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Chapter 36

“Hoo, which troupe do you belong to?”

“I belong to the Leo wandering troupe.”

“But that wandering troupe just went in earlier.”

“They left me behind because I had something to do.”

I responded briefly to the guard who scoured me from head to toe while grabbing Joseph’s arms as he was so eager to fight them.

‘You promised you’d follow me quietly! That’s why I brought you with me!’

It wasn’t until I whispered to him that he calmed down.

“What about this man beside you?”

“He’s a demon hunter who will be my partner in the sword dance.”

“Ha! I see these demon hunter bastards are willing to do anything and stoop so low as to become a clown.”

The security guard was spitting out some offensive joke directed at Joseph, so I hurriedly turned my gaze to him in case he was offended.

‘I’ll be in big trouble if he knocks down the security guard like before!’

Unlike the drunken men before, the guards were working under Count Leroy. I was so nervous that Joseph, who seemed to be in a bad mood today, would attack the guard in anger.

However, Joseph did not seem to be affected by the security guard’s blatant mockery toward the demon hunters.

...Even I felt offended by this insult.

I was a little concerned by Joseph’s meek attitude, who did not even frown at the insult and hurriedly followed the guard.

“Leo wandering trope is over there. It was a little late for you to join.”

At the guard’s guidance, I approached the dancers who were lying down on the carpets.

“Hello.”

“Who are you?”

A woman who looked like the leader raised her chin at my greetings.

“Who is this woman who wears our dancer outfit?”

She frowned as if she was puzzled. Of course, it was natural to be suspicious.

When I heard from Oscar that the wandering troupe that Marquis Darriano had called today was the Leo wandering troupe, I hurriedly bought and wore the same dancer outfit.

“...Don’t you have something to talk about?”

At Joseph’s belated question, I nodded and looked back at the dancer.

“You look a little tired.”

I glanced at the tent and fumbled to take out a small bottle from my arms.

“What the hell? Can a dancer be a drug dealer, too?”

The troupe leader giggled, stroking the mane of the lion headpiece that she wore.

“You’ll feel all refreshed after a quick nap.”

Unlike the potion I prepared for Marquis Darriano, the potion I took out was not so dangerous a poison.

When I uncorked it, a fragrant smell began to spread through the room. I quickly blocked my nose and pondered whether to hand the towel I had prepared in advance to Joseph, who looked at me with a puzzled face.

‘I can’t help it either.’

Contrary to his promise to follow me quietly, Joseph kept trying to jump on people without a second thought.

I was in trouble because he insisted on using violence in a situation that’s not particularly dangerous.

It would be an easy task for him to beat Marquis Darriano as a man who trained his body regularly, but I didn’t mean to punish him for tormenting the mermaids.

‘I just want to secretly steal the mermaid from Marquis Derrieno without leaving a trace..’

It might be better if Joseph sleeps here with the dancers.

“..Wife?”

I glanced at Joseph, who was blinking his eyelids slowly, and hid the wet towel behind me.

“Just now..”

“You should rest, too.”

“W, What are you doing to me..”

Joseph realized my betrayal and soon stopped talking. His body couldn’t overcome the sleepiness and leaned toward me.

“I’ll be right back, so please stay put right here.”

I panted heavily as I dragged his heavy body to the pillar, and then drew a magic circle to hide him while he was asleep.

I wouldn’t have done this if he stayed still behind me in the first place. With a deep sigh, I began to move quickly.

“As far as I remember, I called the entire Leo wandering troupe.”

Marquis Darrieno and Count Leroy’s suspicious gaze touched me as I appeared alone without even wearing the lion headpiece, the mascot of the Leo’s wandering troupe.

I tightened the veil that covered my mouth just in case they recognized my face.

“Don’t tell me this is a gift specially prepared by the wandering troupe?”

Marquis Darriano began to inspect my body with a lewd smile.

I just nodded, stifling the urge to punch him right away.

“Come closer.”

Marquis Darienno was delighted after coming to his own conclusion even though I hadn’t said a single word.

