Chapter 91
To Hermia, who grew up in a neighborhood with poor security, this kind of threat wasn’t anything new.
In a place where every alley had drunkards and thugs who harassed women just by making eye contact, locking every door in the house and sleeping with a club beside her head was just normal life.
She had merely forgotten it for a while after becoming a noble lady. Staying alert was a habit. Sensing danger was almost instinctual.
When unfamiliar male voices came from the entrance to the open-air bath, Emily and the maids froze for a moment. It was Hermia who first understood the situation and told everyone to get dressed.
When she saw the men laughing and forcing their way in, she decided she had to protect the women. Showing fear at a time like this would only make things more dangerous.
Holding a liquor bottle upside down, she warned them to leave or else, and it wasn’t just bravado. She meant every word.
When the scoundrels said that Maggie had sent them, she was fully prepared to smash the bottle.
From the moment they didn’t back off and kept approaching, everything became a blur.
A dark figure came flying from somewhere and beat the men down without mercy. When she came to, she and the maids were stomping on them.
Then she saw Walter.
The moment he appeared, all the nerves she’d kept taut crumbled at once. The tension that had her hair standing on end left her body all at once.
Back in the room, as Walter helped her get dressed, he tried to comfort her, but his face remained stiff. Even though he tried to hide it, the atmosphere around him made it obvious he was angry.
Hermia suddenly recalled the inn’s landlady, who had dressed in an overtly seductive manner. It was clear what kind of scheme she had in mind after sending men to the hot spring.
That filthy look in her eyes when she looked at Walter… damn woman.
As Hermia stood up and said she was fine, a vein rose on her forehead. Once her shock subsided, rage filled its place and her aura turned fierce.
“Leave that woman to me. Handle the men yourself.”
Walter quietly nodded, respecting her words despite her one-sided declaration.
As Hermia stomped down the stairs, the noise added weight to the fear of those gathered in the lobby. Her sharp gaze swept across them and halted when she spotted the innkeeper’s grandfather.
Damn it.
“I… I am the one to blame… I failed to raise my granddaughter properly. I will take full responsibility, so please show mercy…”
The eighty-year-old man trembled as he begged, lying prostrate on the ground.
Hermia turned her head away. But even with her eyes closed, the image of his wrinkled hand on the wooden floor lingered like an afterimage and shook her heart.
In the end, she looked to Walter for help. He gave her a small nod, as if he understood.
“All the blame falls on this old man… Please, spare Maggie…”
“Take him upstairs.”
Walter gave the order to Scott while looking at the innkeeper with dry eyes.
Scott hoisted the groaning old man onto his back and headed for the stairs, glaring at the tied-up men as if he’d kill them. Knowing his wife Emily had nearly been harmed seemed to ignite murderous rage.
Another subordinate quickly grabbed the old man’s cane and followed up the stairs.
Now, in the rundown inn’s lobby, only Maggie, draped in a bathrobe, and the three young men, bound hand and foot, knelt on the floor.
With her only protector gone, Maggie turned deathly pale, like a corpse.
“I… I only wanted to offer the gentlemen some brief entertainment. So they could relax and enjoy themselves while traveling… I didn’t mean any harm!”
“So you’re saying this isn’t an inn but an illegal brothel?”
Emily threw a sharp accusation, her eyes filled with disgust. Maggie, seeming unaware of what she was even saying, kept rambling.
“That’s not it… Guests from afar usually want unique experiences in unfamiliar places, so just in case…”
“Do you even know who this is, that you dare pull such a stunt!”
Walter raised his hand to calm the furious Emily. Calling the guards and making a public scene wouldn’t help with the plan to handle this quietly.
An attempted sex crime would result in nothing more than a fine.
Putting them before the law would only yield an unsatisfying result. Walter had no intention of showing them such a gift disguised as mercy.
After Walter whispered to a subordinate, the mouths of the tied-up men were gagged at once.
It didn’t take long for the men, who thought they’d just spend a night in a holding cell, to realize something was going wrong.
“Mmph! Mmmph…!”
Their struggling forms were dragged into the dark hallway, soon disappearing from sight. Eventually, strangled screams echoed—then silence.
That grim quiet pressed down on Maggie, who was left alone, like a heavy weight.
She shook all over, like someone thrown naked into the snow. It seemed she’d finally realized who she had tried to mess with.
“Stand up.”
As Maggie kept staring blankly at the floor, a shadow fell over her face.
When she lifted her head, she saw the Duchess standing coldly in front of her, like a witch from the snowy mountains.
