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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Offer
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Lellia grabbed a large chicken leg and tore into it.
Across from her, the tiger-like old man watched her eat like a beggar, a look of intrigue on his face.
Lellia paid his gaze no mind and continued to devour the food.
The man seemed to be a very wealthy nobleman.
‘To sprinkle such precious spices so generously on camping food.’
Moreover, the clothes he wore looked to be of very high quality. He looked a bit intimidating, but he didn't seem like a bad person.
‘Giving food to a child who snuck in… he’s definitely not a bad person. Far from it, he’s an angel. An angel.’
Thinking this, Lellia picked up another chicken leg and began to eat.
The old nobleman watched her and narrowed his eyes.
“How… peculiar…”
“Yes?”
“…Never mind. For now, just eat.”
Lellia didn’t stop eating until her hollow stomach was bulging.
When she had filled her belly, the old nobleman handed her some warm water. Lellia blew on it to cool it down and drank slowly.
“Now, shall we talk? Why did you hide in the carriage, little one?”
“…”
‘Little one?’
Lellia was taken aback by a term she had never been called before. She knew that grandfathers and grandmothers usually called their young grandchildren that way.
But it was the first time she had heard it directed at her, and it felt strange.
‘Then again, I might be ten, but I probably look younger than my age.’
More importantly, she had to figure out how to answer him.
Lellia thought for a moment.
This old man certainly didn't seem like a bad person.
If she played her cards right, she might even get some help.
Besides, seeing how he called her ‘little one’ without hesitation, he seemed to be particularly lenient with children like her.
‘I have to look pitiful and pathetic.’
So that he would never send her back to the capital.
After some thought, Lellia gazed at the old man. Seeing that he waited without rushing her for an answer, he was surely a good person.
Lellia slowly began to speak.
“The truth is… m-my father hates me. That’s why I was running away.”
“…Were you being abused?”
“…”
Abuse… was it? Lellia hesitated to answer.
In any case, Emperor Perseus didn't know she was his biological daughter.
He believed she was the child of Iris, the woman who had tormented his beloved wife, so it was understandable that he hated her.
But it was too ambiguous to say it wasn't abuse. After all, he was her biological parent.
When Lellia couldn't answer, the old nobleman made his own judgment and spoke.
“Seeing how scrawny you are, I can guess. How old are you?”
“…Ten.”
“You’re ten and you’re this small?”
The old nobleman furrowed his brow. He briefly tried to recall what his own grown children were like around the age of ten.
He couldn't remember the details, but they had certainly been much bigger than the child before him.
The old nobleman soon chuckled and asked.
“Right, so you ran away? How brave of you. Where were you planning on running to?”
“…I haven’t thought about that yet.”
“The city is a dangerous place for a child to wander alone. The countryside is just as dangerous.”
“But the place I used to live is more dangerous for me!”
When Lellia retorted so clearly, the old nobleman made a thoughtful sound. *If a child is saying this,* he thought, *the abuse must have been severe.*
But to Lellia, it looked like something else entirely.
‘Is he planning to send me back to the capital?’
Lellia looked at the old nobleman with desperate eyes. She absolutely could not go back to the capital.
“P-Please, help me.”
“…”
If that old nobleman were to order his knights to return her to the capital, everything would be for nothing.
‘Emperor Perseus might find my actions outrageous and try to kill me.’
With that desperate feeling in her heart, Lellia clasped her hands and pleaded with the old nobleman.
“Please, help me… I don’t want to go back. You just have to pretend you never saw me! I won’t follow you from here on. So please, just don’t send me back to the cap—”
“Can you read?”
Startled by the sudden question, Lellia blinked before nodding her head in response.
“…Yes.”
Perhaps thanks to Lellia’s desperate plea, the old nobleman made a suggestion.
“My knight order happens to need a page to help with chores. Can you do it?”
“!”
Lellia’s eyes widened. A page was a young child who ran errands for high-ranking nobles or knights.
Lest the old nobleman change his mind, Lellia quickly nodded her head.
“Alright, then let’s go to Rendinium together for now.”
“Th-Thank you.”
Lellia said, bowing her head deeply. She was bewildered. She had never imagined the problem would be solved so easily.
“What is your name?”
“…”
Lellia pressed her lips together firmly. Saying her name was dangerous.
However, the old nobleman nonchalantly gave an order to a knight standing nearby.
“Take her to the company commander.”
“Understood.”
The place the knight led her to was filled with other knights in blue armor, who were organizing their luggage.
The knight in charge of guiding her led Lellia to one of them, a knight who was brushing a horse’s coat.
“…”
Lellia stared at the knight. She was a very tall female knight.
Come to think of it, only female knights were gathered here.
As the knights’ gazes gathered on Lellia, her body stiffened.
Even though she had the old nobleman’s permission, it would be troublesome if the knights she had to serve and run errands for disliked her.
“What a cute kid. How old are you?”
Fortunately, a female knight walked up, met Lellia’s eyes, and asked. She was a knight with long hair tied into a ponytail.
At the kinder-than-expected voice, Lellia answered cautiously.
“I’m ten.”
“Not a squire, but an adorable page like this. We’re blessed, Sir Thesis.”
At the knight's words, the female knight who had been brushing the horse's coat approached Lellia.
“Call me Sir Thesis. First, you should change your clothes. They’re too filthy.”
“…”
Thankfully, she didn't seem displeased or suspicious of Lellia.
Lellia breathed an inward sigh of relief.
