Chapter 169

Chapter 169

TL: Zimming

I hurriedly headed to the shopping district.

Tri and Emeline were really holding each other's hair as the chairman said.

"Let go of this!"

"Let me go!"

"One, two, three, let it go? One, two, three...!"

"I thought you would let go, you liar!"

"You didn't even! Ouch, ouch!"

I looked at the children spinning round and round holding each other's hair with a puzzled face.

"You're a bad girl, Emeline!"

"You are terrible! You're going to leave us all behind!"

"I...I!"

Emeline pushed Tri hard.

When Tri, who had stumbled, looked up at the girl weeping, Emeline gritted her teeth and grabbed a handful of sand on the ground and threw it towards Tri. I quickly grabbed Emeline's wrist.

"Stop it."

"Ah, is that the girl you said had an argument with Max?"

Tri shouted "Emeline!" but Emeline looked at me with a very remorseful expression on her face.

"Max won't come because of you and Tri, that idiot. He thought you were a noble, so Max was afraid of fighting with you."

"So?"

"Kids like us can't live without Max's protection!"

Emeline looked at me fiercely and continued.

"Do you think we lived with Max because we liked it? No, it's because Max protected us from other gangs!"

"......."

"What are you going to do? If Max doesn't come, we'll lose our money to other gangs. But Tri, that idiot girl made an accident like this and left after finding her aunt!"

"......."

"Do you think you became a hero by saving Tri? No, you made us all die. Tri is in a hurry to go...!"

"The children will be taken to the shelter."

"What?"

"You will be given money until you are 15 years old. After that, I will arrange a place for you to work. Now you have no reason to be angry, do you?"

Emeline bit her lip. She frowned and opened her mouth,

"That's not all...!"

"Yes. That's not the only reason you're angry. Aren't you angry that Tri found her aunt in the first place?"

"No."

"If not, stop. If you keep going like this, other people will think you have an inferiority complex to Tri."

Emeline sighed and shut her mouth.

The pale-skinned girl muttered, "You... ehat do you know."

I let go of the girl's wrist and raised Tri.

The workers at the hope mercenary guild, who watched the situation from a distance and delivered the news through the chairman, ran and brushed the dust off Tri's clothes.

"Oh my, a precious person covered in dirt. We even have the doctor on standby."

Tri looked at Emeline for a moment, but then pursed her lips and turned away. I reached out to Emeline.

"Let's go. You also need to be treated..."

"Let go!"

Emilyn shook my hand off roughly.

When the knights of Dubbled heard it, they ran towards me.

"Lady!"

"I'm alright."

"What do you mean it's okay? If the masters know, we'll die."

"Doctor! Doctor!!"

The knights panicked and Emeline twisted the skirt as she stared at me and Tri. Then, in a flash, she turned around and ran away. I took a deep breath. Then Tri cautiously said to me,

"I......."

"Why?"

"Emeline is stubborn, but she's not a bad kid. That, so..."

She seemed worried that the adults protecting me and Tri might harm Emeline. I smiled.

"Don't worry about it."

"R, really?"

"Yes."

Tri always had people escorting her. But, why didn't they come out while they were holding each other's hair and arguing?

"Children grow up fighting and reconciling."

As I chuckled and raised my head, Tri stared at me.

"Even Emeline says that often!"

I know. That's what I heard from Emeline too. Emeline is someone who really taught me a lot.

"What? Blaine, you idiot! I'm telling you to go and hit me too!"

"Then, what do I do if we have a really big fight?"

"Children grow up fighting and reconciling. We can never be reconciled if you only suffer alone."

"......."

"Ugh, you idiot. Come on. Let's see how much it hurts."

It was that child who changed my view when I was used to being bullied in my first and second lives.

***

The Max's beggar group of children went to Emeline, who held her knee stubbornly under the bridge.

"Emeline, aren't you going to pack your bags? When we go to the shelter, they'll give us food and clothes. We don't have to suffer any longer..."

"You go."

"But......."

"Go! Go away!"

When Emeline plucked weeds from the ground and shouted, the children turned away with sullen faces.

Emeline's skirt was wet with tears.

"My aunt came to see me. I'm going to live with my aunt now. Right, Emeline, Come with me. If I ask my aunt, we'll be able to live together."

"Oh my, a precious person covered in dirt. We even have the doctor on standby."

"What do you mean it's okay? If the masters know, we'll die."

That fool Tri also has her family picking her up. And the girl who helped Tri...

'That voice...It must have been the girl who was with the boy at the clothes shop.'

"Her name is Leblaine. She's a young girl and she's so, uh-so cool!"

Cool? Tri was really stupid.

Anyone who was loved and grew up in a safe environment like that would be strong.

