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Chapter 13
I wanted to educate the thugs thoroughly to ensure that this kind of thing would never happen again, but I couldn’t leave the patient unattended any longer.
‘I better stop here.’
It was a bummer, but I had no choice.
“Are you guys going to keep beating innocent people like this in the future?”
“No!
We won’t do it again!”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
“Alright.
I’ll trust you this time.” I nodded my head as I continued, “Then, get out of here right now before I change my mind.”
“Thank you!
Thank you!”
The thugs quickly and obediently nodded their heads and left the alleyway, being careful not to cause any further trouble.
Meanwhile, their leader, who had been weeping and eventually fainted, was left behind.
‘… What should I do with that bald man who’s been abandoned even by his henchmen?
He seems like a notorious thug, so would he be punished automatically if I turn him over to the town watch?’
While contemplating these thoughts, I walked over to the boy who appeared to have lost consciousness.
“Are you okay?”
“…I’m fine, so just leave me alone.”
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have lost consciousness but didn’t look entirely fine either.
“You don’t seem okay.”
At my words, the boy raised his head.
‘Wow.
He’s handsome.’
Despite being beaten all over his body, covered in dirt as if he had rolled around somewhere and looking somewhat disheveled, his good looks weren’t fully hidden.
If cleaned up and dressed in new clothes, he could outshine most child actors.
‘But… he looks familiar?’
There was something about him that seemed familiar as if I had seen him before, but I could hardly recall who he was.
I made a valiant effort to remember him, but eventually gave up and then asked the boy directly.
“Hey, do I know you by any chance?”
The boy frowned as if to say what nonsense I was talking about.
It was an honest reaction, very good.
“Hey!
How dare you make such a presumptuous expression to her ladyship!”
But Belle didn’t seem to like it, though.
As she quickly sensed that the situation had been resolved, Belle had somehow slipped into the alley and was now scolding the boy for his insolence.
I waved Belle off and looked closely at the boy.
‘Judging by that reaction just now, it’s clear that he didn’t know Sylvia previously.
But why does he look so familiar?’
I closed my eyes for a moment and searched the memories––not the recent ones, but the memories of the future that Sylvia had.
Then, it made me realize why the boy seemed so familiar.
He closely resembled someone I, precisely, Sylvia, had known.
‘Tev Hiddleton.’
The crown prince’s guardian knight and the youngest knight commander.
After winning the equestrian competition at the age of eighteen, which was his first participation, he joined the Royal Knights and rapidly rose through the ranks.
And in just one year, he claimed the position of the Commander of the Second Knight Order.
His existence was nothing short of shocking.
How could a human progress so quickly like that?
How could a human wield a sword so well?
In fact, was he even human?
Among the people, there were rumors that he was a secret artificial monster created by the royal family, as his martial prowess was beyond imagination.
A knight with talent so great that the word ‘genius’ wasn’t enough to describe him.
It was the nature of high society to uncover even the past that someone wished to keep hidden, particularly if that person had achieved even a small measure of fame.
However, he wasn’t simply famous; he was an extraordinary knight for whom the label ‘genius’ was inadequate.
People naturally wanted to know about him. New chapters come out on g.com first.
But no matter how many people tried to dig into his past, they couldn’t find anything as if he had sprung up from the ground.
Then all sorts of strange and bizarre rumors spread about him.
‘Among the various rumors, there was one about him living on the streets in his childhood.’
However, that rumor quickly disappeared.
It was because of his followers who said that his dignified face couldn’t possibly be that of a street orphan.
But that rumor was true?
And the street mentioned in the rumor was here, Fortrum Street?
“Tev?”
“Do you know me?”
The boy’s gaze sharpened as if trying to figure out how I knew him.
‘I think it’s true, right?’
Geez, I never expected to pick up a genius knight just by going shopping.
‘Could it be this?’
––I hit the jackpot!
***
‘Can I really be this lucky?’
How could I meet the strongest guardian knight as soon as I thought I needed one, especially when it was clear that he didn’t have a master yet?
“Who are you?!
How do you know my name?
No way… Did those bastards send you?”
There was a reason why I was sure that Tev had no master at the moment.
‘If he had a master, he wouldn’t look like this.’
Dirty and tangled hair from being unable to wash sufficiently.
Worn-out clothes that couldn’t function properly anymore.
His small, ill-fitting clothes failed to cover some parts, revealing stained and dirty spots, while his exposed limbs were emaciated.
‘If someone was taking care of him, he wouldn’t be in this miserable state.’
It also bothered me that he had a similar build and was the same height as me, even though he was a year older.
“I clearly said I would never do things like pickpocketing!”
In Sylvia’s memory, Knight Tev Hiddleton was a giant close to two meters tall.
But now, he was just about my size.
It was obvious that he hadn’t been getting proper nutrition.
‘If I feed him well and let him rest well, he’ll grow quickly, right?’
The future Tev Hiddleton that Sylvia knew was only five years older than he was now.
Therefore, even if I start feeding and raising him well from now, he would have to grow eight centimeters per year to be close to his original height of two meters after five years.
‘Eight centimeters a year.
