<CHAPTER 8>

Cavil slowly loosened his arms around Elodie, tears streaming down his face.

I mustn’t bother My Lady.

If I bother her, she’ll abandon me.

If he kept crying every day and asking her to hold him, just as he had been doing all this time, Elodie might come to hate him.

She might even start hitting him, like the adults at the orphanage had.

But he didn’t care about that.

It’s okay if she hits me and hurts me…….

“My Lady.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll be good…….”

“……”

“I won’t throw tantrums.”

So please don’t abandon me.

Cavil sobbed miserably, tears spilling down his cheeks.

“Why is he suddenly acting like this……?”

Elodie gazed down at Cavil with concern and gently stroked his round little head. How had he suddenly become so self-reflective during the brief time they’d been apart?

“He must have been really frightened.”

Brienne watched them with a pitying expression.

“I suppose so. By the way, are there many children like those in the territory? It seems they’ve turned to pickpocketing.”

Elodie hugged Cavil to her again, gently rubbing his back as she asked Brienne.

“Hmm. You find children like that wherever you go. But there do seem to be more of them lately. I suppose it’s because there’s not enough food…….”

Elodie let out a sigh.

Once the greenhouse was sorted out, she would have to take a look around the territory herself.

After seeing the current state of the crops, Elodie intended to try whatever she could.

Just then, someone appeared in front of them.

He was a tall man dressed similarly to the flamboyantly dressed merchants they’d seen earlier. There was something desperate about his expression, and his dark skin was particularly striking.

Breathing heavily, he asked anxiously,

“Excuse me, have you happened to see two little boys about this tall?”

At the man’s words, Brienne and Elodie exchanged glances.

Then Brienne asked him,

“You’ve been pickpocketed, I take it?”

The man’s eyes widened enormously at Brienne’s question.

His expression practically screamed, “You too? Me too!”

Brienne, on the other hand, looked utterly indifferent.

“That’s right! You were robbed too? These little bastards…… Damn it! Why is this territory such a mess?”

“……”

The lord of this very territory was currently nestled in Elodie’s arms, wiping away his tears.

Looking rather awkward, Elodie asked the man,

“What did you lose?”

“……It’s my mother’s keepsake…… A brooch…… It has a gemstone that shines…… It’s very precious…….”

“Is this it?”

As Elodie held up the artifact, the man quickly snatched the brooch from her hand.

“Yes! That’s it! Waaah…… Mother! Ugh…… Waaah!”

The grown man began bawling just as loudly as Cavil had.

Cavil was so bewildered that he stared up at him in confusion.

“……”

“Let’s go, My Lady.”

Brienne frowned as though he’d just witnessed something he would rather not see.

“All right. Cavil, do you want me to carry you?”

At Elodie’s question, Cavil shook his head firmly.

“Then Brienne can carry you.”

“……Understood.”

Brienne obediently picked Cavil up into his arms. Cavil looked displeased, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. If he wanted to avoid being separated from Elodie again, staying close to the adult Brienne was the safer choice.

“Wait!”

The man stopped the three of them as they turned to leave.

“How did you find this?”

The man’s face had become serious.

“Are you accusing us of something?”

Brienne asked with a menacing look.

The man quickly waved his hands.

“That’s not what I meant! I was just…… curious, that’s all. Two little boys definitely stole this from me earlier…… They looked like pickpockets, and it’s possible that adults put them up to it…….”

“I am the deputy commander of the knights of House Cernua, the ruling house of this territory. How dare you suspect me…….”

Brienne clenched his teeth, clearly offended at being suspected. He looked ready to grab the man by the collar at any moment.

Unable to watch any longer, Elodie stepped in.

“I picked it up after those two boys dropped it while they were running away.”

The man, intimidated by Brienne’s expression, immediately lowered his gaze to Elodie when he heard her explanation.

“Ohhh…… What a clever little miss you are. And here I was, failing to recognize my benefactor. My apologies.”

Little miss……? What is with this greasy old man?

Elodie had turned fourteen this year, but she was still a small girl. Even so, being called a little miss was rather irritating.

Not even a young lady, but a little girl……? You’ve got to be kidding me.

The man pretended not to notice Elodie’s displeased expression and introduced himself. He had been bawling like a child only moments ago, yet now he was wearing a suave smile as though nothing had happened.

“I am Sirca, master of the Rondia Trading Company.”

The tall, dark-skinned man introduced himself with impeccable courtesy.

“I see. Now, let’s go, My Lady.”

“Wait!”

This time, it was Elodie who stopped him.

Elodie stared up at Sirca with bright, sparkling eyes.

“You’re the master of the Rondia Trading Company?”

“That’s correct.”

“Hmm. You called me your benefactor yourself, didn’t you?”

“Yes, of course. You found my mother’s precious keepsake…… I should at least give you a gift……”

“Forget the gift. Come visit the ducal castle sometime soon.”

“Pardon?”

“Our little one is the master of the castle, after all. When are you leaving Cernua?”

“Uh…… I was thinking of staying for about another month…….”

The scenery here is just so beautiful.

