Volume 2 - CH 36

The roles of women and men were extremely distinct in noble society. Men endeavored in politics while women strove to create their own network within high society. The prevalent idea among nobles was to put these two together and protect their own territory. There were many factors to this because of the hereditary system but… let’s not delve into specifics. However, the important thing to note was that there were exceptions to everything.

Also, there was a high possibility that Lady Sophia would become one of these exceptions. 

‘The studies we’ve made her focus on up till now was the knowledge necessary for high society. However, from now on, we must make her study political perspectives as well.’ 

This was the order given to me by Master Grave. This was only my speculation, but Master Grave probably put Lady Sophia down as one of the potential successors to the marquis household.

Therefore, I decided to show Lady Sophia the city, under the guise of Social Studies. If she were to be in the position of sending out her subordinates one day, she needed to know how the actual place she’d sent them to would operate.

For the latest Social Study, I asked my Lady to predict how opening a café selling crêpes would affect its surroundings and to minimize the negative effects.

Therefore, as the price of the surrounding land would go up, my Lady pinpointed the restaurant that seemed to be the easiest target to go after and sent in Roy and Emma. 

‘She passed,’ I thought.

However, Lady Sophia’s actions didn’t just end there. She also got involved with a wholesale shop and distributed an ingredient as a new product to the restaurants in the area.

The café was oriented towards the wealthy and the diners catered to the general masses, thus, their customer bases didn’t overlap. Therefore, I could have concluded that it was an excessive consideration of hers…but the ingredient the young Lady distributed was potatoes, which they had just started to grow on the Rosenberg marquis territory. She contributed to the restaurants’ sales while simultaneously putting the new crops of the Rosenberg marquis household on the market. On top of that, she had personally investigated how this new crop called potatoes should be cooked and succeeded in securing talented cooks she could rely on in order to sell the new ingredient in the town wholesale.

Although Lady Sophia said that she was still inadequate, she was doing exceedingly well. Well enough to make one forget that the young Lady was still in her first year of middle school.

Satisfied with those results, I set about to settle the latest incident. Thus, I went to the Dark guild located in the slum city.

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No Name was the only one who came to meet me. It seemed that he wouldn’t be using a body double around me anymore.

“Cyril, what business do you have with us this time? This isn’t a place a rich young master like you should frequent constantly, is it?”

“Oh, are you not confident in your control over your subordinates?”

“Never at a loss for words, are you, brat?”

Naturally, I had taken some measures in case the information of me frequenting this place would spread. However, the only ones who knew I visited this place, to begin with, were the members of the Dark guild. Not to mention, only a small fraction of them knew my true identity. Therefore, if No Name were to properly keep his subordinates in check, I wasn’t worried about the rumors of me frequenting this place spreading.

I intended on expressing that I trusted No Name’s abilities but somehow, it seemed to have been understood as sarcasm…well, I won’t deny that it was a reply tinged with sarcasm.

“About why I have come here…please look at the copy of this document.”

“This is…an investigation record of a corrupt soldier and…the name of the one behind it?!”

No Name frowned as his eyes ran across the copied document. Normally, these kinds of incidents would end with the subordinates being used as scapegoats and the name of the mastermind would never come up. No Name frowned because despite that, the name of the noble the corrupt soldier had closed a backroom deal with, was written down on the document.

Incidentally the noble in question was a viscount that rose in ranks after getting rich as a merchant. However, the one who was actually involved in the incident was his son, who was affiliated with the Elitist faction and a student at the same academy as Lady Sophia. This was also the true identity of the student that had commissioned Isabella to harass Lady Sophia. Isabella became a spy for the Rosenberg marquis household and investigated the matter thoroughly right away. For this reason, I foresaw that this student would mess with Lady Sophia again and was monitoring him. Consequently, this meant that I gained evidence through this incident.

“Well then…what do you want me to do?”

“Please use the guild’s subordinates and order them to secretly stand guard to see if the noble’s men wouldn’t try to interfere with the diner again.”

“I, of course, have no problems with doing that, but do you plan on just leaving the mastermind be?”

“…Ha, good one.”

