Chapter 47 — Potions for Sale
Chapter 47 — Potions for Sale
Translation: Godtl
Lelia hesitated, looking only at the innocent basket containing stamina recovery potions.
Right now, she just wanted to avoid this situation.
Noticing this, Karius changed the subject as if nothing had happened.
"What were you planning to do with that? Were you going to distribute it to the people of the estate?"
"...No. I'm going to sell it."
"...What?"
"I'm going to sell it for money."
"What... what... are you trying to earn allowance money?"
At Karius's words, Lelia gave a small nod.
"......"
He looked at Lelia with eyes half filled with pride and half with pity.
"I'll buy all of it."
"...Really?"
"Yes, how much?"
Lelia hesitated for a moment before speaking.
The money she needed right now was exactly 500,000 shillings.
"Fifty... five hundred thousand shillings."
She felt sorry for raising the price by 50,000 shillings, but Karius was clearly rich.
When Lelia glanced at him, he smiled and said.
"Whether it's a million shillings or two million shillings, I'll buy it all."
"...Really?"
"Yes."
As if those words were true, Karius took out a leather pouch from his bosom and began shaking out gold coins.
Each gold coin was worth 100,000 shillings, so even at a glance there were dozens of them.
Even roughly estimated, it was an amount far exceeding one or two million.
'Wow...!'
Lelia looked at Karius with sparkling eyes. She thought he was an immature adult, but he wasn't. He was completely an adult.
"Uncle!"
At the title that came from Lelia's mouth, the corners of his lips rose. However, contrary to his lips, tears streamed down his eyes.
At that bizarre sight, Lelia was quite flustered, but soon smiled along with him.
"Let me hug you just once."
Karius reached out his arms. Lelia carefully approached.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
Lelia quietly enjoyed the touch of Karius patting her back.
In the embrace of her mother's family, there was always a warm fragrance.
'I never imagined that all of Mom's family would become my family too.'
Lelia stayed quietly in his arms for a while before finally opening her mouth with difficulty.
"Actually, Uncle, you're right. I ran away because I was scared in the Imperial City...."
"......"
"Emperor Perseus hates me. I thought he would surely marry me off to some strange person. And Cedric and Damian want to take revenge on me...."
"...Why didn't you tell the Emperor the truth? Hmm?"
Karius asked with a voice mixed with tears.
"Because he wouldn't believe me anyway."
Karius couldn't deny those words. If even he himself hadn't believed her, there was no way they would have.
"How upset you must have been. The Emperor and those nephew boys were all so obsessed with that child... even I felt upset watching it. Knowing everything, how upset you must have been."
At Karius's words, Lelia's lips trembled. Even though she hadn't told him, her chest stung with him understanding everything.
Suddenly that day came to mind.
The day she had to apologize to Julianna because of the brothers Cedric and Damian.
That day was a great shock and wound to Lelia.
It would surely become a wound she could never forget even as an adult.
She would live her whole life hiding that festering wound and pretending not to know.
So Lelia wanted to gather courage. It was childish and petty, but she wanted to tattle about that day and receive comfort.
She wanted to treat that wound herself before it was too late.
"Actually...."
"Yes, tell me. I'll listen to everything."
Lelia began to speak very slowly.
If she spoke quickly, she felt like she would bawl like a child, so very slowly, gathering her emotions, she spoke.
The day she was first summoned to Emperor Perseus, when she encountered Cedric, Damian, and Julianna.
And what happened on the day of the banquet, the sorrowful emotions she felt then.
How much her legs hurt when she knelt and apologized before Julianna, how hoarse her throat became.
How cold the eyes of Cedric and Damian looking down at her were. She even felt a little resentment toward Julianna who watched anxiously but didn't stop them.
Everything up to the process of having her living quarters taken away, going to her mother's cottage, and then running away.
Slowly but calmly, she poured out all the grievances she had held deep in her heart.
However, Karius who was listening couldn't control his emotions.
Bang!
At the sound of Karius hitting the table with his fist, Lelia was startled.
"Those wicked boys! Where did they learn to... make someone kneel and apologize? Do they know who the real princess is!"
Karius's bitten lips trembled.
Cedric and Damian were precious nephews he had to protect in his sister's place.
But to think they had tormented Lelia to that extent.
'They even drove her out of the tower where she was staying?'
