After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 93

Standing before the window frame, Leo looked undeniably like he’d been interrupted mid-bath.

Transparent droplets dripped from his damp, dark hair, tracing the contours of his bare upper body as they slid down.

The tightly packed muscles beneath his wet skin caught the light of the sunset streaming through the window, sharply defining his physique. A single towel barely covered his lower waist, insufficient to conceal his trim waist and firm lower body.

Ayla froze, momentarily stunned by the sight of a body more sculpted than any statue she’d seen at the art festival. The moment Leo gently extended his arm, a dark shadow glided in from outside the window.

Crow perched on Leo’s forearm, looked at Ayla, and chirped briefly, twitching its body.

“He seems to be welcoming you.”

Ayla, startled by Leo’s voice, asked back.

“Me…?”

Just as she was wondering, Crow pushed off Leo’s arm and flew towards her.

Surprised, Ayla instinctively recoiled as the crow gently landed on her shoulder.

“Oh… hello?”

Being an animal lover, she quickly calmed down and offered a bewildered greeting.

As if waiting for it, Crow pecked lightly at her cheek, offering an affectionate greeting.

Ayla’s face brightened at the novel experience.

“Did you see that, Your Highness? Crow greeted me!”

“So it seems.”

Leaning against the window, Leo watched their affectionate display for a while.

Then, as if dumbfounded, he sent Crow back and asked Ayla gruffly.

“Where have you been wandering off to alone, so dangerously?”

“Just for a walk…”

Turning her gaze to Leo, Ayla swallowed hard.

“But… did you come out here straight from the bath?”

“…Ah.”

Only then did Leo seem to realize he was half-naked.

Ayla expected him to head straight back to the bathroom, but Leo didn’t move.

“I heard a story about someone disappearing during a bath.”

Instead, Leo stared intently at her, clad only in a towel, causing Ayla to avert her gaze in dismay.

“Still, how could you run out of the bath like that? You’re not even well, and you summoned your familiar…”

“I was worried.”

Leo said softly.

“I can’t just leisurely take a bath.”

Ayla was momentarily speechless.

The fact that he was worried about her somehow made her cheeks feel hot.

“I just wanted to look around the Grand Duke’s castle. It’s not like I went far…”

“If you wanted to look around, you could have told me.”

“But Callisto told you to rest in bed until today…”

Leo chuckled at Ayla’s excuse.

His red eyes gleamed darkly.

“You think too little of me, Ayla.”

“…”

“To be treated like a patient for merely being poisoned.”

“…Merely being poisoned?”

Ayla frowned.

“You were unconscious for two days, what are you talking about? And what’s with this state? You’re not well, and you came out of the bath like this… What if you catch a cold!”

“A cold? That’s unlikely.”

“Unlikely? Are you saying Sword Masters don’t catch colds?”

“I don’t.”

“…You don’t?”

“No.”

Ayla, momentarily at a loss for words at his nonchalant reply, exclaimed, blushing.

“Anyway, go back in and finish your bath right now.”

“Haha. Alright.”

Leo smiled playfully and went into the bathroom.

‘That was a surprise…’

Only then did Ayla relax and step inside.

To think he’d be like that.

His nonchalant attitude in front of her was quite disconcerting.

As Ayla replayed the situation where she was the only one flustered, she thought of one reason and accepted it.

‘We’ll be officially married in two days, so it’s not strange.’

Ayla sat on the sofa, clutching her constantly flushed cheeks.

She couldn’t be more grateful that she had decided to marry him.

‘I really need to get used to it now.’

Thinking that, her heart kept beating faster.

The carriage carrying Ayla and Leo since dawn finally arrived at the townhouse in the capital in the evening.

Leo barely managed to send her back to her room, as she stubbornly insisted on sleeping together again tonight.

‘Honestly. How hard is it to just sleep next to me…’

Sighing inwardly, he went down to the lobby to find Dex and the knights waiting.

