Episode 58

He didn’t know how she knew that Baal was hiding in the bar, but Anissa called out to him and went back to the castle. 

‘I thought you liked dolls.’

Dietrich stared at the bag where the bundle of money stuck out without understanding why the child showed disappointment in him.

He had a brilliant mind, but even he did not understand Anissa’s actions. 

Not only was she taking the side of Catherine Fermat’s children, but she was also trying to help a child she didn’t know. 

‘But I can’t figure out why she’s upset.’

Dietrich let out a low sigh and peered at the chair where Anissa sat.

“You didn’t give me the money, but I’ll thank you for now.”

Lost in thought, Dietrich was suddenly talked to by the silver-haired girl who was sitting down earlier.

The sight of her trying to cover her red-rimmed eyes, as if she had returned to reason, was noticeable but apart from that, nothing else caught his interest.

If she hadn’t spoken up, he probably would’ve never noticed she was there.

"Wow, I didn't even have to make a commotion like this in the first place. Now I'm having a little problem with my divine power—“

Dietrich stared silently at Charlotte making excuses. Divine power was a blessing that God could never give to the north.

‘Maybe she’s from the South.’ 

“Maybe that’s why I can’t feel your wickedness anymore. What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know.”

With Dietrich’s cold voice, Charlotte flinched for a moment, but the corners of her red lips lifted to a smile.

"Well, we might see each other again soon. If the temple accepts my interpretation of the prophecy."

It seems that she knew who he was without him telling her his name.

“I guess I’m the savior of the North. And in the prophecy, you will be sealed on the dawn of winter.”

“If you knew who I was, you’d know I don’t believe what the southern gods are saying.”

For a moment, Charlotte got on his nerves but Dietrich quickly forgot her existence. He was only contemplating on how to avoid Anissa. 

“Was my interpretation wrong?”

Charlotte murmured quietly, looking at Dietrich who was indifferent to her, but he did not look back.

────── 〔✿〕──────

Dietrich disappeared again after the events at the bar.

It seemed like he stopped by once every few months, but I couldn’t even see his face because he only goes to Nature to meet Derek.

‘Why doesn’t he come to Dahlia?’

It might be more comfortable in Saint-Dena because Derek’s people weren’t there, but wasn't  it too much not to see me?

Eventually, I threw a few coins and lottery tickets inside a small bag and left the palace to make sure if he’s still alive.

“Where are you going, Princess?”

“Hnn, I was asked to run an errand by my brother.”

I blinked with my long eyelashes and greeted the knight stationed at the front gate. The middle-aged looking knight smiled, finding me cute, not knowing that I was lying.

“Actually, the Princess is not a candidate for succession, so leaving is prohibited, but today is special.”

While opening the gate, the knight who always said “today is special” slanted his body and clicked his tongue.

“To keep children locked in such a way. No matter how much they wanted to protect the Grand Duke’s reputation, it is just too much.”

His mumbling was crammed with sympathy for me.

‘I still can’t get used to it.’

Here was a man who sympathized with the children of Lagrange.

They usually feared the children as demons, or despised them as if they were dealing with Dietrich and me.

This kind of concern was an experience I could never even imagine before.

‘Ever since I destroyed the rose statues, Lancel would bring me butter cookies even though I didn’t order him to.’

Lancel was not the only one who changed. Even the maids who would occasionally stop by the palace to clean, stroked my head or pinched my cheeks when they saw me, finding me cute.

‘There wasn’t a day or two that I wasn’t cute but this is too sudden.’

Of course, there were still servants who were feisty or malicious towards me.

I shrugged, then accepted the knight’s special pass and walked out of the gate.

‘As expected, it wasn’t just the children who were affected by the curse.’

Even the servants were looking better as though all of their debts were paid off, and have no understanding on why they hated us.

I was anxious that Derek would notice what I had done, but fortunately, he was too busy fighting an exhausting war with Euclid and couldn’t afford to take care of Lagrange.

‘It’s safe to think that this was the prelude of the Rose Wars taking place.’

By now, Euclid would be strict on Hermann’s upbringing, but he will meet a warm-hearted teacher and hone his swordsmanship.

‘Thinking about it, since the days when they were young masters, the relationship between the two was not good.’

Hermann was greatly defeated by Dietrich when he was a boy, so he sharpened his skills to hone the power of the sun god.

Dietrich was a stepping stone for Hermann to walk through the “Path of Trials” that often appeared in shounen manhwas.[1]

‘But it didn’t happen when I was this young.’

Both of them were still only thirteen. It wasn’t until they were seventeen when they first met on the battlefield.

“Anissa, long time no see.”

