âThatâs right. She saved me and I gave them to her.â
âSee? Iâm right?!â
âStill.â
âI will be in trouble if she doesnât accept them. The earrings include the payment of silence.â
I thought it would take another year at this rate, so I stopped talking to the man after saying that. Whatever the manâs expression, it seems something just occurred to him.
Still, I thought of saving the trouble of trying to connect to an information guild to find the priest Metheus.
âYou donât know who I am, but even if you find out later, please keep quiet. And⊠I want to find a reliable information guild.â
âShe knows!â
âKeep quiet!â
The child raised her hand and tried to reply. But the man grabbed the childâs hand quickly, pulled her away, looked straight at me and took a breath.
There was a hint of uncertainty.
There was nothing good about commoners hanging out with aristocrats. Even if you take advantage of it, you must keep being secretive and you canât say anything.
âHa, LadyâŠâ
âIf you know my family, youâll have no choice but to comply with my request.â
âThen Iâll just call you lady. Lady, Iâm sorry to bother you with a child who doesnât know anything, but we canât afford to bring you anything you want. Please excuse us for being poor and incompetent, and leave this house.â
Then the man bowed his head exaggeratedly. It was truly a polite and smart gesture. Unfortunately, for him, I liked it more. It was better to be polite rather than cheeky, and to be wise instead of stupid.
The effort not to get entangled in any way was hypothetical, but I was more desperate. I sat down on the nearby bed and crossed my legs.
âIf I go out now, my family will think you kidnapped me. Then, all those little children will be dragged and questioned. Do you really want that?â
âInstead, you both need to listen to my request. Then, I can create the opposite scenario. I almost had a rough time, but you guys saved me. What will you do?â
The child jabbed the man in his sides. What was he hesitating about? The man nodded as he brushed away his troubled face.
In fact, such a threat was my only option, so I didnât feel guilty. You shouldnât have dragged me in like that. I looked straight at the child and said,
âI need a very reticent, highly capable information guild. But most importantly, they need to guarantee that information doesnât leak out, so please keep that in mind.â
âNancyâs father in the back alley is doing an information service, and heâs a very sincere and trustworthy person.â
âAll right. Tell him to find out where the Metheus Shrine is.â
âHow much is the commission?â
âHoh, are you so confident in your skills, that itâs enough to receive an advance payment? If you donât find it, itâs going to be hard.â
The child nodded as if she was convinced. Tasked the man standing, who was staring at me all this time.
âYou look unhappy.â
âDid you come here on purpose?â
The fresh misperception was cute.
Although my clothes were a little wrinkled due to hiding, everything I had on my body was expensive enough to buy the whole neighborhood.
Even if it was a trap, I would not have come all the way here to harm them, who had nothing. Iâd just have a knight in the family carry out the bullying in my stead.
âNo way. Do you think I have a lot of time to come and visit people who donât even know who I am? I was being chased.â
âNobles do not go about ordering the first person they meet today to find something through the information guild. They might reveal secrets to others.â
Aha, so you are suspicious. I rose up, getting slightly on my tiptoes, turned my head and pushed my face close to the
man.
Eris thought the man would be affected, it wasnât empty words that she was the second prettiest in the Empire. But surprisingly, he just lowered his eyes and looked at me.
âIf I wanted to, if I set my mind to it, I could kill you in half a day.â
âEven if a gutter rat threatens to bite, will humans be afraid? Instead, just kill the rat and stop talking about everything the rat said.â
In modern society, it is common for powerful people to prey on the weak in such a way. In a society where the caste system openly exists, doing such could not be a big challenge or become a flaw. Thatâs probably why the man desperately tried to separate the child from me.
It was only after hearing me that the child was frightened and trembling. Well, I didnât mean to threaten them unless they really spoke out. So I deliberately put secrecy before skill⊠I smiled and patted the child on the head.
âYou⊠you donât even see us as human lives.â
âWell, Iâm a little different from the average aristocrat.â
The manâs shoulders shook, as if he were angry. I was not interested in how other nobles looked at the common people. I just remembered that it was not a good treatment in the novel.
But the reason why I can be so cruel is not because I have a high status while they have a low status. Unfortunately, for me they werenât really people.
No one agrees with virtual characters who do not exist unless they themselves are immersed in it.
