Chapter 38: What was the Duke interested in?

"Y-Your Grace!" Julian was beyond baffled. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you do not fall a second time." The Duke answered, and the knights watched with bewildered eyes.

Even though they wore helmets that covered their eyes, they could see very clearly what was going on through the visor.

And Julian could definitely feel those eyes.

"This isn’t right, Your Grace," Julian claimed, his face reddening in embarrassment.

"I make the rules," he said, and then headed for the entrance of the inn.

He didn’t care if there were eyes. He was just doing what his mind told him to, while Julian flushed so red that he felt he would never recover from this.

How could he let another man carry him like that? And not just any man. The Duke himself.

But this let him take a good look at the Duke’s affection level.

Above his head was the affection level that had grown so much it felt too hard to believe.

"When did...?" His voice came out in a whisper.

"What?" The Duke asked, hearing his whisper but Julian shook his head. He didn’t mean to say that out loud.

He looked away, avoiding the Duke’s gaze by all means, but he took a peek. One last time, he told himself. He wanted to check one last time to make sure he hadn’t been wrong.

The affection level that had been hovering at 16% just three days ago was suddenly at a solid 30%.

What happened in those three days?

No, nothing happened. He did not interact with the Duke in those three days either, so how did the affection level that had been rising so steadily up until now increase by 14?

He knew how hard he worked to get his affection to 10, but now it was 30?

It made no sense.

’Was it a glitch?’

He wondered, but the description next to the Duke’s affection level didn’t seem like a glitch.

> [Target: Duke Alaric — Affection: 30% (interested)]

What was the Duke interested in? Julian?

It just made no sense no matter how many times he asked himself about it. Ah, whatever. As long as he wants to be hostile towards him.

Maybe him being friendly was a good thing.

But if the Duke was going to pull stunts like this every now and then, he didn’t see how this was a good thing.

The people on the floor level, drinking at the inn’s bar, turned their heads as soon as the door opened and a figure who didn’t seem to belong to that area appeared, carrying a man in his arms.

He had an intimidating aura and they immediately knew that he was a noble.

They spotted the flags outside and knew right away who noble man had graced them with their presence.

They got up right away and bowed their heads.

"We greet the Grand Duke of the North!"

Even if they were commoners who knew nothing of etiquette, they knew at least how to show respect towards the Lord of their region.

Duke Alaric walked past them and then headed for the counter.

"Give us a room." He said and Julian snapped.

"Wait, what?" He looked at the Duke and then at the man behind the counter. "He means room." He said. "Do you have rooms available?"

"Ah, even if there weren’t, we would make them available right away." The man said, bowing his head. "For the Grand Duke to grace my shabby inn with his presence, it is nothing but an honor."

"Yes, yes, please give us rooms. There are a lot of us," Julian said, smiling awkwardly, and then glanced at the Duke, who was looking at him.

He didn’t know what the Duke was trying to do right now but he had a feeling it wasn’t something he would smile over.

Julian sat in his small, private room, his leg shaking as he thought heavily.

’No one will come into my room in the middle of the night, right?’

Usually, he wouldn’t worry, but with the way the Duke had been acting, he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t wake up to find the Duke staring at him and seeing his whole messed-up waking-up habit.

He wished he had the reward from this question already. He wished he had the recipe that even if he didn’t make a perfect potion, he would make something that would ease his waking madness.

He gulped, his hands clasped together and clenching hard, cold sweat dripping down his neck as his leg kept vibrating.

Then, a knock came on the door, startling him.

He raised his head, dread filling him. It wasn’t like there was anyone after his life, but the weight of being found out was no different from having his neck tied with a loose rope.

Just a little yank and the rope would tighten around his neck, strangling him.

He braced himself to answer, but his words were caught. He tried to keep his composure using his ’calm mind’ skill and it worked.

His breathing softened and his sweating stopped. He took in a deep breath and let it out before heading for the door.

Just as he was about to open the door, the impatient knocker pushed the door open, and that impatient knocker happened to be Duke Alaric.

He stood at Julian’s door, wearing his thin shirt and his heavy mantle nowhere to be found, just a simple tunic that showed the sheer breadth of his shoulders.

He looked around the room, his eyes landing on Julian, who was currently sitting on the floor by his bed.

"You’re still awake," the Duke noted. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "The boy is asleep again, though he looked around for you." He said. "I had to tell him you were right next door before he calmed down."

Lucius was happy with the fact that he could be with his father, but he felt even more assured with Julian by his side. So waking up to eat and finding out Julian wasn’t there made him feel restless and scared.

Julian had asked the Duke for a favor, just after they paid for the rooms. He said he wanted to be alone, if possible, and that he should use this opportunity to bond with his son more.

Hearing it was a good opportunity to bond with his son, the Duke agreed, but he made a statement about it being better if they shared the room.