It's Love
It’s love.
“Any interest in raising a child?”
“...Pardon?”
Evan suddenly said to the coachman, who had skillfully purchased a large horse, a massive cart, and enough food ingredients to fill it to the brim.
“Her name is Natasha. Her age is...”
“Five years old.”
Natasha, still tightly gripping Evan’s hand, answered with red-rimmed eyes. But unlike yesterday, her gaze no longer held only despair and sorrow. It was filled with the resolve of someone who had chosen to keep living. The kind of determination only those who could properly say goodbye possessed.
‘Five years old and already this bold.’
“...That’s what she says. She’s a girl with a promising future. Her mother was quite the beauty, after all.”
“I’m a man.”
“Don’t lie. Not in front of a man who could become her father.”
At Evan’s light rebuke, Natasha scratched her messy orange hair and lowered her head.
“Natasha. Five years old. I’m a girl.”
“Any special talents?”
“...Pickpocketing.”
“That’s not exactly something to brag about.”
Evan gave Natasha a light flick on the forehead, then looked back at the coachman. The man had been laughing awkwardly at first, thinking it was a joke, but now he seemed to realize Evan was serious.
“I’ve never been married, so suddenly asking me to raise a child...”
“That’s where everyone starts.”
“Hmm… No, even so...”
“If money’s the issue, I’ll cover the child-rearing costs. Just raise her until she becomes an adult without letting her go down the wrong path. After that, she can live on her own.”
Evan thought for a moment and named a sum.
“Twenty extra silver coins each time you trade with Abaddon should be enough.”
“Cough! Cough!”
The coachman began coughing violently as if he had choked. Evan tilted his head.
‘Is it not enough?’
Twenty silver coins was enough for a family of four to eat well for a month without hardship. Since he traded with this coachman nearly every month, he thought it would suffice. But when he considered it was the price for taking in a complete stranger’s child, it did feel a bit short.
“Forty coins?”
When he doubled it, the coachman’s eyes widened in shock and trembled uncontrollably.
“Sixty...”
“No, sir! Forty is plenty! No, just twenty coins will do!”
Evan nodded and looked down at Natasha.
“Natasha, this is your new dad.”
“No, sir! What kind of father would I be?! Just call me the uncle who’s raising her!”
Natasha looked back and forth between the coachman and Evan before making up her mind. She let go of Evan’s hand, walked over with determined steps, and grabbed the coachman’s hand.
“Please take care of me, mister.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
“Thank you for accepting me. I’ll be a good daughter.”
At Natasha’s incredibly bold greeting, the coachman let out a hearty laugh.
It looked like a half-forced adoption using money, but Evan didn’t see it as a problem. The reason was simple: gut feeling. He had a sense that this man wouldn’t make the little girl unhappy, so he chose the coachman without hesitation.
‘And while I’m at it, I put a leash on him so he can’t run away.’
Since he promised money every time the man traded with Abaddon, the coachman would continue diligently delivering food ingredients.
“Oh, right, my lord. Here you go.”
The coachman, as if he had just remembered, pulled out the pouch Evan had given him and returned it.
“This is the leftover money. I managed to buy the horse somehow, but there was no place selling carriages, so quite a bit is left.”
“Keep it.”
“Huh?”
Evan untied the reins of the horse tethered to the cart and handed them to the coachman.
“I have no intention of traveling at the pace of a five-year-old’s footsteps.”
Even four adults walking would take over half a day. Walking with that scrawny little girl would take twice as long.
“Use the remaining money to get a suitable carriage or cart and come for the next trade.”
“T-then who will pull the cart? If you give me the horse like this...”
“I’ve found a decent maid. She can pull it instead.”
When Evan gestured behind him, a figure wrapped in ragged cloth that had been hiding in the shadows approached with heavy steps. From head to toe, the person was completely covered, but even with all those layers, the silhouette revealed by the wind was little more than bones.
“She looks so skinny. How could she possibly pull a cart...”
Clatter.
As if to refute the coachman’s words, the maid grabbed the cart’s handle and took a couple of steps without difficulty.
