just left the lord’s chambers. She was glad when she saw Eunha.

“Oh! You’re finally here, reader!”

“Did something happen?”

As Eunha walked with her luggage, the maid pointed inside the lord’s chambers with her chin.

“I think he feels bad because he drank too much alcohol last night. He is now in the bathroom. I don’t know if he’s still drunk. I have stopped in front of the door several times, but he has not let me in. You go. Hurry up.”

“Yes, yes.”

‘The deposed Crown Prince… no, my lord was waiting for me?’

Eunha erased the word deposed Crown Prince from her mind, repeated the title ‘lord’. Since he had not told her, it would be better to pretend until the end.

After she left her luggage in her room, she walked down the corridor to the bathroom. As she took a few deep breaths and prepared to announce herself, Jihak’s voice came from inside,

“Eunha, are you there? Come in.”

She took a last deep breath, coughed and opened the bathroom door.

“My lord…”

Lying in the bathtub, he turned his head to look at her. Then he winced in pain and held on tightly to the edges of it.

“Ah…”

Surprised, she hastily rolled up her pants and ran to Jihak.

“My lord, are you okay?”

Eunha sat on the edge of the bathtub and placed Jihak’s head on her thigh. She swallowed saliva when she saw his face. His face was pale, his lips blue. But though he wore a pained expression, he really was handsome.

“My lord.”

When she softly called, he grabbed Eunha’s thigh. She could feel his intense warmth even beyond her thin clothes.

“How did you drink so much? I’m upset.”

“You weren’t here, I had to drink.”

Jihak, who had thrown his head back, hugged her around the waist.

She smelled like sweet fresh meat.

Jihak exhaled as he looked at her.

“Can you wash my hair? I need to cool my head.”