I was only interested in spending; I was completely hopeless at managing things. I entrusted the management of my assets entirely to my nanny. I had no way of knowing how she managed my finances. It was not like I could ask her now. For the time being, there was no way to resolve this uneasy feeling, and I could not understand the reason.
"I wish I had one more hair tie."
Marie muttered with a look of regret. Today, she had styled my hair in a half-updo using a green hair tie to match my light green dress. My wavy hair, resembling the Marchioness's, had natural curls that looked as if I had gotten a perm.
Marie untied my hair and loosely braided it to one side. She braided the light green hair tie together with the hair. The light green tie was visible through the strands of hair. She skillfully tidied up the stray strands to create a natural look. Marie smiled contentedly, as if admiring her own creation.
Knock knock.
I heard a knock on the door, as if it had been waiting for me to finish getting ready.
I nodded toward Marie. Marie tidied the remaining dresses to one side and opened the drawing room door. Evan and a little boy named Lai were standing outside. Evan and the boy also looked neat, as if they had changed their clothes in the meantime. The boy was hesitating, clutching at the hem of Evan's trousers.
Marie stood to one side, waiting for them to come in. Evan pushed the child's back and entered the drawing room.
"I apologize once again, Lady Elliot."
He bowed towards me. The child also glanced around cautiously, then followed Evan's lead and bowed his head.
"I'm sorry."
"..."
I leaned back on the sofa, watching Evan and the child. I wasn't particularly angry about the clothes being thrown away. It was a bit of a hassle and annoyance, but it wasn't something I couldn't forgive.
Forgiving is easy. However, the child's careless behavior could have had a negative impact on the Pison Merchant Guild in the future.
I might be overthinking it. The Pison Merchant was not a group that would be destroyed by a single young child from a slum. But I saw it clearly. Evan’s face, as he ran toward the child, was filled with worry for him.
It was highly likely to cause problems that the owner of the merchant guild had rushed over in a disheveled state because of a single child. It is not that he was wrong to worry about the child. However, he was the general manager running the guild. He carried too much burden on his shoulders to act on his own initiative.
'Does that mean that child is that important to him?'
I looked the child up and down slowly. With their head bowed, all I could see was their fine hair. I frowned as I looked at the child's hair. Of all things, the child's hair was sky blue. Looking at sky blue was still uncomfortable. Moreover, it was the exact same color as hers.
I tried to recall the color of the child's eyes. I couldn't remember because I had never looked closely at the child.
“Your name is Lai?”
"... Yes."
The child did not lift their head even as they answered. Their trembling body seemed to be a mix of fear and resentment.
"Do you know what you did?"
“S-sorry.”
The child bowed his head even deeper. To exaggerate slightly, his hair almost touched the floor. I spoke in a very slow tone.
"What should I do with you?"
The child's body twitched. I turned my gaze toward Evan. Before I knew it, he had lifted his head, stood upright, and was looking down at me.
"It is awkward to look up."
Evan glanced down at the child. The child still couldn't lift their head. He let out a low sigh and sat on the sofa opposite.
"What should I do with that child?"
“Please be lenient.”
"Is that all you have to say?"
He closed his mouth. His bluish-gray eyes stared straight at me without wavering. His monolid eyelids slowly moved up and down.
"What do you want?”
I smirked. His overly simplistic answer was starting to make me angry. The head of the merchant guild is asking me what I want just to save one child. Did my maternal grandfather really entrust the guild to someone like this?
"Shall I kill that child?"
“Young lady!”
Dump.
Along with Evan's scream, the sound of something collapsing to the floor was heard. Terrified and tear-stained, I looked down at the child. The child was slumped on the floor, trembling.
"Even if I kill you right here, there is no one who can stop me. Not even that man you trust can stop me."
I got up from the sofa and approached the child. Deep fear filled the child's orange eyes. They were a color similar to her amber eyes, yet different.
"That is exactly the kind of mistake you made."
I knelt down and met the child's gaze at eye level. The orange eyes, trembling with fear, looked a little strange. I moved closer to examine the child's eyes more closely.
I hadn't seen it wrong. The child's pupils were vertical, just like a cat's.
“Young lady!”
A rough hand grabbed my shoulder. Evan, who had pulled me to my feet, had a face flushed with bewilderment. I looked back and forth between Evan and the child.
