Chapter 127 – An Unwelcome Guest

Although she wore a hooded robe, the female lead’s pure and delicate beauty couldn’t be fully concealed. Almost without realizing it, Evelyn slipped behind her knight’s back, watching the woman’s retreating figure.

Dahlia had pulled the hood low to hide her snow-white hair, clutching a paper packet tightly in her hands as she walked away.

‘Why would she be wearing a robe?’

Something about it unsettled Evelyn, holding her back from approaching. Maybe noticing how uncharacteristic his lady was behaving, Gideon asked in a puzzled tone.

“Is something the matter, my lady?”

“Sir, I need to stop by that shop for a moment.”

Without pausing to explain further, she made her way toward the store from which Dahlia had just emerged.

“Welcome.”

As she stepped into the shabby little shop, an elderly woman greeted her. After a quick glance around shelves lined with jars and satchels, she realized it seemed to be a store selling exotic spices.

Finding nothing remarkable to distinguish it from any other, she let out a small sigh.

‘Maybe I was mistaken after all.’

Even so, the unease in her chest refused to fade. Evelyn stepped up to the counter and slid a silver coin across.

“Madam, could you tell me what the woman who just left purchased?”

Pocketing the coin without concern, the shopkeeper answered easily.

“She bought a hot spice imported from the Eastern Kingdoms.”

“Hot spice…?”

Evelyn repeated the words, her expression tinged with surprise. The shopkeeper obligingly brought out the very packet Dahlia had taken.

“It was only recently brought into the Empire. They say it’s excellent for adding heat to a dish.”

The label, written in a foreign tongue, bore the image of a rooster breathing fire. At the sight, her composure faltered as she was suddenly reminded of products she had once seen in her past life. And more troubling still, the female lead she knew from the original story couldn’t so much as stomach a bite of spicy food.

‘Surely not…? No, it couldn’t be.’

The absurd thought brushed through her mind, and she wet her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. Beside her, Gideon eyed the spicy condiment with faint incredulity and muttered under his breath.

“People actually pay money to eat this sort of thing?”

Evelyn found herself half in agreement. Like the rest of the Western nations, the Baltian Empire had never adopted a taste for spicy foods. Having grown up here, she had rarely ever sought such spices herself.

Noticing their serious expressions, the shopkeeper added, as though recalling something.

“She said the food here is different from what she was used to. It seems she’s grown a little homesick.”

‘Homesick… Dahlia?’

Evelyn couldn’t shake the strange feeling that she was missing something. Even though the unease weighed on her, she nodded her head in acknowledgment. Just in case, she didn’t forget to pay a little extra for the shopkeeper’s silence.

“Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

Leaving the grocer’s shop, Evelyn wore a troubled expression. Her thoughts tangled and knotted like threads of yarn, refusing to come free.

‘What in the world is going on?’

She was still recalling the female lead’s setting in the original story as she made her way back toward the carriage when—

“Lady Inevasel?”

At the sudden sound of that familiar voice behind her, Evelyn froze mid-step.

Of all times to run into her…

Turning her stiffened head, she found herself face-to-face with the owner of that gentle voice.

“Dahlia? What a coincidence, meeting you here.”

She tried her best to force a smile, though she couldn’t tell if it looked convincing. A chill ran down her spine, and her eyelashes fluttered faintly.

Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Dahlia’s face lit with open delight.

“I never expected to meet you in a place like this.”

Clapping her hands lightly together, the woman’s eyes curved in a gentle smile.

“Actually, I thought I caught a glimpse of you as I passed by earlier.”

At those words, Evelyn’s heart seemed to skip a beat. The thought struck her that Dahlia might have noticed her trailing after her only moments ago. She tried to steady the quickening beat of her heart, but the faint tremor in her voice betrayed her.

“M–Me… you saw me?”

“Yes. I wasn’t certain at first, but now I know it was really you.”

It seemed Dahlia had been aware of her presence all along, and that was why she had stopped on her way and turned back.