A Wish To Forget

9 - Lover?

    Eithria stood by, arms folded across her chest, watching as Sanciel had a polite full-on discussion with the innkeeper about the sudden rise of room prices, Gathriel's tourism, and the economy after he failed to negotiate with the latter. Inevitably, they left the inn for now and they were to return when he could finally accept that three silvers is not enough for a room. He suggested that perhaps they can stay in one room, before changing his mind while saying she’ll be uncomfortable due to his previous attempt to murder her.

     “One gold." He quietly seethed, “One gold for a mediocre room! Eithria, do you know how many inns I can buy in the Demon Continent for that much?”

     "N-no?” Seeing him so riled up, her shoulders shook from holding back a laugh. She didn't expect this to be such a large matter to him.

     "Two inns! You can buy two inns with one gold!”

     ‘The Demon Continent’s economy must be horrible then.”

     “You would be correct.”

     Did she voice out her thoughts? Oh, how embarrassing. “How will you go about that anyway?”

     He then proceeded to lay out the steps, and even told her how to manage an inn in detail. How much free time did this demon have? She wondered when in his life he found out about this; he seemed to have experienced it himself. The people around them didn't pay much attention, taking second glances after seeing their faces then going about their business. The Commoner's Region was a horseshoe-shaped region of Gathriel where, as the name suggested, commoners lived. There was another region before this and…

     ‘The difference is… shocking, to say the least.’

     Gathriel wasn't a perfect empire, and its laws only improved a few decades ago. The outermost region, dubbed Inbetween, was clear proof of its past history. Sanciel seemed keen on exploring it but due to the entrance being too obscure and him being the considerate man he was, he decided to find an inn early so she could sleep.

     The two walked the streets, with one trying to cool his head and accept reality and the other following him. Sure enough, trouble could be found anywhere.

     “You wench! How dare you!?" A thin, middle-aged woman raised her hands to slap the one in front of her, but the other seized her wrist before she could land it. Sanciel and Eithria was amongst the crowd surrounding the ruckus. The people whispered and talked among themselves, gossiping about this and that. The angel picked up some things from what they were saying and assessed the situation.

     “It should be me saying that. How dare you insinuate that I will sleep with a married man? Do you think I'm so desperate to embrace someone so foul?” The beautiful woman with striking fox eyes condescended with a charming smile. “He's barely worth the time to look at and so are you. Who do you think you are to accuse me like this?"

     Three people were behind the beautiful woman, and they sided with her. A gorgeous young girl around sixteen years old with beige-colored hair and round aquamarine eyes held the older woman's arm with a firm expression. There was another girl her age who tugged at her sleeve with a blank expression, and a blond man at Sanciel's physical age looking over with an expression conveying the words ‘I hate it here’.

    The thin woman fumed with anger and tried to remove the other's firm grip on her wrist. “You-!"

     Before things could escalate, Eithria interfered and efficiently separated the two. The beautiful woman was compliant and backed off after a few words from her while the other was stubborn. “Who are you!?"

     “Please calm down or I'll call the guards."

     At her words, the thin woman became more riled up and resisted. "She slept with my husband! My neighbors said they saw her enter our house while I was away! She didn't leave the entire night, so what do you think happened other than her filthy—"

     "Oh, please, I already said he's unsightly. Our relationship is purely professional until you accused me. I wouldn't even think about him like that."

     Eithria, stuck between an angry wife and a wronged woman, smiled stiffly. For a moment, her eyes met the blond man's and he seemed to gain some sort of motivation.

     "I'll handle this!” The blond man, who Eithria knew as Adam, stepped in and resolved the misunderstanding. The thin middle-aged woman had no choice but to listen to his passionate explanations and rantings about how it was unwise to assume based on insufficient evidence. “Things like this can be resolved with proper communication!” were his words after she apologized to the beautiful woman, albeit rather insincerely. Said beautiful woman turned to him, "Why couldn't you have done this earlier?”

     Adam looked to the side and scratched his cheek, smiling sheepishly. “You’re right. Why didn't I do this earlier?"

     Sanciel found it appropriate to approach as the crowd cleared. The beautiful woman, with the two young girls by her side, saw him and brightened up. "You're here too? I assume you're also… “
    
     "Mhm, how are you, Clara?" He waved towards them and glanced over the two new additions–a shy young girl and a hot-blooded man. ‘So I wasn't the only one assigned with an angel.’

     Eithria seemed to be acquainted with the man, and they quietly conversed. He listened in but what they talked about was currently of lesser importance–some things about what they’ve been doing and things of no concern to him.

    Clara introduced him to the group, “This is my lover, Sanciel."