Of course, he could understand Cedric and Damian's feelings. Thinking Lelia was their mother's enemy, how angry they must have been.
It wasn't a situation where he could only blame his nephews. He himself had misunderstood Lelia and lost his temper like that.
"...I'm sorry. If I had known sooner...."
"I'm okay. It was a situation where misunderstandings were unavoidable anyway.... But still... I wanted to tell you."
Because just seeing Karius get angry on her behalf like this felt like applying ointment to the wound of her heart.
Lelia sighed in relief as if feeling refreshed.
Tears were welling in her eyes.
She didn't know how much she had held back to speak without crying.
Rather, it was Karius who had been crying the whole time while listening to the story.
"How upset you must have been. How grievous it must have been, hmm?"
"...I'm okay. Instead, I escaped safely, didn't I?"
"...Yes, you came well. Thank you for coming here safely."
"...Yes. But please keep it a secret from Grandfather and Grandmother. They'll be upset. Their health might deteriorate."
At those words, Karius covered his face and started crying even more.
How frightened and sad must this small young child have been while running away from the Imperial City.
At an age when she should be throwing tantrums and complaining freely, her worry for her grandparents was both admirable and pitiful.
At Lelia's age, he himself was a child who couldn't do anything. He just followed behind his sister's tail, crying and throwing tantrums at every little thing.
To grow up so maturely and admirably in that situation.
"Yes, I understand. I'll keep it secret."
Karius answered with effort.
It felt like his heart was being torn into a thousand pieces.
If her uncle felt this way, how would her parents feel?
Karius felt his heart tighten with guilt toward his dead sister.
And another parent.
Thinking of Emperor Perseus, his chest felt tight.
"......"
Common sense dictated that he should inform him of this fact.
But....
'I can't send the child who ran away because she was afraid of Emperor Perseus back there....'
Moreover, another face came to Karius's mind.
The new family created when Emperor Perseus remarried to reclaim the throne.
The Empress and Julianna.
In particular, Emperor Perseus cherished that child Julianna like his own daughter.
The way he looked at her was as affectionate as when he looked at his own children, Cedric and Damian.
'I'm one thing, but that child is also utterly pathetic. Not recognizing his own child....'
Karius clenched his fist.
Like most of the Superion family, Karius didn't like Emperor Perseus either.
Swearing to make her happy for a lifetime, only to let his sister die alone.
If it weren't for revenge, he would never have helped Perseus reclaim the throne.
Tears kept flowing with grief.
"...Please don't cry."
Lelia looked at Karius who was only shedding tears with his fist clenched, then brought a handkerchief and patted his cheek.
Though a very clumsy touch, the warm heart was conveyed as is.
Karius smiled with effort and took the handkerchief to wipe his own tears.
"I'm sorry. For showing you such a pathetic sight... from now on, this uncle will protect you."
'I don't know about that. I think I'll be the one protecting you....'
Lelia thought that but nodded saying she understood.
The tragedy that would befall the Superion family was all after Lelia became an adult.
Lelia intended to build her abilities as much as possible through the 'Alchemy Lottery' in preparation for that time.
'For that, I need to make a cash purchase.'
Lelia diligently filled the basket with the allowance Karius gave her before he could change his mind.
Karius watched Lelia's appearance as if it was admirable.
Karius emerged from Lelia's room, composing the redness around his eyes, and made his way to the Duke's study.
After receiving permission to enter, the Duke looked at Karius with skeptical eyes.
"What exactly happened that you'd cry at your age?"
"...."
At the Duke's words, Karius fidgeted with the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.
"Not only are you unmarried at that age, but now you're even crying in front of your niece... How am I supposed to take this?"
"Please don't scold me too much. I'll tell Lelia everything."
"...."
At those words, the Duke's eyes narrowed even further.
Always glaring at Lelia as if she were some mortal enemy, and now calling her name so affectionately.
He wondered if the man had finally truly accepted that child.
"...I apologized to Lelia. That child is definitely my sister's daughter."
"I told you that before, but you wouldn't believe it."
"That's not what's important right now. Father, are you really not going to inform the Emperor of this fact?"
"Would you want to tell him if you were in my place?"
"...."
Honestly speaking, no.
Especially since Karius had seen with his own two eyes how deeply Emperor Perseus cherished his adopted daughter, Julianna.
Blood is thicker than water—once he learned that Lelia was his niece, that fact weighed heavily on his mind.