29
Chapter 29
Petals showered down from the sky like snowflakes, and the laughter of the crowd was deafening.
Although I had been living in the capital all along, it was my first time coming out to the streets where a festival was being held in broad daylight.
There were so many people; it felt like the whole world had gathered here.
"An opportunity to see unique people and Magical Creatures! Come to the Moon Circus!"
"Only available once a year! Come and see rare items from the East!"
Leo's head moved busily. Everything around him was like a fairyland.
Then, a splendid sword caught the child's eye.
'If I had something like that, wouldn't I become stronger?'
Lost in such thoughts for a moment, his pace slowed.
And when he looked ahead again.
"Huh...?"
Belinda and Lord Penadel were gone.
The surroundings were so densely packed with people that even Lord Penadel's tall figure and mask were out of sight.
Panicked, Leo stood there hesitating for a long time before finally trying to push through the crowd and run out.
Just then, an arm emerged from the crowd and grabbed Leo's shoulder.
"There you are."
"L, Lord Penadel!"
It was Lord Penadel. He held Leo's shoulder gently to keep him from being jostled by the crowd and murmured in a low voice.
"Good job. When you get lost, the best thing to do is not to move from that spot."
Belinda, who had belatedly caught up, glared down at Leo with a fearsome expression.
Her elaborately braided hair was disheveled, as if she had been pushing through the crowd.
"Acorn mouse!"
"I, I'm sorry..."
Frightened, Leo trembled. Cesar, or rather Lord Penadel, carefully patted the child's back.
"The child didn't move from his spot, so I was able to find him quickly."
Even with Cesar's words, Belinda's expression didn't soften.
She took a deep breath, as if trying to control her anger, and then declared in a chilling voice.
"I'll have to put you on a leash."
A leash...? Putting a leash on a child just because he got lost.
Just as Cesar was about to step in,
"Hand!"
"H, Hand."
Leo, taken aback, extended his hand, and Belinda firmly grasped it.
Then, she smiled contentedly and shook their joined hands back and forth.
After that, she gestured with her chin at Cesar, who was standing stiffly behind them.
"Lord Penadel, shall we lead the way?"
"...Yes."
And so, they strolled along the path leading to the plaza, sipping on lemonade with plenty of honeyed lemons.
Leo's eyes, which had been moving busily, were fixed on something, and his head followed.
"Acorn mouse, what are you staring at so blankly?"
"Belinda, look over there. People are eating something that looks like clouds!"
Leo exclaimed excitedly in an almost whispering voice.
What the child was pointing at was a cotton candy stall.
Belinda replied coldly.
"Foolish. That's called Cloud Snack."
"Cloud Snack..."
Leo couldn't take his eyes off the Cloud Snack, as if he were bewitched. He couldn't even imagine what it would taste like.
Then, Belinda suddenly let go of Leo's hand.
As he fidgeted with his right hand, which suddenly felt empty, a few shiny coins were placed in his small hand.
"Come to think of it, I forgot to give you your salary."
"Salary...?"
"It means money you can spend as you please."
Normally, he would have hesitated to receive the money.
But the sweet smell of Cloud Snack, which was vibrating from all directions, made him forget his patience.
Leo ran off at once and bought two white, fluffy Cloud Snacks.
He handed one to Belinda, but when she declined, he handed it to Cesar.
Then, he grabbed the end of the Cloud Snack in his hand and bit into it.
"...!"
As the cotton-like softness melted away like snow, joy and emotion exploded on Leo's face like fireworks.
"The Cloud Snack is... like a cloud!"
"Obviously."
A chilling smile flickered across Belinda's face as she looked down at Leo, but fortunately, Leo was too engrossed in the Cloud Snack to notice.
He ate each bite carefully, savoring it, but like snow melting in the rain, the Cloud Snack disappeared all too fleetingly.
With the last bite remaining, Leo's gaze suddenly turned to the lemonade in his other hand.
'Delicious plus delicious, so it'll be even more delicious, right?'
Leo carefully dipped the Cloud Snack, which was only about one bite in size, into the lemonade.
