36 Maclean Hotel

"Mm! This is so good!"

I am eating what they call a croquette in this hotel's restaurant. Since it has the same owner as the famed Maclean restaurant, one can expect that it also serves good food. And I wasn't disappointed at all.

"Woah~!!! What's this? Isn't this raw?"

The waiter served me another dish. It looks like it was made of raw minced meat with a raw egg on top. It doesn't look impressive but I was surprised by the presentation and because of their reputation, it made me intrigued.

"It's beef taretare, Sir Wayne." The waiter said.

"O-oh…yeah. Haha." I awkwardly replied.

I kind of forgot that I was disguised as Wayne because of the food.

It made me feel a little bit guilty that I get to experience this expensive dinner instead of him while him and Delphine are risking their lives in this mission.

'I wonder how they're doing right now. They better not flirt without me around after I made my declaration to Wayne.' I thought and it made my eyebrows wrinkle as I took a bite of the beef taretare.

"Mmm!!!" It was delicious as expected.

The restaurants in Filemi couldn't compare. The Leone Company's restaurant does have better quality in taste than the one in Filemi but it just doesn't compare to this.

'This is great. Maybe I should buy some recipes myself just like Wayne and cook some for Mom when we get back home.' I thought.

I wondered how my mother is doing now. She should be okay because Filemi is the safest place I know. It's all thanks to the professor and the Mayor. It made me cringe just to think how I detested the professor back then and how Wayne had to stop me from thinking that way. Maybe that was the real first time that he saved me. He saved me from my own arrogance and ignorance.

After the beef taretare, they served me shrimp with dipping sauce.

"Would you like some more wine, Sir?" The waiter asked.

"Yes please." I replied.

After my luxurious dinner, I get to have what they call a spa. It's basically a massage along with a hot bath, scrub, and aromatic oils.

"This is the life. I get a little bit why merchants and nobles yearn for this lifestyle." I muttered as I rested in a bathrobe sitting on an armchair while sipping some tea.

I breathed deeply to relax my whole body while taking in the smell of the aromatic oils in the room.

""Hihihihi.""

I noticed a couple of girls giggling across from me.

"Haaah. I hope this isn't how I was before I was hanging out with Wayne." I muttered as I looked at them irritated. They seemed to be gossiping about me. I don't care if they're someone important in the city. They should stop looking down on people.

I was about to confront them but when I looked, they were already approaching me.

"Hi, I'm Victoria and this is my friend, Jane." The one leading them said in a smile.

"Hi." The other girl waved behind the other one.

'Are they trying to pick on me because I'm alone? I know I'm a commoner but still…' I thought.

Nobles and wealthy merchants tend to look down on commoners just because they have security and a little bit of power. Take that away and they're nothing but weak people who will do anything just to get it back.

Nvertheless, I got up and introduced myself.

"My name is Fe…ehem. Sorry. My name is Wayne Sanders." I said as I corrected myself. I introduced myself as Wayne would. Gentleman-like and well mannered.

It's still curious to me how he is so well-mannered even since back when he first came to Filemi. It isn't what you would expect from a former battle slave.

"I would like for you to…"

'Here it comes. She'll ask me to leave because I'm not worthy for this place or something.' Or at least I thought.

I was planning to leave anyway so I'll gladly just follow her to not make a scene and go back to my room.

"I would like you to accompany us this evening at the ball being held later tonight." She said.

'So, she wasn't trying to humiliate me after all.' I thought.

Wayne was always attractive. Girls in Filemi would send me and Delphine glares when we're with him. I don't know if he noticed it back then.

This girl in front of me was pretty. Really pretty. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a coveted body. Her friend also would stand out in a crowd. She had brown hair like mine but it was longer like my mother's and she had it in a bun. Her chest was more…generous than the other one.

I wonder what would Wayne say. But since I'm not Wayne, I'll reply like how I WANT him to reply.

"Miss Victoria and Miss Jane. I am sorry but I respectfully decline." I said with a bow and a smile then I turned and left.

They had their jaws dropped.

"YOU-!!" The girl named Victoria shouted but the next words didn't enter my ears clearly as I was already too far.

The hotel was a five story building in a lot that covered the whole block. It really is as big as a palace. You can use the stairs or you can use what they call an elevator. It was a large magic tool the size of a quarter of a room. It goes up and down to deliver people to their designated floors.

'How convenient.' I thought as I was humming happily up to my room using the elevator.

My room is on the fifth floor. They only have three rooms on this floor so it is pretty big.

My room was on the most right side where we have the view of the sea and the royal palace.

I looked at the room on the most left side. It had guards guarding the door.

'I wonder who's in it.' I thought to myself as I opened the door to my room.

When I entered the room, the living room was the first thing I saw. It's size was triple of our living room back home. I have multiple bedrooms on the left and a luxurious bathroom.

I went to the window to see the view. The moon had already risen. It illuminated the darkness beautifully. It positioned itself between the cliff where the palace was and the sea.

"This is so nice." I muttered.

'It would be also nice if I can come back here with Wayne just to relax and maybe…'

I thought as I blushed. I stopped myself from overthinking things. Our relationship hasn't progressed much anyway for that to happen.

