Chapter 15: An Unexpected Entrance

Fran stood up nonchalantly. He headed towards the crowd gathered near the private room. The Teuton soldier beside him seemed startled, but Fran had already walked away quickly, so he didn’t pursue him.

‘How strange…’

The soldier looked bewildered at the several women who had approached him again. He frowned, wondering, ‘I didn’t say anything peculiar, did I?’

The soldier hadn’t erred, of course. Fran simply had a different objective. He effortlessly blended into the throng, feigning a trip to fetch a drink.

Then, wine glass in hand, he sauntered with a calculated nonchalance past the entrance of Yuli’s private room—

Suddenly, a pre-arranged individual burst forth. A noblewoman behind them frantically patted her pockets, her face a mask of feigned alarm. She then pursued the man, crying out:

“Stop, thief!”

The man swiftly rushed towards Fran. With a sharp sidestep, he deliberately collided with Fran, sending him tumbling towards the private room. Fran instinctively grabbed the fabric curtain.

The combined force of his unbalanced body and the high-speed impact immediately ripped the curtain down.

A loud crash echoed.

Fran thus landed inside Yuli’s private room, entirely engulfed by the fallen curtain. The accomplices from the establishment had already bolted out the door, vanishing without a trace. Only the ‘poor girl’ remained, sprawled on the floor.

‘Hmm…’

Pinned beneath the curtain, Fran pondered. ‘If I lift this now, what scene awaits me?’

‘Will Yuli be… engaged in *that* with a young girl?’

‘Ahem…’

Though a blush of embarrassment threatened to spread, Fran knew he had to reveal his face to complete the mission. Otherwise, he might be mistaken for having fainted on the spot and be carried away on a stretcher.

Yuli watched, utterly bewildered, as the figure that had crashed in slowly pulled back the curtain. A defiant strand of golden hair was the first to emerge from the fabric’s edge.

Then came a delicate fringe, followed by a pair of playful eyes, alight with a mixture of nervousness and shyness.

Fran slowly pushed the curtain aside, tilting his head towards where Yuli sat to his right. He blinked, a bewildered expression on his face, as if he hadn’t quite grasped what had just transpired.

As the ‘bewildered’ youth processed the situation, Adelie, the blonde girl who had been serving drinks, was equally startled by the abrupt intrusion. Her hand trembled, and the plate she held slipped from her grasp, plummeting downwards.

First, a cream cake splattered onto the youth’s clothes, leaving several conspicuous white stains on his black dress. Then came the crisp sound of a porcelain bowl shattering.

*Crash!*

Fortunately, the shards did not cut Fran. ‘Perhaps a couple of bleeding gashes would have been more convincing?’

In any case, Fran scrambled to his feet, apologizing profusely to Yuli. “I’m so sorry, so sorry, I was bumped by someone…”

“Sister Yuli!”

Suddenly, another figure burst through the doorway. It was Lyon, who had rushed over in a panic after witnessing the thief shove Fran into the room and then hearing the sound of breaking crockery.

He stood at the entrance, and seeing Yuli casually seated on the sofa as if nothing had happened, he let out a sigh of relief. Leaning against the doorframe, he gulped down large breaths.

“You scared me half to death,” Lyon exclaimed, clutching his head. “I thought an assassin had snuck in! Just now, a thief suddenly charged towards you, Sister Yuli, and knocked this child over.”

He turned to glance at the child who had been thrown into the room. ‘Uh…’

Lyon’s expression suddenly became quite ‘colorful’. He nodded with a mischievous grin, then discreetly backed out of the room.

Fran blinked, then glanced between Yuli and the blonde Adelie. ‘Phew… at least they weren’t getting intimate on the sofa.’

He bowed his head, repeating, “I’m so sorry, so sorry…” Then, he turned and quickly headed towards the door, like a small wild rabbit desperate to escape.

Yuli set down her wine glass and suddenly called out to Fran.

“Hey!” Yuli commanded the handsome youth, who looked as if he wanted to flee, her tone tinged with a tsundere haughtiness. “Come here for a moment…”

“Uh…” Fran turned back, a hint of awkwardness on his face, though his professional fake smile remained. “I’m sorry… I… I’ll have the staff handle this. Is there… anything else you need?”

“Don’t be nervous,” Yuli sighed, her voice softening slightly. She gently beckoned Fran to come closer. “I won’t make you pay for anything. Just come here…”

Yuli frowned. Even as Fran cautiously approached her, she sensed that the youth seemed quite afraid of her. Yuli pulled a tissue from the table and gently began to wipe the cream stains from the youth’s dress.

“No… customer, I can do it myself. Please… don’t wipe it like that… Mmm…”

The youth’s voice echoed in her ears, making Yuli’s cheeks flush with a strange heat. ‘What is this? He’s talking as if I’ve done something outrageous to him, and now I’m getting a little excited myself.’

“Hey, do you have a client right now? If not, stay and have a drink with me…”

Yuli asked tentatively, pulling Fran to sit beside her. Fran nodded, a touch of shyness about him. Yuli’s gaze then shifted to Adelie, the blonde girl she had called over earlier.

“You can leave now. Go to the door and find the man who brought you in to settle your payment.”

“Huh?” Adelie looked at Yuli, then at Fran, utterly bewildered.

‘I lost to…?’

‘Well, I certainly lost.’

Adelie glumly picked up her satchel and slunk out of the room.

As she left, she also closed the wooden door that hadn’t been shut properly.

Yuli turned back, gazing at Fran once more. She felt a strange sense of déjà vu; Fran looked just as he had when they first met—so nervous, so reserved, so shy.

“Fran, oh… you might not remember me. My name is Yuli. We’ve met once or twice before. I’ve been looking for you recently; where have you been?”

“I…” Fran averted his gaze, answering unhurriedly. “I went back to my hometown in the south for a while, but there was hardly any food there, so I came back. This place, though a bit disgusting, at least… I can eat.”

‘No wonder…’

Uncharacteristically, Yuli lowered her head, seemingly overcome with pity for the young person beside her. She offered Fran the pastry from the table and gently stroked his head.

She watched the youth cautiously examine the pastry in his hand, struggling to suppress a laugh. An inexplicable heat churned within her, growing more insistent. She thought, ‘Perhaps…’

“Fran…” she asked tentatively. “Could you… I’ll pay you. Could you stay with me for the night?”

“Ah?” The youth was so startled that he immediately dropped the pastry and waved his hands frantically. “No, no, no! I… I only provide companionship and liven things up. I don’t sell my body, I’m so sorry, truly, I can’t! I keep myself pure.”

“Huh?”

Yuli was a little bewildered. She looked at the youth before her, ‘Hmm…’

She began to understand. Indeed, Fran seemed different from the common courtesans; he didn’t appear to be someone of that world. So then…

“What’s more…” Fran suddenly lifted his head to look at Yuli, as if finally summoning a sliver of courage. His voice held a hint of petulance and resentment as he spoke:

“Sister Yuli, last time, you didn’t pay me either…”