FLNL 50

Chapter 50

What?! Hey, you were just being nice because you thought that little girl was pretty?”

“Ha ha… well, that’s part of it.”

…What are you saying?

Little Maia was still too young to fully understand their conversation, but she definitely felt a faint discomfort.

“My father works as a private tutor at that family’s house. You never know. It’s not unheard of for a commoner to marry into the middle class, so if you treat her nicely from a young age…”

“Ah, so she’d fall for you and follow you around? Then later marry her and swallow up all their family’s fortune?”

“…That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but yeah. My mother said it would be a real jackpot if it turned out that way.”

Marriage. Jackpot.

Though Maia couldn’t fully grasp what those words implied, one thing was very clear to her:

That boy was truly a disgusting child.

“Why, why…?”

Why was it that around her, there was only people like that?

No one except her family had ever shown her genuine kindness.

Maia felt deeply hurt and sorrowful at this fact.

Tears that had been held back began to well up again, triggered by the boy named Rihi who had appeared like magic before her eyes.

Running back into the forest, tears glistened and fell from Maia’s eyes in drops.

“…Why are you crying again?”

Hyperion, standing on the blue sky as if stepping on empty air, threw away the candy the boy offered and watched Maia hurriedly run out of the room and just beyond the mansion’s fence.

His indifferent golden eyes caught the boy’s face, which was contorted with anger inside the room Maia had just left.

“Hmm?”

It seemed quite likely that some external factor was involved.

Curious, Hyperion expanded his mana like a dense net, grasping the entire village in his hand.

Then, he began to rummage through the memories of the humans.

“…”

Maia’s eyes were dry and stiff.

Alone, she hugged her knees and wandered around the clearing.

“…He said he’d come.”

But he wasn’t coming.

Even a stranger she met for the first time would have been fine—she wished for someone, anyone, to stay by her side.

But would a boy she only met yesterday keep his promise and come back?

Maia resigned herself and buried her face deeply. It seemed clear that he wasn’t coming.

“Today, tell me.”

A strangely quiet step approached.

“…!”

With that, a voice, clear and sharp, came to her ears.

Maia snapped her head up.

It was the boy from yesterday, Rihi, who was staring at Maia.

“Why are you crying?”

Her breath caught in her throat.

“…Why are you asking?”

What does it have to do with you?

Maia asked, lost in thought.

Are you like that Giovann kid too? Are you approaching me with some hidden agenda?

Suspicion arose and her head shook slightly.

But Maia’s suspicion was…

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not doing this because I pity you.”

Hyperion’s clear answer uprooted her suspicion completely.

“I really hate to let interesting things pass me by.”

At a distance that closed in instantly, close enough that their noses almost touched, Hyperion whispered quietly.

“And you’re my new interest. So tell me. If it’s within my amusement, I might be able to help you. This is a good opportunity for you.”

“…”

Looking up at his crescent-shaped eyes, Maia thought.

I don’t know what he’s been saying since earlier, but at least I’m sure this boy won’t hide the truth from me.

Maia told her past.

At first, she started clumsily, but as the story piled up, her words gained speed, and even with her limited vocabulary, the story felt vivid.

And Maia realized.

She had wanted so much to pour out the bottled-up grudges in her heart to someone.

She dared not speak to her frail grandmother, and her mother was too far away.

But now Maia had someone. Someone she could tell the stories trapped in her heart.

“…I see, so that’s what happened.”

Hyperion muttered quietly after listening to all of Maia’s story as if paying close attention.

Maia raised the chin that had been resting in her hands and looked back at him.

He wore a thoughtful expression.

What was he thinking about?

Looking at him with a mix of anxiety and curiosity, Maia saw Hyperion was surprisingly deep in thought.

The last time he met the emperor of this generation was just before his previous life had ended.

He left after firmly warning him that if he caused trouble, he wouldn’t be spared. And not long after, that body met death.

But that guy had an illegitimate child?

Hyperion felt uneasy as he reviewed the memories he had dug from the villagers’ minds.

Still…

“You don’t look anything like him.”

“Hmm?”

He murmured while looking at the face of the small child who tilted their head with wide eyes.

It might be because of the black hair that he connected this kid with Sahar, but…

Sahar’s hair was black with a bluish tint under the sunlight.

But this kid’s hair turned brown when hit by the sunlight. Definitely a different kind of black.

Above all…

‘I don’t sense Adelstein’s mana.’

That was the part that felt the most out of place.

Putting all these elements together, Hyperion concluded Maia was not Sahar Rakedaimon Adelstein’s biological child.

Her father who had left home was probably her biological father. Why he ran away was none of Hyperion’s business.

…But he couldn’t just tell her that. She’d probably just give him troublesome suspicion like, “How do you know that?”

For now, he’d wait and see what would happen.

After a moment’s thought, Hyperion lightly brushed off the issue as usual.

There’s no need for me to reveal the secret of this child’s birth, right?

“I’ve heard your story. I’ll leave it at that for today.”

Hyperion got up from his cross-legged sitting and said a neat goodbye, then disappeared.

“…”

If that’s the case, then why did you tell me to talk?

Left alone, Maia sat still staring at the empty space where the boy had disappeared.

Now that she thought about it, she felt she had told too much to a boy she had only met two days ago.

Regret began to slowly creep in.

Yesterday’s lesson had ended very uncomfortably.

So today, she hoped nothing would happen, but misfortune seemed unwilling to leave Maia’s side again.

“Sorry about yesterday. I think I was too hasty.”

“…”

“If you don’t like candy… Ah, now that I think about it, you’ve always been alone, haven’t you? Alright, would you like to play with my friends?”

Maia pressed her pale lips tightly and looked up at Giovanni blocking her path and refusing to move aside.

He was a ten-year-old boy this year, handsome enough to be liked by every girl in town.

Besides, his father was a teacher from a fallen lower noble family that had displeased a higher official, so Giovanni also had a certain prestige.

Giovanni’s mother coveted the wealth of the Hansberg family.

She often visited the Hansberg mansion with her young son and ordered him to be kind to the young daughter of that house.

Even without knowing the detailed background, Maia realized Giovanni was not approaching her out of pure goodwill, which made facing him uncomfortable and frightening.

…Though he hadn’t bullied her, by hanging out with the kids who did, it meant they had simply stood by while Maia was hurt.

“…S-s-shift aside.”

“Why are you avoiding me? …Maia.”

Giovanni spoke after some difficulty.

“You can’t be alone forever. I want you to make friends…”

Giovanni slowly reached out his hand toward Maia. Maia’s eyelids trembled, then she tightly shut her eyes.

“Ah!”

Then it happened.

A scream that pierced the ears.

Startled, Maia opened her eyes and saw Giovanni holding his swollen hand, looking in pain.

“…?”

His hand seemed three times bigger than before.