And just as he was about to open his mouth wide to eat it all at once.
"...?"
The Cloud Snack had vanished as if by magic.
Leo stared blankly at the empty wooden stick and the lemonade, alternating between them, before muttering in dismay.
"C, Cloud Snack. My Cloud Snack..."
Belinda, who had been watching the whole time, quietly unfolded her fan, covered her face, and shook her shoulders.
"Ahem, ahem. Acorn mouse."
"Yes..."
"Here, Lord Penadel's is..."
Belinda, who had been patting Leo's back and turning to look at Cesar, paused.
"Lord Penadel, why are your hands empty?"
"Ah..."
"Don't tell me you actually ate it? You really ate the one Acorn mouse bought with his first salary?"
Cesar couldn't even make an excuse.
Belinda glared at Cesar with a fierce look that Leo didn't see, and finally took out a few more coins and placed them in the child's hand.
"This is your allowance. Go buy another one."
"But..."
"Don't make me say it twice."
"Yes, yes!"
Leo's steps were light as he ran off with the coins.
Fortunately, the Cloud Snack stall wasn't far away.
Leo was just about to buy a Cloud Snack when.
"What, isn't that a rat?"
Leo froze in place at the familiar voice.
Could it be, he turned around and saw a plump child of his age standing there.
"H, Heiron..."
It was Heiron, the son of the Director of the orphanage where Leo had lived.
Heiron's gaze, with his bulging cheeks, turned to the coins in Leo's hand.
"You stole that money, didn't you?"
"N, No! It's my allowance."
"Liar. You don't even have a mom or dad. Who would give an allowance to a beggar?"
"My master..."
"Hmm, so it was true that you were sold as a slave?"
The words that the child, who used his innocence as a weapon, spoke were incredibly sharp.
"I'm not a slave, I'm..."
Leo's voice trailed off.
When he thought about it, he wasn't even a proper servant. Because he wasn't an adult.
In the end, Leo ran away from that spot.
Belinda, who had been watching the whole time, asked Leo as he returned.
"Do you know that piglet?"
"Not a piglet, but Heiron... He's the Director of the orphanage's son."
"What did that piglet Heiron say to make you come back empty-handed like a loser?"
Not wanting to answer, Leo lowered his head and mumbled.
"Just... the same things he always says."
"What does he usually say?"
"...That I don't have a mom or dad... that I'm a beggar..."
Leo, who had been answering hesitantly, glanced at Belinda and flinched in surprise.
"How dare he..."
Belinda was wearing an expression of anger that he had never seen before.
"Why don't you have parents? You might have them later! No, go and tell him that you have them right now."
"H, Have them? How?"
"Here."
Belinda tapped her chest with her index finger.
"And there."
She pointed to Cesar.
"B, But that's a lie..."
Belinda, with an unusually gentle expression, bent down to meet Leo's eye level.
"Acorn mouse, listen carefully."
Belinda's hands wrapped around Leo's shoulders, making eye contact with the child.
"Among the ways of speaking used by nobles, there is something called bluffing and exaggeration. It's just exaggerating the facts a little, but it's never a lie. If you want to be my servant, you have to be able to do this much bluffing and exaggeration."
"Bluffing and exaggeration..."
"Now, repeat after me."
Belinda stood up and crossed her arms. Then, she said haughtily with a look that looked down on the other person.
"Your house doesn't have a mom as pretty as this and a dad as devilish as this, does it?"
"Y, Your house doesn't have a mom as pretty as th, th, th, this and a dad as devilish as th, th, th, this, does it?"
"Good. Let's go right now. Lord Penadel, grab the leash."
And so, Leo, holding one of Belinda's and Cesar's hands in each of his, headed towards the Cloud Snack stall where Heiron was loitering.
"H, Heiron!"
"What, why are you back... Ack."
Heiron, who found Cesar next to Leo, let out a groan as if he were being strangled.
Leo, feeling the firm warmth in his hands, closed his eyes tightly and shouted.
"Your, Your house doesn't have a dad as pretty as this and a mom as devilish as this, does it?"
Somewhere, the sound of air escaping in laughter could be heard.
