Chapter 43
43
I put my hand on the back of his hand and shook my head.
"I can't save it."
"Then tell me how to make another one."
"That would be a completely different being from Ami."
Adrian's gaze fell to the floor.
I remember him riding his horse at the very front of the victory parade of the Holy-Demonic War.
More than his beautiful appearance, which seemed to have gathered all the precious things in the world, what I felt first was an intense dignity.
Even I, as the daughter of Duke Amitie, the knight of knights, felt the goosebumps rise on my skin.
I vaguely thought that no one could hurt him.
But the child I see now is covered in wounds. So precarious that my heart ached.
"But I can make a grave for it."
When I said that in a small voice, Bune was restless, saying, [Aga's strawberry!], but I pretended not to hear.
Adrian raised his head and stared at me, and I did not avoid his eyes.
"You have to dig deeper."
Adrian looked at the girl pointing at the ground, carefully holding Ami in one hand.
"At this rate, when will you finish digging? Come here."
The girl dusted off Adrian's hand and carefully placed Ami back on it.
Then she squatted down and dug up the dirt. She dug so diligently that in just a few minutes, she had created a pit twice as big as Adrian.
"Now, you bury it here."
She was a really strange kid.
She was good at digging dirt like a farmer, but she was even better than royalty at bossing around a prince.
The child had never seen anyone treat him so casually.
'But.'
But if this child knew who he was, she would change.
Everyone did.
Royals, nobles, and even palace people regarded him like a boil. Scary to touch, but annoying to leave alone.
They were wary of Adrian, the eldest son of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager's cousin, and the target of Yvonne, the first Empress and eldest daughter of Duke Marche.
He was alive, but he was a non-person.
So this child would definitely change if she knew who he was.
The sparkling eyes that looked at him would darken with fear, and the lively expression would turn dull. He was inwardly disappointed, but that made him think he should speak faster.
"I am the eldest son of the Imperial Family."
"So?"
"I said I'm the child of the dead Empress, I..."
"So?"
Adrian was speechless and just blinked.
Strange.
She should be surprised.
Even if she was too young to know the tangled political relationships, she should be afraid of the word "royal."
As Adrian stared at her with strange eyes, the child tilted her head.
"Is that important right now?"
"……Huh?"
"If it's not important, let's bury Ami quickly."
The child grabbed his hand and pulled.
Dazed, Adrian sat down following the child and poured Ami, who had completely turned to water, into the pit.
The child covered the water with dirt and patted it in place of Adrian.
"Now, you have to pray."
Adrian stared intently at the child, who had closed her eyes tightly with her hands clasped together.
"Please let them be together for a long, long time in their next life."
"……."
"Even if they fight and sulk, let it be natural for them to greet each other the next morning."
"……."
"Let them not be sick. Let them be happy every day so that today's pain becomes just a trivial topic of conversation."
The child gazed intently at Adrian's eyes.
"Please make this child happy."
It was as if she was talking to herself.
He couldn't say anything and just stared blankly at the child.
Adrian couldn't understand why his throat was hot and his eyes were stinging.
The only thing that was clear was that this was the first moment he thought he would never forget someone's name.
After burying Ami and finishing the prayer, I got up from my seat.
"Are you going?"
Adrian grabbed my hand and asked, and I was a little embarrassed and answered.
"Yeah."
"……Will you come again?"
"Huh?"
"Come again."
The way the child looked at me was so earnest that I rolled my eyes.
"Maybe."
"But if you don't come..."
Adrian's eyes clouded over. Long eyelashes, sparkling in the sunlight, half-covered his clear red eyes.
'Wow...'
As expected of the century's most handsome man who had captivated the minds of Young Ladies beyond the empire.
Even with my aesthetic sense accustomed to the beauty of Duke Dubled, my heart skipped a beat for a moment.
"Now we're friends. Friends keep their promises. We'll meet someday."
"Friend……."
I chuckled inwardly at Adrian, who muttered the word several times.
Then, after waving goodbye, I turned around and ran.
'I'm late, I'm late!'
I came under the pretext of playing hide-and-seek, but 30 minutes had already passed.
As I hurried to the garden, I heard people calling for me, "Where are you, Little Miss!"
Soldiers and servants with pale faces were frantically looking for me.
"Leubu, here!"
