CHAPTER 24.
So, It’s You. The Wild Colt of This District
“…So you’re telling me now.”
Hoo.
Forgetting Adele was watching, she pressed the inner corners of her brows firmly.
Of course. She should’ve known. She shouldn’t have even asked why the High Priestess was so excited—it was only natural.
“Lady Agnes.”
“…Yes, Captain Mikael.”
And here, standing in front of her, were people even more thrilled.
As Rebecca said, they were all boisterous, passionate young men full of vigor…
“Whoa! A pretty lady! Are you staying with us from now on, noona?”
“…You little brats! Get back to training already!”
They were young. Very young.
Squires who looked like they were about to charge at Adele.
Mikael was trying to push them back.
Even though Adele was seeing it with her own eyes, it still felt surreal.
They must’ve been forced into oversized knight uniforms. Some sort of Confucian etiquette bootcamp, perhaps?
They looked like walking declarations of “I don’t listen to anyone.”
She knew noble children came to San Fidelio for educational visits, but she hadn’t realized it was such a full-blown camp. Adele smacked her lips bitterly and looked at them with dull eyes.
“So… you’re saying the commander sent me here?”
“Well, more or less.”
Mikael reluctantly nodded, though there were traces of concern at the corners of his eyes.
It was Killian’s decision to send her here, but could this really be called permission?
“How about assigning Lady Agnes to the armory? She worked with a merchant guild, so she’d manage things well.”
“No, too noisy. Too many knights passing through.”
“That’s true… then maybe the archives? It’d be quiet there—young knights don’t frequent it.”
“Didn’t you say she’s too old to be among men?”
“Hm, the only place knights don’t go near would be the cadet dorms… but the kids are too young there…”
“….”
Killian remained silent only at that part. He lowered his gaze and polished his sword as if he hadn’t heard a thing—an image of noble detachment.
And so, Lady Adele was brought here—but even he couldn’t argue that it was the worst possible match.
“The priests and the High Priestess are here, so you won’t have to do much. We’ll soon head to the commander’s swordsmanship training. Lady Agnes, just look after that one over there.”
“…The one wildly swinging that wooden sword?”
“It won’t be too difficult. He’s already completed his theology classes with the priests, so he should have regained emotional stability…”
“Waaah! Nero hit me again!”
Before Mikael could finish his sentence, a child burst into tears.
Adele forced a smile and looked at Mikael.
“Well, at least that’s reassuring. With some mental discipline, no one should die.”
“H-haha… I should go check in with the commander.”
Mikael awkwardly excused himself and fled.
Adele soothed the crying child first, then walked toward the one swinging the wooden sword.
Slowly, very slowly. Like a lion preparing to assert dominance, each step came with weight.
‘…So, it’s you. The wild colt of this district.’
As she silently approached without blinking, the boy stomping around with the sword suddenly shouted.
“Who are you?! Go away! Get lost! I can do this on my own!”
“…Oh, really?”
He truly lived up to the name “Nero”—a little tyrant in the making. Adele shrugged.
She didn’t know which noble house he came from, but he radiated defiance against authority from every pore.
The boy growled and bared his teeth.
“Hey! Don’t you know who I am? Didn’t you hear?!”
“Nope. Not yet.”
“Hmph! You’ll be shocked when you find out! I’m someone the priests and the High Priestess gave up on! So back off!”
Wow. What a boast.
Adele barely held back a laugh and leaned toward the boy. Not that she had room to mock, really.
“Kid, you may not know who I am either, but don’t you get the idea? That we’re in the same situation?”
“W-what are you saying?!”
The boy flinched as Adele’s face came too close. But he froze, mesmerized by her fierce, pink eyes.
“…Yeah. I’m one they gave up on too.”
“…”
“What, did you think you were the only one thrown out into the world?”
“Wh-what are you talking about?!”
“You really are just a kid, huh.”
What should she do with him?
Adele clicked her tongue with a look of pity. This kind of child existed in every era.
“Nero, you think you’re special, don’t you? That you’re the only one who’s lonely. That no one understands you. That the world revolves around you.”
“You’re crazy!”
“Exactly. Screaming out of nowhere like that.”
“…”
“And little brat like you—daring to glare at an adult like that.”
Adele nodded calmly at Nero, who was glaring daggers at her.
He was too young for puberty angst—this was clearly a case of spoiled-brat syndrome.
If not for her previous life, maybe she would’ve turned out the same.
Adele felt a twinge of heaviness in her chest.
“Who even are you?! What gives you the right to say all this?! If my dad finds out, he won’t let you off!”
“Well, if my dad finds out about you, I doubt he’ll stay quiet either.”
“…Y-you!”
“And if you want to act like an adult so badly, start talking about yourself. Not your dad—who I couldn’t care less about.”
