Chapter 169

Azuki Arai and the Spider Woman [Part 2]

The samurais rushed over when they heard Oliver's scream.

"What happened?!"

The male diplomat passed out in front of the interpreter lady's room.

"I'm sorry for alarming you... Perhaps he was still half asleep."

Melsa apologized to the samurais and slapped both sides of Oliver's cheeks.

"Oliver, Oliver?"

"Uhn? Uugh... EEK—"

Oliver shrieked when he saw Melsa's face the moment he woke up.

"It's rude to scream after seeing someone's face..."

"You... Melsa, you! ...I-Is that thing real?"

"What nonsense are you talking about..."

"There was, a big spider, on your head..."

"...Did you... hit your head too?"

"W-What was he saying?"

Seeing that Oliver looked abnormally frightened, the samurais asked Melsa while increasing their vigilance.

When Oliver suddenly opened the sliding door to Melsa's room without knocking in the middle of the night, he accidentally saw Melsa writing Yoriko's top recipes intently at a blinding speed with a huge spider on her head.

"Oliver, what were you thinking when you entered a lady's room without knocking? At such late hours at that."

"I-I saw it! A huge spider was on your head!"

"Please keep your sleep drunkenness in moderation. Why. Are. You. In. My. Room? ...No way! Are you attempting a sneak visit?!"

"Y-You're wrong!!! I just heard a strange noise! A strange shoki-shoki noise! I kept hearing the noise even though I couldn't see its form!!! T-That's why I was worried if you were scared alone... But when I opened the door, there was a spider on your head—"

"There's no way there would be a spider on my head, right?"

"N-No, I saw it! I really saw it!"

Oliver's flustered appearance worried the samurais, and they asked Melsa again.

"Is he alright?"

"...He said that he heard strange noises. He didn't see anything but kept hearing a 'shoki shoki' sound."

After Melsa interpreted it for them, the samurais burst into laughter with a puff.

"...That is probably... an Azuki Arai... Please tell him that it's alright because it is a harmless specter."

The samurais returned to their rooms, a little flabbergasted by what Oliver was so scared about.

"Oi! Melsa! What was it? What did those Imperial Japanese people say?!"

"They laughed because the 'shoki shoki' noise came from a harmless specter called Azuki Arai, and that it was completely alright."

"Specter?! What is that? A monster? Is it a monster?"

"I think it's more like a type of ghost, though..."

"Ghost!!! Isn't that dangerous?! We could get cursed! Call the exorcists of this country immediately!"

"Didn't they already say that it's fine and that it was harmless? ...Azuki Arai... How nostalgic... So they have specters in Imperial Japan too, huh... 'Wash me beans, or catch me a human to eat... Shoki-shoki! Shoki-shoki!', was it?"

'Fufufu' Melsa remembered about her past world and hummed the tune.

"I-It eats humans, so of course it's not okay!"

Oliver trembled after hearing what Melsa said.

"Wouldn't it be alright if you chose to wash the beans in the end? Well, I'm not sure though. Can you return to your room now, Oliver?"

"No, but why was there a spider on your head—"

"There's no way I had a spider on my head!"

Melsa forcibly chased Oliver out of her room and closed the sliding door shut.

Violet, who had been hiding in the shadow of the table, appeared with a rustle and looked up at Melsa worriedly.

"I fooled him somehow, so it's alright," Melsa grinned at Violet and invited the spider to sleep while tidying the many recipes she had written.

Melsa's POV

"Haah. Oliver really has the worst timing."

I can't believe he would abruptly open the sliding door to my room in the middle of the night without knocking first.

He pretended to be all strong and great when he was, in fact, a coward. That part of him hasn't changed since long ago.

Just thinking that I would have been married to him if he hadn't broken off our engagement at that time gave me the shivers.

Now I can't imagine being with any other man besides Leonard.

It was the first time we were separated this far since we got married.

As I started feeling drowsy, I lay down on the bed while thinking about the faces of my husband and children.

I wonder if everyone is doing alright...

Is Leonard taking good care of the children...

Is George studying properly...

Is William keeping up well with his Practical Skill for Hunters...

Is Emma... causing any trouble...

...

...

...

Emma... is not making any trouble, right?

Emma... is alright, right?

Right?

♠♠♠

Author's words: In the end, Melsa couldn't sleep from all the worry.