To make fraudulent use of a noble’s name was a severe crime. Not to mention, there were no extenuating circumstances for someone who attempted to sully Lady Sophia’s name. I wasn’t going to let him do as he pleased just because there wasn’t enough evidence.

However, this incident was different from the one involving Count Ares. After all, the one messing with Lady Sophia was a child, so I planned on leaving his punishment to his parents.

Putting the evidence together, their child had committed a crime so serious that it wouldn’t be strange even if their family would end up getting dragged into it as well. If a person told them to deal with their child themselves while not going public with it, the parents would become indebted to this person.

If they were to understand this and deal with their son suitably, there wouldn’t be any problems. If they decided to dodge the issue and express hostility towards me, they would follow the same fate as Count Ares. However, as far as the rumors I had collected go, they seemed to be people of decent character, so likely, it would be the former.

“I will make the parents greatly indebted to me while making the actual perpetrator never mess with Lady Sophia again. Doing this much should be appropriate, don’t you think?”

“…Geez, you’re a frightening brat.”

“I simply don’t want the number of Lady Sophia’s enemies to increase needlessly.”

It wasn’t like things would become peaceful if I were to eliminate all of her enemies. If I were to get rid of an enemy, it would lead to new enemies emerging. Because, even if someone was an enemy of the young Lady, they weren’t necessarily an enemy of her allies.

Moreover, just because they wouldn’t be eliminated didn’t mean that it was necessary to get along with them. The Rosenberg marquis household was a powerful, prominent aristocratic household to begin with, and currently, the young Lady was friends with royalty as well. So there were many nobles who wanted to be on good terms with such a household.

Putting that aside-

“That’s it for the viscount incident. Your reward will be paid to you in the usual way, so I’ll leave the rest up to you.”

If I were to be frank, the viscount incident was just an extra side mission. Once you had something on someone, no matter how the situation played out, the possibility of them doing anything more than they already had was low. That didn’t matter because I had another, separate objective in coming to the Dark guild.

“Now, the main reason I am here – may I meet Roy and Emma’s parents?”

“…Did those two say that they wanted to meet their parents?”

“As if. They still bear a grudge against their parents.”

Emma held a grudge against her parents for being the only one who got sold to the Dark guild by them. Although she was able to learn many things at the Rosenberg marquis household and perhaps was even able to understand that her parents had reasons for doing so, not enough time had passed for her to be able to digest the fact that she had been sold.

Although it wasn’t like Roy had gotten sold himself, he still held a grudge over his dear little sister getting sold. He was the same as Emma. Despite knowing his parents’ suffering, it would probably still take some time before he could digest everything as well.

“But, the ones hurt by this incident weren’t just Emma and Roy. So—” I was seeking to formally meet the parents of those two, face to face, for that reason.

After I had waited in a separate room for a short while, Roy and Emma’s parents arrived. They were both under the patronage of the Dark guild and were provided with work. Although they were surely leading a much better life than before, they still looked quite exhausted. It was for this reason that I felt a little bit of sympathy for them. Their current state was proof that it wasn’t like they had sold Emma just to save themselves.

“We’ve heard from the Guild master that an important customer has arrived but… are you him?”

The married couple threw confused looks at me. ‘To talk this way to an important customer is-’ I wouldn’t say anything of the sort as this was normal for the Dark guild. Moreover, although I was wearing high-quality clothes, I was merely a young child.

If they were to look down on me, I would need to correct them for both of our sakes, but if they wouldn’t, it wasn’t necessary for me to scold them over minor things. 

“I am,” I answered and gestured for the two to take a seat.

“Well then, let me introduce myself first. I am a butler working for a certain noble.”

“Y-you’re a noble master’s butler…? Then, what business do you have with us?”

Apparently, they didn’t even know that their own children were under the patronage of a noble. While I believed that reckless leakage of information wasn’t something that happened in the guild, No Name was even more outstanding than I thought.

“Let me get straight to the point. Right now, Roy and Emma are under my master’s patronage.”

“!!!! Roy and Emma are alright?!”

The father slammed his hands against the table and stood up. Subsequently, the mother also turned her imploring eyes at me. So, I motioned for them to please calm down and control themselves. 

