Chapter 37
In truth, most people in the capital didn’t even know that Duke Deisha was married. Her existence alone had sent shockwaves through the nobility of the capital.
“Send someone to the west. Find out everything you can about the Deisha dukedom. Focus especially on the duke’s daughter.”
“Yes, understood.”
Evan nodded and stood up. Like a knight pledging loyalty to his liege, he placed his right hand over his chest and bowed.
Everything about him—from his bearing to his movements—was like a knight’s. But officially, Evan was the head of the Pison Trading Company. He could not be solely my personal knight.
That was something I couldn’t change. A woman like Anasha could not officially become the head of a trading company. And despite Evan’s stiff and upright appearance, he was extremely skilled in commerce. The Pison Company’s distribution network, storage, security, and all decisions except those involving Luiacha were in his hands.
Even though there were other candidates, my grandfather had deliberately made Evan the official head of the company for those very reasons.
Evan had once tried to hand over the title of company head to someone else so that he could personally act as my bodyguard. Few people even knew his face, so it wasn’t impossible. But I refused his proposal.
Grandfather had painstakingly raised Evan as a knight, only to appoint him head of the company. I think he believed it was better for Evan to protect me as the master of Pison than as an unranked knight. I trusted my grandfather’s judgment.
There were plenty of knights who could protect me—knights from the Marquisate of Elliant, and even imperial knights, if I wished it. Evan was far more valuable as the head of the company than as my personal guard.
Evan deeply regretted not being able to stay by my side to protect me. Every time we met, he tried to behave as much like my knight as possible. He had been trained from childhood for that role, and being my guard had been his life’s goal. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to abandon it completely.
Anasha and Evan were people my grandfather had left behind for my sake alone. Once I realized that, I could never treat them coldly.
“Would you please wait a moment?”
As I was about to stand, Evan stopped me. I sat back on the sofa and looked up at him.
“The item you requested last time has been prepared. I’ll bring it right away, so please wait here.”
The last time I visited, I had asked for two things: information about the west and a birthday present for Rant. Unfortunately, the gift I had wanted for Rant couldn’t be made quickly. In the end, I had to replace it with something else for his birthday, though the original item was still intended for him.
I nodded.
“I’ll wait.”
He bowed and left the reception room. I was currently at Luiacha’s main branch, the same as last time. I closed my eyes and waited for Evan to return.
“Um…”
When I opened them again, a young child was standing in front of me. It was the same child who had bumped into me last time, staining my clothes red. Upon meeting my gaze, the child quickly bowed his head.
“I’m really sorry about last time. I’d never seen a noble before…”
Mumbling the rest, he tapped his foot against the floor. According to what Anasha had told me, this boy had been stationed at another branch until recently. After losing his mother, he had been moved to the main branch.
He was of mixed Inayari blood. Even if he was fine under normal circumstances, if he got too excited, his identity risked being exposed. A child this young couldn’t possibly control his emotions—something even adults struggled with.
Without the absolute protection of his mother, the boy was vulnerable. Anasha and Evan had taken him under their wing to protect him. No one could have predicted that he’d get into an accident like bumping into me so soon after arriving in the capital without proper guidance.
His mother had been a victim from the west, abducted during an Inayari raid. She had escaped with her life and was rescued after catching the attention of the Pison Company.
Much of the Inayari information Evan had given me had come from that woman.
“In the future, you’d better be more careful. Not every noble is forgiving.”
“…Yes.”
He answered gloomily.
I lost interest in him. Being of Inayari blood was unusual, but that was all. Evan and Anasha would handle whatever danger he might pose. They were my grandfather’s chosen people—they wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“Um…”
The boy still seemed to have more to say. Perhaps because I’d been thinking of her earlier, his sky-blue hair felt especially irritating today. I spoke to him coldly.
“If you’ve finished apologizing, leave. I didn’t give you permission to be here.”
“Please teach me how to get stronger!”
