Inside a private room on the second floor of the Rose Pavilion, Audrey hurriedly dismissed the waiter after casually ordering some coffee and desserts.
Then she stood there awkwardly, her expression tangled with hesitation and faint embarrassment as she stared at the increasingly suspicious Mozo.
"Miss Hepburn... are you alright? You don't look so good."
But upon hearing that, Audrey finally seemed to make up her mind. Taking a deep breath, she suddenly and decisively removed her coat.
The movement was so fast and unexpected that even Mozo failed to react in time. He could only sit there in stunned silence as he witnessed the breathtaking sight of the beauty disrobing before him.
What shocked him even more was the fact that beneath the coat, the Tulip of the Flower Faculty was wearing nothing except her bra.
Looking at the magnificent curves wrapped in black lace, Mozo instinctively wanted to praise her figure.
Amazing.
But he immediately snapped back to his senses and quickly turned his head away.
At the same time, he raised a hand and said:
"Miss Hepburn, please put your clothes back on. I have no intentions or designs toward you. What you're doing insults both me and yourself."
Meanwhile, his eyes carefully scanned the surroundings while his ears strained to catch any footsteps outside the door. Mozo was beginning to suspect this might be some kind of trap.
The reason he only partially suspected it was simple.
First, this era probably didn't even have the concept of a honey trap.
Second, he was dirt poor. There was no reason for the Tulip of the Flower Faculty to destroy her own reputation just to frame him.
But if it wasn't something like that, then Mozo genuinely couldn't understand why Miss Tulip was acting this way.
As for Audrey herself
She stared at Mozo with a flushed face full of shame and indignation.
He actually turned away?!
Was her body really that unworthy of looking at?!
Rather than feeling relieved, she instead found herself irritated that he refused to even look properly. Truly, a woman's thoughts were impossible to understand.
Still, she slightly pulled her coat back together while exposing the mark on her chest. Even so, large portions of her luxurious figure remained plainly visible.
The Tulip of the Flower Faculty truly deserved her reputation. Whether in appearance or figure, she was unquestionably stunning.
Her voice trembled slightly as she asked:
"Please turn around. What I actually wanted to ask is... do you recognize this mark?"
A mark?
Mozo froze for a moment before finally remembering.
Ah, right. There was some kind of green mark.
It was just that the mountains hidden beneath the lace had been so eye-catching that he completely forgot about it.
After cautiously glancing over, Mozo instantly went still.
Then, in disbelief, he stepped closer and carefully examined the mark on Audrey's chest.
As the man approached so closely, Audrey felt dizzy all over. Especially when his warm breath brushed against her skin, making her chest itch faintly.
But this matter might very well concern her life, so Audrey could only endure the embarrassment and discomfort while allowing Mozo to examine her.
Thankfully, he only leaned in for a closer look and didn't touch her. Otherwise, Audrey was certain she wouldn't have been able to endure it.
Even so, as time passed, she finally asked in embarrassment:
"Are... are you done yet?"
Hearing that, Mozo hurriedly stepped back several paces before blurting out:
"Thank you for the treat."
"....."
"....."
The moment those words left his mouth, an eerie silence filled the room.
Mozo suddenly wanted to slap himself.
Before Audrey could explode, he hurriedly changed the subject:
"Right, could you tell me exactly what happened to you?"
As expected, the anger Audrey had just gathered immediately deflated upon hearing that question.
After thinking carefully for a moment, she frowned slightly and said:
"I need proof that you actually know what this is. Or rather... you need to demonstrate your abilities."
Now that she had calmed down somewhat after leaving the ruins, Audrey had started noticing inconsistencies during their brief interaction.
Mozo didn't really seem like a Beyonder.
But she still couldn't be sure. He might simply be one of those half-baked people who possessed hidden knowledge but lacked the potion needed to truly enter the supernatural world.
People like that made up the majority within her own circles.
Though even then, there were only a few dozen of them in total...
After thinking briefly, Mozo raised a hand beneath Audrey's half-guarded, half-permissive gaze and spoke:
"Hide yourself, Mark of the Servant."
