160 - Evil Husband (15th Anniversary Edition) Chapter 160
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Only one seat was sold on the top floor with the high-rise Box seats. Since there were hardly any customers, the security check would be lax.
Besides, Aileen knew that the Box seats were quite expensive. The customer who occupied the Box seat now must be of high status or wealthy. Unless there was a report that the customer was doing drugs, the soldiers were likely to simply check and pass by.
Of course, there might be better hiding places than that. But now there was no time to leisurely consider such things.
Having made a decision, Aileen hurried out of the aisle and entered the staff staircase. The narrow spiral staircase used for serving food and drinks led directly to the upper floor.
Opening the small wooden door and reaching the highest floor, Aileen lowered her body. Then, she crept to the railing and looked down.
The Tavern was already completely occupied by soldiers. The dark interior was brightly lit. The music that had been playing loudly until just now had stopped abruptly, and only an uneasy murmur hung low.
The Dancers who had been singing and dancing, as well as the customers who had cheered for them, were all sitting on the floor. They all had faces from which the alcohol had completely worn off, and they only rolled their eyes with frightened expressions.
Aileen quickly scanned to see if her father was somewhere there, but it was difficult to find him because there were so many people.
Soldiers in uniform entered the Tavern. The internal search was already underway. They also checked the aisle Aileen had come out of, and some pointed upwards while looking up.
Aileen quickly moved away from the railing. It seemed that a search would soon come to this side as well. She had to find a place to hide before that happened.
‘Which Box seat should I go into?’
The outermost seat seemed dangerous, so just as she opened the door of a Box seat located moderately inside.
“…!”
Aileen let out a silent scream. It happened to be a Box seat with a customer. She had opened the door to the one place where only one seat was sold.
Inside the Box seat, curtains were drawn, to prevent employees from carelessly looking at the customers.
When food and drinks were ordered, it was common to leave them on the table outside the curtain. If a customer wanted them to be brought beyond the curtain, they would indicate their intention by opening the curtain.
Aileen stared at the curtain embroidered with damask patterns in gold thread. Nothing could be seen beyond the thick fabric.
The customer must have heard the sound of the door opening, but they didn't say anything. Fortunately, they didn't seem to care about her. Just as she was about to close the door as quietly as possible, thinking it would be okay to go out again.
The sound of soldiers' boots was close at hand.
‘Oh, what should I do?’
Aileen anxiously glanced at the curtain. The customer beyond the curtain still hadn't made a sound.
She wondered if the customer had left their seat, but if that were the case, the curtain would have been open. Unable to do either, Aileen fidgeted and eventually stepped into the Box seat.
Click, the sound of the door closing rang out clearly. Aileen wrung her skirt with her hands and said.
“Um, excuse me, sir, I have a situation. If you could just hide me for a moment… Ah, I definitely didn't do Opium…”
As Aileen was rambling, she saw the soldiers starting to check each Box seat from the far end and hurriedly crawled under the table. The table, with a long tablecloth, did not reveal the inside unless someone deliberately bent down to check below.
Aileen covered her mouth with her hand and crouched down. She held her breath, hoping that her luck would continue just a little longer.
Soon after, the door of the Box seat opened. Aileen trembled and looked under the tablecloth. The boots that were about to rush in hesitated, and then a soldier asked for cooperation in a polite voice.
“We are conducting a search due to a report of Opium. Please cooperate for a moment.”
However, the customer beyond the curtain did not respond to the soldier's words. Just as the boots were about to step further inside due to the prolonged silence.
The sound of the curtain being drawn was heard. A strong smell of tobacco wafted out. At the same time, the soldiers slammed their boots hard on the floor with a thud.
Aileen knew what this sound was. It was the sound made when soldiers straightened their feet to salute.
“Your Grace…!”
However, the voice stopped abruptly in the middle of giving the salute. The soldiers then carefully stepped back and disappeared, closing the door of the Box seat. The search ended just like that.
Aileen slowly lowered the hand that had been covering her mouth. She was dumbfounded, not knowing what was going on, with her eyes wide open.
