The Blue Guild adapted to Castle Rock very well. Lady Marilyn prepared a big party for us and we were able to take a break by eating and drinking delicious food and wine. It felt like the exhaustion I felt from traveling was being washed away. This was also an extension of my work, but being able to enjoy Castle Rock as if I was on vacation was a special benefit and naturally, it didn’t apply to Kim Hyun-Sung. I knew the majority of the people here, but Kim Hyun-Sung had to go around and meet other influential nobles.

‘He looked exhausted...’

The problem was that other religious figures and nobles from other cities came to Castle Rock after hearing that I was here. Kim Hyun-Sung looked really tired because he had to memorize and talk with the people at the banquet that lasted for five days. Unlike me who was used to it, the sight didn’t fit him since all he did was fight, eat, and sleep, but among them, Castle Rock’s count was giving him the hardest time. As the father of Marilyn Castlerock, he talked to Kim Hyun-Sung the most and as the noble that had more of a military atmosphere than a civil official, he really liked Kim Hyun-Sung. The count’s stats were better than most citizens and because of him, Marilyn Castlerock stayed beside me, which made me feel flustered.

“Ahem, it seems that my daughter has been bothering you, honorable bishop,” the count said.

“It’s fine, Count Castlerock. I’ve been enjoying my conversation with your smart daughter and thanks to her, I’ve been smiling a lot recently,” I said.

“Thank you very much for saying that. Ahem… My daughter becomes really focused when she becomes interested in something… After watching her recently, it seems like she has taken a big interest in you, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” the count said after clearing his throat with a cough.

“Haha…”

“This is between us, but she begged me to offer a wedding proposal, which made me feel very flustered. Oh, this is a secret between us. She actually asked me to ask you…” he said in a low voice.

“Oh, I… see…”

I was flustered because dangerous situations like this could happen.

“I’m embarrassed to talk about it myself, but… ugh. I just can’t win against my daughter’s stubbornness, so I’m sorry for constantly talking about it.” He apologized.

“No, I understand, sir...”

This was my second defense.

Since Marilyn was Count Castlerock’s only child, he wanted to fulfill everything his daughter wanted. As such, he was basically a father who accepted everything about Lady Marilyn. He first looked at me as if I was some kind of a thief, but after thinking about it, he had been pressuring me. Honestly, I wasn’t that bad of a catch because I was the sub guild master of a powerful guild and the Vatican even made me an honorable bishop. The emperor’s faction and the pope’s faction didn’t have a good relationship with each other, but if I became the bridge that joined them together, then my worth would shoot through the roof.

‘The count is probably thinking that he could gain a lot of things.’

Nobles were calculative, but Count Castlerock wasn’t as bad as the others. Before he started calculating, I was sure he just wanted to fulfill Marilyn’s wish, but then he thought that it wouldn’t be so bad if she and I were in a relationship.

“By the way, I heard you have a connection with the Red Mercenary Queen,” the count said.

“Yes, I do,” I replied.

“And the mage that’s always with you is?”

“Yes, although it’s a bit embarrassing for me to say…”

“I see. Ahem… then does my daughter…”

“I’m sure she knows,” I told him.

The count seemed like he was thinking about something, so I had no choice but to speak up first. “Lady Marilyn… Lady Marilyn might be confused because it hasn’t been that long since her coming-of-age ceremony and I’m sure she finds the free city citizens interesting. Of course, I would like to have your beautiful daughter as my wife, but I’m very worried that I may ruin Lady Marilyn’s future because of one mistake. After all, the free city citizens have their own lives and Lady Marilyn has a bright future ahead of her.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Since Lady Marilyn will be managing Castle Rock after inheriting it, I think it’ll be best to keep an eye on her rather than rushing things,” I suggested.

“Ahem.”

“I’ll make sure to talk to Lady Marilyn,” I added.

“Then, I’ll leave it up to you. You’re a better person than I thought, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” Count Castlerock complimented.

‘Shit… did I just leave a good impression?’

“It’s nothing, sir. Anyone would think the same,” I quickly said.

“Haha! No need to be embarrassed. By the way, how would you like to eat with me today? I happened to have gotten myself some good wine. My… my daughter has been looking forward to it,” he offered.

“I appreciate the offer, but I have business I must take care of today… how about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow should be fine,” he answered.

“Then, I’ll be going now, Count Castlerock.” I bid farewell to him.

“Yes, it was fun.”

I was out of energy when I closed the door. The majority of the serious lunches I had with Count Castlerock were about his daughter and based on his slightly uneasy expression, I realized how much of a hard time Marilyn was giving her father these days.

Having a connection with Marilyn wouldn’t be bad for me, but it was under the condition that I wouldn’t get stuck in Castle Rock. It was strange to call free city citizens commoners from the start, but if they got married to a noble, then they would become a noble as well, but objectively speaking, I didn’t really need it.

I was the Vatican’s honorable bishop, which was above the nobles and my authority was on the same level as a count, so Count Castlerock wasn’t simply having a conversation with me. If Count Castlerock handed the sovereignty over to Marilyn after he died, then it was worth thinking about, but as of right now, Marilyn was nothing but baggage. The imperial citizens’ marriage custom consisted of a union between two families and cooperation between two groups and that custom only gave me a headache.

‘It’s best to manage my relationship with her from a distance.’

This was the right thing to do after thinking about Jung Ha-Yan, Cha Hee-Ra, and Lee Ji-Hye.

As soon as I exited the room, I saw Lady Marilyn approaching me and she looked as if she didn’t know anything. It was funny how she had that expression when she was the one that planned all this out.

“Mr. Lee Ki-Young! Did you enjoy your lunch with my father?” she asked.

