CHAPTER 24
“Haa, haa, huff.”
“Hm? Matthias?”
Matthias, his robe thrown over him, came up panting as if he’d just run a marathon and held out his hand.
“W-water… some water…”
“Water? Wait, sip it slowly so you don’t choke.”
I handed him a glass, and Matthias drained it in one gulp, then wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and made a sour face.
“Haa… You said you’d look for Anna, so why are you here?”
“I’m looking for her. Why are you here?”
“Just… I was worried you wouldn’t keep your promise. I came to see if you were doing okay.”
Matthias answered with a prim little air and slid into the seat in front of me.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at the child.
“You snuck out on your family again, didn’t you?”
“Ah, no, I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie. If you do that you’ll get in real trouble.”
I crossed my arms and put on a stern face, and Greta, who had been sitting beside me, stood up and said she’d be back in a moment, making him promise to stay right where he was.
Matthias puffed out his cheeks in a sulk and answered in a small voice.
“Tch… I’m already punished.”
“By who?”
“By my uncle. He keeps telling me to stay still like I’m a doll, but I’m not a doll.”
His lowered eyes looked wounded, and the expression on his young face made him seem pitiful.
Just a little poke and his big eyes would probably fill with tears.
I reached out and smoothed his messy blond hair.
“Are they saying that because they worry about you?”
“No. My uncle and everyone else seem to like work more than me.”
“Why do you think that?”
Matthias couldn’t answer right away.
He clicked his nails together and then spoke slowly.
“I’m a burden to my uncle. Grandfather and grandmother said seeing me makes them think of Mom and Dad, and it’s hard for them.”
Despite the attempt at a composed voice, fear and hurt showed on his youthful face.
He’d lost his parents, and now there was a fear he might be pushed away even by the only adult he could lean on.
I closed my book and leaned slightly toward Matthias.
“No… But I heard the servants talking. They said your uncle has to take responsibility for you, so you’re a burden.”
“Then it’s something strangers said.”
I lightly tapped the bridge of his nose.
Matthias flinched and looked at me with wide eyes.
In a way, he was admirable.
A noble young master risking trouble to help a servant child, taking interest in something everyone else ignored.
“If your uncle didn’t say it himself, don’t take it to heart. Even if he did, don’t think of yourself as a burden. Not having parents doesn’t make your existence any less important.”
The world isn’t all kindness, and if you can’t love and protect yourself, you’re easy prey.
“You’re already remarkable. If it weren’t for you, Anna’s case would have been buried unfairly.”
I took Matthias’s hand gently.
He looked shy, his eyes trembling, and his soft cheeks flushed.
“Above all, adults are supposed to be responsible for children. Adults who abandon that duty are the ones at fault.”
“…My uncle isn’t a bad person.”
Matthias defended his uncle with a brighter face.
He sounded full of complaints about his family, but what came through was affection and a wish to be loved in return.
Such a cute little noble.
“Alright, alright. If anything makes you upset with your family, don’t keep it all inside like a baby. Promise me you’ll tell someone, okay?”
“I’m not a baby.”
He grumbled but gave a small, sheepish smile and looked at my book.
“What book are you reading?”
“Ah, it’s a pharmacology book I’m studying.”
“Pharmacology? Why are you learning that?”
“My husband is handsome but sickly. I have to protect him.”
Matthias looked at me as if puzzled by my solemn tone and then blurted out.
“My uncle is handsome too.”
“Is he? My husband is truly handsome.”
“My uncle is really, really handsome. Everyone who sees him says he’s the handsomest in the north.”
“My husband is the empire’s most handsome man.”
“My uncle is the most handsome man in the world!”
We teased each other about looks, and the conversation heated up into playful bickering.
“Young Master Matthias!”
Suddenly a group of knights burst into the coffee house.
“There you are! We’ve been looking for you. Come back to your residence at once.”
“No, I won’t go!”
“You must. You have to come.”
A knight with a white cloak scooped up the protesting Matthias effortlessly and left without another word.
Greta appeared behind them with an oddly satisfied expression, as if she’d just returned from the washroom.
Having spent so much time with her, I could now read Greta’s blank expression a bit better.
Anyway, I was glad someone had come to fetch the child.
I opened my book again and glanced at the dressing room.
The owner was berating a girl and pushing her by the shoulder, and the girl’s silent endurance reminded me of my past.
I couldn’t ignore it.
* * *
As the number of guards by the door increased, Matthias found his feet firmly tied.
Even if Tommy pretended to be the young master and took a nap in bed, the maid now confirmed faces, so the trick didn’t work.
Hmph, when will anyone give up?
Determination gathered tightly in his small face.