Creak, the sound of a chair being pushed back was heard. Then, slow footsteps followed. The customer who had gotten up from their seat approached the table where Aileen was hiding. The footsteps stopped right in front of the table.
Under the tablecloth, she could see sleek shoes. They were clearly high-end handmade shoes that looked expensive at a glance. The protruding toe of the shoe was pointing directly at Aileen.
And Aileen found her glasses between the shoes placed on either side. She had put her glasses in her pocket while running away in a hurry earlier, and they must have fallen out while hiding under the table.
“…Ah.”
Aileen belatedly made a sound. It was to thank him for hiding her, but the customer immediately turned away. He left the Box seat, leaving Aileen alone.
Aileen waited under the table for a long time for the search to end. Fortunately, thanks to the customer in the Box seat, she passed the search safely.
Unlike Aileen, who had been lucky, the Tavern was full of customers who had been caught for Opium. They would all be punished according to the Imperial Law.
Compared to selling or manufacturing, simple use was subject to a lighter punishment, but even so, they would not be able to avoid a large fine and imprisonment.
Aileen recalled the laboratory in the Grand Duke's Residence filled with Opium and was briefly filled with fear. She had imagined soldiers rushing in and taking her away. She thought it was scary then, but after experiencing the surprise inspection, she realized that reality was even scarier.
Later, she met Alessia, who said that she had been briefly arguing and had gone outside the Tavern. Then, a sudden search began, and she couldn't come inside.
Alessia was relieved that Aileen had safely passed the search, but on the other hand, she couldn't let go of her suspicion.
“Surprise inspections do happen sometimes, but why…”
She said that she needed to find out more and only checked on Aileen's well-being before disappearing again immediately. She didn't forget to tell Aileen to stay quietly in her room until she returned.
Since the store had been turned upside down anyway, they said they would be closed tomorrow. So Aileen was planning to stay in her room until tomorrow.
She had also piled up food to eat in advance. She built a small tower with bread and filled a large water bottle to the brim.
Having some free time, Aileen began to read the ancient books that Alessia had obtained. As she turned the pages, she kept thinking about the customer in the Box seat.
‘What kind of person is he?’
He was someone who didn't expect any reward, and even left without hearing a thank you. Since the soldiers had saluted, he must be a high-ranking noble.
But other than that, she didn't know anything. Judging from the size of his shoes, she could only guess that he was quite tall. Since she couldn't know his age, limiting her thoughts to his height meant there were too many candidates.
‘It's not even certain if he's a noble from The Capital.’
He could be a local noble who had come to visit for a while. Aileen, who had been imagining this and that, shook her head.
It was a useless curiosity since they would never meet again. Aileen was too busy thinking about Cesare.
‘What happened to Father?’
The person who should be at the ranch was frequenting Fiore Street, and even a Tavern. She had to catch him and ask him what was going on, but she couldn't do anything about it now.
‘I should ask Alessia when she comes back.’
Aileen tried to drive away the distracting thoughts in her head and looked at the ancient books again.
Even after a day had passed, Alessia had not returned. She was worried, but since there was no way to contact her separately, Aileen was diligently working as ‘Ilen’ for the time being.
She had put on freckle makeup as Alessia had taught her, but it felt awkward and kept bothering her. Still, it was fortunate that it wasn't very noticeable because the Tavern was dark.
Aileen was still suffering from the mischievous pranks of the Dancers today. Perhaps because Alessia was not there, the pranks seemed particularly severe today.
As Aileen was diligently fanning a Dancer, she perked up her ears when another Dancer mentioned the temple. She listened carefully, hoping to hear something useful, but suddenly a clerk called for Aileen.
“Ilen.”
Aileen went to the clerk with a prop lace fan in her hand. He asked with a subtle expression.
“Did you do something?”
Aileen was surprised and shook her head. She timidly looked around, wondering if she had made a mistake, and the clerk gestured towards the ceiling.
“You know the Box seat customer? The one who reserves and uses all the seats on the top floor by himself.”
The clerk watched Aileen's expression carefully and said.
“That customer is looking for you?”
