Chapter: 06
The water shooting up from the fountain scattered through the air like mist carried by the wind.
The man stared blankly up at the sky, not caring in the slightest that his shaggy, curly hair was getting wet.
The water splashing from the fountain continuously left dark, round marks on the man’s shabby clothes.
With a beard left to grow just as messily as his unkempt hair, if someone placed a chipped bowl in front of him, he would have looked exactly like a beggar.
But I knew this man’s identity.
Guillaume Hedevo.
The God of Commerce who had used his instinctive, almost brilliant business sense to grow a small trading company into a massive merchant guild that traded with the entire world.
And he was also my father’s longtime friend.
However, there was another reason why I remembered Mr. Hedevo.
He was one of the benefactors who had helped Antoine and me in my previous life.
The Hedevo merchant guild, which seemed as if it would last forever, eventually collapsed around the time Antoine became an adult.
The sole heir had personally caused a massive disaster by using his father’s name to commit fraud.
In the end, Mr. Hedevo fell so far that he could barely maintain the remnants of his business.
And yet, even then, Mr. Hedevo never turned his back on us until the very end.
Why are you being so kind to us?
The day I finally couldn’t hold back and asked him that question, Mr. Hedevo smiled and gently patted my head.
‘Aren’t you Charles’s children? A friend’s children are no different from my own. I’ll help you as much as this old man can.’
‘But why is someone like that dressed like a beggar?’
Did his business perhaps fail once in the middle?
If that was the case, then this was my chance to repay his kindness.
I’ll be a good stepdaughter, Father.
Just as I was about to make that decision, someone approached Mr. Hedevo before I could.
“Uncle, what are you doing here?”
Aah! Antoine!
Didn’t you learn not to casually approach strangers?
Of course, Mr. Hedevo wasn’t a stranger or a bad person!
“I? I’m sunbathing.”
“Sunbathing? Sunflowers are flowers. Are you a flower, uncle?”
“I apologize. My younger brother was being rude, Mr. Hedevo.”
Screaming internally, I ran over in one breath and quickly hugged Antoine first.
Then, the next moment, I bit my tongue in realization.
“How did I know I was Hedevo?”
Oh no. I hadn’t met Mr. Hedevo for the first time until several years later than now.
If I hadn’t followed Antoine out today, I might not have met him at all.
Anyway, that wasn’t the point… When I couldn’t answer and just hesitated, Mr. Hedevo grinned, revealing his reddish gums.
In a place where dental technology was still lacking, his unusually healthy teeth were truly impressive.
But no matter how much I thought about it, that smile was still closer to that of a bandit who trampled flowers rather than a flower itself.
“Hmm, I saw the clothes you were wearing.”
“My clothes? These rags?”
While desperately searching for a plausible excuse, my eyes landed on the brooch holding the tattered scarf around Mr. Hedevo’s neck.
“Yes. More precisely, I recognized you because of the brooch.”
“Is there something wrong with this brooch?”
“That is a brooch given only to outstanding merchants by the Merchant Association, right? My father has one too.”
Mr. Hedevo fiddled with the brooch decorated with a large jewel.
“And also… um. I know this might sound rude, but please forgive me. You smell.”
“Smell?”
Mr. Hedevo raised his arm and sniffed.
From earlier, Antoine had been wary of the unfamiliar scent and had buried his nose into my arms.
I also felt the sharp sting of unfamiliar spices filling the air.
But it was always difficult for people to notice the smell coming from their own bodies.
“Yes. A smell of the sea and unfamiliar spices. For an excellent merchant carrying the scent of spices to have come all the way here without being stopped by anyone… who else could that person possibly be besides my father’s business partner, Guillaume Hedevo?”
“Huh!”
At my answer, Mr. Hedevo let out a hollow laugh and stroked his beard with a meaningful look.
W-Was this not it? Did I mistake him for someone else? But future Hedevo didn’t have a beard like this!
“Fine, let’s say that. What if I wasn’t Hedevo?”
“Then that means you came here after defeating every guard in this mansion, so I would still have to guide you to my father.”
If he cooperated obediently as a hostage, he might be able to keep his life.
As I shrugged my shoulders,
“Bwahahaha!”
He burst into loud laughter, bending over as he laughed.
Uh, isn’t he going to fall backward like that?
Huh?
Splash!
“Ugh, pfft!”
“My goodness! Are you alright? Antoine! Go call someone quickly!”
“Why is this fountain so huge…!”
…Well, at least this should wash away some of the spice smell.
“Guillaume!”
Charles stood up immediately and opened his arms wide.
“I heard what happened. The children were rude.”
“Rude? Thanks to them, I got rid of the salt from my body for the first time in a while. It was nice.”
“Let’s see. The salting is finished, and the rinsing is done, so now do I just hang you somewhere with a nice breeze and let you dry?”
“Oh, really? Are you adding ham to the next voyage?”
Trading silly jokes back and forth, Charles guided Guillaume Hedevo to his seat.
“She was an interesting child.”
“Hmm?”
“Your daughter. She recognized who I was at a glance.”
Even while speaking with a noble, Guillaume spoke casually without hesitation.
Charles naturally accepted Guillaume’s manner as if it were obvious.
“Adelaide? Have you two met before?”
“Only a couple of times when she was younger than your second child, sleeping. She probably doesn’t even remember.”
“Hmm… So? What did she say?”
“She figured out I belonged to the Merchant Association through my brooch, and then she said I smelled.”
“Smelled?”
Charles’s brows immediately furrowed.
Guillaume calmed him down, saying he didn’t mean it that way.
Then he calmly explained what had happened at the fountain.
“My daughter is quite clever. She takes after her mother. You can tell just by looking at her face.”
“That’s a relief to hear.”
“What?”
What’s wrong with my face?
Although he brushed it off as a joke, Charles’s eyes trembled slightly.
It was not simply that Adelaide had matured. There was something about her that had changed.
And on top of that, her observation skills and insight were unbelievably sharp for her age.
Although he casually dismissed it by saying she was intelligent because she took after her parents, Charles couldn’t stop worrying about the changed Adelaide.
“Enough of that. What did you call me here for today?”
“Look at you changing the subject…”
Although he found it ridiculous, Charles got to the point.
“I want to give my daughter a toy.”
“A toy? Are you kidding me? You called me here just for something like that?”
“No, well. I heard you had returned home, and I wanted to give her something that was truly worthy. Right?”
“Wow, seriously. If I had known you would make use of me like this, I should have refused that investment back then!”
“Well, who told you to take all of a runaway teenager’s entire fortune so easily?”
Facing Charles, who was laughing loudly, Guillaume beat his chest and lamented.
At some point, the two of them had returned to the days when they first met—the runaway young master who had nothing but determination, and the inexperienced young man who had nothing but passion.
