Chapter 68

The Formerly Poor Aristocrat and the Slums [Part 1]

"It's attached to that building."

Following the thread, the siblings arrived at an area with many tattered, unrepaired buildings that looked like it wouldn't be strange if they were to collapse today or tomorrow.

"My monster karuta, please be safe..."

With a desperate feeling, George looked at the building.

The buildings in this country are commonly built of bricks, and only the doors and windows are made of wood. This building's doors and windows, however, seemed to have decayed and became hollow.

Even the roof has collapsed in several places.

'I guess there's no need to knock...' When Emma carefreely thought so, the boy rushed out agitatedly. The boy raised his voice in anger. Looks like he didn't notice the transparent thread.

"Why is it not a wallet-"

The boy slammed the thing in his hand on the ground.

"Then what should I do! If it's like this, if it continues like this..."

Perhaps unaware of the three siblings' existence, the boy crouched down and started crying.

George also felt that it would have been better if he had stolen his wallet, but it's not something he could say out loud in this kind of mood.

William was also surprised by the boy's sudden temper and froze.

Then, the boy started a grand self-reflection session by hitting his own head while saying, "I'm stupid, stupid, stupid" over and over again.

Emma approached the boy with light footsteps and crouched down in front of him. She peeked into the boy's face that had become a mess from his tears and gently called out to him.

"Hey, that monster karuta, can you return it to us?"

Never read the mood, unperturbed like a mountain.

That's how Emma is.

The thing the boy threw to the ground was, no mistake, their precious monster karuta. Good thing today doesn't rain.

Startled by Emma, who suddenly appeared in front of him, the boy stepped back and was about to run away but was stopped by George and William.

"H-How do you know I'm here!!!"

The boy wiped his tears in a panic.

"Because a crime is bound to be found."

George carefully gathered the monster karuta that had been scattered on the ground.

He breathed a sigh of relief after counting the number.

"Thank god, it's all here."

George made a genuinely relieved voice, then looked at the boy.

Including in his previous life, it's the first time he encountered a pickpocket, but he didn't realize he got stolen until Emma told him. If there's a pro and clumsy pickpocket, George is certain that this kid is the former.

"W-What are you! You three! Which slum are you from? To chase me up to here, it's a territorial invasion!"

Not understanding what the boy just said, the siblings instantly had a puzzled look on their faces.

"Even if you walk in the commoner town, if you've become like me, you can definitely tell! There's no way people who wear patched clothes come from that district. You must be slums' residents, right?"

'How's that! Give it up!' the boy sprang up vigorously.

The clothes the siblings usually wear at home were told to be shabbier than commoner clothes.

Now that they think about it, whenever they play with the cats, their clothes tore often because the claws unexpectedly got caught on them.

It's always fun to play with the cats, but with the four of them in that size, it can't be helped that their clothes got damaged in exchange for the fluffiness.

Especially these last six months, they'd been practicing riding the cats and sometimes fell down hard.

'Isn't it such a waste when it's torn?'

'Only our family and servants in the mansion can see it anyway?'

Buying new sets of clothes doesn't even cross the Stuart family's mind as they suffered from a poor mentality for a long time.

Not even matching the pattern and color of the patch cloth, they used the excess fabric from Rose's dresses.

Plain-looking clothes combined with bright colored patches have created a shabby look that can't be covered by their sewing techniques alone. It added some truth to the boy's remarks about their appearance.

The fabric itself is Emma silk, though, so it's definitely not some shoddy clothes, but clothes of the finest quality.

"No, we're not slums' residents, though..."

When George said, "This area is so quiet" back then, maybe the commoner town's people thought of the siblings as slums' children and thus avoided them. Or rather, this is the slums, huh...