Chapter 46
“Hmm, so what business do esteemed people like you have with us?”
The man, who seemed to be the leader, spoke in a sly tone. By now, the smile on Demian’s face had vanished. Fabian shifted his eyes nervously, but Demian didn’t seem angry.
“Are you the one in charge?”
The man exchanged glances with his group and then nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then I’d like to speak with you.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Demian nodded lightly. The man continued speaking with that same ever-smiling expression.
“I don’t know what your lordship wants, but if it’s important, it’s better to discuss it with all of us. We move as a group, but in fact, we’re all independent operators.”
Fabian’s face gradually turned pale at the man’s utterly rude attitude. The maid captain’s brow furrowed even more deeply. Yet Demian didn’t appear offended at all.
“Is that so? Then we’ll do as you say.”
Alain sighed. Fabian opened his mouth several times, then closed it again. It seemed he wanted to hint that we were royalty, but Demian’s gaze stopped him.
“Could you give us some space to have a conversation?”
He asked us, seated at the table. We had no choice but to yield. We gave up the table to the treasure hunters and moved toward the display cases. As I skimmed the objects I had just seen, no longer feeling much excitement, I noticed Alain still arranging some items.
“Anything interesting?”
Alain flinched as if startled and shrugged. After a moment, he sighed.
“Next time, please make a bit more noise when you approach…”
Haha, he must have been too focused on the items to notice us at all. I squatted down and looked through the items he had sorted from his backpack: a cracked bracelet, a worn coin, a shard of pottery with a painted design whose original use was unknown…
“What do you think?”
Since nothing particularly caught my interest, I asked Alain instead. After removing a couple of accessories including the bracelet and a coin, he shook his head.
“To be honest, it’s hard to believe you went deeper than usual. Ah, I’m not doubting them, though.”
Alain let out a deep sigh, as if drawing from the depths of his lungs.
“This is serious.”
Was it because the Land of Death had expanded, or because the relics of the ancient empire were surfacing? I didn’t know, so I had nothing useful to add.
I gave Alain a brief word of encouragement, looked over the relics a bit more, then turned around. The doorkeeper and the maid captain were talking in a corner.
I hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but as I got closer, their voices became clear.
“…what kind of face…”
“Still… it’s not like they were chosen by him…”
The maid captain sighed at that point, then turned and met my gaze. Her eyes widened.
“Your Highness?”
“Oh, sorry. Was I interrupting?”
The maid captain shook her head. The doorkeeper spoke brusquely:
“You two go ahead and talk. I’ll help Alain.”
And with that, he left in a hurry. Watching his retreating figure, I spoke to the maid captain.
“Was that something I shouldn’t have heard?”
I had asked casually, more as a joke than out of real curiosity, but her expression stiffened for a moment. I forced an awkward smile.
“What kind of story would provoke that reaction?”
Earlier, the doorkeeper had muttered about the “kind of face” someone had. He seemed very upset about how the former Sardegna territory had been neglected.
So, it must have been about either me, the daughter of the Duke of Moor who abandoned this land, or Demian, who belonged to the royal family and currently owned it.
‘Maybe he meant both of us.’
I didn’t feel offended. Coming here, I had already seen the refugees overflowing the streets. From their perspective, complaints were natural.
Yet the maid captain seemed different; her hands trembled. Like a rabbit caught in a trap, she spoke in a faint voice:
“I was talking about Your Highness’s great-grandfather, now deceased, the Marquis of the Sardegna borderlands.”
Then, the “thick-faced” person must have been referring to me. The doorkeeper had mentioned I resembled my father a lot.
My father, too, had very distinct golden hair in his youth. And those bright red eyes—I had inherited them from him.
‘The doorkeeper really seems to dislike my father.’
Does he think this land was neglected because my father refused the inheritance? The refugees who came to this village only lived near the border, but they were Sardegna people originally.
I felt a sense of responsibility. Having visited often in the past, and since this was my mother’s hometown, it was natural to feel uneasy about the current situation.
“It’s a pity I have no memories of my great-grandfather or grandfather. He seemed like a very beloved lord.”
“You used to visit often as a child…”
“I was too young to remember well.”
Speaking with a sense of wistfulness, the maid captain’s eyes looked very sad. She clutched at her skirt.
“The town has become quite shabby. It’s natural you don’t remember.”
Then suddenly, she began criticizing herself. I shook my head.
“No, it’s still beautiful. The bathhouse you took me to today was nice. I’ll talk to the baron about the roads and refugee issues when we meet.”
I smiled gently at her to reassure her.
“If His Excellency were alive, he would have been pleased.”
The maid captain trailed off.
“When did your great-grandfather pass away?”
“Ten years ago.”
Ten years ago? Not as long as I thought. I blinked. Our family, being heirs, surely attended, and since it happened when I was sixteen, I should remember it.
“Why did he pass away?”
“…Surely you haven’t heard anything?”
Instead, the maid captain asked in a trembling voice, as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, no. That’s understandable. After your lady mother passed, they were both shocked and bedridden.”
Hearing “both” made me think of the Sardegna Marquis and his wife, but somehow, I had a feeling it wasn’t them.
“Your grandfather passed then too…?”
“He went earlier. Unlike His Excellency, he couldn’t overcome the shock.”
The maid captain sighed deeply. Her voice made the listener’s heart sink.
“He must have loved my mother very much.”
To be honest, my memories of my mother’s last moments were vague. Curtains drawn in a dim room, the faint smell of herbs, her emaciated figure lying down.
She always lay with her head turned, so I could only see her back.
It was a memory tinged with a slightly eerie feeling.
“She was…”
Tracing memories of my mother, the maid captain’s gaze drifted far away. A soft smile appeared on her lips.
“She was very lovely. We all called her ‘Princess’.”
Just as the maid captain said this, a loud voice came from inside:
“How can you talk nonsense when you can’t even pay now?”
Hurriedly, we saw angry people approaching, veins bulging, faces red with rage.
“To a naive lord, does the risk we take for our lives seem laughable?”
A sarcastic voice followed. But Demian remained expressionless.
“Haah.”
A sigh came from behind. It was Alain. He pushed through the crowd and suddenly knelt before Demian.
“I apologize on their behalf. Please forgive them.”
“What’s this, Alain? You’ve become a merchant and even sold your humility?”
A teasing voice came. Demian ignored it, nodding slightly.
“Enough, rise.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Alain paused briefly, then spoke clearly. The moment he said “Your Highness,” the shop fell silent.
I watched the veins on the shouting man’s neck subside.
“Your Highness…?”
Someone muttered in disbelief. Demian only lifted the corners of his mouth in a faint smile.
“Yes, Demian Freyr Lyrus. That is my name.”
The excitement of the crowd settled slightly, though not all problems were resolved.
The leader of the men spoke calmly.
“Your Highness, but I still maintain my position. Without immediate income, we cannot accept your offer.”
