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~Chapter 27~
“Does he look like someone’s son I know? Hmm, maybe the Captain of the Royal Knights…”
Uncle Alec rubbed his chin, trying to remember.
Does he know about Edell’s (Yuri’s) past? It’s possible, since Alec was a knight. I hurried to change the subject, but Dusik, sitting on my shoulder, spoke to Alec first.
“Oh, you made a contract with quite the electrifying one.”
Uncle Alec was a spiritist who had made a contract with Drake, a top-tier lightning spirit. He really was a “shocking” guy.
“Why did you give up the family contest and the head-of-family position?”
Alec’s face tensed at Dusik’s question.
It was true—his thunder magic was so strong he was once a top candidate for family head.
Back when the Spirit King didn’t choose an heir, direct descendants would compete in the “family trial” to decide the successor. Later, even distant relatives could enter, so it became a festival showing off the family’s greatness.
That helped relatives get good marriages or high jobs.
Still, I’d never heard Uncle Alec gave up the chance to win the contest and gain power.
“Everyone has their own life goals and path.”
Uncle Alec laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
“Please take good care of Ciella so she’s not lonely, Spirit.”
After the conversation, Count Alec Noyer left.
Thanks to Dusik, I’d barely escaped a tough situation. I let out a small sigh.
“Ciella, I think I need to go down to the town for work. Want to come? It’s been a while since we saw the village.”
Keia tapped my shoulder. I nodded and took Edell’s hand.
“Sure, let’s go.”
We walked out into the garden. I noticed a group of kids around Edell’s age playing ball.
They were children of visiting noble families.
The inside of the estate was safe from disaster, so nobles sometimes brought their kids to visit.
Just then, the ball rolled over to us. One of the kids came to pick it up and smiled at Edell.
“Hi.”
Edell just stared at the kid blankly. Because he’d been bullied at the orphanage, he didn’t have many good memories about other children.
“Wanna play ball with us? We’re one person short.”
A friendly kid offered his hand first.
“Edell, it’s fine, go play with them. We’ll be right back.”
Ciella encouraged Edell, patting his back.
But, being an adult inside, Edell firmly shook his head.
“I’m not a kid, why would I play ball?”
“Uh… but you’re not an adult, right? …Right?”
Edell noticed Ciella’s green eyes waver, and felt guilty.
To avoid suspicion, maybe he should act like a normal kid.
He sighed and nodded.
“Just for today. I’ll play with those little brats.”
Ciella looked proud as she watched Edell walk toward the other kids.
Boom!
There was a loud thump, like a cannon.
“The ball’s gone…”
A kid’s surprised voice rang out.
Edell, holding up one foot in the kicking position, said coolly,
“Play something else.”
Maybe because he’s such a mature kid, he’s pretty good at this.
Ciella smiled proudly and walked away.
Leaving Edell with the children, Ciella and Keia went down to the village.
“Keia, do you think the waffle shop we always used to go to has gone out of business, too?”
Ciella and Keia had first met by chance in a village here, and became friends.
He was her first friend who talked to her when she was alone.
“It closed. The owner left because of the disaster.”
Keia shook his head regretfully.
Most of their favorite shops had closed and left. Ciella looked around the empty marketplace with a sad face.
“It’s like… even my memories are disappearing.”
Those memories meant even more to her because there weren’t many happy ones from her lonely days.
“Isn’t that Marciella, the one who caused the disaster?”
A merchant stared at her and pointed.
Ciella’s eyes widened at the dark nickname.
“Get out of here!”
“Witch! Did you come back to curse us again?”
She was hated by the townspeople, too. Keia caught a flying apple with one hand and scratched his head.
“I guess we can’t go sightseeing…”
“Well, thanks to my fame, we got a free apple. Isn’t that nice?”
Ciella joked and laughed, even in this situation.
A merchant shouted angrily,
“Our lives got so hard because of you, and you’re laughing?”
“It’s not my fault. If it was, would I walk around with my face out in the open?”
“You’re just shameless!”
Ciella stood tall and faced the crowd.