When I shouted and jumped up and down, people ran over.
"Oh my god……."
Leah was shocked to see me covered in dirt.
"Where on earth have you been? Do you know how surprised I was when I couldn't find you no matter how hard I looked?"
The place where I was was not far from the garden, but the fact that they couldn't find me meant that Adrian had set up a Barrier.
I fidgeted with my hands and mumbled, "I'm sowwy."
Leah sighed and brushed off my skirt.
"It's okay as long as you're safe. But if you disappear again next time, my heart might really stop."
"Yes."
"The permission to pass has been granted. Shall we go back to Dubled now?"
When she said that, I nodded with a bright expression.
[Strawberry! Aga, ask if they'll give you ten strawberries.]
Bune urged, so I slyly looked up at Leah.
"Nea, ten stwawbewwies?"
"That's……."
Leah's eyes narrowed.
"Since you broke your promise, I'll only give you five."
Oh, no.
I covered my cheeks with a shocked expression, and laughter erupted around me.
I only got five strawberries, but I was still in a pretty good mood.
I had Bune return all the money Urso had embezzled to its original owners, and there was still quite a bit of money left over.
This was because I didn't return the bribes that the loan sharks had given me.
'This is 6,000 francs.'
Seria's bounty was 30,000 francs, so I had a total of 36,000 francs.
'Now I need to start making money in earnest so I can find a place to live in exile.'
I know a few good places to invest.
The problem is that I'm too young to contact the investment firms.
That's why I lived in poverty when I was a beggar.
Of course, I had to live as quietly as possible so as not to be noticed, but I couldn't invest because of my age.
'I need an adult to help me.'
Seria is there, but she's a criminal anyway, so there are restrictions. She's in jail right now, too.
I can't keep getting help from Bune either. His Divine Power is already running low, and he won't be able to maintain it for more than five days.
'I need to decide where to use Bune's Special Ability.'
It's not a power that I particularly need, but it would be a shame not to use it.
'It might make money.'
While I was thinking about it, the carriage stopped. We had arrived at Dubled Castle.
As soon as the door opened, Henri and Isaac came running to me.
"Why are you so late?"
Isaac asked, sticking his face out at me, and Henri pushed his face away and hugged me.
"Did you have a hard time coming here?"
Then Isaac reached out to snatch me away and hug me.
"I told the kitchen to prepare a lot of the meat you like."
Henri turned his back on Isaac and defended me.
"Wouldn't it be bad for your health to eat late at night? How about a simple meal on the terrace and a delicious breakfast tomorrow?"
"Eating that won't hurt your health, okay?"
"Children are weak. Don't compare them to monsters like you."
Then they tried to snatch me away from each other, and I was dizzy.
"Ugh……."
That's when I groaned. Whoosh! My body floated up, and before I knew it, I was in the Duke's arms.
"Don't fight over your sister."
When the Duke spoke sternly, Henri and Isaac looked at each other with dissatisfied faces, but soon answered dejectedly, "Yes..."
'Oh, thank goodness.'
I had been riding in the carriage for a long time and had been using a lot of energy to maintain Bune, so it was hard to be stuck between the two of them.
I was leaning my face against the Duke's chest when I realized something.
I have to greet him.
"I'm home."
Then the corners of the Duke, Henri, and Isaac's mouths softened.
"Yes."
"Welcome back."
"Let's go in."
Home is where the heart is. I had been living here for a few months, and it really felt like I was coming home.
The next day, I received the strawberries I had promised Leah as an afternoon snack.
As I looked at the strawberries with a lot of whipped cream on them with sparkling eyes, Bune was delighted, saying, [That's good, Aga.]
After putting a bib on me, Leah put the strawberries on a plate.
"……Three, four, five."
After counting to that number, she smiled at me with sparkling eyes and secretly moved two more.
"Nea, I wike it."
As a sign of gratitude, I kissed Leah on the cheek, and the maids were envious and made a fuss.
"Little Miss, I'm the one who prepared the cream."
Then Dahlia held out her cheek.
"I'm the one who picked the strawberries."
Linda also came close to me.
"Just do it to me."
Uni tilted her head towards me.
I kissed each of them on the cheek and picked up my fork again.
[I can bring you milk, too.]
'Huh?'
[I can pick the strawberry stems, too. Shall I manifest?]
'……?'