“I was able to enjoy my lunch thanks to the count making the atmosphere comfortable for me,” I answered.

“Th-That’s a relief. Have you heard anything from him…”

“I’m a bit embarrassed to say this, but Count Castlerock seems to think that it would be a good idea for you and me to be in a relationship…” I said.

“Really?”

“Yes. Haha…”

“I-I hope… you’ll understand my father, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. It seems like my father really likes you…”

‘More like it’s you that really likes me.’

“Count Castlerock seems to cherish you a lot,” I said.

“Yes, that’s true. H-How did you… answer him…” Marilyn asked nervously.

“I told him I needed to think about it. I have my own life as a free city citizen and it’s a bit early for the both of us to think about marriage,” I replied.

“Then that means?”

“I think it’ll be best to take our time getting to know each other, M’lady,” I told her.

“Oh! Okay, okay!” she said excitedly.

“I also told him to move today’s plan to tomorrow. I have business I need to take care of… I’ll get going then,” I informed her before saying goodbye.

“Okay, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. Please let me know if you need help with anything…” she said.

“Sure, I will.”

I decided to leave it at that for now and since I had been enjoying my time off, it was now time for me to work. When I walked with light steps, I saw Jung Ha-Yan wearing a different expression from Marilyn. I really felt like a cheater because I met another woman not long after having a conversation with the previous woman and even though Kim Ye-Ri’s voice started to fill my head, I tried my best to ignore it.

“Oppa!” Jung Ha-Yan called out.

“Let’s go, Ha-Yan. Did you wait long?” I asked.

“No, I haven’t,” she answered.

“Did you have lunch?” I asked.

“Yes. I ate with Mr. Hyun-Sung, Deok-Gu oppa, Ye-Ri, Miss Hee-Young, Miss Hye-Jin, and Miss Jung-Hyun,” she replied.

“That’s good and Mr. Hyun-Sung…”

“He said he was going to take a look around. He mentioned investigating something…”

“Hm, okay. Let’s go,” I told her.

“Okay!”

“You brought the documents, right?” I asked her.

“I did!”

“You seem to be in a good mood today,” I commented.

“I-It has been a while since we’ve been alone. Hehe…” Jung Ha-Yan said shyly.

“You’re right, it has been a while,” I said in agreement.

Jung Ha-Yan seemed a bit excited because it had been a while since we went out and the reason why I was taking Jung Ha-Yan with me wasn’t just because I needed a guard. If I needed guards, I could use Castle Rock’s knights who were secretly protecting me, the holy knights, and the heresy inquisitors. The reason why I brought Jung Ha-Yan with me was because I wanted to reward her for being patient all this time. There had been several incidents and situations that were unacceptable according to her standards, but she managed to endure and I wanted to thank her for that.

‘I’ll take care of you little by little, Ha-Yan.’

It was like training a puppy because I would give her a reward every time she was patient. I had to keep that in mind because it would be a big problem if she went berserk in Castle Rock. In order to prevent Jung Ha-Yan from going crazy, Lee Ji-Hye didn’t cross the line while both Cha Hee-Ra and Kasugano Yuno were already stronger than Jung Ha-Yan, but Lady Marilyn was an ordinary person with no powers. She could disappear without a trace if she suddenly got excited because of the atmosphere.

‘It’s a good thing Ha-Yan’s mentality was fixed after the regression incident.’

If Jung Ha-Yan’s mentality hadn’t been fixed back then, then we would have experienced hundreds of incidents because of her.

“Where are we headed right now?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.

“We’ll go on a date first and then head to the Small Stone Guild,” I answered.

“A date…” she repeated.

“It’s because you’ve been working hard recently,” I told her.

She nodded her head quickly. She must’ve thought she had done something great since her expression became cuter than I thought.

“L-Let’s go…” she stuttered.

“Okay. There seem to be a lot more things to see around Castle Rock than I thought,” I told her.

“Really?”

“Of course...”

It was short, but going on a date with her was the right thing to do.

“Oppa! Look at that! The tree is shaped like a turtle,” she said excitedly.

“Yeah, I see it.”

We were enjoying the beautiful scenery.

“It’s so cute,” Jung Ha-Yan commented.

“How much is this?” I asked the merchant.

I even bought her a cute accessory we saw while passing by.

“Do you want to watch a play?” I asked.

“I do!” she answered.

The date we were on was no different from the dates on Earth.

“We can even ride a boat over there!’ she said while pointing.

“...”

“Let’s go ride it, Oppa,” she suggested.

“Let’s… ride that later,” I said, hesitating.

“But I want to ride it right now…” she said disappointingly.

“We don’t have time, but I’m sure we’ll have the chance later,” I said, consoling her.

The culture here wasn’t as great compared on Earth, but there were still plenty of things we could enjoy.

“Hehehe.”

When I saw Jung Ha-Yan’s bright smile, I wondered why I didn’t do this for her earlier. Of course, I had been busy, but I thought that making some time and bringing her out on a date like this wasn’t a bad idea.

‘If she’s stressed, then I can help her relieve it.’

“I really like it, hehe…” she commented.

“I’m glad...”

We held hands, hugged from time to time, and lightly kissed as the sun went down.

‘Was she always this pretty?’

For a while now, I knew I was falling for Jung Ha-Yan little by little, but seeing her face-to-face like this made me feel more attracted to her and I started to like her even more because she had been acting more like an ordinary person recently.

“Thanks for everything, Ha-Yan.”

“M-Me too…”

I know it sounds crazy, but if I were to get married, it wouldn’t be bad getting married to someone like Jung Ha-Yan.

“Let’s head to the Small Stone Guild,” I told her.

“Okay!”