After the waiter shouted this loudly, silence fell in the room.
All eyes instantly turned to us. And in this oppressive atmosphere, it was Erica who suffered the worst.
The gaze of the girl's red eyes trembled for a moment and froze when she heard the waiter's words filled with hatred. Despite the fact that she was trying with all her might to hold on, I could see that she was about to burst into tears.
I couldn't look at that. But even more, I couldn't look at the waiter's disgusting face!
No, how could a person who at first glance seemed so nice and welcoming suddenly blurt out such heresy?!
I think first of all I should blame the author of this novel. After all, it was he who created such a cruel world in which a child was treated cruelly just because of some eye color. Isn't there already enough cruelty in our real world? Why add it to a romantic fantasy too?
Well, in any case...
Of course, I couldn't close my eyes to this blatant injustice. Looking at how Erica's lips were trembling, I realized that she was unable to say anything at all.
Nevertheless, before I myself managed to open my mouth, someone beat me to it.
"What right do you have to say such things to a customer?"
It was Amalia's voice. Calm. But at the same time incredibly cold and threatening.
"I..." the waiter faltered.
"Are you trying to say that your employees are simply allowed to insult customers? Is that what you call normal work?"
It was surprising. Despite the fact that the heroine was only twelve years old, she spoke almost like an adult. Despite the fact that she herself was a child, she without a drop of doubt criticized the adult man before her.
The waiter seemed to have thought the same thing, and turned deep red.
"...Why are you slandering me? I only said that I don't want to serve this spawn of the devil!"
"Really? How did you come to the conclusion that my friend is somehow connected to the devil?"
"Isn't it obvious?" he flared up and completely shamelessly pointed his finger right at Erica. "This girl has red eyes!"
"Is that so?" Amalia looked at him absolutely calmly. "So this cafe practices discrimination based on eye color?"
"What?"
"In our empire there live many people with different hair and eye colors. Does this mean that in your establishment any discrimination based on external features is allowed? Maybe people with blue eyes are also forbidden to be in your cafe?"
At that moment Amalia deliberately spoke loudly so that she could be heard throughout the cafe. Now even those people who initially were not aware of the conflict, hearing the girl's words about discrimination, directed their gazes precisely at the waiter. Thus, all attention instantly switched to him. The young man turned red.
"You..." he stammered desperately. "Don't twist my words! I didn't mean that at all!"
"What difference does it make what you meant if we understood it exactly like that? This is called discrimination based on appearance."
"No! I..."
Nevertheless, the more the waiter tried to justify himself, the more he buried himself.
Finally the female lead was about to finish him off with a decisive blow.
"If you really don't intend to serve us for this reason, then there's nothing to be done. But before that, I, as a customer, have the right to express my complaint. Immediately bring me your complaint book, and also I want to speak with your manager."
The waiter's face finally became bright red.
"Why aren't you doing anything?" Amalia inquired. "Do you intend to ignore a customer's request?"
Throughout the entire conversation the girl remained absolutely calm. And even now, at the end of the conversation, she impassively kept pressing him, as if driving a rat into a trap.
I watched this from the side and couldn't help but admire.
Yeah, that's what it means that you can't suppress genes even with a finger! Looking at Amalia, one could say with confidence that she was born to become a duchess. Oh, and I don't envy her future enemies and business partners...
Nevertheless, right now she managed to safely defeat her first opponent in the form of the waiter.
Obviously realizing that continuing this conflict further was simply unprofitable for him, the guy finally gave in.
"Forgive me... no need to do that," he said through clenched teeth. "I'll bring your order right now."
"Excellent," Amalia nodded slightly. "It would have been wonderful if you had done so from the very beginning."
The defeated waiter finally took our order and, clearly grinding his teeth from anger, went to the kitchen.
Only at that moment did a pause finally appear so that I could exhale.
"Amalia..." I muttered admiringly. "You were simply amazing just now!"
"Really?" she merely smiled. "But I didn't do anything special."
"No way! The way you dealt with that waiter was simply incredible!"
"Ha ha, Hazel, you're exaggerating. There's nothing special about me standing up for our ordinary rights."
Though Amalia denied her merit in every way, I still praised her. Erica, however, looked embarrassed and couldn't even say anything.
"Erica, how are you?" Amalia asked. "That idiot's words didn't hurt you too much, did they?"
"N-no! Why would they suddenly hurt me!"
So, thank God, everything worked out.
Despite the fact that initially everything promised the worst, in the end everything ended quite well.
Though because of this incident it was now not very pleasant to be in this cafe, in the end we safely ate our desserts. And the waiter didn't say a word in our direction anymore. True, every time he passed by our table, his face twitched as if from a toothache.
After we left the cafe, we were going to take a little more walk before returning to the orphanage. By that time it was already quite late, so we really shouldn't have lingered any longer.
However... it was then that my attention was caught by something again.
It was a lottery kiosk that stood in the center of the square and sold lottery tickets.
As soon as I saw it, my eyes immediately lit up.
I wouldn't say that I'm a gambling addict who likes such entertainments. But still the feeling of excitement was present in me. And even if it was unlikely, hope was still warming in me that I might win something.
Maybe I would be incredibly lucky, and an ordinary orphan like me would in the blink of an eye become a millionaire?
Though... that, of course, was an impossible dream.
"Amalia, do you still have money left?"
"Why? Do you want to buy something again?" she smirked.
"I want to buy a lottery ticket."
"...What? A lottery ticket?"
When Amalia heard this, she couldn't hold back and giggled at me.
"Hey, don't laugh! Maybe I really will win something?"
But the heroine only snorted and shrugged.
"You do know that it's just a scam? No one ever wins in such lotteries."
"That's not true!" I objected. "Recently I read in the newspaper that some person, an ordinary farmer, won a million gold in the lottery!"
Nevertheless, Amalia reacted to my remark very skeptically.
"That was the first such person in ten years. And besides, every year people from all over the empire spend a pile of money on this lottery. So it still looks more like a scam."
Amalia's words were like arguments of pure reason. But I wasn't going to listen to any reason right now.
I snorted.
"Well, if you don't want to give me money, then you should have just said so. Why this preface?"
Amalia laughed.
"Who said I won't give you money?" she smirked. "I said I would fulfill any request of yours."
Thus, Amalia again gave me her money so that I could spend it on such a meaningless purchase as a lottery ticket.
Nevertheless, I joyfully grabbed it and ran to the lottery kiosk.
"Sir, I want to buy a lottery ticket!"
The man who sat behind the stall looked at me and said:
"Sorry, girl. But all the tickets for today are already sold out."
"What? Sold out?" I asked again.
"Yes, just before you came I sold the last ticket. I'm sorry."
Hearing this, I involuntarily pressed my lips together.
How could I be so unlucky? I really wanted to buy a lottery ticket, even if it was an absolutely meaningless hope for luck. Nevertheless, the tickets, as if on purpose, were sold out!
In fact, I remembered that I had seen another lottery kiosk not far from here. But the thing is, if we go there now, we'll definitely be late for curfew. I wasn't going to risk that. So, apparently, today I would have to remain without a lottery ticket.
I sighed heavily and had already given up.
"Are you absolutely sure you sold the last ticket?"
Unexpectedly Erica stood in front of me and started a conversation with the stall seller.
For some reason right now she didn't look at all like a small defenseless child.
"Maybe you could look more carefully?"
As soon as the stall seller encountered the gaze of cold red eyes directed at him, he began to stutter.