Chapter: 12
“What age are you right now? You’re around my age, aren’t you? You’re not a little kid anymore, so shouldn’t you stop acting out whenever things don’t go your way? How long are you going to keep behaving this childishly? Other people aren’t trash cans for you to dump your emotions into.”
There were sometimes people like that.
People who, instead of making a reasonable complaint, acted as if they were going to release all the anger they had been suppressing elsewhere onto whoever happened to be in front of them.
‘If you want to use someone as an emotional trash can, at least pay them a lot of money.’
That way, they could receive counseling and get prescribed depression medication.
At the memories that surfaced, a cynical smile appeared on Adelaide’s face.
“Apologize. For acting carelessly and for breaking the toy. Apologize for everything.”
However, Felix refused to back down until the very end.
“T-this… I can just pay for this cheap toy! Hey! How much is it?”
“M-my… grandfather… made it for me… Hic….”
“……”
The atmosphere around them froze instantly.
Felix was also caught off guard by the unexpected answer, only opening and closing his mouth without knowing what to say.
“T-then… I’ll pay ten times the price! Something better! I’ll buy you a new, latest toy! That’s enough, right?”
—Smack!
In the end, Adelaide could not hold herself back and swung her hand.
The entire back of Felix’s body burned with pain, and he jumped up from his spot.
“What are you doing?!”
“How much are you?”
“What?”
—Smack!
“It hurts!”
“How much is your back worth per hit? 10 francs? 100 francs? It doesn’t matter. I’ll pay however much it costs.”
“D-did you really go crazy? How can you buy a person with money?”
“And you? Can you buy someone’s precious possession with money?”
They said that when someone was extremely angry, they became strangely calm.
This was exactly that moment.
Adelaide continued speaking in a composed voice.
“Monsieur Hedebo is an excellent merchant who is respected by everyone. You agree with that, don’t you?”
The moment his father was mentioned, Felix glared at her suspiciously, as if wondering what she was planning.
“Do you think it’s because he’s strong? Or because he has a lot of money? Or is it because he’s old?”
“……”
Felix couldn’t answer.
“If you inherit the family business later and continue behaving like this, do you think people will respect you? No. If you wanted to crush people with strength, you should have become a knight. Ah, right. Though someone as short as you who makes a fuss after getting hit a few times becoming a knight is ridiculous. Just keep living like this, receiving pocket money. That suits you perfectly.”
“Are you done talking?”
“No. I stopped because I thought you were about to cry.”
“You!”
No matter how much you stomp your feet or wave your fists threateningly, you’re not scary at all.
If anything, you’re just pitiful.
Adelaide’s cold gaze said exactly that.
“Hmph. You’re still young, after all.”
By deliberately emphasizing the word “young,” the reaction she received was quite entertaining.
“W-who are you calling young?! I’m the oldest person here! I’m not young!”
“And you still behave this childishly? Why did you even eat your birthday cake? It seems like you couldn’t even digest it.”
After a series of mocking remarks and sharp words, tears began gathering in Felix’s eyes.
He was this shaken just by being called young.
A child really was still a child.
Adelaide felt a little guilty.
But since she had started, she needed to firmly correct this terrible habit.
“The people here are heirs of families who might do business with you someday. If I were them, I would never do business with a violent and childish child like you who destroys things whenever something doesn’t go your way.”
The boy who looked ready to scream and throw a tantrum calmed down slightly after hearing her mention the future, as if his reason had finally returned.
“Apologize.”
“Ghk….”
“Quickly.”
Urged by Adelaide’s eyes, Felix awkwardly turned toward the child who was holding the broken toy and sniffling.
“…S-sorry.”
“I can’t hear you. Maybe because you’re still young, your voice is really small.”
“…I said sorry.”
“Again.”
“I SAID I’M SORRY!”
“Hm. Is that how you apologize? Maybe because you’re still young.”
“I-I’m not young! I already apologized! I said I’m sorry!”
Ah, this is bad.
In the end, Felix burst into tears.
“You’re crying? You’re actually crying right now? What did you do to deserve crying? The person who should really want to cry is the one whose toy was destroyed, isn’t it? What are you going to do with such a weak mind that you cry just because you heard a few harsh words? I already knew it, but you really are young, aren’t you?”
“I’m not crying! This isn’t crying! Something got into my eyes! It’s just dust! Duuust!”
But with him dragging out the end of his words and whining, anyone could clearly see he was crying and throwing a tantrum.
Instead of pointing out reality, Adelaide simply shrugged.
“U-um… Lady Adelaide….”
“Hmm?”
“I’m okay…. Hyung apologized too…. So….”
“You’re more mature than Felix.”
Adelaide smiled slightly and patted the child’s head.
“Since he apologized, I’ll take back what I said about him being young. You’re not young and childish. Your body is just growing unusually quickly.”
The children who understood the hidden meaning bit their lips to hold back their laughter.
Fortunately, Felix seemed unable to understand.
That was when it happened.
“Oh? Adelaide, Felix? What’s this? Felix, did you cry?”
The adults returned after finishing their meeting.
“It’s nothing. Felix accidentally broke a toy, and I think he was just surprised himself.”
“…Really?”
When I spoke first, Felix looked back at me with a baffled expression.
What? Why?
Were you planning to cowardly tattle on me?
The moment our eyes met, Felix immediately avoided my gaze.
He was going to back down this quickly anyway…
“Did your meeting finish?”
“Yes, for today. Did you have fun?”
“Yes. Felix brought a baduk board, so we played with that.”
Felix was once again completely bewildered.
“Oh my! That might be a little too difficult for you children to play with. Hmm, what should we do about this….”
I thought he would be happy that we had been playing well, but apparently not?
Uncle Guillaume shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner.
“I brought some riddles because I thought you might get bored.”
“Riddles?”
“I was also going to buy whatever you wanted during this voyage as a prize.”
“From the East?”
“You were having fun, so perhaps next time….”
“I’ll do it. Please let us do it!”
He’ll buy whatever we want from the East?
There was no way I could miss an opportunity like this.
Not only Felix, but even Hyppolyte and Antoine, who had been quiet the entire time, began to show interest.
“Antoine, is there something you want?”
Actually, there was no need to ask.
Recently, Antoine’s favorite toy was a kite shaped like a shield that had been brought from the East.
Although it had broken not long ago after getting caught in a tree.
“I want a kite. What about you, sister?”
“I want… medicine for Mother.”
“Medicine?”
“Yes. A precious herb that only grows there would be nice.”
If I could get that in advance, buying a kite or something like that was nothing.
I could buy enough for Antoine to cling onto it and fly away if he wanted.
Uncle Guillaume searched through his pocket, took out his wallet, and handed each of us one gold coin equally.
It was a 10-franc gold coin.
What were we supposed to do with this?
While everyone looked confused, Uncle Guillaume shouted.
“Now, with this, buy something that can fill this entire room!”