He’ll suffer from growing pains.’
“Are you ignoring what I said!”
I listened half-heartedly, letting the words flow in one ear and out the other, but the incessant ‘whining’ at the end of his sentences, which sounded like a cat’s meow, was beginning to grate on my nerves––when he wasn’t even a cat.
‘Eh?
Come to think of it, he does resemble a cat.’
The sharp, upward curve of his eyes was particularly quite similar.
‘His yellow pupils also give him a feline-like appearance.’
He would become too big to be called a cat in the future, but right now, his size was adorably small, so it wasn’t awkward to call him a cat.
“Tell me now!
What’s your purpose for me––”
“Cat.”
“W… What?”
Tev, who was angrily growling, stuttered as if his words were blocked.
I smiled at him and said, “You know, you look just like the cat I used to have.
Its name was Tev too… Come on, your name can’t possibly be Tev as well, can it?”
“What?”
Then he mumbled something in a shocked voice, seemingly believing my absurd excuse, “A cat…?”
With a baffled expression, he murmured to himself, “I look like a cat?
Me?” which looked pretty cute.
In Sylvia’s memories, the future Tev always blocked her from bullying others and just scowled at her with cold eyes.
‘The gap between the memories and the present seems to make him even cuter.’
He had a bright future ahead of him as an excellent knight, and now he even had a certain charm.
“Do you want to come with me?”
‘Come and be my guardian knight.’
I thought I had made quite a friendly offer, but Tev took a step back suspiciously.
“Are you trying to kidnap me right now?”
“No.
Kidnapping is taking you without your consent.
I’m asking for your consent, so it’s not kidnapping.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m trying to hire you.”
“What?”
I gave a reassuring smile to Tev, who seemed confused, and added, “My name is Sylvia Atlante.
I don’t think I need to introduce myself any further, do I?”
“Sylvia… Atlante?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Lady Ugly Duckling, who they say is mean, ugly, and fat?”
This boy.
He was too honest.
How could he talk about such things in front of the person herself?
If I were the real Sylvia, I would have been hurt.
But fortunately, I wasn’t the real Sylvia, and I could feel that Tev didn’t intentionally say that to criticize me, so I didn’t feel too upset.
I shrugged my shoulders and replied, “I used to be called that way, though.”
“But you are…”
He observed me with doubtful eyes.
I stood tall and straight, confidently meeting his gaze.
After a moment, he asked in a slightly less guarded voice, “Why do you want to hire me?”
“Like I said, you look like the cat I used to have.”
“That’s… the reason?”
“Do you need more?”
“Just for that reason!”
Incredulous and somehow angered, Tev expressed his frustration.
I casually lifted my shoulders and gave him the sweetest and most innocent smile I could manage, like giving candy to a child.
“Why does the reason even matter?
When you can get a steady income, enjoy abundant meals every day, and sleep in a warm room if you work at the Atlante ducal house.”
For an orphan boy living on the streets, the conditions I mentioned would be very attractive.
Working for a noble family was something that most commoners aspired to do, as the pay was relatively high compared to the labor involved, and there were ample perks and benefits.
However, working for noble families was a challenging feat for even those born and raised in more ordinary households, as they were selective in their hiring process.
So, for a street child of unknown origin, the prospect of working for a noble family was akin to reaching for the stars.
Tev seemed to understand this as well.
“…Fine.”
And so, that might be why he took my hand.
***
“Let’s go to the herb shop first.”
With all that had occurred, it had slipped my mind that my initial purpose of visiting Fortrum Street was to purchase a medicinal herb.
“Yes, my lady.”
Belle obediently followed me, and Tev trailed two or three steps behind us.
Although he seemed to struggle as he limped along, he didn’t make a sound of pain.
And from this, it was clear that someone who would become remarkable in the future was already showing their potential buds.
As I walked, congratulating myself on my wise decision to intervene in the alley incident earlier, a problem arose.
“But… where should we go?”
There wasn’t a single map or guidepost in the vast Fortrum street.
“I’m sorry, my lady.
I’m afraid I don’t know either.”
Belle also seemed to be unfamiliar with this area.
‘What should I do?
The sun is already setting, so what if the herb shop closes…!’
“The herb shop isn’t that way.”
“Do you know the direction?”
“I grew up on these streets.”
“So, you know where it is, right?”
Tev frowned and squeezed between me and Belle.
He began walking toward somewhere, limping along.
As Belle and I stood there staring blankly at Tev’s retreating figure, he suddenly turned around and asked, “What are you doing?
Aren’t you following?”
Tev seemed to have memorized all the streets of Fortrum since he navigated the maze-like streets without any hesitation.
And after following him for a few minutes…
“Here.”
We finally arrived at the herb shop.
As soon as I opened the door and entered, a strange, pungent smell of mixed herbs greeted my nose.
It was a similar scent to the traditional herbal medicine shops I had visited in my previous life.
‘Come to think of it, the interior, with small drawers densely packed on the wall, also resembles the traditional herbal medicine shop.’
While I was looking around, an elderly man sitting in a chair in front of the counter started talking to me.