The Devil's Betrothed novel Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Tavern

A foul-tempered Oriana was waiting for Arlan outside the tavern.

It's been more than half an hour since she arrived at their promised meeting place.

Earlier, she found herself a table on a nice corner inside, intending to snack while waiting for the noble brat to arrive, but she had to witness useless drunkards talking trash and being rude to the female servers.

The strong stench of alcohol and their rowdy laughter were suffocating. One drunkard even invited her, 'the poor little boy in the corner' to join their table.

Not to mention running through the dangerous forest to reach the city as fast as she could, she had also been disgusted twice by the scenes inside the tavern. No wonder Oriana was in an extremely foul mood.

Adding insult to injury, that brat was still nowhere to be seen!

'That brat didn't forget, did he?' _{freёweɓnovel.com}

She decided to wait outside, unless she ended up in a brawl.

At that moment, Arlan had reached the tavern, but since he was riding a horse, he headed for the stables on the side and simply passed by the entrance. From a distance, he saw Oriana standing outside, idly kicking rocks.

'That knife is really important to her."

Just as Arlan and Imbert dismounted, a man on horseback found them.

"Greetings, Your Highness. Greetings, Commander."

If Luke and Rina were here, they would have recognized the newcomer— he was the same suspicious man who was asking about Orian.

"What did you find, Kerry?" Imbert asked the knight disguised as a mercenary.

"Orian the Herbalist—he is a fifteen-year-old commoner who lives in a nameless village at the eastern outskirts of the forest near the town of Gerona. He mainly sells herbs for a living, but he also treats the illnesses of his fellow villagers, though they compensate him with basic goods. He is an orphan living with his relatives since he was a kid," the knight informed them. "and that relative's daughter is betrothed to him."

Arlan raised an eyebrow at the result of the knight's initial investigation.

'Betrothed? She even managed to fool my knight. Does that mean she has been disguised as a man for so long, perhaps only her family knew her real gender?' A smirk appeared on his lips widened. 'Why, things are turning out to be so interesting all of a sudden.'

"...that is basically the lad's background. Any more instructions, Your Highness?" the knight asked. "Shall I trace his whereabouts for the past months as well? From my understanding, they migrated from another town—"

"You don't have to look into it anymore," Arlan replied. "You did well, Kerry. You may go."

After dismissing the other knight, Imbert stepped into the shadows, effortlessly blending into the crowd. "I will be around, Your Highness."

Arlan simply walked ahead as he knew he didn't need to tell his knight what to do. After being his guardian knight for so long, Imbert knew his role was to stay in the background unless ordered otherwise.

Meanwhile, Oriana was close to the end of her patience.