‘Is there no gift?’
[You’ve already received that many gifts, and you still want more?]
As Shiro pointed at the pile of gifts stacked in one corner of the room, Ricardo added a remark as well.
[The fairy bastard is right, greed isn’t good.]
‘What do you mean greed? The more gifts, the better.’
Perhaps having nothing to say, Shiro lay down next to me and pretended not to care.
[I’m sleepy. I’ll sleep first.]
I looked at Shiro with a dumbfounded expression as he fell asleep.
[Sleep well, Master.]
With those words, Ricardo also didn’t speak to me any further.
I let out a small laugh and closed my eyes. Today’s birthday was very special.
Because it wasn’t the anniversary of the Grand Duchess’s death, but a day solely for Ivelotte.
So today wasn’t sad at all.
***
Erika put Sestia into her carriage.
Sestia carefully watched Erika, who seemed to be in a bad mood.
“Do not make it so obvious.”
“Pardon?”
“You are making it so obvious that the Young Lady is getting wary of me. If you are going to read the room, you should at least do it without making it obvious.”
Sestia made a tearful face.
Erika spoke as if she couldn’t even stand the sight of her.
“If I fail to become friends with the Young Lady because of your clumsy behavior, how are you going to take responsibility?”
“That…”
“Why, do you feel wronged? Then you should not have gone into debt. You brought this on yourself trying to save your dying mother, did you not?”
“…P-Please do not insult my mother.”
“I am only saying this because I feel sorry for you, Lady Sestia. She is going to die anyway, so is it really right to struggle to keep her alive longer? Because of that, you and the Baron both ended up miserable, did you not?”
Sestia wanted to cry, but she held it in.
“My mother can recover. The doctor said so. So please watch your words.”
“Are you talking back to me right now? Just because I said we would be friends, do you think you and I are on the same level?”
Erika looked at Sestia with sharp eyes.
“Keep this in mind. You are beneath me.”
Her pride was hurt, but Sestia couldn’t reply.
Because she was completely in the weaker position, and Erika was the one in power.
No matter what kind of abuse of power Erika showed, the one in the weaker position could only endure it.
‘I have to endure it for Mother.’
Sestia clenched her fists tightly.
Erika looked at her as if she found her pathetic.
***
Valdes came to find me.
“Let’s spar.”
He bluntly demanded a spar.
The reason Valdes looked for me was always to spar.
“Sure, let’s spar.”
I went along with sparring with him.
Since sparring with Valdes was also helpful to me, there was no reason to refuse.
As expected, he ended up face-down on the ground again today.
[Kid, try harder.]
Ricardo circled around him and provoked him.
Valdes roughly wiped the nosebleed running from his nose with the back of his hand and burned with fighting spirit again.
“Next time, I will definitely win!”
‘I don’t even know how many times I’ve heard that.’
After the spar ended, I grabbed Valdes and asked.
“Valdes, do you know a Viscount named Giller?”
“I do. He’s one of the vassals of our House.”
“What kind of person is he?”
“A greedy man.”
“Then, isn’t he a bad person?”
“Can you really call that bad? It’s not like he’s the only greedy one among the vassals.”
“Then what kind of person is Baron Leman?”
“I’m not sure. Was there even someone like that among the vassals?”
I couldn’t get any useful information from Valdes.
“But why are you curious about that?”
“They’re the parents of the kids who became friends with me at my birthday party.”
“Don’t get too close to the children of the vassals. It’s easy to get used.”
At Valdes’s advice, I looked at him, wondering if he was actually worried about me, and he cleared his throat.
“Just don’t end up getting used and causing trouble.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“I’m leaving.”
I watched him as he walked away, then started moving.
To meet the person who knew the vassals better than anyone.
I originally tried not to care, but Sestia’s dark expression kept coming to mind, so I couldn’t ignore it.
‘Troublesome meddling is really the problem.’
Even though my own future was uncertain, I couldn’t just turn a blind eye to someone who looked unhappy.
***
I went to the main building to find Jeff.
Jeff was working in his office in the main building.
There was a separate office in the main building for the vassals, but Jeff, as the Grand Duke’s favored aide, had his own office.
I wondered if I would be taking up his time with something unnecessary, but since he was the only one I could ask, I had no choice but to come.
I gathered my courage and knocked.
After a moment, Jeff came out with a frown.
“Who is it? I’m busy to death right now…”
Jeff, who opened the door and saw me, widened his eyes.
“My Lady?”
“Sorry for coming when you are busy.”
“Not at all. No matter how busy I am, your visit is always welcome. Please come in.”
As if worried I might leave, he quickly led me into the office.
“There are a lot of documents, so it is quite messy.”
Jeff roughly cleared away the documents that had spread from the table to the sofa and offered me a seat.
“Please sit.”
After brushing off the dust on the sofa, he even laid a handkerchief on it for me.
He really didn’t have to go that far.
“By the way, what brings you to see me?”
“I made some friends at my birthday party, and I am curious about their parents.”
“Who are you curious about?”
“Viscount Giller and Baron Leman.”
Jeff’s expression hardened.
“Viscount Giller and Baron Leman, you say?”
“Do you know them?”
“Why are you curious about them?”
“I am concerned. The relationship between their daughters did not seem like that of simple friends.”
“You should not associate with those two, my Lady. They approached you to make use of you.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Mhm.”
“Then why?”
“Do not ask why, just tell me.”
Jeff let out a sigh and explained.
“The two are in a debtor-creditor relationship. The one in debt is Baron Leman.”
“Baron Leman owes Viscount Giller money?”
“Yes, that is what I understand.”
Now it made sense.
In a debtor-creditor relationship, one side had no choice but to bow down.
‘So that’s why Lady Sestia…’
Sestia might be called Erika’s friend, but it didn’t seem like the kind of equal friendship I knew.
If it was a relationship based on debt, then it wasn’t something I could help with.
“If Viscount Giller’s daughter and Baron Leman’s daughter approached you, then it was intentional, so please be careful.”
“What I am curious about is that Viscount Giller’s daughter seemed desperate to become friends with me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, she has been sending me letters continuously since the birthday party.”
After the birthday party ended, Erika had been sending me one letter a day without fail.
Not just simple greetings, but letters full of ulterior motives, saying she wanted to meet, have tea, and spend time together.
As if I were the one who should extend the invitation.
The problem was that Sestia, who seemed to be used by Erika, kept bothering me.
I already had enough to worry about with the original story, yet now I had to care about an extra who didn’t even make a single appearance.
In the original story, there wasn’t a single mention of Erika or Sestia.
‘So I could just ignore them, but…’
Even though this was a world inside a novel, it was alive and breathing like a real world.
It may seem like fantasy, but to me, it was reality.
Sestia’s misfortune didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.
“But why did the debt happen? Did their business fail or something?”
“I heard the Baroness fell seriously ill and needs to keep taking medicine continuously.”
“A serious illness?”
“Yes, I heard it is incurable.”
“It cannot be completely cured? What does that even mean?”
“That is right. But I heard that if she takes a mysterious herb that only grows on the Eastern Continent, her condition improves.”
Wasn’t that practically just life-prolonging treatment?
I knew because I had lived as someone with a terminal condition.
I knew how much that tormented the people around them.
How the desire to live just one more day could drive a person insane when there was no hope.
I saw many people like that in the hospital.
Some tried to live even one more day through life-prolonging treatment, while others gave up everything and wished only to die without receiving any treatment.
Back then, I realized just how contradictory human beings were.