She's different from the beggars who had no parents...

'No. I have a dad. Dad will be coming to see me soon.'

But when?

It was on her fifth birthday that Emeline lost her mother.

Although from a poor family, Emeline did not know about poverty until her mother died.

Although her mother's hands were rough and she was often sick, Emeline always wore and ate good things.

When she tried to help her mother, she always said,

"You are a precious child. How bad would your father feel if he knew that his precious daughter is suffering."

After her mother died, she had several opportunities to go to an orphanage and move into a new home.

Many parents wanted Emelime, who was cute, lovable, and even knew how to write.

However, Emeline believed her mother's words and ran away. She didn't change her name so that her dad could visit her.

She stole Max's money and gave it to the temple every month as an offering, and asked if anyone was looking for her.

Emeline bit her lip and sighed. She knows the truth.

When even until now her father didn't find her, it could only mean that he did not know of her existence or had no desire to find her.

'My mom is a liar.'

Emeline clutched the necklace that her mother had given her when she died.

"This is proof that you, Emeline, are your father's daughter. You have to keep it without anyone seeing it."

When Emeline, who had been staring at the slender pendant with curved ends, was about to throw it under the bridge,

"Emeline!"

She could hear an unfamiliar voice.

"Are you a priest?"

Since he was wearing a priest's robes, it was not difficult to guess his identity.

'But that's a blue flower badge.'

The order of the temples of Neliard was:

<Numerous local temples located in each region>

The management of this place is taken by the head of each temple chosen by the central temple.

<Central temple>

The central temple, which manages the local temples, was managed by the 21 priests, which were chosen by majority vote.

<Vatican>

The main temple of Neliard, to which only the most powerful priest, the Cardinal, and the Pope, the leader of Neliard religion, belonged.

And that blue flower can only be possessed by a high-ranking priest, the 21 priests.

"Are you Emeline? So you're her. I've been looking for you."

The priest who approached with a kind face bent his knees and looked at Emeline.

Emeline inadvertently hid the necklace in her pocket and lifted her head.

"What are you doing?"

"I have good news. Your father is looking for you."

"......Huh?"

Emeline's eyes narrowed slightly.

***

I had been in the hope mercenary guild until late at night, and I returned to the mansion with a tired face.

"I'm so tired......."

As I grabbed my stiff shoulders and knees like an old man, the chairman, who was getting off the carriage with me, looked at me.

"You're like an old man."

"It's hard to overwork even a little since I summoned Pur."

"Then hurry and grant his wish."

"You don't know how stubborn Pur is. His wish is still to have my heart."

"If I hadn't received the divine power from the 2nd Prince, something big would have happened."

"Right? It's time to start using tricks on Pur....."

As we were conversing, my three maids approached me with an urgent face.

"Master Johann has come home."

"Really?"

My face brightened as I quickly got off the carriage. But it was strange.

'Why is the atmosphere like this?'

I asked, narrowing my brow.

"What's the matter?"

"There are some peo0le who come along with the master."

"Who?"

"A child believed to be the fourth child and priests."

Having received the story from the maids, I ran to the mansion with a stiff face.

People were gathering in the courtyard.

I could see my father and the priest among the adults two or three times taller than me.

'Priest Augustine.'

One of the 21 priests like Adolf, who stole the medicine of youth I made, and gave it to the Empress Dowager and made her sick.

With the exception of the cardinals, he was the highest priest in charge of my theology classes in my first life.

'That Augustine came?'

Now the temple is starting to move.

"You don't know how surprised I was to hear that Dubbled had a youngest child, and that the young master was looking for her. But that's how we were able to bring this child to Dubbled."

"The evidence?"

When my father asked, Augustine waved his hands and chuckled.

"She is the most likely candidate. A woman who appeared to be a maid of an aristocratic family settled down in a village and raised her. Her birthday also coincides with the youngest child. This child seems to have regarded the woman as her biological mother until now..."

"......."

"She told me several times. Her mother told her that a noble father will come to find her someday. Come on, child, let's say hello."

As I approached my father and the priest, I was shocked when I saw the child.

The priest said with a smile.

"This is Emeline."

Emeline looked at him and the brothers. She muttered, not knowing what to do.

"H, hello..."

The priest then saw me, bowed his head and said with a kind smile.

"I saw you once when you were very young. Do you remember? My name is Augustine."

"...I remember."

"You must be happy to have a new sister."

"......."

After a moment's silence, I smiled broadly and hugged Emeline.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Leblaine!"

Augustine's expression brightened.

I hugged Emeline and whispered to her.

"You are not the youngest child."

"......."

"And I know who your father is."

Because I saw it clearly in my third life. He's someone I know well.