Chapter 45

✿

Duke Anais gently looked down at me from the top of his black horse.

“Then I’ll see you again.”

I was surprised by the majesty of the Duke, and nodded.

Looking away from him until he disappeared from sight.

Then, with my right hand, I tried to firmly press down my pounding heart.

That’s strange.

Surely, I feel like my ears are numb…

‘Was the imprint still unstable?’

But I thought we’ve gotten closer.

Could it be that I was the only one who thought so?

However, the Duke had a dark expression that I couldn’t understand at any time, so I should be very wary.

In summary, a typical handsome villain award.

‘I…I’m not doubting just by looking at his face.’

After coughing, I turned around.

At that moment, I felt a gaze from somewhere.

✿

I went back into the little chocolate shop, for the chocolate cake.

“Welcome, Astel! You’re back?”

“Oh, yes. I’m going to pick a chocolate cake!”

“Look at the catalog here and choose comfortably.”

“Yes.”

I smiled lightly and bowed my head toward Lily, the owner of the store.

The traditional chocolate shop was popular thanks to Lily, who went all the way to the capital to get a chocolatier license.

Even today…

I glanced at the robust man approaching behind and laughed inside.

“Oh, he, heㅡ hello! I’d like a cho, choㅡ chocolate please!”

“Ah yes! It’s alcohol-based chocolate, right? You’re back, Warret.”

A bald man hesitating to hide a large bouquet of flowers. He was tall and had a handsome face, and he had gold eyes, so he had a splendid impression.

Moreover, it was a bold style with a completely bald head and tattoos, but his attitude was so stiff and clumsy that it didn’t feel threatening.

There was a slight contrast in his appearance, but above all, it was not common to see a bald person in the cold northern part.

After observing, I looked down and continued to check the catalog.

Of course, even if I didn’t want to hear their conversation, I couldn’t help hearing their voices.

“A-, alcohol base. Yes, riㅡ right. Well, I can share this then.”

The man rambled so much that he didn’t even know what he was saying.

“Yes, I’ll wrap it for you. You often come to buy chocolate these days. If you don’t brush your teeth often, your teeth might rot.”

But Lily was a pro.

“Every, every, every minute, and every second I brush my teeth! It’s true!”

“Ahaha! There’s no need for that.”

As I folded the catalog and observed the ready-made chocolate cakes on the glass shelves, I laughed to myself.

‘What? You two are so young and cute.’

Chocolatier Lily was popular in the village for her elegant and beautiful appearance. That man also seemed to have Lily in mind.

Watching other people’s love bloom, I feel a little bit flustered.

I pointed to the ‘Chocolate Factory-shaped cake’ in the catalog and called out Lily.

“Lily, I’ll order a chocolate cake here.”

“Yes! Astel, a chocolate factory cake, and Warret, a fresh alcohol-based chocolate.”

Lily quickly finished preparing.

Thanks to this, Warret and I were able to leave the chocolate shop at the same time.

I came out with powerful steps, but Warret’s expression next to me was a little different.

It seemed to have lost strength.

“Ah…”

That big bouquet must be for Lily.

It’s definitely frustrating because he couldn’t give it to her.

Warret sighed in disappointment and clenched his fists tightly.

As he came out, his body trembled, and eventually he stumbled and fell on the ice.

‘Maybe it’s the aftermath of not making up his mind to confess… ‘

As soon as he fell, several small square boxes in his clothes fell to the floor with a loud sound.

“Hey, here!”

When I picked up the square boxes, each of them suddenly shone.

‘Wait, is this…?’

Warret, who hastily stood up from the ice, shrugged and took the square boxes from my hand.

“Thank you. God bless you. If I had a little more hair on my head, I would have been brave!”

He even got a tattoo, so I thought it was arbitrary baldness, but it was intentional…

But wait… Baldness and the artifacts. I squinted at him.

With tears in his eyes, he stepped forward.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Is that an artifact?”

“Ah, that’s right. I got permission for everything. It’s for my job. It won’t be a problem, so I’ll get going.”

Looking at his miserable back, I grabbed the flyer I had put in my pocket.

‘Maybe this person… ‘

Northern Territory, Bald, Artifact, and his Occupation.

Nothing’s certain yet, but…

Just now, there’s only one assumption that came to mind.

“Excuse me!”

I approached him in a hurry.

“You, I mean your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?”

As soon as I talked to him, he choked up and recited the advantages of having no hair.

“…I don’t even have to brush my hair when I wake up! Hey, are you listening?”

In fact, even if there’s an artifact appraiser among those who come with my bait called ‘hair growth‘, I thought about how to distinguish which of them was the person I was looking for.

I slowly opened my lips.

The person in front of me may be the artifact appraiser I’m looking for.

“There’s a way for your hair to grow back.”

“Hoㅡhow would my hair grow back?”

“Yes. Astel, the human healer from the Duke’s Castle. There’s a word going around that if you want to grow your hair back, you should visit her.”

…Was it bad acting?

“Are you serious?”

I glinted at him.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“You mean this head of mine could still be cured?”

I nodded at his question.

“Give Astel’s name in front of the castle and find ‘Grow Up My Hair‘.”

There was no reason not to give him a hair regrowth right now. Because I still don’t know for sure his identity.

However, in order for outsiders to enter the castle, they had to go through a tricky identification process.

‘Because I don’t know for sure if this person was the famous Artifact Appraiser that even Cassian couldn’t find in the original.’

It was better to trust the verification process of the Duke castle rather than my eyes.

“Grow up, My Hair… Come to think of it, not long ago, I heard rumors. What do you mean by hair growth? I thought it would be a scam! No magic could make your hair thicker!”

Warret seemed to have been scammed a lot, and he was about to spit fire with his mouth.

I spoke to him with a reliable look.

“I’m going to give you a sample, so you could try it out. For your information, ‘Grow Up Hair‘ was a limited edition with only a few quantities sold.”

I winked lightly at him. Warret’s face turned extremely red.

✿

Early the next morning, I was informed of the long-awaited visit.

“There’s a raccoon beast that came to me. After checking his identity, he said he was working as an artifact appraiser… I’m sure the identity was cleared, so do you want to approve it?”

At Sally’s words, I put my hands forward and nodded.

Being a raccoon beast, his identity was confirmed by this.

“Yes, let him come to my room.”

About ten minutes later, I was able to meet the Artifact Appraiser, who came in a hurry as he looked desperate the day before.