“M-Madam…”
“I said stand up.”
Though she wasn’t tied like the men, Maggie hesitated for a long while. Hermia found it maddeningly slow.
“Emily.”
“Yes, Madam.”
With her name called, Emily understood her lady’s intent and, along with the other maids, hoisted Maggie to her feet in one go.
Hermia let out a sigh like a tired breath as she looked at her.
“If your grandfather hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have let you off. Really.”
‘Whew. Thank goodness.’
Her relief didn’t last long. A sharp crack echoed through the air, and Maggie’s head snapped to the side. Holding her stinging cheek, she wore a dazed expression.
“That’s for setting your sights on my husband.”
Hermia was explaining why she’d slapped her with an eerily calm tone. Maggie, who was overwhelmed with emotion, opened her mouth without thinking.
“I, I’m the granddaughter of an imperial noble family… Ack!”
“And that was the price for trying to mess with me.”
Maggie clutched her nose and stumbled back before collapsing to the ground. Her legs seemed to give out more from shock than pain.
When she removed her hand, red blood stained her palm. While she stood there dazed, a nosebleed streamed down both sides of her face.
This time, even the maids looked startled.
They had expected a slap, but they hadn’t imagined she’d actually throw a punch. For them, seeing a woman hit someone with her fist was an utterly rare sight.
Hermia didn’t stop there. She crouched down like a thug and waved her palm toward Maggie.
“Give me my money back too. Sixty-four thousand for the lodging, plus damages.”
“Uh… how much…?”
“Everything you’ve got.”
It was a line straight from a bandit’s mouth, but the terrified Maggie nodded eagerly.
Hermia curled her lips in satisfaction, then frowned slightly and rubbed her right hand.
“That hurt more than I thought.”
When she returned to Walter, he pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around the reddened area.
“You lack technique when throwing a punch.”
“Then teach me next time.”
They heard hurried footsteps behind them — someone was running to get the money. At the same time, the door opened, and the attendant who had gone out returned.
“We’ve secured another inn. Everything’s arranged, so you can move in right away.”
It seemed they had managed to give money to a guest and take over their room. Emily’s face lit up instantly.
“Alright, alright, everyone hurry! Let’s grab our things and get out of here.”
Clapping to get everyone’s attention, Emily didn’t forget to give Maggie a warning as she brought the money.
“You should be grateful you’re being let off at this point. If it weren’t for the madam, this wouldn’t have ended with just one hit.”
“B-but I got hit twice…”
Maggie protested out of frustration, but Emily whispered coldly.
“Wouldn’t you rather get hit a few times than have this inn burn down and disappear without a trace?”
“Ah…”
“If I may give you some advice, it’d be best to take what happened today to your grave. Otherwise, you and your grandfather might end up like those men from earlier.”
She glanced at the now-empty hallway where the three men had vanished, then pocketed the money and walked away calmly.
With her heart sinking, Maggie cried out “Grandfather!” and ran up the stairs.
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Riding in the carriage, Hermia looked back at the sign for “Night of the Wolf” growing smaller and smaller, then turned her head.
She had been wondering about the men who had been dragged away. While she had handled Maggie with violence instead of a fine, she was curious what became of the others.
“Walter, did you kill those guys?”
“Shall I?”
“No… Just beat them within an inch of death. Killing feels a bit too messy.”
“Understood.”
Walter smiled faintly and nodded without hesitation.
Truthfully, the men were already nearly dead. After crippling specific parts of their bodies, Walter had dumped them in front of a hospital. If treated in time, they probably wouldn’t die. Probably.
If they were unlucky, well… That wasn’t his concern.
“Are you satisfied, my wife?”
Walter changed the subject and asked. He was genuinely curious why his wife looked so content after getting just a million Persos and hitting a woman once or twice, considering that woman had endangered her life.
Hermia rested her elbow on the window frame and leaned her chin on it.
Gazing into the distant night sky, she replied in a soft, almost inaudible voice.
“Just… I feel like she’s similar to me. She tried to escape poverty, though in a completely wrong way.”
“…”
Walter tilted his head slightly toward where she was looking. In the silence between them, the sound of carriage wheels was all that could be heard clearly.
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“Goodness, now I’m getting seasick even after getting off the boat.”
A noblewoman standing at the dock let out a weary groan.
Setting foot on land for the first time in a month seemed to bring dizziness instead of relief. The Countess staggered and grabbed her husband’s arm.
“Thanks to your daughter, we’ve ended up on an unplanned cruise, Arnold.”