“The troupe leader told me to look forward to today’s performance. I didn’t know she’d send me such a wonderful gift!”

I knew you wouldn’t suspect me.

Because of those exact lines, he ended up being killed by an assassin hired by his wife while he indulged himself with women and booze.

“You’re totally my style!”

Marquis Darrieno gripped my chin roughly and laughed in satisfaction.

“Marquis, I think there’s something wrong.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Notte’s dancers are known to be prideful, so they are different from the southern courtesans.”

Count Leroy gazed at me with sharp eyes, but I pressed Marquis Derrieno’s shoulders, trying to imitate Sabrina’s flirtatious trick.

‘George seemed to like it when Sabrina narrowed her eyes.’

Marquis Derieno and George were the same kind of people. I just roughly guessed that he might have similar tastes as well, but the marquis stood up while holding my hands as if possessed by something.

“Well, there are different kinds of dancers. It seems like they have prepared a special stage for me tonight, so hurry up and guide me!”

I left the hall with the Marquis who huffed excitedly. His eyes were brimming with lust, as if he had already lost his sanity.

‘It’s probably because of the perfume.’

George told me that he used the potion to impersonate Carlo and sullied his reputation by going in and out of the brothels, but now I guess that was only his excuse to seduce people.

‘I never imagined that I would use the love potion that I made for George.’

I couldn’t even smell what kind of fragrance I have because the perfume made of alchemy didn’t work on the user.

‘Because it was made to amplify the user’s charm, each person will have a different scent.’

George had a lily fragrance that was strong enough to make me dizzy.

Marquis Darrieno didn’t have a choice but to carry a mermaid around because it wasn’t his own mansion.

For Marquis Darrieno, the mermaid was a very expensive ‘item’, so he would keep it in his pocket.

I tilted my head because I seemed to hear the ripple of water from his arms.

“Shall we go to the bedroom?”

“Yes! Of course~”

I headed to his bedroom with a bright smile. As soon as he closed the door, the Marquis began taking off his clothes in a hurry.

I shuddered at the sight of his hairy forearms and then lifted the outer-garment that he threw on the floor.

“Here you are.”

The mermaid that was clearly as big as a human at the auction house became a small guppy fish swimming in a bottle.

Even if it was just a fish, it would be suffocated inside a bottle closed with a cork like this. Mermaids were far from the rumors that said they were immortal beings, but they had a high endurance that prevented them from dying easily most of the time.

‘But that doesn’t mean they don’t feel pain.’

“What are you doing? Hurry and take off your clothes!”

“Kyaa!”

While I was getting lost in thought over the mermaid’s condition, the Marquis approached me and grabbed my shoulders.

Looking at his greasy mustache, I was reminded of the fact that the Marquis’s wife was my age when she decided to plan a murder.

‘...I must be so lucky.’

Most of the nobles’ marriages were political marriages based on the family’s needs, and there were times when an unborn child was already set up to marry.

In the past, I blamed my father because he married me off to a deposed crown prince, but seeing Marquis Darrieno’s face made me realize how lucky I was.

“Hold on, Marquis.”

I pretended to take off my clothes and pulled out the paralysis perfume. It was a toxic scent that was different from the sleeping scent I used for the dancers and Joseph earlier.

‘You won’t die, but you’ll be paralyzed for quite a while.’

But even when I sprayed the paralyzing scent right in front of his nose, Marquis Derrieno didn’t stop his advance on me. So I stepped back in bewilderment when I saw he didn’t collapse.

‘What the hell? Are you resistant to it?’

But the paralyzing perfume was made by me. I hadn’t shared the recipe to George, so there’s no way anyone could be resistant to it.

“Hoho, my body is a little heavy.”

I stiffened at the Marquis’ breath on me.

‘Is it possible that lust can win against the paralyzing scent..?’

“I don’t like to waste time, you know. But you don’t have to worry about that!”

Only then did I discover the other drugs in the hands of the grinning Marquis. It was the same type that could only be seen in the red district that George often visited.

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