Leaving the aftermath to Dillon, Herald left the mansion and headed towards the commercial district he often visited when he was in the capital. This area was lined with shops catering mainly to commoners rather than nobles.

As a result, most nobles disliked this place, but not Herald. He quite liked this area that exuded the unpretentious smell of ordinary people, with little affectation or vanity.

Herald strolled slowly, taking in the sights of the street. The street he revisited after almost 4 years was exactly the same. Nothing had changed. Perhaps that’s why it felt warm like returning to his hometown. Even the noisy chatter of drunk people sounded endearing.

“No, miss! If you drank, you should pay! Why aren’t you paying!”

At that moment, an irritated voice caught his ear. It seemed someone had drunk without paying. This was a common sight in places like this. There was nothing special about it.

But strangely, Herald felt curious and turned to look. In front of a shabby inn, a plump middle-aged woman wearing an apron was shaking the shoulders of a slender woman, angrily scolding her.

Though her face was hidden behind long hair hanging like curtains, Herald immediately recognized who the slender woman was just by her attire.

Liliana Benjamin. It was her.

He never imagined he’d see Lily again in a place like this. This was already the second time today.

They say when coincidences happen three times, it becomes fate… Would meeting her also be fate?

Herald smirked as he watched Lily and the middle-aged woman. Lily still had her head bowed low, while the middle-aged woman continued to scold her.

“You really don’t have a single penny? How can you wear such nice clothes but have no money? Why did you drink if you have no money!”

From what the middle-aged woman was saying, it seemed Lily had drunk at that inn without paying. Herald was a bit dumbfounded but also curious as to why she drank without having any money.

It was well past 9 PM. The fact that Lily came to this street where nobles rarely visit, and drank without money, surely meant she had some circumstances.

“Where’s your home? Your parents? Oh, are you married? Then call your husband, your husband!”

Curious about those circumstances, and seeing Lily’s expression looking so depressed as if she might throw herself into the Planetes River flowing through the center of the capital at any moment, Herald decided to help her.

“Excuse me.”

“What excuse… Oh my.”

The innkeeper turned her head irritably, but immediately changed her attitude upon seeing Herald’s handsome and noble appearance.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’ve come to escort our young lady.”

“Young… lady?”

Instead of answering, Herald turned to look at Lily. The innkeeper was startled and removed her hand from Lily’s shoulder.

As the supporting hand left her, Lily staggered and collapsed. Herald grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms before she could fully fall down.

As the distance closed, a strong apple scent stimulated his nose. It was the fresh, tart scent of unripe green apples. Despite reportedly drinking enough to lose her balance, there was no smell of strong alcohol at all.

Herald checked Lily’s condition just in case, but she was already in a state of intoxication. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she didn’t know where she was or what she was doing.

Just how much did she drink? As Herald frowned, the innkeeper fumbled for words and made excuses.

“Oh, I thought she seemed well-bred, so she really was a young lady! Oh my, noble young ladies hardly ever come to this street, so I had no idea. I thought she was the daughter of some wealthy merchant family.”

“It’s understandable to think that way. I completely understand.”

As Herald smiled and spoke as if he truly understood everything, the innkeeper sighed in relief.

“How much did the young lady drink?”

“Not much. About three glasses of beer?”

To think she got this drunk on just three glasses of beer. To Herald, who had never gotten drunk even after drinking stronger alcohol than beer all night, it sounded like a story from another world.

“Here’s payment for the beer.”

The innkeeper’s eyes widened at the gold coin Herald held out. One gold coin was worth 100 shillings, enough to buy nearly 100 glasses of the beer Lily had drunk.

“I don’t need any change.”

“Oh my, thank you!”

Having received far more money than she should have, the innkeeper grinned from ear to ear.

“Then shall I cancel the room the young lady reserved?”

At those words, Herald glanced at the inn. It was a shabby inn that looked like it could collapse at any moment. He couldn’t believe Lily had intended to stay in a place like this that even commoners wouldn’t visit.

“Please do so. Did the young lady bring any luggage?”

“No. She didn’t bring anything.”

“I see.”

The lack of luggage meant she hadn’t run away from home. But then why did she intend to stay here?