“They are both alright. As they are under my master’s patronage, we are looking after them properly. But, they cannot meet you at the moment.”

“Why?!”

“…Why? Do you mean to say that you’ve forgotten what you have done to them?”

When I revealed how I truly felt and glared at them silently, they both gulped. Was the emotion surfacing on their faces regret? Or was it guilt…? Either way, there was no mistaking the fact that they didn’t sell her off happily. However, it was necessary for them to realize the facts exactly for that reason.

“I want to understand your suffering.”

“If- if that’s the case…”

“Nevertheless, that doesn’t change the fact that you sold Emma off.”

“That- that’s…”

They probably had a lot of things that they wanted to say. If they hadn’t sold Emma, their family, along with Roy, would have died on the streets. It was very likely that Roy, who was both a child and a boy, wouldn’t be able to get any work. But there was a chance for Emma to be given work despite being a child as she was a girl. However, the parents didn’t speak of these possible outcomes.

“So,” I continued. “Let me say it one more time. I want to understand your suffering. However, it is impossible for Roy and Emma to accept your reasons right now.”

I paused there for a moment and cast a glance at them, gauging their reactions. In the next moment, the father who was still standing, went around the table. But just as I was about to deal with him, I got uncharacteristically shaken. The man began to weep openly. 

“…I know that! We have hurt them. I’ve been painfully aware of that from the moment Roy took Emma and escaped. But, despite that, they are still our dear children!”

“Of course, I am aware of that. That’s why-”

I didn’t manage to finish what I was saying. The mother, weeping as well, approached me from the opposite side.

“It’s as my husband has said! We’ve done a cruel thing! It cannot be helped even if we are hated and cursed at. But, even so, please let us meet those children! Even if we can only take a glimpse, only a single glimpse of them!”

Without listening to what I was saying, they both went down on their hands and knees. Two fully grown adults were openly weeping and prostrating on the floor. I didn’t think it was shameful. Rather, I simply thought that these two people who loved their children this much were worthy of respect. 

Therefore-

“I understand what you are trying to say. So, please, raise your heads,” I said, but they kept their heads lowered. They probably wouldn’t give up until they could wretch the words: ‘You can meet them’ from me. So I reproached my thoughtless self and sighed a little. It was a mistake on my part, not realizing that roundabout phrases wouldn’t work on them.

“I cannot let them meet you at the moment yet. But, if you give it time, the two of them will be able to digest a lot of it, won’t they?”

Their heads snapped up in response to my words.

“You’ll allow us to meet them after some time passes?!”

“Yes, that’s my intention.”

I didn’t know when Roy and Emma would be able to accept it. However, I thought that it was necessary to give the two emotional education, in order to make it clear that it wasn’t like their parents hated them. 

And there was one more thing.

“Also, although it is impossible for me to let you meet those two right now—”

After hearing my proposition, their eyes went wide and they wept as tear after tear trickled down their eyes.

About a week later, I was reading over some written reports in the office. As I did so, Rouché, who had brought me tea, looked at me suspiciously.

“Cyril, what have you been grinning about since earlier?”

“Grinning, you say… I don’t really want to hear that from the ever-grinning you, you know?” I sarcastically replied to Rouché’s frivolous teasing.

But, without any indication that she was upset about it, she asked: “What are you looking at?” 

She was acting in her usual free-spirited manner. However, since this document wasn’t completely unrelated to her, I held it out for her.

“It’s alright for me to take a look at it too? Let’s see…ooh, it’s the investigation report about the surroundings of the diner Roy and Emma are doing a Social Study at! It says that there weren’t really any problems… What’s so special about it?”

“A certain married couple working for the Dark guild wrote it.”

“…Married couple? …Wait, could they, by any chance-”

As realization dawned upon Rouché, I turned towards her and placed my index finger on my lips. By chance, the noble that had messed with Lady Sophia was at the diner where the young Lady had coincidentally sent Roy and Emma to. By chance, the members of the Dark guild who were hired to monitor the diner were also related to Roy and Emma.

That was all there was to it.