The more Aizen tried to suppress him, the stronger Matthias’s rebellious streak became.
He never wanted this kind of attention.
Each failed escape attempt brought Jenna’s face to mind.
…I want to see her again.
Jena was his first.
She listened when everyone else ignored him, didn’t pity him for having no parents, and understood his heart.
So he wanted to befriend her despite his uncle’s fierce opposition.
I haven’t even told her my full name yet.
Determined to meet Jena again, Matthias put his plan into action with Tommy.
He put a robe on Tommy and created a commotion as if he himself were escaping.
The two boys were similar enough in build that the knights were fooled.
“Ah—Young Master! Where are you going?”
“Everyone, chase after the young master!”
While Tommy lured people away, Matthias slipped out through a gap at the back of the castle.
He ran as fast as he could toward the coffee house, and as expected, Jena was sitting by the window with a book spread open.
“…Matthias? What is it, why are you here? I thought you couldn’t come anymore.”
Jena raised her eyes slightly when she sensed movement.
Matthias, embarrassed for no reason, put on a coy expression.
“Whether you come or not, it’s my feeling.”
“Did you finally tell your family this time?”
Matthias answered with silence.
Jena made a face that said he was hopeless, and Greta quietly sighed behind her.
Greta excused herself and went out to look for a duke’s knight as before.
Unaware of that, Matthias sat confidently across from Jena.
Jena called a staff member and ordered a drink.
An orange juice, looking tart just by sight, was soon placed in front of Matthias.
He took the straw with a sullen face and drank reluctantly, as if compelled by courtesy.
Slurp.
Surprisingly, the juice went down quickly.
“So, I told you I’d look for her, so why did you come again? Could it be you wanted to see me?”
“Ah, no? It’s not like that?!”
Matthias loudly denied, stung by the teasing remark.
His face flushed red and he lowered his head, twirling the straw and sneaking glances at Jena.
“Ahem, by the way, am I still not allowed to know which family you’re from?”
“Huh? You said you’d never tell.”
“You bought me juice… so if you ask this time, I might tell you.”
Jena’s chattering voice suddenly froze.
Through the window, she had seen a black carriage pull up and, in an instant, seize Sera, who was walking toward the dressing room.
“Well, if you’re that curious, I could—”
“Matthias! If my maid goes after her, tell them the carriage went that way, okay?”
Jena sprang up, grabbed Matthias’s shoulder, and ordered him without waiting for a reply, then dashed outside.
Matthias, left alone and bewildered, blinked blankly.
A moment later, Greta returned and looked puzzled at Jena’s empty seat.
She said she would alert the guards because she hadn’t found the White Wolf Knights.
“Where did my lady go?”
“…She went after the black carriage.”
“Eh? Which carriage are you talking about?”
“I-I don’t really know…”
Matthias stammered and couldn’t explain properly.
Feeling a bad premonition, Greta went out into the street to look for her mistress.
If she didn’t know where Jena was, it could quickly become a disappearance.
Greta’s face hardened as she went back into the coffee house and held out her hand to Matthias.
“Young Master, I will take you to the duke’s house.”
She intended to report this to Aizen at once.
* * *
“Please chase that carriage! Quickly!”
It was impossible to keep up with the carriage carrying Sera on foot.
So I jumped into a waiting omnibus and gave the driver money.
“Sir, please follow quietly so they won’t notice.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The driver handled the horses skillfully.
The black carriage left the busy district and headed toward a quiet outskirts area.
Then it stopped in front of a hut surrounded by trees.
The men who had taken Sera got out of the carriage with her bound, and I kept my distance as I disembarked and circled to the back of the hut.
I crouched under a broken window at the edge and peered inside.
“…!”
To my shock, several children Sera’s age were tied up inside the hut.
I almost screamed but clamped my mouth shut and kept quiet.
The men threw Sera among the other children and dusted their hands off.
“Ugh, one of them died all of a sudden, what a pain. We almost couldn’t match the numbers.”
“Still, we saved another one before the escort came. That’s good.”
“You lot, if you want to die, make a sound. Otherwise, stay quiet, got it?”
When one of the men raised his fist and barked, the children curled up.
They sneered and then went outside to guard the door.
Watching the sobbing children, I thought and planned in a low voice.
The escort will come before long; I have to rescue the children now. What should I do?
There are three thugs, and I’m alone.
Could I defeat them and save the children?
While racking my brain, something came into view.
Oh, that’s…!
Under a tree behind the hut, red-capped mushrooms with white stems were growing.
They were the poisonous toadstools known for being lethal clowns in the herbals.
I recognized them at once from the pharmacology book warning never to use them as medicine.
If I use those, I might have a chance.
