Chapter 118: Different From The Man In Her Memories
Seeing his current state, she decided the better choice was to avoid him for the time being till he finally left her side and returned to Aurelia.
As the Duke Alvarez, how long could he stay here for?
’It’s better to sleep on the ship or go look for another room elsewhere,’ Evelina thought.
"Forget it," Evelina said smoothly to the innkeeper, already turning her heel. "We will find another place—"
But before she could even complete her turn, a heavy thud echoed across the wooden counter.
Without a word, Ace had slapped a heavy gold ingot onto the table, the action catching the attention of every person nearby while the innkeeper nearly toppled over.
They just had to pay with a little silver for even the VIP room but the man had handed over an entire gold ingot?!
How filthy rich!
How magnificient!
Oh what supreme aura!
Evelina’s eyelids twitched violently as she hurriedly reached out to take the gold but at this moment, Ace declared:
"We will take the room."
And then the innkeeper moved in the speed of lightning, snatching the gold ingot before Evelina could touch it, "Sir, this... a whole gold ingot is... too much hehehe... he... I don’t have the change. About the room...’’
"I have the change..." Evelina had just opened her mouth when Ace cut her off.
’’Keep the change,’’ Ace declared.
The innkeeper’s eyes sparkled golden as he shot her dirty look and stashed the gold away as if she was a thief.
Evelina’s heart bled.
Once inside the room, the heavy wooden door clicked shut, and the air between Ace and Evelina was heavier.
The space was small with a single bed in the center of the room, a wooden desk, one single chair and one wooden basin in the corner.
Evelina purposely kept her back turned to him, heading straight for the basin to wash her face and hands. But as she spun around to reach for a dry cloth, she miscalculated the tight space.
Just a single twist of her body and she bumped directly into Ace’s rock-hard chest.
"Ah, I’m sorry. The room is smaller than I expected for one whole gold ingot..."
Ace didn’t make a single sound as he stood there like a wall.
A wave of awkwardness washed over Evelina. She cleared her throat and tried to step back
But the sudden movement made her stumble. Her hand instinctively shot out to steady herself, brushing flat against his palm. Her fingers tangled with his for a split second.
Evelina’s breath hitched hitched as she quickly pulled her hand back.
Trying to regain her composure, Evelina ignored the man and moved toward a small wooden stool.
Her feet were aching from standing on the ship’s deck all day. She poured water from a ceramic pitcher into the low wooden basin and dipped her feet straight in.
A chill immediately bit into her skin and she stilled, realizing that in her absentmindedness, she hadn’t noticed the pitcher contained icy water that had been sitting in the room for hours.
Evelina winced inwardly, her toes curled inside the basin.
But she simply closed her eyes, deciding to pull through it for the moment.
A sudden wave of warm air brushed against her skin.
When Evelina opened her eyes, she found Ace droppted onto one knee in front of the bed.
The man held the kettle of warm water as he dipped his palm inside the basin.
And then, very carefully, he tilted the kettle and poured the steaming water into the wooden basin.
The temperature rose instantly, sending up a gentle wave of soothing mist that swirled between them like a curtain.
As Evelina glanced at the man through the mist, her heart skipped a beat. It was such a mundane task and yet he was doing it like he was handling the most important thing in the world.
’Why...? Why is he so different from the man in my memories?’ The thought came out of nowhere.
Ace ran his fingers in the water, stirring it gently as if to ensure the temperature was perfectly right for her.
At this moment, she moved a little and his knuckles accidentally grazed the top of her sensitive foot.
Both of them froze instantly.
The sudden touch seemed to have sent a jolt of electricity through the air.
Evelina’s sitffened.
Ace’s hand stayed submerged in the warm water, his large fingers resting mere millimeters from her skin. The silence between them was charged with a heavy tension.
A second later, Ace abruptly pulled his hand back and stood up.
He didn’t say a word, turning his back immediately to stride toward the other side of the room.
Because he moved so quickly, Evelina completely missed the tinge of dark red coating the tips of his ears.
A little while, both the people busied themselves in their own work.
Ace sat heavily on the single wooden chair near the window.
A large hawk had arrived at the windowsill moments earlier, bearing a small roll of what looked like... official letters from the Kingdom of Aurelia.
On the other hand, Evelina was sitting on the edge of the bed, she sat on the edge of the bed, spreading her own blank papers across the table.
The System had just flashed with a message that greatly pleased her.
[Premium Skill ’State Secrets’ has been unlocked!]
Without any manpower in the capital of Jade Dynasty, Evelina had expected it to take longer to gather these confidential information.
But the System greatly surprised her this time, by providing her right what she was looking forward to.
It was an overwhelming collection of information, and Evelina soon became lost in it.
The silence in the room stretched for nearly an hour, with only the sounds of occasional rustling of paper and the flicker of the candle flame.
Finally, Ace broke the silence.
"Are you done yet?"
Evelina paused, her quill hovering over her paper.
She slowly closed the system interface in her mind and blinked innocently at him.
"We need to talk."
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