Chapter 272: Well-Loved
Rosalind looked at Irene a bit strangely. There was a semblance of recognition, but a worry that she didn’t know her at all.
The female knight offered a small smile to Rosalind. It was fine if she recognized her, and it was fine if she didn’t as well.
Now that Irene had leaned further into her femininity, people seemed to think she looked rather different. In all fairness, she thought, the teenage years were the ones when you changed the most. It was what she remembered from when she was last alive. One day a girl, and the next, a woman.
"Could you spare us a bit of your time, Rosalind?" Felix asked the girl.
"Let me deliver these things first, then I will ask the innkeeper," she responded.
It was the very person the knights needed to speak to, so while the maid went to deliver the drinks to the patrons, Irene and Felix went to the front, where an innkeeper was writing something down.
When he met the eyes of the knights, Irene observed that the man was quite young. He must have been around the same age as Felix. If he inherited the inn or built it up himself from such a young age didn’t matter to Irene. It seemed to be a well taken care of place, and she commended him for it.
"Good evening," Felix was the first to greet. "Are there any rooms, sir?"
"Surprisingly, yes," the innkeeper responded. "We have a couple available that would be suitable for knights. Free of charge. I heard what you did for the township."
Irene wouldn’t tell Felix or the other knights what she occasionally did, but her father had given her quite a bit of money to spend for the knighthood when no one was looking. Even though the Duke’s Tower certainly had abundant funds, especially after the war, things were disorganized enough that Arthur didn’t want the knighthood to be bothered. If he could alleviate some of their worries through his daughter, he was going to do just that.
"That’s unnecessary," Irene insisted, before Felix could. "We would like to support the businesses through the duchy while we eat the food and drink and enjoy the privilege of sleeping indoors."