I covered my face and raced towards the bedroom to change clothes.

One flaw of the disguise ring is you couldn't fully replicate the body. The genitals weren't there so I had no problem changing clothes…or I should have no problem but something that wasn't there left too much to my imagination and heated me up. It's like I was in the steam bath I had earlier again.

"Haaah." I sighed as I finally finished changing.

If I was in the compound, I probably would have been training again but I feel bad for the staff earlier for getting my stiff muscles to finally relax so I will just lay back for now.

By this time, Wayne would probably be muttering to himself in his room again.

Sometimes I caught Delphine watching him. I almost thought that she liked him too but she showed me why she was looking at him. She said even when they lived in the professor's house, Wayne would sometimes forget to close the door and he would be staring at space and mutter something. It was like he was reading.

Or maybe he was praying because one time we caught him saying the word "God" audibly. Me and Delphine looked at each other then looked at him again.

I never saw him as the religious type. Religion isn't a very famous subject after all. They say there used to be temples almost everywhere a thousand years ago but people eventually lost faith for that sort of thing.

*tok tok tok*

I heard something coming from outside the bedroom so I went out.

*Tok tok tok tok*

Someone was knocking on my door.

I opened it and it was a member of the hotel staff.

"Sir, this is a special service. This girl here will attend to all your needs for tonight." The hotel staff said.

He presented a girl he was holding by the arm. She was wearing a sultry dress. She wasn't looking anywhere but my feet.

"I'm afraid I will have to decline." I said to the hotel employee.

"Please, sir. This was an order from the top. I would be in so much trouble if you refuse." He said with a troubled expression.

This is probably some ploy by Donald Maclean. Is this girl a spy or something? She won't find anything if I let her in anyway.

I remembered that we recently found out that the restaurant manager and the waiter that was serving us the night when we had dinner in his restaurant was killed. Mr. Alfie told us that he probably had them killed for wronging us as their penalty. We weren't even angry at them and he was the one at fault their.

It just goes to show how light the lives of people are to him.

So, if I refuse this guy now, his life will probably be over.

"Tsk. Fine. Let her in." I said to him.

"Thank you so much, Sir." He said as he bowed.

He urged the girl to enter my room. I closed the door as she got inside.

I looked at her. She had her back towards me and she was looking down. She was visibly shaking out of fear.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"R-racquel." She replied.

"I'm Wayne. Wayne Sanders." I said to her.

She was still standing there and looking down.

"Hey. Don't worry. I won't hurt you. Please sit down." I said as I got in front of her and pointed at the sofa.

She walked towards the sofa timidly then sat when she got there.

She was really pretty. She had purple hair and yellow eyes. But she was gloomy.

"I won't do anything to hurt you." I said.

"Okay." She said, almost monotone.

She still doesn't believe me. Actions speak louder than words or so they say so I should just leave her alone here and say goodnight.

"Haaah. You don't believe me. I'll go back to my room now. You can take the other room to sleep in for the night or sleep here in the living room." I said as I turned around to walk to my room.

"W-wait! Really?" She asked me anxiously.

I turned around and she was finally looking at me.

"Really." I smiled and replied.

"!!" She suddenly made a surprised gesture by covering her mouth.

"What is it?" I asked her.

She slowly got up from where she was sitting and started walking towards me. She had teary eyes and she was stretching out her arms towards me.

"Wha-what are you doing?" I asked her as I stepped back.

'Oh no! Maybe she was sent here to kill Wayne once he got into bed with her! Maybe I foiled her plan by refusing!' My thoughts were going wild as I held my defenses up but it got torn down by what she said next.

"Dad?" She asked me.

"What?" I nervously uttered.

She had me step back as she tried to touch my face. She suddenly threw her arms around my neck before my foot landed when I was stepping backwards and so we fell down.

"Dad!!!" She suddenly started sobbing on my chest while yelling out "Dad".

I grabbed one of her arms to release me and pushed her. I got on top her and held her arms so she wouldn't grab me again.

"Hey, lady. I don't know what you're thinking but I am certainly not your dad! I just turned sixteen months ago!" I exclaimed.

"Th-then you're my-"

*BANG*

She got cut off by the door bursting open. We both looked towards the door.

"Racquel!!!" The huge burly man roared out.

""Udo?"" Both of us said at the same time then we looked at each other in surprise.

She somehow also knew Udo.

"GET OFF OF MY GIRL, YOU ASSHOLE!!!" He shouted.

I looked at Racquel and analyzed the current situation. She had watery eyes and I was holding her down. It looks really bad from a third party's perspective.

I immediately released her and got up.

"H-hey, Udo. Calm down first." I said as I backed away.

He immediately approached Racquel and held her by her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

"I'm alright. But don't misunderstand. He-"

"Don't worry about anything. I perfectly understand." Racquel's words were cut off by Udo.

Udo looked at me. No. He was glaring and started to release killing intent.

"I'll beat this snake up for you." He said.

"No! Wait!" Racquel tried to stop him but it was too late. Udo started charging at me.

"Shit!" I cursed.

There was nothing left to do but dodge and try to calm him down before I could explain to him. I can't cancel the disguise ring yet or the situation will turn worse.