He blurted it out, startled even by his own loud voice. I frowned, and he quickly added in a rush:
“I have to protect Bionne!”
This time, I was the one caught off guard. That name was the last thing I expected. The boy stepped closer and grabbed my skirt.
“If I want to protect Bionne, I have to be strong. Please, big sister!”
The dull throb of my earlier headache flared up again. Pressing my temples, I held back the pain.
“Do you even know who Bionne is?”
“Of course!”
He beamed. If his mother had been beautiful, it showed—he was unusually pretty for a boy. He covered one side of his mouth as if to keep anyone from overhearing and whispered:
“I secretly saw her when she came here with Auntie Anasha. She was really cute!”
‘Another child with the same name as me?’
I searched my memory but couldn’t recall any girl with my name. If she had been with Anasha, she was probably a child from the company. I knew little about the children under the company’s care.
The boy, clearly excited, kept chattering.
“No one told me, but I figured it out right away.”
He thumped his chest proudly.
“That must be the child Grandpa told me I had to protect.”
“Grandpa?”
“Yes, the company master, Grandpa!”
I instantly knew which “Grandpa” he meant. So this child had met my grandfather in person. Considering his special circumstances, it made sense.
“But Bionne is sick,” he said with a gloomy face.
I raised an eyebrow. “Sick?”
“Grandpa said she’s weak and her heart hurts, so we have to protect her no matter what.”
So to my grandfather, I had always been the weak, wounded child. And even with Evan and Anasha, it wasn’t enough—he had tasked even this little boy with protecting me. Just how much love had my grandfather left me? My eyes stung.
“To protect Bionne, I have to get strong. Please, big sister.”
He shook my skirt desperately. I blinked quickly, drying the tears before they fell. There was no need to show weakness in front of him.
“Why are you telling me this? If you want to be strong, ask Evan.”
“Because you’re the strongest!”
Most boys admired knights—men in armor with swords at their hips looked the strongest in a child’s eyes. I was just an ordinary noblewoman. I had no idea what made me look strong to him.
“Even the company master can’t do anything in front of you. So you’re the strongest.”
I couldn’t help but laugh softly at the absurdity. Whether someone had told him or it was just instinct, this boy already seemed to grasp power dynamics. I found myself a little intrigued.
“What’s your name?”
“Raiyo.”
“All right, Rai. Let’s say I’m the strongest. Why should I teach you how to get strong?”
His face froze. Clearly, he’d never thought about that. Understandable—he was a child, maybe seven at most. At that age, you get what you want by throwing tantrums, not persuading others with logic.
“Because you also have to protect Bionne.”
“What?”
“I know you’re part of the company too. Everyone in the company has to protect Bionne.”
His yellow eyes stared at me unwaveringly. With his emotions running high, his pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
“I have to protect Bionne, too?”
“Yes.”
I laughed. He wasn’t wrong. I did have to protect myself—my life, my happiness, everything that was mine. Anyone who tried to take that away or destroy it would never be forgiven, no matter who they were.
“What do you want to become strong for? If you want to be a knight or merchant, Evan or Anasha could help you more than I could.”
“I want to be a noble!”
“Why?”
“Because nobles are the strongest!”
He was both right and wrong. The Empire had a strict class system. From the perspective of a commoner or slave, nobles were like stars in the sky. A noble’s word could mean life or death. But not all nobles were equal—some lived worse than commoners.
If he only wanted to become a noble, that was relatively simple. Hard for a normal commoner, yes—almost impossible. But with the right conditions, it wasn’t unachievable.
One could become a knight and earn a hereditary title, or—illegally—buy the title of a ruined noble house.
“A half-Inayari wanting to be a noble… now that’s amusing.”
“I’m not Inayari!” Raiyo shouted, face twisting. His pupils narrowed even further.
“With eyes like those, you still deny it?”
He quickly lowered his head, letting his sky-blue hair fall forward to hide his forehead and eyes.
“I… I…”
Unable to refute me, he bit his lip in frustration.
