The Luxury of the Fortress
Inside the room was a mountain of clothes and jewelry. There were also everything else needed for daily life piled high.
The problem was that every single item was so extravagantly luxurious that it would make one’s head spin if they saw it.
“Here is the list. Please sign to acknowledge receipt.”
The maid bowed politely and handed over the paper listing the items.
Irene, who had been unable to close her mouth, scanned the list from the top.
The lower she looked, the more her face turned pale with shock.
The ornate and soft fabric of the clothes was one thing, but from the middle onward they grew increasingly luxurious until the very end included aphrodisiacs meant for a restful night.
‘This… isn’t something that 1st-rank purifiers even use?’
It wasn’t simple aphrodisiacs.
They were made from herbs found deep inside dungeons, and placing them near one’s pillow at bedtime allowed purification power to recover quickly. It was an extremely precious item.
Naturally, they were expensive, and because they were so rare, only the highest-ranking purifiers ever used them, and only very occasionally.
So why were they here in this room?
The gorgeous items alone were one thing, but the other objects were just as bewildering.
The food piled high on the table and the maids wearing badges marked with the room number they stayed in.
‘What exactly is going on?’
Nothing is simply given inside the fortress.
Even though it is managed by the Kingdom Alliance, the basic offerings were nothing more than the absolute minimum.
If you wanted more items or special treatment, the managing Alliance naturally demanded money.
Of course, the princess or daughters of noble families would not have had any real trouble.
Out of pride, the royal family and noble houses supported them generously, so they always had the largest rooms and the most maids.
A knight’s partner, especially a strong one, would start with a modest room but quickly raise its rank after earning rewards from several dungeon raids.
‘That’s why I always struggled in the past…’
Even if she had received the smallest room, there was always laundry and cleaning to handle.
With no time to spare while saving money, Irene had to do everything herself.
At first, even the purifiers who personally handled everything after receiving rewards hired maids with the money and upgraded their rooms, then ate the best food.
But Irene had to keep staying in the very corner room she was originally given.
She had to save every coin to repay the value of her body.
‘So I never dreamed of nice things…’
Not just nice things, but opulent luxuries.
Items so extravagant that it made one’s jaw drop.
The problem was that she had never asked for any of this.
Irene cleared her voice as much as she could and spoke to the maid.
“Excuse me, but something seems to have been mistaken.”
“A mistake? What do you mean?”
“I never requested any of these. Since I haven’t touched anything, please return everything.”
“That’s impossible. All payment has already been completed.”
The maid’s answer made Irene even more bewildered.
“What? Who exactly paid for all of this?”
“Look at the bottom of the list…”
Following the maid’s words, Irene hastily checked the bottom of the long list.
There, Michael’s name was clearly written.
Wilhelmina, who had been looking at the name beside her, turned deathly pale.
“Haa…”
Irene finally drove off the tiresome Wilhelmina, who kept clinging to her and demanding an explanation for why Michael had sent these things, by calling her tired and then let out a long sigh.
Looking back into the room, her eyes still grew dizzy at the luxurious items that refused to disappear.
She scanned the room in search of a seat and found the maid’s chair in the corner, sitting down. She didn’t dare sit on the luxurious one.
‘What is this all about?’
As expected, the maid had been right; all these items had already been paid for.
‘The Alliance, crazy about money, wouldn’t simply give them to me.’
It was a fact she knew well even without the maid’s explanation.
‘I suffered so much just to receive a single thick blanket before.’
She had always thought winter blankets were provided as standard, but they had to be bought with money.
Normally she would have bought one with the saved money, but because Count was pressing her to repay the value of her body, she had sent every last coin she had just before. So she had nothing left.
At first she had tried to endure it, but this place in the northeast of the continent suffered merciless winds before winter even arrived.
And Michael had been away from the fortress because of a summons from the temple at the time.
So Irene had no choice but to shiver alone in the cold room until he returned.
When he came back, she immediately begged him to follow her into the dungeon. It was better to follow him than stay alone in the freezing room.
And when he opened the reward box in the room at the end of the dungeon, Irene instinctively reached for it without thinking.
“Why are you doing that?”
When she snapped back to her senses from his cold voice, Irene’s hand was already clutching a small gem from inside the box.
Dungeons’ rewards were supposed to be inspected and collected for auction.
Moreover, this dungeon had been fully cleared by Michael alone, without Irene’s help as a purifier.
Yet she had snatched the biggest reward right from him. How absurd must he have felt?
“I-I’m sorry…”
Despite saying those words, Irene could not let go of the gem she had grabbed. Michael watched her silently.
Feeling embarrassment, apology, and sorrow, she could not lift her head.
After a long silence, he spoke.
“You may keep it.”
Gratitude for his consideration welled up at the same time, and tears nearly spilled.
She could imagine exactly how he must be looking at her.
‘She’s a woman who has no ability but is crazy about money.’
Thinking of his disappointed gaze, Irene could not raise her head until she left the dungeon.
As expected, as soon as they left the dungeon, Michael left without another word.
Thanks to the money he received after registering the reward from that day for auction, she could buy a winter blanket, but the memory of his icy gaze kept haunting her. So instead of placing it on the bed, she wore clothes from the corner and fell asleep.
“…”
Recalling the old memories, Irene let out a bitter smile.
“It’s fortunate that I don’t have to stay here until winter.”
She did not want to go through anything like that again. It was sad for her and a burden on Michael.
Irene stared blankly at the piled items.
Michael was the kind of man who donated all his earnings to the temple. So there was no way he would spend money on things like this.
‘There must definitely be a mistake.’
Then she would surely ask to return them later, so she should not touch anything.
Suddenly, her eyes fell on the plates on the table. They were filled with fruits.
In her previous life, she had never eaten any of these inside the fortress. She had only glanced at them when she was called by Princess Cecilia.
Even as she watched the very fresh and sweet-looking fruits, she still could not tear her eyes away, thinking how pitiful it was.
Swallow.
Her throat moved on its own at the sight of the fresh fruits still covered with dew as if they had just been picked.
She had not eaten properly in a day since waking up.
Her tired body only now felt hunger and began to stir loudly.
Even with a glance, she had thought they were huge fruit plates, but up close there were fruits she could not obtain even in this season.
Irene was especially fond of fruits. So her jaw ached and she desperately wanted to eat, but she did not touch a single one.
Because the changed situation still did not feel real.
She could not believe that all this luxury and coziness had been given to her.
So Irene stared blankly at the fruits in front of her as if they belonged to someone else.
How long had she been doing that?
“Why are you staring like that?”
Suddenly Michael’s voice came from beside her, and Irene froze in place without even screaming.