(Ancient Elven)
The moment he spoke those words, Mozo stared at the green mark on Audrey's chest with immense anticipation.
But the greater the anticipation, the greater the disappointment.
Nothing happened.
The mark remained exactly the same.
Even after Mozo repeated the phrase once more, there was still no reaction.
Naturally, Audrey's suspicion and irritation deepened further.
She realized she might have made a terrible misunderstanding.
Because of that misunderstanding, not only had she failed to solve the cursed mark, she had also let a strange man take a massive advantage of her.
Worst of all, the carefully maintained reputation she had spent four years building had suffered enormous damage because of today's incident.
That reputation was the very foundation for her future dream life as a noble lady!
The moment she thought about how she had entered a private room in the Rose Pavilion with a strange man today, Audrey felt like her heart was bleeding.
This would absolutely become a massive point deduction in the eyes of the nobles.
Damn it!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Finally, she put her coat back on and shoved Mozo aside before storming toward the door.
Seeing Audrey about to leave, Mozo unwillingly called out:
"Miss Hepburn, why not try repeating the phrase yourself?"
That only made things worse.
Audrey spun around like an enraged kitten and snapped:
"Repeat what?! So you can stare at my body again?! Do you even know how much my reputation is going to suffer because of today?! Do you know how much effort I put into maintaining it?!"
The more she spoke, the closer she came to tears.
The reputation she had painstakingly built was now mostly ruined. The mark on her body still couldn't be removed. Even the precious rune materials she had prepared beforehand had all been wasted.
She had suffered a catastrophic loss!
And deep down, she knew none of this was really Mozo's fault. If anything, she should be grateful to him, because those words really had saved her life.
But understanding that logically and accepting it emotionally were two different things.
Especially when her pride as a Beyonder mixed together with the anxiety of her life being in danger.
After taking several deep breaths, Audrey pressed one hand against her chest while gesturing outward with the other.
"You have my gratitude. You don't need to know what for, just know that I will repay you. And one more thing: if you dare tell anyone about today, I swear I'll make you regret being born."
Mozo looked utterly confused. Even now, he still had no idea what exactly had happened.
But he did know one thing.
For the first time ever, the dream world he had always believed was nothing more than his imagination had made direct contact with reality.
He didn't want to let this opportunity slip away.
But his attempt had failed, and Audrey herself was already on the verge of exploding.
Was there really no other way?
Grinding his teeth, Mozo quickly said:
"You only need to repeat it once yourself. I don't need to look. And didn't you say you owed me a favor? Use this to repay it. Just repeat the phrase once."
Audrey, who had already turned around with her hand on the doorknob, glared back at him in frustration.
"You really are unbelievable."
Still, Audrey knew the problem wasn't actually Mozo. And she truly did owe him a tremendous favor.
After several deep breaths, she finally suppressed her temper.
Though she no longer held any hope, she still repeated the phrase:
"Hide yourself, Mark of the Servant."
(Ancient Elven)
After speaking, Audrey coldly said:
"There. I'm leaving now. And remember what I said. You owe me silence about today. Understand? Mm... mm?"
But halfway through speaking, Audrey suddenly sensed something was wrong.
She hurriedly pulled open her coat again and looked down.
The mark was gone.
Gone?!
Audrey stared up at Mozo in disbelief before lowering her gaze back to her chest.
Then back to Mozo.
Then back to her chest.
She repeated the motion several times.
And each time, her expression became more awkward.
Finally, she clasped her hands together in front of her chest, leaned forward slightly, and forced out an awkward smile filled with desperate hope.
"Ahahaha... um... classmate... could you maybe pretend none of that happened?"
Mozo stared speechlessly at the wildly different versions of Audrey he had just witnessed one after another.
Then he covered his forehead and sighed.
"Miss Hepburn... your entire character setting just collapsed."
Audrey Hepburn, still forcing that awkward smile, felt like her soul was bleeding.
What exactly had she just done...?