Garrett was making an announcent to the common room, the kind of announcent that required everyone’s attention. Two guests at the far table were responding appropriately, while Mara accepted their responses with grace and warmth.
The morning at the Silver Rest had taken on an unusual character.
’Looks like he’s feeling all happy to get his first non-blood-related child, huh.’ Rex thought. "Well, I couldn’t care less... he’s the one who’ll be paying child support while I’m not."
Rex leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms defiantly. The surrounding chatter faded away as he pondered the implications of the announcent, contemplating whether this change would upset the delicate balance of their lives at the Silver Rest.
Rex was on his second sip when the inn’s front door opened.
A chill breeze swept through the room, prompting a few patrons to shiver and glance toward the entrance. Rex’s curiosity was piqued as he turned to see who had just arrived, montarily distracting him from the brewing storm of emotions surrounding the impending arrival of a random man.
The man who ca through it had the look of soone who had been traveling and was arriving at a place he thought was his own. He moved with the ease of soone who was returning to a place they knew well.
’Huh...?’ Rex raised one of his eyebrows. ’Is he what I think it is...?’
He was about the sa height as Garett and had a very skinny build that needed a lot of protein to gain any muscle. His face had been handso ten years ago, but it had since changed, which was a polite way of saying that he had aged without making an effort to maintain his appearance.
He surveyed the common room as if he were a traveler returning ho after a long journey. Spotting Marceline, he offered her a warm smile that reflected his ease with the persona he had adopted.
"Marceline, my beautiful wifey," he said. "I made better ti than I thought."
Rex then hit the jackpot hearing that. ’Ohh...? That’s her fucking husband...?’
’How the FUCK can that skinny wimp pull a gorgeous-looking woman like Marceline and even cheat on her...?’
Marceline said with a low voice. "Bryan..."
Marceline gazed at her husband, Bryan Bancey, across the common room, her expression that of soone who had anticipated his arrival and had been grappling with the implications of their situation since receiving the news.
Her face presented a calm, smooth, and warm deanor on the surface, but a closer look would reveal that she had already made a decision and was in the midst of acting on it.
"Welco back." She said, "My dear... husband..."
Rex noticed a subtle shift in her tone when she said "husband." He could tell that she was likely feeling disgusted and frustrated, especially given the way she looked at him upon his return ho.
She approached him with the ease of long practice, while Rex observed the exchange from his table, sipping his coffee with the focused interest of soone cataloging information that would be relevant to future events.
Bryan Bancey settled into the inn like soone who owned half of it, which he did, and started to catch up on what had happened while he was gone. His eyes moved around the common room, taking in the people who lived there, and then they landed on Rex with the sa mild look that new people got.
Rex looked back at him with the mild assessnt that newcors received in return.
Bryan moved on.
Rex picked up his coffee and thought about what a productive morning it was turning out to be.
’Oh yeah... that fucking look. I’m going to teach this pussy a lesson.’
...
An hour later, he took his coffee outside. The common room had returned to its midday state, and Garrett had co back to the kitchen with the energy of soone who had just heard great news and needed a place to put it.
The street in front of the Silver Rest bore the morning ambiance of a city still processing the events of the previous night. From the inn’s front step, one could see the western district cordoned off by temporary fencing that construction crews had erected overnight.
The foot traffic along the main street was lighter than usual, with people moving purposefully, as if they were headed sowhere specific rather than andering aimlessly.
Rex sat on the low bench outside the inn’s door, held his coffee, and watched the street.
"I’m going to cuck that fucking bastard now for sure..." Rex takes a sip of his coffee. "And then I’ll fucking burn him until there’s not a trace left..."
After about ten minutes of planning how he should do it to Bryan, Marceline showed up next to him, just like she did when she had sothing to say that needed to be said outside instead of in the common room.
"I hope I don’t ruin your -ti." Marceline said.
"Hm? No, of course not... co sit and enjoy the morning with ." Rex patted the seat next to him.
She sat down next to him on the bench without saying anything and looked at the street with him for a mont before she spoke.
"I want to tell you sothing," she said. "I haven’t told anyone else in this inn because I didn’t know what to do about it, and I still don’t, but telling you feels like the right thing to do."
Rex was silenced by her words, and he noticed that she was looking at him with the desperate expression he had already observed.
She looked like soone who had been carrying sothing for a long ti, and it was starting to change the way other things were standing.
"Bryan has been in correspondence with a woman," she said. "For about two months. It started before he left on this last supply run, and the correspondence has been the kind that isn’t about business."
She said it with the flat precision of soone who had already dealt with the emotional side of the news and was now in the practical managent phase.
"I know this because of the way he doesn’t put the letters in the usual place and because the handwriting isn’t from any supplier I know."
"Do you know who she is?" Rex asked.
"Her na is Linda Lysandra," Marceline said.
"She’s a demi-human, cheetah-type, and she arrived in Aethelgard about three months ago seeking employnt." She paused. "She’s young, and from what I understand, she’s having difficulty finding employnt because most of the establishnts here don’t hire demi-humans."
Rex held his coffee and thought about it.
"How do you know about that information in such detail?"
Marceline clenched her fists. "A wife knows when her husband is cheating on her... so I had to do whatever it took to uncover his affair."
"I see..."
Rex then thought. "She’s more dangerous than I thought when it cos to that, but eh... she’s already submissive to anyway."
"She didn’t know about ," Marceline said, her tone reflecting the careful contemplation of soone who had spent ti analyzing a person they had reason to resent, ultimately arriving at a different perspective. "I don’t believe she did..."
"Bryan is the kind of man who presents himself as whatever the situation requires."
Rex looked down the street.
Cheetah-type demi-human. Young. Struggling to find work in a city that had just been through a significant traumatic event and was in a mode of consolidation rather than expansion. Looking for employnt.
He reflected on this information a few tis and realized it had a specific structure, resembling a situation that could take a clear direction if soone decided to pursue it.
"I don’t know if you actually know about this, but..." Rex asked, "Where does she usually go in the morning?"
"There’s a group of restaurants and services near the second bridge," Marceline said. "She’s been going to interviews, but unfortunately, she hasn’t had any luck."
She looked at her hands. "I’ve seen her twice from across the street."
Rex drank all of his coffee.
"Okay," he said, and then he got up.
"I’ll take care of it."
"W-wait, what are you going to do about her...?"
"Hmm, I might teach her a lesson or just see how she tries to get your husband’s attention, coming from a beautiful woman like you."
Marceline blushed hearing that. "Well, uh..."
Marceline gazed at him, her expression reflecting the internal struggle she faced—whether to voice a more explicit request or to maintain the unspoken connection they shared.
In the end, she opted for the unspoken understanding.
"You don’t need to teach her a lesson or anything..."
"I know she’s doing nothing wrong. It’s my husband’s behavior that concerns ; he always pays won just to spend ti with him or, even worse, to satisfy his desires."
"What the fuck...?" Rex looked pissed and confused at the sa ti. "Who wastes money for dumb shit like that...?"
"My husband..."
"He cheated more than one, but why her?" Rex asked.
"She’s the latest one."
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