Herald looked down at her, lying still in his arms like a doll.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

Light. She was so light that he wondered if he was really holding a person. She didn’t look like she would weigh much from the outside, but he didn’t expect it to be this extreme.

Somehow displeased by this fact, Herald wrinkled his nose as he slowly walked through the bustling street.

Herald hailed a passing public carriage and headed to the Prasis Hotel on Plaza Street.

At first, he had intended to take Lily back to the Benjamin Viscount’s residence, but since she had reserved a room at that shabby inn and drank alcohol without money, he thought there must be a reason and brought her here instead.

Throughout the journey to the hotel, Lily didn’t ask who he was or where they were going, nor did she resist, even though she should have.

If this was her drunk behavior, it was truly a terrible one. It was the kind of drunken state that made her easy prey for those with ill intentions. It would have been better if she had turned into a dog when drunk instead.

As befitting a high-class hotel that no one but nobles could visit regardless of how much money they had, both the exterior and interior of the Prasis Hotel were resplendent. It reeked of carefully applied money.

Herald took a suite room on the topmost floor of this hotel, seated Lily on the sofa, and poured water into a cup.

“Drink this.”

“……”

“Drinking water will help sober you up a bit.”

“…That innkeeper said the same thing.”

Lily stared blankly at the cup Herald offered with unfocused eyes, then mumbled as if talking to herself as she hugged her folded knees to her chest and rested her face on them.

“She said drinking when you’re depressed would make you feel better… But it didn’t.”

So something bad had happened after all.

Herald thought it might have something to do with her husband, Fredic Benjamin.

That’s probably why she left home and booked a room at such a shabby inn.

“I don’t know what happened, but it’s dangerous to drink to the point where you can’t even take care of yourself. Especially when you had no money. Eating food without money is a crime.”

When Herald pointed out what was wrong, Lily looked up. Seeing his own reflection in her unfocused green eyes, Herald was struck by a strange feeling.

“I wasn’t going to drink, but they kept telling me to… Even when I said I had no money, they said it was okay…”

Her moist red lips moved slowly. His gaze gradually lowered to her shoes.

“So I drank… but suddenly they told me to pay… and got angry…”

Due to her drunken slurred speech and increasingly quiet voice, he couldn’t understand everything she was saying, but Herald grasped the general situation and gave a brief assessment.

“You were tricked by that innkeeper.”

Lily raised her head again and blinked slowly as she asked.

“I was… tricked?”

“Yes, you were tricked. Well, it’s a common occurrence in those parts.”

Scamming money from a mark who looks wealthy. To anyone, Lily would have looked like an easy target, an naive young lady who didn’t know the ways of the world.

Lily’s eyes widened like saucers as the reality sank in. The green eyes within trembled.

“I was… tricked. Again… I was tricked again.”

Her voice, shaking even more, was tinged with anxiety, unease, and self-loathing.

Feeling an ominous premonition that he had touched on something wrong, Herald furrowed his brows. And his premonition proved to be accurate.

“What did I do wrong for everyone to trick me like this…!”

Soon, tears welled up in her large eyes and began to fall. Lily covered her face with both hands and cried bitterly, repeating, “What did I do wrong…”

Herald looked down at Lily, feeling perplexed. Most women who cried in front of him usually shed false tears to gain his attention. This was the first time he had seen a woman cry so sincerely like Lily, and he was at a loss. He didn’t know how to comfort her.

As always, there was the option of ignoring her, but his conscience pricked him. It seemed like the reason Lily suddenly started crying was because of him.

Feeling that he should at least try to comfort her, Herald put down the cup and sat beside her.

“Don’t cry.”

And he patted her back to console her.

“It’s not your fault for being tricked, it’s the fault of those who tricked you, so there’s no need to cry. If it were me, I’d be thinking about how to get revenge on those who tricked me instead of wasting time crying.”

Though it was a clumsy attempt at comfort, it seemed to work as the shaking of her shoulders gradually subsided.

Lily lowered her hands from her face and looked at him with moist eyes. His image was fully reflected in those green eyes that matched well with the faint scent of green apples.

“……”

As he quietly met her gaze, that strange feeling came over him again, and Herald unconsciously reached out towards Lily.