We handed our mare to the handler, who led it around the establishment to the stables beyond. After checking our identities and affirming with the receptionist within, that is. Garlan had registered the room under Letitia’s name, so all I had to do was tag along. I glanced at the forlorn faces around us; a prince who had escaped beyond the waters was the leading cause of this destruction. It should have been this undead, but I decided to hand the credit over to Lykan for the day. I was a generous undead inside-out when not concerned about bread.

Enalthrin inn was a large, two-floored building that hadn’t been subjected to the collapse of flames. The entire locale was relatively safe, albeit destruction followed slightly beyond the closeby tenements. And that was complete annihilation as not even a single shabby house was standing erect. We had tramped through such jagged roads that even our mare found it difficult to reach the inn, so I hoped it was worth the effort.

The door creaked, and I had by now concluded that most of the entryways in the port creaked. Maybe they were short of oils to reduce friction. Two stairs flanked us immediately, wide enough for two Garlans to climb them with ease. They twisted to the front before ascending further to reach the hallway of the first floor, and I tried to reason our room number. Should it have been on the second floor? But I knew little about the numbering system of Port Achlon, so I decided to ignore the inconsistencies.

More stairs, a couple of them, from the foyer led to the ground floor scattered with tables, almost rectangular. The hall greeted us with more people filled with grief. They still chugged some ale, trying to lessen the sorrow of the day. It was a quiet ambiance, even as my lady knocked out a plate filled with some fresh, fluffy round white edible to the ground. The owner of the plate, an old man with disappearing grey hair, just glanced at my lady, his wrinkles accentuating his tired appearance, and motioned for us to go ahead.

Much to my surprise, Letitia fished out ten shins from her pochette and handed it to the old man, who nodded at us gratefully. Envious gazes followed the man and us, and I realized he would be mugged before dawn recessed. The stony pillars supporting the roof weren’t carved with intricate carvings of the shrine, and the lights glowed around us, hinging on them. It was early in the morning, according to my broken biological clock, and I had decided to believe it for now. Only because my lady was sleepy.

The counter had barrels behind the man, multiple of them stacked over each other, and he occasionally opened the tap at the bottom to fill the jugs in silence. A few went to the customers and some to his stomach, all in silence. He was young, his brown hair cut short and brawny looking with those bulging muscles. His gaze widened as he glanced at my lady, and he did his best not to stare at her. His mood, nevertheless, improved, and he placed the jug underneath the counter before tending to us.

“Letitia Valorat,” my lady said, her cold voice attracting multiple stares and some whispers. Valorat household was famous throughout the realm for their military service, and all the more now after the death of the Marquis. And the absence of a male heir. I could imagine some idle people sitting across a table and talking about my lady’s unruly behavior, which inevitably brought a smile to my face.

Disappointment flashed across the young man’s eyes for reasons beyond the understanding of common undead. Maybe because she was Letitia? Or perhaps because she was a noble?

“Room 205,” he said, handing us the key. “Climbed the stairs. Entryway and move straight. The fifth room is yours to use. What about your servant?”

She turned around, refusing to answer, and I followed her wordlessly to the stairs. After a smug at the inn owner, that earned me deterrence.

When we almost reached the first floor, a woman and a child, recently born from the size, rushed through the door of the inn, her wails attracting my lady’s attention.

Not again, I sighed. Why were there so many mother-children pairs in this realm?

My lady stopped her ascent and glanced in the direction of the reception. The young owner just shook his head and pointed at the people around us. Perhaps telling her that he had nothing to offer, though he could have spared her a room.

My lady handed me thirty shins, two coins of five with ten, and pecked my cheek lightly from the higher stair. “I’ll buy you more bread, my Rudolf.”

I nodded and ambled down the stairs with a smile. For bread, I was ready to take over the kingdom, let alone help puny mortals in need. Contradicting my values for bread was an acceptable outcome. Because it was worth it.

The receptionist was still shaking his head, ignoring the wails of the woman and the child that had filled the room, much to the displeasure of other customers. When the owner was about to ask her to scram, I placed thirty shins on the table.

“How much for a room?” I asked, moving my gloved hands back inside my cloak. They had resulted in me getting whacked, so I wasn’t much confident with those on my hands anymore.

He almost gave me a glare and stopped short when he noticed my lady staring at the exchange. “Thirty shins for a day and night.”

And that was exact. I hadn’t noticed a board beside the receptionist the first time that was too faint to care amidst the barrels of ale. I couldn’t help acknowledging my lady’s watchful gaze.