The flash in Adele’s pink eyes made Nero flinch involuntarily.
Maybe now it finally hit him—that she really was the one the priests and the High Priestess had also cast aside.
“…Who the hell are you?”
“You really need to fix that way of speaking.”
“Who are you to tell me that?! Not even my parents talk to me like this!”
“Would loving parents have sent you to a place like this? A monastery in San Fidelio, where no one would know even if you died?”
“…D-died?!”
Fear crept into Nero’s defiant eyes.
He looked around belatedly, but somehow, the wide training ground was now empty—just the two “abandoned ones” remained.
Nero regretted not listening to the priest who had begged him to behave. For the first time since arriving.
Still, his stubbornness kept him from admitting fear outright.
“You’re lying! Like I’d believe someone like you!”
“Then don’t. It’s no concern of mine what happens to you.”
“A-are you crazy?! Is that something an adult should say to a child?!”
“So you’re only a child when it suits you, huh?”
How convenient.
Adele shook her head and crouched even lower. Her red eyes, now directly in front of Nero’s nose, glowed eerily under the twilight.
“Use that clever little brain and think. Didn’t you notice signs before your parents sent you here?”
“…What signs?!”
“You’d know better than me. Your mother begging you to stop and crying. Your father drinking alone at dawn in the study. Sighing or growing depressed whenever they saw you.”
“…Do you know my mom?”
Gotcha, brat.
You could always tell from a parent’s face if they had a troublesome child. Seeing Nero go pale confirmed it.
“Those are the signs. What do you think your parents felt, sending you here?”
“…What do you mean by ‘a place like this’?!”
All that was left in Nero was fear. Pride forgotten.
He wanted to escape this beautiful, terrifying woman, but her soft voice now echoed like a haunting whisper.
“What kind of place? Like I said—one where people could die and no one would know.”
“…!”
“You saw on the way up, didn’t you? There’s no escape. All those knights here—what do you think they’re for? The monsters outside? Or to keep you in? Even if something happens to you, who’s to say whether it was a monster or something else? You and I—we’re both just abandoned.”
“Are you saying you’re going to hurt me? What kind of adult—?!”
“Oh, so you do think I’m an adult. Then get that finger out of my face.”
“…”
“Or I’ll break it.”
Adele’s face went cold, and Nero, hiccupping, clamped his mouth shut.
Yet even then, his wide eyes stayed locked on hers. The sheer stubbornness.
‘Well, no wonder they sent him here instead of any normal boarding school.’
Any parent, no matter the age or culture, fears not knowing where their child is. To send a kid to the southern mountaintops? The child must’ve been that impossible.
She wondered if she was being too harsh on someone so young, but this one wasn’t a typical child.
‘Kid, let’s not make each other look bad among us chaebol-second-gens.’
He already knew too much about money, power, and parental backing. Better to break him now than let him turn worse.
And Adele knew how to deal with this type all too well.
“Nero, you remind me of my younger siblings.”
“…What the heck? That’s all?”
Hmph!
Nero twisted his shoulders and huffed.
The tension that had built to his throat vanished like a retreating tide, leaving only frustration.
“You think I don’t know what you’re trying to say? You’re just like all the other priests and priestesses!”
“What do you mean?”
“That stupid story—‘You remind me of my siblings, but they turned out okay in the end, so you will too!’”
“No, not at all. I meant my siblings were nothing like you.”
Adele let out a dry chuckle. If her siblings were as innocent as this brat, she’d count her blessings. One was an infamous villainess, the other a serial killer.
“Hate to disappoint, but my siblings were a lot worse than you.”
“…What?”
“Curious? Want to know what happened to them?”
Nero, who had been ready to scream, shrank back again.
Asking about this woman’s siblings was like opening Pandora’s box. But still, he needed to know one thing.
“…They’re still alive, right?”
“Hmm… I wonder…”
“Tell me! Are they alive?!”
Witch!
Nero turned pale and even his jaw trembled. He looked ready to bolt, but Adele calmly folded her arms.
Hmph.
The arrogant, downward gaze she gave resembled some ancient demon from a fairytale.
“If you want to know, go stand in line over there.”
“…What? Did you just tell me to—”
“If you want to live, stand in line.”
At her crushing, smiling glare, Nero stumbled backward and dashed off to the kids lining up outside the building.
It was the first time he had ever voluntarily joined a queue, and the guiding priest looked surprised and turned to Adele.
May the blessings of the Sun God be upon you.
Adele made the sign of the cross devoutly, and the priest, satisfied, did the same in return.
Nero’s chest heaved in confusion, but she couldn’t care less.
‘So naive.’
Watching Nero disappear at the back of the line like he was fleeing, Adele’s lips curled faintly.
In that terrified child, she saw a memory of her own first encounter with someone.
“…Anyway, I wonder how that one is doing now.”