Keia was quickly catching the onions, carrots, and other things people threw at them.
“I awakened as a spiritist.”
As soon as she said it, everything went silent as if cold water had been dumped on them.
No more things were thrown.
Because they saw her chick and cat spirits appear.
“…A spirit?”
To be awakened as a spiritist meant she was the marquis’s real child—not an illegitimate one.
“Then what’s causing this disaster?!”
Someone else shouted at Ciella.
She realized they just needed someone to blame.
They were helpless against natural disasters.
Ciella shook her head.
“Since the disaster continued after I was kicked out, I guess it wasn’t me.”
Just planting a small doubt in their hard-set beliefs.
Even if not everyone changed their minds, at least someone might start to question things.
“Honestly, the duchess wasn’t the only one who cheated.”
Someone murmured, and the words rippled through the crowd.
They remembered the marquis had cheated and had children with another woman, then kicked out the legitimate daughter by blaming her.
Wasn’t that the real wrongdoing?
The crowd’s whispering grew louder.
Ciella didn’t say more.
She just left that hint for them to think about.
“Let’s go back, Keia.”
She smiled calmly at Keia.
As they turned to go, a beggar approached.
“Lady, please, spare me a lemon.”
“Why a lemon?”
“I crave something sour.”
Moved by his desperate request, she gave him a lemon from Keia’s pile.
“Thank you.”
As he took the lemon, the beggar slipped a note into Ciella’s sleeve.
Surprised, she looked around and pocketed the note.
On the way back, she secretly unfolded it.
But it was blank—nothing written inside.
With the mind of an adult, Edell felt awkward pretending to be a kid among kids.
“Edell, what do you want to play? Let’s do whatever you want.”
Unlike the rough kids at his old orphanage, these children were soft and gentle, almost like kittens.
Are kids usually this nice? Edell wondered.
“Let’s play word chain.”
“Okay! You start.”
“Cadmium.”
“M? Mum-mummy.”
“Potassium dioxide.”
“Ium-pium-pium lizard.”
Why do they know all these words? Edell made a face, but then an older kid, maybe ten, came up and glared at him.
“You’re the kid brought by the woman who got kicked out, right?”
“You mean Ciella?”
Edell answered calmly.
The boy, probably a distant Belmour cousin, frowned and pointed.
“That means you’re from the underworld, Udes. Guys, don’t get close to him.”
The younger kids didn’t know what “Udes” meant.
“Why?”
“That’s where dirty pickpockets, beggars, and thieves live. He might steal your stuff.”
Children’s prejudice is always taught by adults. The boy’s parents must have said bad things.
Are humans evil from that age? Edell wondered.
“That’s right, guys. Don’t play with dirty me.”
He saw a chance to escape from the kids’ games. Edell raised his chin and said it coldly, but the first kid shook his head.
“No, you don’t smell or look dirty at all. The one saying mean things is the bad guy.”
“It’s fine! We had fun playing, didn’t we? That brother should stop being mean and just leave!”
The kids all took Edell’s side, and the distant cousin backed away, flustered.
Why are they so nice? Edell felt awkward, but didn’t show it.
“Huh?”
Watching from a distance, Basilie gave a dry laugh.
He’d told the other kid to bully Edell.
“Hey, isn’t that black-haired brat kind of creepy?”
He nudged Lerazie, pointing at Edell.
Even when picked on, Edell stayed calm and cold, not acting like a kid at all.
Lerazie watched Edell, thinking he looked more like a quiet, noble young lord than a child.
“He’s always with Marciella. Is he from another noble family?”
“He sticks close to that girl. Who knows where she picked him up, but they play at being family.”
Feeling their stares, Edell looked over at Basilie.
Then he flashed a mysterious, dangerous smile that was far from childlike.
Basilie felt a chill down his neck.
What a creepy kid.
“So he’s her weakness, huh? Maybe this is a good chance to get rid of that thorn, Marciella.”
Lerazie preferred to use her brother Basilie for dirty work.
He caught on quickly and grinned slyly.