"...It seems there is a lot to hear."
Evan raised his hand and touched his forehead.
"I, I'm sorry! It's all my fault. Chief did nothing wrong. Please!"
The child clutched the hem of my skirt. The child's body was trembling violently.
"I, I'll die. Please? Please...”
The child clung to me, sobbing uncontrollably.
I knelt down again and met the child's eyes. The child's pupils were still sharp like a cat's.
I reached out my hand toward the child. The child's sky-blue hair wrapped softly between my fingers. It was sky-blue hair, just like hers. Sky-blue hair wasn't particularly rare. It wasn't common.
It was a color that occasionally appeared in people from the West, though not often.
'Is this a coincidence? Or did someone intend this?'
One thing is certain: just like me back then, I know almost nothing about what is happening around me.
That was the truth. That made me feel bad.
"You know who you are."
Shock filled the child's eyes, and the pupils contracted further vertically. The child's eyes were certainly characteristic of the Inayari, a western tribal nation.
Inayari was a tribal state located to the west of the Empire. Living in the desert, they were so closed off that almost nothing was known about their lifestyle or customs. Many nations, including the Empire, shunned Inayari. They were extremely barbaric and possessed unique physical characteristics. By human nature, being 'special' is either revered or ostracized. Inayari was the latter.
In fact, the Inayari were treated not as a nation, but as a race completely different from humans. They were characterized by dark skin and cat-like pupils. Their skin color was yellowish like that of East Asians rather than dark, but it stood out too much in this place where white skin was the norm.
Their most distinctive physical feature was their cat-like pupils. Normally, their eyes were no different from others, but when they became excited or experienced significant emotional turmoil, their pupils would contract vertically like a cat's. This was the primary reason people considered them taboo.
The child's skin color was not much different from mine. It meant that he was not a pure Inayari. Inayari mixed-bloods were ostracized even more than the Inayari themselves for being considered dirty.
"Do you realize? With just one moment of carelessness, you have put not only yourself but also that man and the entire company in danger."
"P-please..."
The child prayed, his chin trembling.
It was not that I didn't feel sorry for the child. If the child had been just an ordinary child, I might have just scolded him a little. But the child was not just an ordinary child. The blood of the Inayari, which people consider taboo, flowed through his veins. Had it not been for the unique characteristics of his pupils, I would not have intended to go this far. I felt the need to imprint this firmly upon the child, to the point of becoming terror.
If word got out that the head of the merchant guild, despite being of mixed race, had been doting on Inayari's child, the guild could be in grave danger. Given the large scale of the Pison Guild, there were not only enemies but also many people constantly eyeing the guild. Although I did not know why Evan was holding Inayari's child, as soon as they found out, they would use this as a pretext to attack him desperately to bring him down. It was clear that the guild would falter in the process.
Having Inayari's child was that dangerous. There were many grounds to use this fact to ensnare Evan. In the worst-case scenario, the child's very existence could serve as proof that he was colluding with Inayari.
The Inayari were as belligerent as they were, and their attachment to their own blood relatives was strong. They did not cast out a child who was their own blood relative simply because they were of mixed blood. The Inayari, in particular, were very protective of children. That was why the fact that a child was here was so unusual.
"If you don't want to put those around you in danger, always stay on your guard. If you show even a single weakness, not only you but everything around you will be in danger."
The child could not say a word and sobbed, shedding tears.
"Do you feel wronged? Do you resent me for going to such lengths just because you threw away a single piece of clothing?"
I gently patted the child's sky-blue hair. Even though Inayari blood flowed through his veins, he was still just a young child who knew nothing. It was certainly true that the child had made a mistake. It was a small mistake that could have been resolved with just a simple apology and compensation for the clothes if this place had a caste system and the child hadn't been a mixed-blood Inayari.
The child seemed to already know their situation well enough to be unable to refute my words, but that did not mean they were mature enough to suppress all their resentment. The child cried even more bitterly.
"If you feel wronged and resentful, build up your strength. Strength so that no one can treat you carelessly, and even if they know who you are, they cannot lay a finger on you. If you cannot do that, live your entire life in constant tension, remaining quiet and dead like a mouse. For that is the only way to prolong the lives of you and those around you."
I let go of the child's hair and stood up. Evan was looking at me with a troubled expression.
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