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Chapter 14
“What can I help you with, miss?”
‘Is he the owner of the herb shop?’
I pointed at Tev with my finger while trying to guess who the man was.
“First of all, I need medicine to treat this boy.”
“Yikes!”
Upon discovering the injured Tev, the store owner was so surprised that he dropped the thing he was holding.
Leaning on his cane, he hobbled over to Tev and examined Tev’s wounds.
“Oh my!
Where on earth did you get beaten up like this?”
The owner glanced at us suspiciously for a moment, but seeing my neat and confident appearance, he quickly dismissed his suspicions.
However, Belle didn’t seem to like that I was suspected since she grumbled loudly as if for the owner to hear.
“Her ladyship only saved him from being beaten up by thugs.”
“Thugs?
Are you talking about the Black Scorpion gang?”
Even though we didn’t say who the thugs were, the owner immediately recognized their identity.
When Belle nodded hesitantly at the owner’s unexpected reaction, he scowled and cursed, “Those damn XX!
How could they lay hands even on this young boy?!”
“… Are they famous?”
“Of course, they are.
There’s no one on this street who doesn’t know them.”
The Black Scorpion gang were much worse than I thought.
They started by extending their reach from the most impoverished areas of Fortrum street.
Under the pretext of protection fees, they extorted funds from street vendors, even using violence to obtain money from those who refused to pay.
And after taking control of the street vendors, they targeted the stores in more established buildings.
“They used to just hang around the areas down there, but lately, they seem to have extended their activities to this area as well.
They even came to our store not long ago!”
That wasn’t all.
I was told that they would lure children on the streets with food and make them do things like pickpocketing and begging.
He also continued explaining that if a child refused to comply, they didn’t hesitate to use violence.
Now that I think about it, Tev mentioned this earlier.
“I clearly said I would never do things like pickpocketing!”
Combining what the store owner just said and what Tev had yelled earlier…
‘Did they try to make Tev pickpocket, and when he refused, they used violence?’
I had thought they were scumbags ever since they boasted about ‘beating up a child for acting cocky and annoying,’ but they proved to be even more despicable than I imagined.
‘I shouldn’t have let them go so easily earlier.
I should have taught them a more severe lesson.’
As I regretted and frowned, Belle, who had been deep in thought next to me, carefully questioned the owner of the herb shop.
“Didn’t you report it to the town watch?”
“Town watch?
Hmph!
They’re all the same.
Do you know the first thing the Black Scorpion gang did before starting their business?
They bribed the town watch!
Do you think those who took bribes would be motivated to work hard?
No matter how much we report, they just pretend not to know.”
The store owner’s face, who seemed infuriated, was redder than an apple.
He cooled himself down by hobbling back to the counter and drinking some water.
“The town watch bastards, well, they won’t listen no matter how many times we tell them, so… Let’s put that aside for now.
You mentioned needing medicine to treat those wounds, correct?”
“Yes.”
The owner rummaged through nearby drawers, took out several medicinal herbs, and placed them in a small mortar-like bowl.
“Here, apply this, and those will heal quickly.”
The owner brought the freshly made medicine and handed it to Tev.
However, Tev, who received the medicine, didn’t apply it right away and looked around.
‘Why is he doing that?’
As I tilted my head at his incomprehensible behavior, I belatedly realized that there was nothing in the area that could show a reflection.
‘He must be looking for a mirror to see where the wounds are and apply the medicine.’
I asked Belle, “Belle, do you have a mirror?”
“A mirror?
I am sorry, I don’t.
Do you need a mirror, my lady?”
Tev was the one who needed it, not me, but it was necessary to have a mirror anyway.
“Uh-huh.”
“Um…”
However, Belle’s response was not what I had anticipated.
“Um, I’ll go buy a mirror right now!”
“No, it’s fine.” I reassured Belle, who seemed ready to go outside and buy a mirror immediately, “It’s really okay.
It’s not that necessary.”
Would you like me to help you apply it?”
“I’m fine!”
Tev turned his head away, his face turning red.
‘That’s a strange reaction.
Has he been waiting for someone to help him?’
… Should I help him apply it?
That would be better, right?
Alright.
After all, I needed to recruit someone who was destined to become the most formidable knight one day, so lending a hand with applying medicine shouldn’t be a big deal.
“Give it to me.”
I washed my hands with clean water left by the owner, took the medicine that Tev had been holding, and applied it to his wounds.
Tev quietly and stiffly accepted my touch with widened eyes.
Although he flinched when the medicine touched his wounds, he didn’t whine or cry out in pain.
“You’re a good boy.”
After finishing the treatment, I gently patted Tev’s head, then he grumbled, asking not to treat him like a child.
Ignoring Tev, I inquired the store owner, “Do you sell sorghum herbs here?”
“Sorghum herbs?
Of course, we do.
No herb shop would be without them.”
“How much do you have?”
“We have a lot of stock since it’s such a common herb.
How much do you need?”
“Everything.”