There was someone who needed to be interrogated before tomorrow’s consecration ceremony.

“Where is he?”

“Locked up in the basement of the Moonlight Manor.”

Dex, who had joined him, grumbled as they walked side by side.

“He won’t open his mouth no matter what. Doesn’t he know it’s useless?”

“What did Jade say?”

“It’s been confirmed that he was a gladiator of slave origin. He seems to have swiped an Aura Restriction Potion from this martial arts tournament.”

Leo’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“How did he manage that? The potions should have been provided exactly according to the number of participants.”

“There was a guy who complained of stomach pain and forfeited before the match started. He probably bought him off.”

Dex continued his explanation.

“It’s also been confirmed that the person who bought the gladiator when he was twelve was a noble young lady of the same age. However, it’s unclear what he did or where he was after that. It’s not easy to find out.”

“A noble young lady of the same age.”

After thinking for a moment, Leo added.

“The Empress, I presume.”

Dex nodded, seemingly without any disagreement.

“Probably.”

“Is it because of the Crown Prince competition after all?”

Leo sighed deeply, and Dex clicked his tongue as if displeased.

“There’s no reason to do this now otherwise. I told you, why did you even participate in something like that?”

“…They said they’d allow the marriage if I just participated.”

“What…?”

“That’s why I did it. I was only planning to do the second competition anyway…”

A chilling smile appeared on his lips.

“If they’re going to come at me like this, I don’t think there’s any need to do that.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to quit. But I’ll make sure they pay the price for messing with me.”

“You’re going to confront the Empress’s faction?”

“If necessary.”

Leo muttered softly.

“It seems they thought I was easy to deal with. Even though I killed all the assassins they sent.”

“Well, you got involved with the Princess Consort as soon as you arrived, so there were parts where you were lenient.”

The two had already arrived at the Moonlight Manor and entered the basement.

The cold air, heavy with mold and moisture, rushed in. Passing over the icy stone floor, Leo stood in front of a door and opened it without hesitation.

Dex bit his lip as he looked inside the dimly lit warehouse.

“Damn it…!”

“He committed suicide.”

Logan was dead.

It seemed he had somehow untied the ropes that had bound his hands and feet, and used them to hang himself.

Dex ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

“He was tormented knowing you weren’t dead, but did he have to commit suicide?”

“Maybe he didn’t want to cause trouble for the Empress.”

“Is the Empress more precious than his own life?”

“How would I know what’s in the mind of someone who’s already dead? But according to the knights, he didn’t seem like a bad person by nature. He seemed that way to me too, even briefly…”

Leo looked down at Logan’s body with an unreadable expression before turning away.

“Bury him.”

“What? Hey, why go that far…”

“Whatever his intentions, he was a man who worked as a trainee knight at the border outpost for a while.”

“…”

“It’s not like digging a hole and burying him is a difficult task.”

“Seriously. Are you even the Leo I knew? You’ve changed quite a bit since getting involved with the Princess Consort.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Is it because you’re sleeping well?

At Dex’s speculation, Leo gritted his teeth as if he had remembered something.

“Hey, just how much did you tell the Princess Consort?”

“What do you mean, how much? Just that you can’t sleep, and it seems you can sleep well when you’re with the Princess Consort. That’s all…”

“Ha, you really…”

“Since it’s over quickly anyway, go see the Princess Consort when you go up. If she’s not asleep, you can sleep together.”

“What are you saying? This guy.”

“What’s wrong with that? The consecration ceremony is in two days, and you’ll be a real couple. Now I want to stretch my legs and get some sleep. Just thinking about you? It makes me feel uneasy here, so I can’t sleep comfortably.”

“Crazy bastard.”

Leo dismissed Dex’s jesting with one ear and thought of Ayla.

‘…I wonder if she’s asleep.’

As much as he wanted to go to her, there was still work to be done tonight.

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