Bozes was nervous, her knocking could be more accurately compared to gently caressing the door.
She waited dumbly in the dark corridor for some kind of reaction.
She continued waiting, in front of the silent, unresponsive door.
As she waited, she began to get worried about a passer-by spotting her, so she looked left and right, before taking a deep breath and exhaling to relieve her tension. Even then, she still could not gather up the courage to open the door.
"You will seduce Itami." To Bozes, that order might as well have been a death sentence.
As a noble daughter, she had long been prepared for the eventuality that someday, she would be married off to benefit her family or for political reasons.
She was familiar with the idea that as a noble daughter, she might be called on to welcome guests and ensnare them with her body.
She was also very clear about how countless heiresses throughout the Empire had to marry people who were completely unlike the knights in shining armor that they dreamed of. No matter how luxuriously they lived after that, it was just a pretty way of describing a form of transaction. In truth, since there were people who had to starve and freeze in this world, this could be considered the purpose, or perhaps, their duty, for those who could fill their bellies and dress well.
But the most insulting thing was that she was going to have to give herself to Itami.
In her dreams, Bozes imagined that she would greet a Duke, who was also a young officer of an enemy nation while dressed in an elegant sarong and enjoy an exciting, intellectual debate with him for the pleasure of verbally fencing with an equal.
Armed with her greatest weapons (her jewels), clad in her strongest armor (her dress) and wreathed in fragrant perfume, she would play love games with him.
She would tempt him with her luscious body and dull his mind with her scent, her every movement saying "Do you want me? Do you want to have me? I can give my body to you, but if you want it, you're going to have to give yourself to me..." and so on, teasing him and drawing him out until her partner surrendered completely to her, and then they would make sweet love to each other on a bed of roses.
But her dreams were just dreams, and the reality was that Itami's bed would be her battlefield. They would not bond over the clash of blades, they would not even be able to develop feelings for each other, and she had already berated him with her tongue before stepping on and kicking him. She had gone into shock when she learned the truth.
And if this was a battle, then it was no longer on even terms. After all, her body was practically exposed to him already. She had applied a thick layer of powder to cover up the cut on her forehead, garbed herself in a revealing nightgown that she had gotten from somewhere, and her hair was a mess of drills. In this tragic state, she was little more than the hourly discount at a brothel's going-out-of-business sale.
Be it physically or emotionally; she was already defeated. What kind of face would she greet Itami with? Maybe, after she entered the room, she should beg him for forgiveness and offer her body to him as a token of her sincerity.
Men were not creatures who would honor a plea like "Could you be gentle?" after you got into bed with them. If she did not manage to at least secure his kindness as a promise before she gave herself to him, it was not likely that he would listen to her once he had his way with her. Then, what was she selling herself in such haste for?
She guessed that the task of actually bringing down Itami the boss character would be left to Panache, who would be coming after her. Bozes was nothing more than an appetizer to apologize and beg his forgiveness, sacrificing herself to cancel out the terrible mistake she had made. Like a washcloth used to wipe away stains, whether it was fine silk or tatty rags, she would be used and promptly discarded.
As she thought about this, her heart ached so much that she wanted to cry. But she could not cry, not now. If she cried, her eyes would go red and swell up, and it would ruin her looks, which were to be her weapon. Of course, there were men in this world who liked to see women cry, but she would have to wait until she was before him before crying her beautiful tears. And so, the moisture brimming in the corner of her eyes remained locked up there and did not course down her cheeks.
The hallway was silent, and behind this large set of double doors was the bedroom. There was another intervening door within the bedroom. The designers' intent had been to make sure that noise from the corridor did not disturb anyone within.
And so, Bozes finally gathered enough courage to open the door, and she walked toward the separating door in the deepest reaches of the guest room, the one that had loomed large in her mind for a while, intending to go to where Itami was.
Bozes entered silently and approached the bedroom. Her plan was to silence Itami with the sensual pleasures of her body before his sense of foreboding woke him up.