“…Excuse me?”
The owner blinked his eyes, then followed by picking his ear.
So, I repeated my words.
“You heard me right.
I want everything.”
“Huh?
You want all the sorghum herbs?”
“Yes, all of them.
Please give them to me now.”
Thinking I was joking, the store owner kept asking, but when I firmly insisted, he shook his head and went into the storage room.
“Heave-ho!”
And a moment later, he came out dragging three huge sacks big enough for a child to hide in.
“Here they are!”
… Were they all sorghum herbs?
“It’s indeed too much, right?” The store owner subtly asked as if he had picked up on my sense of surprise.
It sounded like he was probing whether I could afford them all.
‘Ha, you want to go there?’
I calmly looked at him and took out my gold coin pouch, placing it on the counter.
Thud!
The heavy pouch landed on the counter, its opening revealing a glimpse of the gleaming gold coins.
“How much do I owe you?
Take as much as you need.”
“Three… Three silver coins will do…” The store owner responded in a dazed voice, his trembling hands taking one gold coin and giving me seven silver coins as change.
“But how are you going to carry all that…?”
Prompted by the now much more respectful store owner’s question probably due to the gold coins, Belle stepped forward abruptly.
“My lady, I’ll go and borrow a carriage.”
“That would be helpful.”
“…Borrow a carriage?”
Tev tilted his head.
“Don’t nobles have their own family carriages?”
I didn’t bother responding to Tev’s murmur and gestured for Belle to hurry.
Soon, a rented carriage arrived in front of the herb shop.
The shabby and ordinary-looking carriage was unmistakably not a carriage from a ducal family.
Perhaps that was why?
Tev kept glancing back and forth between the carriage and me, then furrowed his brow and asked me a question.
“… Are you sure you’re not trying to kidnap me?”
***
Tev remained suspicious throughout the ride.
The fact that we were riding in a shabby rented carriage seemed to be the reason.
“Are you really Sylvia Atlante?”
“Why is a noble riding in a carriage like this?”
“Are you kidnapping me?”
Tev’s constant chatter was cute, but it was getting annoying.
So, I warned him, “If you don’t quiet down, something unfortunate might happen.”
Tev immediately shut up, although the doubt in his eyes only deepened.
However, once the carriage passed the entrance of the Atlante mansion, Tev’s suspicion slowly faded.
After the servants of the west wing greeted me, saying, “Welcome back, my lady!” Tev completely removed his doubt.
Now he seemed to finally believe that I was a noble.
“So, you really are Sylvia Atlante.”
“Of course, I am.
Did you think I was not?”
“… Half of me did.”
As he threw out words, he looked around the mansion curiously as if he found it fascinating, which looked cute in my eyes.
‘It kind of reminds me of my own reaction just a month ago.’
Back then, when I first saw the western wing, it seemed like I was impressed, saying it could rival a five-star European hotel, but now, this place felt familiar as my own home.
“So, what am I supposed to do?”
Tev approached me before I even knew it and asked the question after seemingly finishing looking around.
“Do you want to wash up first?
I’ll tell them to have a bath prepared.
Let’s talk after you’re clean.”
Tev looked down at himself and nodded.
But then it happened.
Gurgle.
Upon hearing the sound fill the room, Belle and I looked at each other.
However, when we exchanged puzzled glances, we realized that it was coming from another person in the room.
As our eyes met, Tev blushed and quickly averted his gaze.
‘Is he embarrassed?
There’s no need to be embarrassed about a physiological phenomenon.’
Maybe it was because he was still young?
To cover Tev’s embarrassment, I spoke up.
“Let’s eat first.”
I would feed him a full course until he was about to burst.
My goal was to bulk up the cat, no, bulk up Tev.
***
Tev Hiddleton thought he was dreaming.
So, he pinched his cheek.
‘Ouch.’
Tev blinked as his pinched cheek stung with discomfort.
The sensation meant that these dream-like events weren’t dreams, but reality.
‘But…’
Tev looked at the numerous dishes on the wide table.
For him, food was moldy, hard scraps of bread found in garbage cans, or half-rotten potatoes.
Even those were only available when he was lucky, as most of the time, someone had already rummaged through the trash and taken everything edible, leaving him to starve.
On such hungry days, he would linger around food shops on purpose, hoping to find some dropped food.
But when he saw people eating freshly made food near the shops, Tev just turned away.
Because he was envious of people eating hot, greasy, unspoiled, and mold-free food.
‘If you want to survive on the streets, you can’t be envious of others.
Once you start envying others, you want to do bad things.’
The feeling of envy led people to covet what others possessed and resorted to snatch it.
Tev didn’t want to become like that.
‘So, I thought I would never be able to eat this kind of food for the rest of my life, except in dreams.’
Thinking that way, Tev pinched his cheek again.
‘It still hurts.’
His cheek stung.
Then, this might be reality, but it didn’t feel real to him.
Tev clumsily cut the meat in front of him and thought of the person who had given him this dream-like experience.