The man tacked on the excuse awkwardly.

Elodie’s sudden invitation to visit the castle seemed to catch him off guard.

“Then come to the castle a few days before you leave.”

“……Pardon?”

“Come on, let’s go!”

With that, Elodie grabbed Brienne’s arm and pulled him along.

“What was that about, My Lady?”

Brienne glanced down at the arm she was holding.

I just blurted it out.

Even Elodie was puzzled by her own impulsive behavior. But……

If she wanted to make money, trade was the most important thing. And to do that, she either needed to run a trading company herself or have one she could do business with.

The larger the trading company, the better.

That was why, the moment she heard that the man was the master of the Rondia Trading Company, she’d immediately told him to visit the castle.

And I don’t even have anything worth selling yet…….

Still, he’d said he would be staying for another month.

I’ll have to come up with something by then.

She had a few ideas in mind, but she hadn’t experimented with any of them yet, so she couldn’t be certain they would work.

Still, if she combined the samples and ideas she’d gathered so far, she ought to be able to come up with something useful.

Of course, even if she failed to create something worth trading, getting acquainted with the master of a major trading company and building a relationship with him was a valuable opportunity in itself.

“Hurry up!”

“Pardon?”

Elodie hurried toward the place where the herbalist was located. Along the way, they ran into Marie, who was startled when she saw that Cavil’s eyes were red.

“Huh?! Young Lord, why are your eyes so red……? Were you crying?”

At her words, Cavil buried his face in Brienne’s shoulder in embarrassment, hiding it completely from view.

“Ah, hurry, hurry!”

Pressed by Elodie’s impatience, Marie didn’t even have time to hear the reason Cavil’s eyes were red.

And so their first outing to the market came to an end, hurried along by Elodie’s characteristically impatient urging.

***

After returning to the castle, Elodie sent Cavil straight to the bathroom and began organizing the samples she had collected so far.

“Hmm…….”

For the past few months, Cavil’s baths had been handled by Norman, the butler. After all, the boy was growing older, and Elodie couldn’t keep bathing him herself forever.

He has grown quite a bit since last year, too…….

Norman was one of the few adults Cavil felt comfortable around. That was why Elodie had no qualms about entrusting him with the task.

Elodie studied the medicinal herbs she had collected and the list of magical medicines currently available on the market.

Most of the magical medicines sold on the market were either counterfeit or weak in effect. Many of them also came with severe side effects.

And the magical medicines that actually worked, such as proper treatments and painkillers……

They were simply too expensive.

That was why ordinary farmers would gather herbs from local physicians, dry them, and brew them into tea. There was no way the effects could be very good.

And for serious illnesses or injuries that couldn’t be treated simply by visiting a local physician, they had to seek out a priest.

But there were no priests in Cernua Territory. All that remained was an empty temple.

What should I make……?

If she couldn’t produce a proper product within a month, she would simply settle for getting acquainted with Sirca.

If she served food to Sirca when he came as a guest and got him to promise to visit again, she would have another opportunity.

I can’t exactly send a guest away feeling neglected, so I’ll just feed him plenty of delicious food.

In any case, even apart from the question of money, researching magical medicines was important to Elodie.

It would allow her to find a cure for the incurable disease she would suffer from in the future.

I have to use this ability to develop all sorts of things and trade them with other territories.

The nobles of this world weren’t fond of trade. The reason was simple.

Nobles didn’t like the idea of another territory’s nobility making money through trade. That was simply how they were.

The previous duke had been no different. That was why commerce in the territory had failed to develop.

To Elodie, the nobles seemed like fools who only cared about the problems directly in front of them. It had been the same throughout actual history, too.

“My Lady…….”

Cavil had already finished bathing and changed into his pajamas. He crept into the room.

Even at eight years old, Cavil was much smaller than other children his age.

“All clean, Cavil?”

“Mm…….”

Perhaps because of what had happened at the market, Cavil still seemed frightened. Ever since they had returned to the castle, he’d looked dejected. It was heartbreaking to see.

“Come on. Let’s go to bed early tonight. I’ll put you to sleep.”

“What about you, My Lady? Aren’t you going to sleep now?”

“No. I have some studying to do. I’ll be doing it right here in the room, so you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere.”

“Really? You’re not going anywhere?”

“Of course not. Where would I go? I’ll be right here beside you.”

“Okay…….”

Cavil lay down on the bed, his eyes still anxious. Elodie pulled the thick blanket up to his chest and lay down beside him on her side.

“Would you like me to sing you a lullaby?”

“……Yeah. I like that.”

Elodie gently patted Cavil’s chest to a steady rhythm and began singing a lullaby.

Perhaps because he was tired, Cavil’s eyelids began to blink slowly after a little while.

“Sleep tight, my little darling…….”

Before the song had even ended, Cavil had fallen asleep. He was so adorable that it was impossible not to love him, especially now that he was eating and sleeping well.

In sleep, he looked as cute as a little angel.

Elodie leaned down and kissed the back of Cavil’s hand, resting neatly atop the blanket, before slipping out of bed.