“Then my lady will buy one for the commoner,” I said, and he accepted the coins after handing her the room key to 206. One beside us, if I wasn’t wrong.

The woman was younger than me, perhaps, but her countenance and charred attire made her appear much older. She was kneeling on the ground and got up, her wails pushed to a stop, and gratefulness oozed out of her teary eyes. I shrugged and glanced at my lady and beckoned her to follow me if she wanted to thank my lady.

She did without hesitance, and I didn’t flash her my smile, for I didn’t quite appreciate the wails of the children. They were annoying. No questions asked.

Almost stumbling on the stairs was expected, but my helping wasn’t, and I glanced at my own hands after releasing her arm. Did I just help a mortal? My bread price was at stake, I reasoned and followed her closely. We reached the corridor that overlooked the tavern below and earned multiple gazes from the people.

“Thank you, noble lady,” the woman bowed respectfully, still in tears. “This baby’s fever just worsened yesterday, and our house got wrecked this morning. Even begging on the streets proved fruitless. We would have died if it wasn’t for your grace, noble lady. Forgive my audacity to ask for your name.”

My lady just nodded at the woman, her gaze not repulsive as the one meant for the commoner. “Letitia Valorat,” she said, and the woman’s grateful gaze froze.

“You are nothing like the rumors, lady Valorat,” she stared at her in ardent admiration.

“I’m everything like the rumors, commoner,” my lady said, her voice too cold. “But I don’t let women and children die. And I hate those scums,” she glared at the men below.

“Many thanks, lady Valorat,” she bowed respectfully and ambled to her room.

“The child won’t live past today, my lady,” I said, my [Devil eye] ascertaining the life force.

“It’s all right. She is better off without her child in this wilderness,” there was sadness in her voice, something I was hearing for the first time. “I had sealed my mother’s fate the day I was born,” she didn’t look at me. “And how often I wished I was never born. But I am glad to have lived through the ordeal.”

“Because you can eat bread?” I grinned.

“Because I can eat bread,” she giggled and pulled me to the room.

A bath was all it took for her to collapse on the only bed in the room and drown in sleep. She craved for the fluffiness of her bed, somehow acquiescing to the bed of this inn that wasn’t half bad. It was soft and clean and tidy. I washed her clothes before taking a bath and got rid of the latent scent of the sea that reminded me of the stale bread of the cogs. Later, I dried the clothes using [Heat Storm], clearing the water in one go.

Packing everything didn’t take long, but I had to be careful with my lady’s body lotion and toiletries. They were crucial, without which I might have to suffer her wrath despite her casual innocence. Cleanliness was her first priority, even in the wasteland, so I was forced to repack my bag and place them in the middle, cushioning them with clothes.

Once I was done with the deed, I sat on the bed and watched her even breathing for a while. How often had I wished to have a serene sleep without worries, but that pipe dream had been destroyed in the storm of time that left no things untouched.

I swiped her hair away from her face and took another look at her face. She might have been beautiful from normal mortal standards, but I didn’t quite understand how. All I saw were sharp eyes, long eyelashes, curved brows, a small nose, and soft lips that had parted in her sleep. What was beautiful about the things that every mortal had?

Her eyes fluttered open, and she glanced at my profile with a smile and a blush. “Were yow watching me sleep?” she asked in a slurry voice, without getting up.

“Yes, my lady,” I said, deepening the shade on her rosy cheeks. “I was wondering if you were beautiful.”

“And?” she raised her brows in question.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. That didn’t earn me any admonishment.

“Come,” she touched at the bedside beside her. “Sleep with me.”

“Why does that sound naughty, my lady?” I laughed, and she blushed furiously, smacking my abdomen.

“I-I just meant beside me, mongrel!” she said, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand.

“Come here, Rudolf,” she said again after she had regained her composure.

I hesitated for a long time, probably for more time than I used to compare the size of two loaves of bread. In the end, I took off my shoes and settled on the soft bed that was wide enough for three people. I hated the cushion underneath me, and it brought back memories. Violet ones, the feelings that accompanied me as I massacred the village for the first time. My mother’s voice as she took me to be burned at the stake. Even after leaving me all alone. I cursed the hound for making me see these again. Memories that had taken a few thousand years to forget.

I felt my lady arms around me, wrapped in a protective embrace.

“I will remember never to crave for your embrace,” I said, and my lady pulled me closer.

“I know,” she kissed my forehead. “It’s all right to crave for mine,” she said my name. “I’m not your mother.”

I didn’t know how she knew about it. I wasn’t bothered either. All I felt was her warmth in the chilly morning as I drifted to sleep. A peaceful one as Letitia whispered something in my ears.