I smiled and nodded at Lorraine, the owner of the jewelry shop (refer to Chapter 42) who welcomed me. She handed me two lottery tickets like she’s been expecting me.

“Here, this month’s lottery.”

“Thank you very much.”

‘This month, I’ll definitely rack up a fortune!’

My eyes glistened in anticipation and embraced the lottery tickets in my hand dearly.

‘Dietrich may have a lot of money, but that’s not my money.’

“You haven’t been here, have you?”

“. . . . . Yes.”

I nodded, answering Lorraine’s question in a faint voice.

She smirked at me, finding me funny and exhaled a cigarette smoke over my face.

“Pwee.”

‘Secondhand smoking! Secondhand smoking!’

This body’s an asset!

I, who’s only possession was a healthy body, stepped back and glared at the giggling Lorraine.

“I couldn’t win because a kid was already trying to win the lottery.”

‘Do you think that’s okay to puff a smoke on a kid?’

As Lorraine said, all the lottery tickets Veronica bought were losing tickets.

“Veronica’s upstairs.”

She kindly added and I climbed up the stairs immediately.

“Veronica!”

The second floor of the gambling house had a similar structure to an inn, but the room at the end of the hallway was an office. She sat on a large wooden desk, fiddling with documents, but she hurriedly set them aside and greeted me.

‘Hmm.’

Looks like she hid something just now.

I quickly approached Veronica with hurried steps. Then she got up from where she was seated and bent her body to match my eye level.

“What were you doing?”

“Working. Are you here to buy a lottery ticket again?”

“Uhh..”

“If you tell me, I’ll buy it for you. I told you not to come here often because it’s dangerous.”

“I was bored. Neither you nor Dietrich nor Yuric were in the palace.”

When I pouted and rolled my toes against the floor, Veronica muttered, “Oh, you were bored?” and bursted into laughter.

“And nothing has happened so far. Saint-Dena is safer than what sister is thinking.”

Even the gambling house was much more heavily guarded than when I first came.

Fiddling the tips of my curly hair, Veronica opened her mouth.

“Well, you shouldn’t be here today.”

She rubbed her hand around her mouth, looking troubled.

“Why?”

“Yuric is coming now, so ask him to take you back.”

Veronica took a lollipop out of the basket on the desk and held it to me instead of answering my question.

‘I’m not going to fall for something like this!’

I was about to argue with her about chasing a guest out when Veronica pushed the peeled lollipop into my mouth. 

“Nyam.”

Hmm. It’s sweet.

I rolled the peach candy with my tongue that melted sweetly in my mouth.

“If you go home now, I’ll bring you a bunch of these in Dahlia.”

“Hmmm. Okay.”

Come to think of it, I didn’t tell Marilyn that I was going out so she might get worried if I take too long.

It’s not like I’m falling for the candy, it’s only because I didn’t want to upset her who was really kind.

I made excuses internally and took a cheap candy that made my tongue blue.

‘Was Veronica a subordinate of Dietrich in the novel?’

The gambling house was situated in Saint-Dena district, where Dietrich was in charge, and for reasons unknown, Veronica was helping with his work, so I often ran into her when I came to the gambling house to buy lottery tickets.

‘Oh, Yuric is coming.’

But I’ve never been kicked out like this before.

Veronica threw me out to Yuric coming through the window, leaving the door intact.

He hugged me as if he didn’t know I was there, and his blue eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? Why’re you here? Today is dangero--ack!”

Yuric was about to say what was going on, when Veronica slapped him in the mouth with a fan.

A silent signal-- though it was too obvious-- but Yuric nodded in understanding. 

“I’ll take you home.”

Yuric rubbed his swollen lips while watching Veronica, who was looking at me. When I grabbed his outstretched hand, he sat me on top of the demon he stepped on.

The demon resembling a black cow with the wings of a griffon rumbled.

It was much bigger than I remembered, but the aura’s unique smell was familiar.

“Is this Zagan?”

I asked, sweeping down the glossy cow-like fur.

“When Dietrich took it away, it turned out like this. Maybe he absorbed the darkness.”

Demons become stronger as the soul of the contractor is damaged and becomes more like them. If the appearance changed greatly, it meant that there was a lot of damage. . . . 

“Where did Dietrich take you?”

“To the wa--ack!”

Yuric couldn’t finish what he was about to say again as he was beaten by Veronica’s fierce fan. But this time, I understood what he said.

“. . . . . War?”

[1] “...shounen manhwa” Literally the translation here was “boy’s manhwa” but we know what Anissa meant were the manhwas with similar genres as shounen mangas so we left it as it is for context. Hehe.

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