“Chirp chirp chirp!”
“Ugh…”
Cazerose slowly began to open her eyes at the sound of birds chirping outside the window.
“!..Gasp!..”
Right after, she hurriedly sat up and started checking her condition.
Her outfit was exactly as it was before she fell asleep last night; there were no signs of her clothes being removed, and there were no issues that stood out as problems.
“Phew…”
Realizing this, Cazerose let out a small sigh without even realizing it.
Then, she carefully grabbed her underwhelming chest, recalling the events of last night.
‘Nothing happened… I was pretty tense just in case, though…’
Last night, Cazerose had to take off her outer garment to dry her damp clothes, ending up in her underwear.
However, despite appearing calm on the surface, she was feeling a complex mix of emotions internally.
At this moment, she was alone in the room with a man.
Moreover, both of them were young, and they were dressed pretty lightly.
Objectively, it was the perfect situation for something to happen.
And Cazerose already had some knowledge about this.
‘My father used to say… Men are like wolves that you should never trust, no matter what…’
No matter how gentlemanly and polite a man may appear, he could suddenly turn into a hungry beast when left alone with a woman.
Cazerose had been warned about this since she was a child, and thus, she felt a thick layer of tension in this situation of sharing a room with Santana.
But to be honest…
The tension she felt at that moment wasn’t solely generated from fear.
‘It’s a bit scary, but… maybe it will be okay? If it’s with Mr. Santana…’
He was the man who clearly said he would take responsibility for her, no matter what happened.
She decided to follow him and came this far.
And, traditionally… Cazerose understood well the meaning contained in a man’s declaration to take responsibility for a woman.
Although the situation was tense and somewhat frightening, she thought it might be okay to give him her first time.
However…
Contrary to Cazerose’s resolve, Santana had actually fallen asleep while she was knocked out and was currently sleeping uneasily in the corner of the opposite bed.
‘Even so, Mr. Santana is different. I mean… no matter how much he is a man, he wouldn’t do anything I would dislike or be scared of…’
Watching him sleep so innocently, Cazerose felt once again a sense of trust and relief.
However, at this moment, she began to feel a slight twinge of bittersweet melancholy along with her emotions.
‘But… am I just that unattractive? If I had a slightly better figure… maybe…’
Thinking this, she gently caressed her somewhat disappointing chest, which resembled her mother’s.
Just as she was lost in thought, the moment came.
“Hmm…”
The next moment, Santana slowly opened his eyes with a tired expression.
Cazerose involuntarily blushed slightly and greeted him.
“Um… Did you sleep well, Mr. Santana?”
“Ahhh… Yes. Did you sleep well, Cazerose? Is there anything uncomfortable?”
“Yes… Thanks to you, Mr. Santana, I slept comfortably.”
It wasn’t a lie; at this moment, Cazerose was taking up almost 2/3 of the bed comfortably, while Santana, being a large man, was only occupying about 1/3, pushed into the corner.
However, Santana smiled and replied to her.
“I’m glad. So, shall we start getting ready to go? Fortunately, the weather is nice, so we shouldn’t have any big problems moving.”
“Understood, then I’ll get ready.”
With those words, Santana got up and started putting on his neatly dried clothes from the night.
Watching him, Cazerose blushed slightly before starting to put on her own clothes as well.
*
Language and sentences…
This forms the very foundation of all human social activities and is the basis of humanity’s development.
In that sense, the power of words and writing is incredibly strong, and their importance cannot be overstated.
And in this regard… commerce, which fundamentally begins and ends through communication, is closely related to language.
For basic transactions, the influence is relatively small.
When bartering items on the spot, no complicated conversations are necessary.
However…
As commercial techniques developed and various types of trading methods emerged, the power of language in writing contracts and executing them could make someone a billionaire with just a single sentence or word, or conversely, leave someone penniless overnight.
As a result, merchants had to pay considerable attention to the characters and expressions used when drafting and executing contracts.
In some cases, a simple trivial expression could lead to bearing a false accusation.
In that regard, he was…
At this moment, he was deep in regret over the careless contract he had entered into.
‘They say it only takes a moment for a person’s life to fall into ruin. That expression was indeed true…’
For several decades, he had held a solid position as a renowned merchant in Benetsa.
However… he was currently locked in prison awaiting trial for a crime he didn’t commit.
To be fair, it was a completely absurd reason, but ironically, due to such sloppiness, the experienced merchant had fallen into their trap so easily.
While deeply regretting his minor yet fatal mistake, he hung his head in silence, having given up all hope in the prison.
*
A vast harbor and countless ships.
And beautiful buildings situated over water and the canals crossing through the city.
This was the continent’s largest port city, the commercial city of Benetsa, known as the queen of the Adriatic Sea.
Although its influence had waned compared to the past, it still held power and wealth that could not be dismissed, naturally inspiring awe and admiration in those who arrived for the first time.
“Impressive. This is Benetsa… I’ve heard stories, but this is my first time actually being here.”
Cazerose could not hide her pure admiration as she took in the beautiful, vibrant cityscape before her.
Seeing her like this, I couldn’t help but notice again how cute she was for a moment.
‘What can I say… The more I see her, the more I feel like I want to give her a candy or something.’
Cazerose stared wide-eyed like a child visiting a big city for the first time, unable to close her mouth.
Showing a bit of child-like innocence beneath her beautiful features.
As a result, I couldn’t help but smile.
‘Really… in that sense, it definitely doesn’t seem like all the trouble I’ve gone through has been in vain.’
Although I hadn’t achieved my grand goal, at least I was able to save such an adorable girl with my own hands—something I could proudly cherish in my heart.
Feeling that thought, I turned my gaze forward once again with a bit of excitement.
We were almost at Shylock’s Mansion, our destination.
As I thought about wanting to quickly rest and shake off our travel fatigue before gathering information, I started to drive the carriage a bit faster.
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