Even if a character, who is as good as the background in the game, dies, instead of crying in regret, they just accept it with a text describing deadâ.
Immersion requires a convincing narrative, which in turn creates affection. One hopes a character they love doesnât die. Unfortunately, there was no such character that made me feel this way in this novel with a cliche narrative.
Everything I love, everything I cared about⊠existed in my original world, not here. My family, my friends, my favorite songs and the scenery I lovedâŠ
I was prepared to die to get all that back. I looked back at the man and whispered, putting aside his ideas.
ââŠâŠNow take me there.â
The man looked at me in bewilderment and soon took off his shoes. He got down on his knees and put onto my feet the shoes that he took off. Even if it was loose because it was not the right size, it would not come off because it had a long neck.
Judging from the situation of the house | entered, I donât know what to do because I donât think there are any shoes left. Even with the down payment I gave you, the stores would be closed because itâs timeâŠ
âYou donât seem to have any shoes left, why did you give me your shoes?â
âBecause I canât let the lady walk barefoot.â
The man replied as he opened the door and waited silently for me to come out.
âŠâŠI honestly donât want to go out. If cross through that door, the story will go on again. I couldnât even guess how much more obvious a future I would have to endure. It was short to read, but it was said a long time had passed in the novel.
I still wanted to run away. But if I really want to run away, I shouldnât have rushed out like this. They are the most powerful people in the country, so if I donât plan carefully, they will find me somehow. If | hide in this house, Iâll be discovered before 2am in the morning.
In addition, it felt funny that I, who am prepared to die, was afraid of the Crown Prince because he slapped me once, or that I was worried about the future that might not happen.
âIf you posted this concern on communities or broadcast programs, of course, there might be a lot of comments asking why you are so frustrated when you have to hold a man.
Suddenly, I felt much more at ease. Yeah, why would I avoid it? Iâll kill the Crown Prince.
I was a little curious about what would happen if I, which the world keeps alive because of the causality, kills the male protagonist.
When I got home in good shape, people couldnât even scold me and just stared blankly. I smiled nonchalantly because one couldnât curse on a smiling face.
âI was so frustrated that I wanted to get some air alone.â
âBut miss, you got rid of your escort.â
âDidnât I come back safely? Iâm tired. I want to rest.â
As I cut the conversation, the head maid instructed the younger maid to get water for me to wash, as if it couldnât be helped.
While she was attending a bath, I thought | had to meet Hubris as soon as possible.
It was a bit embarrassing to admit that I am not a person of this world after doing so, but I thought that it was because there were so many people. No way the benevolent high priest will pretend to be unaware of a lamb in trouble.
In fact, I should have tried on my clothes yesterday. That way, it would have been possible to properly attend the knightâs oath ceremony, but I turned my eyes and ran away.
Since the palace is also a place where Hubris appears at, I decided not to run away and quietly go today.
Still, the people of the Marquis family were not reassured, and thus more people than usual escorted the carriage. Even if Eris ran away, she would not escape for more than ten steps as they would be so strict that she would be caught.
As soon as I arrived at the Imperial Palace, I needed to say hello to the Emperor, but today the Emperor said that he needed to go out for an inspection.
The Crown Prince said that he was working on behalf of the Emperor after having finished his fitting yesterday, so I thought it was good that I ran out yesterday anyways.
The purple cloth, one of the colors that symbolizes the Imperial Family, fluttered. Because it was a hot day, my shoulders and back were open, but perhaps because of the neatness, it was an elegant dress with a collar that came up to the neck but off the shoulders.
âIt was a smooth and sticky fabric, but it somehow looked elegant. I thought it would be inconvenient to wash because the tail is long and drags on.
I didnât really want to answer her, so I kept my mouth shut and the quick-witted maid hurried back. When I roughly shook my head, she examined me carefully then undressed me again.
When I looked at the maid after having changed out of everything I had worn, she smiled softly, saying that I wouldnât worry because she would send my dress to the mansion within the day.
I was crossing the back garden to go back, and after I got used to it, I saw his head.
âItâs Hubris! I thought I shouldnât miss this opportunity, so I ran recklessly,
It wasnât as long as the dress I wore earlier, but it was still cumbersome because it was not short. I tried to grab him somehow while running, but I tripped and fell.