Starting from his twenty-seventh year, Dantès had been managing the inn in his hotown for over a decade.
Travelers with stories, young people venturing out, and despondent individuals with nowhere to turn... He had already lost count of how many he had seen in his past life.
But the woman who walked in today.
She was definitely an unprecedented, special visitor.
With her dust-covered clothes, exquisitely beautiful face, and expression devoid of any emotion...
To say she was a pampered young mistress, her worn servant’s clothes did not fit that status; to say she was a traveler from afar, her cold, heartless deanor was completely mismatching; as for a rchant doing business, it was utterly impossible for a woman to travel alone and carry only a single suitcase.
Dantès began to recall—
In the nearby towns, was there anyone who matched this woman’s image? Or had there been any relevant news recently?
For soone like him, who managed an inn,
it was quite important to figure out the identities of his guests.
While Dantès was pondering, the woman in servant’s attire, who had entered the inn with a cold beauty, had already purposefully co to his side.
The innkeeper instinctively displayed the well-practiced smile:
"Madam, may I ask what you would like?"
"Whether it’s a delicious dinner or lodging, I can provide it all for you."
Her expression unchanged, the servant’s voice was also devoid of any fluctuations:
"Stay for tonight, and prepare a week’s worth of food for ."
As she spoke, the servant placed a few De Pu coins on the counter in front of Dantès.
The experienced inn owner just glanced at the coins and confird that the money was enough to fulfill the servant’s requests. Still analytically musing over the woman’s identity in his mind, Dantès simultaneously reached for a pen and paper to record:
"May I ask your identity, guest?"
"I am a direct servant of the Adler family."
The servant’s response made Dantès startle, and he almost instinctively asked:
"Then... your na?"
Unperturbed, the servant replied:
"Marian."
Dantès nodded slightly and began recording in his work ledger.
However, by the ti he had calculated the accounts and retrieved the room key from below the counter, people had already gathered in the inn’s main hall—
—Klein and Modko.
—The town’s well-known idlers.
Without even needing to think, Dantès knew the intentions of these two fellows.
In such a small town, the servant nad Marian was an unimaginably beautiful woman whom these two ruffians had encountered and heard was a ’servant’.
Thinking they could remain indifferent was utterly absurd.
"Miss, is this your first ti in town?"
"I heard you are a servant of the Adler family; I’ve heard of that family as well. Maybe we could talk?"
"The baked bread here is quite good; shall I treat you?"
"..."
Watching Klein and Modko’s deanor, Dantès slowed down the key fetching process and deliberately jangled the keys to make a searching noise.
"Ah—"
He sighed softly, and the innkeeper was now feeling uneasy.
On one hand, this unease stemd from the worry about the two ruffians wanting to harass the servant. A beautiful young girl arriving alone in a strange town encountering these types of people he knew all too well.
But at the sa ti, in Dantès’ mind, there existed a subtle oddity.
—Perhaps.
—It was Klein and Modko who were in trouble?
"..."
However, it was very quiet in front of the counter.
Dantès took so ti and then stood up straight with the keys he had found earlier.
The scene before him was sowhat surprising.
After the servant ignored the two n, Klein and Modko did not persist as usual but instead returned smiling to their original seats.
What is this...
A special treatnt for such a rare beauty?
With doubts in his mind, Dantès didn’t forget what he was supposed to do and handed the key to the beautiful woman in front of him:
"Lady, your room is on the second floor, the number is the sa as on the key."
"I will bring you food as soon as possible."
The servant nad Marian still showed no emotion.
She took the key from the innkeeper decisively and prepared to go to the second floor without saying a word.
At this mont, the apprentice hired by Dantès eagerly ca over.
He was ready to carry the lady’s suitcase.
However, when both hands grasped the handle of the suitcase tightly, the apprentice was stunned.
Having worked at the inn for several years, he was accustod to all kinds of tiring tasks. Although there were tis when his strength was indeed insufficient, it had never been like today!
He couldn’t lift the guest’s suitcase.
This feeling...
It wasn’t that the suitcase was too heavy, rather it felt as if the suitcase was rooted to the ground, and he was about to wrestle with the entire earth.
Seeing the predicant of the apprentice, Marian’s expression still did not change.
Only when the apprentice could not bear the embarrassnt and let go voluntarily, did Marian bend down to pick up the suitcase and head upstairs without hesitation.
Watching her figure disappear around the staircase.
The apprentice’s neck stiffly turned left, then he looked at his boss:
"Dantè... Mr. Dantès, I...?"
The innkeeper showed a bitter smile:
"Go back to work, it’s nothing, don’t think too much."
"Yes, of course."
After the exchange between the boss and the apprentice.
The small and brief commotion in the inn quickly dissipated.
For the residents of the town, this overly beautiful woman was just a silhouette in their lives, having no actual intersection with their lives.
However, Dantès watched Klein and Modko, then he could definitely sense sothing.
These two n, had indeed set their sights on the servant!
He could only hope that the lady would be able to escape.
Dantès secretly shook his head while also suppressing the slight chivalrous urge in his heart.
Wake up, he was no fledgling young man craving adventure.
He had all his assets placed here!
To conflict with local thugs like Klein and Modko would an the end of his livelihood.
The next morning.
The servant left the inn with steady footsteps and an expressionless face.
Dantès, standing behind the counter wiping the table, was frightened by a noise from outside a few hours later.
"Soone has died here!"
"He’s been dead for a while, probably last night."
The news of the inn spread quickly, and as the innkeeper, Dantès got the results within just a few minutes.
—Klein and Modko were both dead.
Their bodies were on the road north of the inn, apparently around midnight last night, one had fallen while walking and hit his head and died instantly, and the other suffocated due to an insect flying into his windpipe.
Standing behind the counter, Dantès looked outside.
The second-floor room where the servant stayed... seed to be on the north side...
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