Chapter 38: Being Jealous, A Warm Night
While escorting the family towards their quarters, a few idle inn customers couldn't but stare at Ria with bright eyes as they whispered amongst themselves.
"Oh my, her hair is so pretty."
"Hmph! I think it's fake; she's definitely a skank."
"Have you looked at yourself? You've got no place to ridicule others."
A few women bantered back and forth as they saw Ria's unique appearance. However, while women spoke such words, the men chattered with excitement in their eyes.
"Wow! Such a fine lady, where did she come from?"
"Dummy, look closer; she's already chained, there's no way we can treasure such a fine lass."
"Pssh, so what, it's not like it's that hard to steal a married lady, accidents are most common in this world, and for such a feeble looking man, I doubt he can last long."
As the jealous man said those words to the others, he couldn't help but stare at Ria with lust-filled eyes, but as this happened, he felt a surge of murderous intent from an unknown location, forcing him to shrink back while trembling.
At this time, Marius's eyes shone with a cold ray as he glanced at the man, but Ria, who walked by his side, snickered as she teased, "Hehe, is my husband jealous because of a stranger?"
"I am not," Marius said fiercely denying it.
Ria grinned at this silliness as she spoke, "Sure-sure, of course, you aren't. I guess that being adored by many isn't such a bad thing."
When Ria said this, Marius rolled his eyes as he glanced at her snorted saying nothing. Grevlin and Liola looked at each other and sighed; it seemed that they found common ground at this moment.
No longer paying attention to the others, Liola focused on carrying Marius and his family to their room; she opened the door and hand over the key as she stared at them and spoke with a welcoming smile.
"Here we are, room number 30. Once again, I sincerely welcome you all to our inn, and I hope that you will all have a pleasant stay here, do have a good night."
After saying her piece, she turned around and started leaving the upper halls, her slender waist swaying from side to side as her tail bounced, drawing a few eyes from others roaming the halls.
While Marius had given her a look, he was unphased by it, but as Ria was innately suspicious about such matters, he hurriedly looked at the room and spoke.
"Come everyone, let's get inside and rest up; we have a long day and an even longer road ahead of us."
"Okay, father."
Grevlin replied as he quickly entered the room behind Marius; Ria, who was a bit focused on the room, only woke from her slight daze as she glanced at the direction Liola left before staring at Marius with sharp eyes.
After closing the door, Ria looked at Marius and spoke, "Honey, were you distracted just now?"
Knowing full well of what she wanted to ask, Marius denied it as he spoke, "My dear Ria, of course not, come let us get to rest and not ponder such troublesome things."
Ria snorted, saying nothing as she brought Little Rose towards a different bed and placed her down; she then inspected the room and found a separate door used for the restroom.
After opening it, she saw a large basin and a sink with a facet; the pipeline ran from it towards the ceiling, which further led towards a more in-depth section of the entire town.
'Oh, it looks like we'll be able to have a decent bath.'
Ria thought as she soon after left the restroom and stared at Marius as she spoke, "Honey, I'm going to wash up with Little Rose; you do the same with Little Grev after; I don't want these sheets to be smelly."
"Sure, whatever you say, dear," Marius replied with a nod as he heard her words; he stared at Grevlin, who was trying to find a place to put the sleeping tigers before looking out the window at the night scene.
Ria smiled at this as she walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist; she took a light whiff of with her nose before whispering in his ear.
"Hmm~ honey, you don't smell that bad, but if you don't wash properly, I won't promise anything in the next few hours, so you better make sure to scrub clean."
The instant Marius heard those words; his mouth turned dry as his eyes lit up as if he had caught a fire, he rested one of his arms onto Ria's slender arms that wrapped around his waist and replied.
"As my lovely wife commands."
The two remained silent for a while as no one spoke; they soon after separated, and Ria hurriedly woke up Little Rose and brought her to take a bath.
"Mama, let's go play!"
"Hehe, that's my good girl; come let us see who can win our water fight."
The joyous sounds of water splashing sounded from the restroom, causing Marius to make a gentle smile as he imagined the scene of Ria and Little Rose playing.
Grevlin, at this time, finally put down the tiger cubs with a satisfied look on his face; he used one of his pillows to act as a cushion for the adorable little tigers.
Marius took a good look at Grevlin for a while as his eyes turned a bit recollective as when he stared him, he saw a few shadows from his past. After sighing, he got up from the bed and sat down by his side, causing Grevlin to look up at his face with his innocent child-like eyes.
"Son, you did good," Marius said, not clearly saying what he meant as he softly stared at him and patted his head.
Grevlin made a pensive look before his eyes lit up; being a smart child, he knew that his father was referring to his fight against those bandits. While he didn't perform to the best and failed to kill them, he felt better than his father praised him for his efforts.
"Thanks, father," Grevlin replied as he closed his eyes and enjoyed his father's pat of affection.
Marius smiled as he looked at him before playing a family game with his son to pass the time. A good while after, Ria had finished her bath with Little Rose and was coaxing her to sleep on the other bed; Marius gave her a look before he did the same with Grevlin.
After the father and son finished washing, they promptly dried off and returned to the main room. The sound of laugher sounded in the lit room, which soon after faded into silence as the night pressed on to the brand-new day.