Chapter 66
Chapter 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Silver Wolf (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Crowds of spectators poured out.
I slipped through the throng alongside Irina.
Was it from brushing shoulders with so many people?
The pounding of her heart reached me through our linked arms.
“...”
Even as the street cleared up, she still clung to my arm.
And the soft knit fabric pressed against my arm.
Clearing my throat, I spoke up.
“We’re out now.”
“Huh? Oh..., when did we get through?”
The Second Imperial Princess flinched like a wild animal.
She lifted her head and looked around.
The crowd had spread out wide.
They were sneaking glances at Irina in her casual clothes.
“No way they figured out who I am?”
Irina whispered urgently to me.
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
I shook my head firmly.
Most of the stares aimed at the Second Imperial Princess came from men.
She usually wore a perception-lowering robe, so these guys were seeing her for the first time.
They gawked, entranced by her figure-hugging outfit and her stunning silver hair.
Irina steadied her voice and turned away from their gazes.
Then she noticed we were still arm in arm, and her eyes went wide.
“N-now I can breathe. Right?”
She gently unlinked our arms.
She rubbed her arm, damp from our shared body heat.
“Yes, the theater definitely isn’t my taste.”
“Next time, should I call some actors to the mansion?”
Her finances must have improved a lot lately.
Seeing how much she’d grown, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes, let’s do that. I’m looking forward to it.”
Pleased by my enthusiasm, the princess nodded.
She pressed a hand to her chest to calm her lingering heartbeat.
But.
Her heart was still racing.
“Huh...? My rosario...”
Her mother’s cherished heirloom was gone.
The embarrassed look on her face was long gone.
She began scanning the surroundings as calmly as she could.
I did the same.
Focusing mana in my eyes, I searched the street.
“It might have snapped in the crowd.”
We waited until all the spectators were gone.
But even after, we found nothing on the ground.
“Did I lose it inside the theater?”
Irina wondered if she should go back in.
Meanwhile, I kept a close eye on the people around, not just the street.
Then, suddenly.
A dingy alley far from the theater caught my eye.
A shabby boy heading into the narrow, shadowed gap.
A faint mana ripple from his pocket.
It was the gem in the rosario reacting.
“Lady Irina.”
The Second Imperial Princess, about to head back into the theater.
She turned to me with an anxious expression.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes, follow me. Looks like a kid pickpocket.”
I took the lead toward the alley the boy had gone into.
Irina’s green eyes sparkled as she asked.
“A kid pickpocket... an orphan, maybe?”
“High chance.”
“Then let’s go this way. I think I know the spot.”
Irina pinpointed the exact corner where the boy had vanished.
“Probably here.”
“You seem to know the orphans well.”
“Yeah, I saw the paths they take while sponsoring the orphanage.”
Irina led me into the dark shadows.
She explained why she sponsored the orphans.
“My territory has extra punishments for those who bully kids.”
“I’ve heard. A great rule made by the Second Imperial Consort.”
“Yeah. But people started abusing it.”
Irina sighed deeply.
“They’d pickpocket kids or stage fake extortion scams on purpose.”
“That’s awful...”
I frowned, and Irina nodded bitterly.
“It happened so often that locals started ignoring orphans altogether. They don’t even pay attention to them anymore.”
Soon, we reached a dead end.
She pointed to a fence about my height.
“He probably climbed over to their hideout.”
The princess, with a mithril longsword at her waist.
She tried to jump up and peek over.
But it looked impossible for her alone.
“Veil, could you give me a boost?”
“It’s dangerous. Isn’t it safer to go around?”
I silently watched her trot over with her petite frame.
She shook her head firmly.
“It’ll take forever to go back. By then, he might’ve fenced the rosario already.”
Irina tapped her palm, calculating.
She looked around for something to step on.
“Understood.”
I rolled up my shirtsleeve.
I approached her leisurely and looked down at Irina.
“...”
She always wore flowing dresses or loose blouses and skirts.
But now, in skin-tight leggings and a knit top.
It looked tricky to touch her without it being awkward.
She didn’t care, though.
With a serious expression, she stretched both arms toward me.
“Give me a lift?”
I stepped right up to her in response.
Instead of her hands, I placed mine on her thighs.
“Huh...?”
Irina had expected me to grab her arms.
Her face flushed at the feel of my hands on her thighs.
I ignored it.
This position was the most efficient for getting her over the fence.
“V-Veil, I meant just boost me up like...!”
One arm under her thighs, the other supporting her back.
Even through my hand on her back, I felt the bumpy texture, but I tuned it out.
“Eek...!”
I focused solely on lifting the princess safely.
Irina shrank back.
Once atop the fence, she hurriedly perched there.
“...”
She covered her face with both hands.
Peeking through her fingers down at me, she couldn’t believe what just happened.
I leaped lightly onto the fence as if it were nothing.
