CHAPTER 529: CHAPTER 529 - EXPLORING CERYNEIA (PART 11)

For someone who has experienced having his heat before, Lir stared at me blankly with wide eyes as if all I said was gibberish that he could not understand. I waited patiently for his senses to catch up to what I said as he furrowed his brows and looked down. He seemed to be thinking carefully about something.

I started eating breakfast while the guy who is still not recovered from everything that has happened is also absentmindedly shoving food in his mouth. He was eating just for the heck of it but his mind is obviously elsewhere. He has stayed quiet from the time that I told him outright what I think is happening to his body.

After he has eaten his fill of warm food, drank some sweet fruit juice and breathed a bit more, some color finally went back to his lips and his face is back to normal. As if given a big boost of energy with enough food, he finally responded to me verbally again.

He suddenly spoke, "The last time I had my heat was many years ago when I came of age. I handled it on my own at that time since I do not want to bother my father about it. I remember locking myself inside my room since I do not want to cause irreversible issues with me being not in the right mind."

He paused for a while as if to catch his breath and to think about how to say his next words. I looked at him while patiently listening to his stories. I also nodded my head once in a while to show him I was listening intently.

He continued, "I have already forgotten how it felt like to be in that state. Honestly, I also do not have an idea what triggers a heat since it is different for every beast man tribe. Even within the same tribe, even the coming of age varies per merfolk. Some only have it once in their life while some have it almost every year like some kind of change in season."

Silence enveloped the two of us once again as I quietly listened to him. Lir was also staring at my face, observing my reaction to the information he is sharing with me. Not getting any worthwhile change in my expression, he sighed heavily and continued, "If you really triggered my heat unknowingly, I am in trouble."

It was my turn to furrow my brows, not understanding the last phrase he has said. I couldn’t help but ask, "If you were able to handle your heat on your own before, what makes this one different? If you need to lock yourself in a room, I can get you a separate room here in the inn so you can handle your affairs."

Upon hearing that I am planning to kick him out of our room so he can be by himself, he abruptly stood up from his seat with an angry shout, "NO!" His face showed a mixture of hurt and panic all of a sudden.

I asked him directly, "So what is your suggestion so you can deal with that heat? It would be extremely awkward for the both of us to wake up in that same position again as this morning, you know?"

Lir was still standing as he was with his jaw clenched as his sudden heightened emotions have not calmed down just yet. With gritted teeth, he asked, "Do you hate me that much? Am I not good enough for you?"

Huh? How did the questions went astray towards this point? We were just talking about how to handle his heat earlier but now, with the way he is asking me, does he want me to help him settle it?

Just to be sure that I am understanding it right, I asked, "Why are you suddenly asking me about how I think about you? Are you telling me that I have to help you settle your heat since I caused it one way or another even though I did not do it on purpose?"

Upon hearing my barrage of questions, Lir slowly sat back down his chair like a deflated balloon. He then softly said, "I forgot that I was a nobody and I guess you find me unattractive."

I scoffed at him an responded, "If we are to lay down facts in here, I simply want to say that I did not come here for pleasure services or even to look for a new husband or husbands for that matter. As for being unattractive, I have yet to meet a merfolk who isn’t attractive so I do not know what you are talking about. As for liking you, I think I like you enough because you are nice to everybody and a fun to chat with since you are quite smart."

Upon hearing praises coming from me out of the blue, Lir’s head snapped up as he looked at me with starry eyes. It seems that he thought that my comment was an indirect acceptance but with him looking at me like this, I don’t have the heart to dampen his hopes.

Oops! I think that I might have led him into having high hopes to be with me in the future. Well, I will deal with it when that time comes or if he confronts me about it. No one really knows the future anyways.

It was then decided that the idea of moving him to his own room was totally scrapped after being met by an outburst from Lir earlier. I did set some conditions that I am not sure if it was for him or for me. The conditions are simple like keeping our clothes on, just a bit of physical contact and no touching of sensitive parts of the body. As for Lir, he can handle his needs they way he needs to but I won’t be doing anything to help him out in that matter.

Lir agreed to my conditions although he looked like he isn’t happy with any of them. I did threaten to kick him out of my room if he doesn’t follow those conditions so he really doesn’t have much of a choice but to agree no matter how reluctant he was.

After everything has been settled, I told him my agenda for today which is to drop by the auction house to get the proceeds of the items I sold through them, a little more shopping and also looking for the other people from Marius’ list. I told him that he can just stay in the inn if he is not feeling well but he directly answered that he wants to be near me all the time. I sighed at how a single night has transformed this cold and detached guy to a clingy and starry eyed fool.

Upon arriving at the auction house, we were immediately guided to the Levi’s office on the second floor. The transfer of the funds which was mostly pearls and a few merfolk-made tools and objects was smooth. Levi told me that he has not sold everything yet since he simply wanted the people to know the whole range of items he had as of the moment.

He reported that he has only sold 40% of the inventory so far. He was also thinking how he can reach more customers and have even commoners to buy the items. I suggested to cook dishes using the items I gave him as ingredients since it will become cheaper if they are sold in single serving amounts.

Levi’s eyes widened at he looked at me with gratitude. My suggestions was accepted but it caused me to spend a few hours in the kitchen of "Fresh" which was the best restaurant in Cobalt City and coincidentally is one of Levi’s business as well. Out of curiosity, I asked if the Waves inn was his as well but he chuckled and said that he has not though of expanding his business toward the inn-type of establishments.

I demonstrated a few easy to serve dishes to the kitchen staff of the restaurant and even helped them determine how much food and the price we would set for one serving of each of the dishes. I also decided to serve some fresh fruit juice and even fruit slices on sticks so that people can have a taste without buying the whole thing.

After the unscheduled cooking class with me as the teacher, I bid my goodbye and told them to start selling the dishes following the same instructions I have provide. Lastly, I wished them luck so that all of the dishes they will be preparing will sell out.

The rest of the afternoon was then spent eating (trying some popular street food) and shopping for interesting merfolk-made items that I can sell for profit. We have also checked the whereabouts of the others in the list to give them the little notes from Marius. While doing so, Levi and I simply pretended to just be skimming items to buy from store to store.