Adelyn knew leaving the man alone after sharing a passionate night with him was cowardly. However, she had no choice. There were still a lot of things to be done, and she only had a day to spend by herself before she was shipped back to the castle to meet her betrothed.
As soon as she came out of the room, she saw a woman, whom Adelyn assumed was the inn hostess, standing in front of the room across from the one she came out of. The hostess heard the sound from behind her and turned around with a bright smile on her lips. But as if she didn't like what she saw, her smiling face slowly turned into a scowl.
"Good morning," despite the unwelcoming encounter she received from the inn hostess, Adelyn still greeted the woman.
"…Good morning to you too, Miss," the hostess replied, but her eyes were glued somewhere else.
Noticing the direction where she was looking, Adelyn figured that she must have been surprised to see her coming out of the other room. After all, last night, the inn hostess guided her to the adjacent room. Anyone would be confused and surprised if they saw her coming out of another room.
As expected, the woman finally opened her mouth to ask, "Why did you come out of that room, Miss?"
Previously, she assumed that Adelyn had left because there was no one inside her room; even after knocking a couple of times, she thought the door would give away because of it.
The young stable boy she brought with her last night under the order of this young miss to have him accompany her had waited too long and decided to leave due to his duty of looking after the stable.
The inn hostess was too tired to bother looking for the young lady and was even more glad to keep the gold coin in her purse. This morning, she decided to come up the stairs to check the empty room to see if it could be used tonight, but who knew that she would meet the lady who went missing last night coming out of the other room?
Adelyn did not know what was happening in the inn hostess's mind and honestly replied, "I stayed here last night."
The inn hostess froze and looked at the young lady in shock.
"Why? Is there something wrong?" Adelyn asked.
The inn hostess did not know if she wanted to proceed and tell the truth to Adelyn. However, thinking about the gold coin in her purse, she debated against it. If she told the young lady the truth, she might demand a return of her payment. A gold coin was equivalent to a thousand silvers; would she willingly give it up?
Shaking her head, the inn hostess said to Adelyn, "Nothing… I hope your stay was wonderful." She paused for a brief second before continuing to ask her, "Did something happen that you might wish to tell me?"
She remembered there was another guest who was staying in that room. However, contrary to other guests who stayed for a night, the man chose to buy the inn and renovate a room to his liking. She could still recall his excessive demands and requests for things to be placed in that room. But he paid quite handsomely that no one, even the previous inn owner, her patron, shamelessly put on his widest smile and gave in to that man's every demand.
The identity of the man staying in that room was too obscured and mysterious. He was definitely someone wealthy enough to buy the entire inn. However, his intentions were dubious. The hostess, who has met several male guests every night, could even sense a dangerous aura from him, making her hesitant to get close to him.
And even though it wasn't her place, she still couldn't stop herself from asking the young lady if something had happened. If that man forced her to stay in his room or hurt her, the inn hostess would find a way to speak to him.
Adelyn saw the woman sending the door behind her an imperceptible gaze. The inn hostess looked like she was standing before the maw of a beast.
But why?
Perhaps, the inn hostess and the man inside the room did not have a good relationship. Were they former lovers before the two decided to go on their chosen path? Adelyn was almost amused by her thoughts. Adelyn formerly decided to stay for two days, but she didn't have the time to stay any longer in this place now that her goal had been achieved.
"Nothing for you to worry about." Adelyn couldn't possibly tell the inn hostess about what had happened between her and that man whose name she didn't even ask. Furthermore, if the inn hostess was that man's former lover, it was better not to tell her what happened.
Adelyn knew that women were jealous in nature. She saw many women who had been able to snatch her brothers' attention starting to fight amongst themselves. She even met a few who wanted to form a friendship with her just so they could get closer to her brothers. But she commonly saw these women clashing with their words. Once, she saw one of her brothers' former lovers targeting his new woman to the point that the latter had to bawl her eyes out in front of her brother.
The moment Adelyn walked out of the inn, the bright sunshine hit her face, making her squint for a few seconds to adjust to the brightness. For a moment, she fought the urge to look upward to where the window of the room she stayed in, hoping to catch a glimpse of that man for the last time.
She knew it was foolish to think like this, but she still couldn't help it. He was the first man to be in such close and intimate contact with her. Sighing, Adelyn took control of herself to fight the urge to turn her head and glance back.
With a deep breath, Adelyn continued to walk forward to face the future she was fated to experience.