I sat softly beside her.
“Are you alright? Your face is red.”
She narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
Her lips trembled as she murmured.
“You’re great and all, but sometimes you’re oblivious...”
“Oblivious?”
I tilted my head to meet her gaze, and she whipped her face away.
“No... nothing...”
Irina rubbed her sensitized body, thanks to the smooth knit.
To refocus on the chase, she looked down from the fence.
“Shall I lower you this time?”
“No.”
She answered firmly.
She swallowed hard and jumped down herself.
Clink.
Her mithril longsword at her waist swung jauntily.
I jumped down after her.
We prowled the dim alley together, slowly.
Soon....
“―――.”
Children’s voices from around the corner halted us.
“Shh.”
Irina pressed a finger to her lips.
She hugged the wall and eavesdropped quietly.
“Got it?”
“Yeah, here.”
Both voices sounded like boys.
But the one asking seemed a bit older.
Around ten and fourteen, maybe.
“Ooh, a rosario?”
The kid in the dingy shirt handed the familiar necklace to the boy.
The guy inspected the gem closely.
“Not in great shape—but it’s real, so here’s one gold.”
He tossed a tarnished gold coin carelessly to the younger boy from his pocket.
“J-just one gold...? Do you know how I got this!”
The kid shot back in panic.
“There was this scary-looking guy and a super pretty lady. It’s gotta be worth more!”
“Kid, you wouldn’t get it. Fencing stuff takes money and time too.”
The boy snorted at the kid’s protest.
He tried on the rosario around his neck and strutted.
“Can’t give full value if I’m not profiting.”
He brushed it off and prepared to leave.
But the little kid grabbed his arm.
“Then give it back. I’ll sell it myself!”
He yanked desperately.
“You little...!”
A sharp smack echoed loud enough to hear from afar.
Followed by someone crumpling to the ground around the corner.
“I’ll sell it for you, you my buddy or something?”
The fourteen-year-old approached the fallen kid.
He glared down with a menacing look.
“Don’t get it twisted. I took you in ‘cause you’re quick on your feet.”
He raised his hand to slap the kid again.
Right as he swung down.
Someone gripped his wrist, freezing him.
“What...? Who the hell...!”
The fearless punk, almost an adult.
He looked up at whoever grabbed him.
His eyes bulged.
It was no other than a graceful silver-haired woman.
“You... Toby? From the orphanage’s Sun Class.”
“How do you...”
“How? I’ve visited your orphanage plenty of times.”
Irina shot him a stern glare.
“Skipping school lately to fence stolen goods?”
She’d sponsored the orphanage, even sending kids to school.
But she’d heard some skipped to do bad things—this Toby must be one.
“School? For trash like me...”
Toby brushed off the princess’s arm carelessly.
He swaggered with a cocky tone.
“What’s the point? Just get mocked as an orphan... Better make money.”
“If you want money, earn it honestly. Not by reselling stolen crap.”
“Stolen? Got proof?”
Irina held out her palm.
Demanding the rosario back.
“That necklace is mine.”
“What, it’s yours?”
Toby pulled the cross from his pocket with a bored look.
He tossed it roughly into her hand.
“Take it. Wouldn’t fetch much anyway.”
The moment I saw that.
I couldn’t hold back and asked the boy.
“What makes you so rude to the lady who’s helped you?”
He glanced back at my question.
Wearing an invincible smirk, like he owned the town.
“Donors should just donate and stay out of our lives.”
Toby shoved his hands in his pockets.
He looked pitifully at Irina helping up the fallen kid.
“Rich ladies donate for one reason. Money laundering.”
Toby, with the face of someone deluded into thinking he was grown.
He shrugged and rambled on.
“Government takes a huge tax cut, so they fake donations to orphanages—then reclaim it later.”
He boasted that other donors always pulled that stunt.
Slinging a sack stuffed with stolen goods over his shoulder, he added.
“The donating nun uses it? They chew her out for it.”
I glanced down at the guy’s feet as he yapped.
His shoe soles were worn ragged.
‘Fast on his feet.’
To grab him without injury, I’d need to be careful.
“Anyway, I’m out. Don’t meddle next time.”
He turned with a strut.
Sauntering off down the alley leisurely.
I followed quietly.
Poising to strike his neck and paralyze him briefly.
“Stop.”
A cold voice from behind halted me.
Just as Toby cynically turned his head.
Pow!!
A fist slammed into his face.
“Argh...!!”
Pain he’d never felt before.
Clutching his cheek, he yelled at his attacker.
“Y-you just hit me...? Don’t you know what happens in this territory if you hit a kid?”
Toby looked up smugly, like he’d hooked her.
At ‘Irina,’ who’d struck him.
“Oh, I know. My mother made the rule.”
A dark shadow crossed the princess’s refined features.
She tightened her bound hair and said.
“And as of today, it’s abolished.”