The innkeeper’s voice rang in his ears, “First of all, the cost of accommodation is ninety pounds.”
“Here it is. And please bring the meal up to the room,” said Kyle.
“All right, but… I don’t know. I don’t think she’ll eat it if you don’t comfort her.”
“Pardon?”
A middle-aged woman, who wore a warm impression, hid a smile as she gave him change. “I think your wife is younger than you, and the more she is, the better she will be.”
Young?
Park Noah was only twenty-six years old until this year, and Kyle was twenty-eight. Noah was indeed younger than him, but Kyle thought their difference was not that much that he ought to hear such words from other people. However, strangely, he was convinced. Noah basically looked younger than her age.
Yet somehow it was unfair. Kyle bluntly tried to correct the misunderstanding, but the innkeeper continued with a bright smile. “Did you argue before you came? Even if you had a fight, it’s not good to rebel like this, husband. Especially when your son is watching.”
“No, wait a minute.” Kyle interrupted her speech before the misunderstanding spiraled out of his control. “We are not married.”
“Oh? No way, you’re not even married…”
“I know what you’re thinking, but this boy is not a child of me or Miss Noah. And Miss Noah, she’s only my companion.” Kyle thought it was ridiculous to utter excuses for such a pointless confusion, but the innkeeper was listening to his story with great seriousness, prompting Kyle to explain further despite feeling like an idiot. “We’re just a group, and we never had a fight before coming here. So the misconception…”
“Then why is the lady upset with having two rooms? You don’t tell me you haven’t done that before?”
Kyle was speechless. We have used the same room… but… A crease formed on Kyle’s forehead and he laughed as if the owner knew.
“I knew it. Young man, if you do that, your pretty girl will run away soon. You two looked so cute that we all looked at both of you.”
Silent, Kyle glanced around the first floor of the inn. There were five or six pairs of ears intently listening to his story; it was obvious even though they pretended not to be. An unpleasant feeling crept to Kyle.
Noah was so thoughtless and unmindful that she wouldn’t even notice those peering eyes.
While he promised to himself that he would force Noah to wear her hood down to her chin no matter how much she complained next time, the innkeeper spoke cheerfully.
“Let’s go up for now. I put you in the right room, so go comfort her well. Anyway, men don’t notice unless you tell them this in person.”
She pushed Kyle’s back with a power so great that Kyle had unwittingly trudged toward the stairs before realizing that he had not cleared the owner of the misunderstanding that he and Noah were lovers. However, his desire to resolve the misunderstanding had already vanished. His steps then marched toward their room, carrying understanding of the old woman’s advice.
“Miss Noah?”
There were supposedly two rooms. Kyle thoughtlessly opened the door on the right side and almost fainted. Noah was sprawled on the bed like a paper doll.
“Sir?” Noah, who had her face buried on the sheets, turned her head sharply. Kyle looked down at the doorknob in embarrassment. Did it mean the two rooms were connected? Kyle stifled his mortification and responded, “Miss Noah, you have to wash before you sleep.”
“I’d love to, but I don’t have a bathroom.”
“No bathroom?”
Come to think of it, something was strange. Noah’s room housed a strangely spacious living room but there was no bathroom, and the room that Kyle opened was a little smaller than Noah’s, but had a bathroom instead.
“Ah… did the innkeeper give us a house altogether?”
Kyle couldn’t hide the frown on his face. Meanwhile, Noah hoisted herself from the bed and stood. “I’ll wash over there.” Noah proceeded across the living room, taking off the robe Kyle had fastened meticulously.
However, Kyle remained intact on the floor, wearing the very same look of astonishment whenever Noah did something unmindful. Noah’s drowsy hazel eyes blinked toward Kyle several times. Of course, it meant ‘get out.’
Kyle belatedly realized the signal and stepped aside from the door he was blocking. The woman who entered his room casually went straight to the bathroom, which soon closed with a thud.
Muell, who emerged under the bed of the next room, sprinted to the bathroom happily. Kyle immediately seized the child before he could open the bathroom door. “You don’t have to wash up.”
“I want to wash up with Noah!”
“No.”
It was trifling, and normal in that matter, for a three-year-old child and an adult woman, who could be recognized as his mother, to bathe together. However, Kyle was adamant.
Muell muttered sulkily with his lips pouted, “Uncle, I can tell you like Noah very much.”
If the little dragon seemed to perceive anything, how much would he know? Kyle felt extremely apprehensive.