“...She’s surprisingly strong despite how she looks.”
“......”
The maid bowed her head carefully, as if the praise was too much. She kept her head down for a long time afterward, so the coachman, flustered, bowed his own head as well.
“S-sorry for doubting you.”
“......”
“I-if I offended you, I apologize...”
“She’s practicing a vow of silence, apparently.”
“Ah, I see...”
The coachman slowly raised his head and stepped back. Only then did the maid lift hers.
Natasha, standing beside the coachman, kept tilting her head as she looked back and forth between the two.
“Then we’ll be going. From now on, this maid will wait at the border where we make our monthly trades.”
“Ah, yes. Please take care of—huh?”
Natasha, who had been standing beside the coachman, suddenly came running with quick little steps and stopped in front of the maid. She rose up on her tiptoes, trying to see the hidden face, but of course nothing was visible. Because Evan had covered it with a spell, all that could be seen was darkness.
“...Um.”
Even so, Natasha spoke in a trembling voice as if she had seen something within that darkness.
“If I come with mister next time, can I see you again?”
The maid froze at Natasha’s words, then slowly nodded.
That seemed to be enough for Natasha. She rubbed her reddening eyes and bowed her head.
“Please take care of me. I’m Natasha. Five years old, a girl, and...”
When Natasha lifted her head again, a few teardrops clung to her eyes, but her expression was determined.
“My special talent… I’ll learn it from mister from now on!”
The coachman moved further away, with Natasha riding on the horse he was leading. The little girl kept turning back to wave, shouting her farewells over and over in a loud voice.
“See you later!”
“Natasha, you should speak politely.”
“See you later! Um… I mean, Miss Maid!”
Once the two had gone far enough that they were no longer visible, Evan finally spoke.
“You can talk now.”
[...Thank you. My benefactor.]
The voice coming from the maid was not produced by human vocal cords. It was the voice of an undead who had lost their body, like a skeleton or a lich.
[For keeping your promise...]
“I simply handed her off to the first useful person nearby. As for you, I only kept you because it would be a waste to lose what you offered.”
Four gold rings to revive her as an undead. And one more to hide her identity. Remembering the resources spent on Natasha’s mother, Evan’s expression twisted.
It wasn’t out of regret. Just...
“It stings my pride.”
[What do you mean?]
“How did she notice? She definitely shouldn’t have been able to see anything.”
There was no way a five-year-old child had enough knowledge of spells to see through Evan’s veil. She couldn’t have deduced it from body shape, either. The maid had already lost all her flesh, blood, and muscle, leaving only bones.
Her voice couldn’t be hidden, but she had faithfully followed Evan’s rule that only the living should walk among the living. She hadn’t said a single word to Natasha.
[It wasn’t anything physical, my benefactor.]
“Do you have any guesses? I’d like to hear them.”
Evan honestly asked for an explanation. Admitting he didn’t know something wasn’t shameful to him.
[It’s love.]
Evan laughed as if it were absurd.
“Isn’t that just what you want to believe?”
[That is also love.]
“Forget it. I must have made some mistake, or that little girl just has good instincts. If she shows interest next time, I might teach her some spells.”
Evan wrapped up the topic there.
“As for you, focus on working to repay what I invested.”
[I will work until my bones break. Ah, but since my body is like this, I suppose I can’t break any bones. Hoho.]
“Making lame jokes now, are we?”
Evan leaned against the cart and looked toward the market.
‘...She’s taking a while.’
Iris, who was currently absent, had gone on an errand with the money Evan gave her. Naturally, Alphonse couldn’t let the Saintess go alone and had followed her. Thanks to that, Evan had been able to arrange Natasha’s adoption by the coachman outside the Holy Kingdom’s sight.
It wouldn’t have been good if the Holy Kingdom saw him personally leading an adoption, so it couldn’t be helped. Still, it left him feeling uneasy.
‘That priest is supposedly practicing a vow of silence, so he shouldn’t be able to pressure the Saintess...’
But the mere fact that the two of them were alone made it all too easy to imagine Iris shrinking back.
[Are you worried, my benefactor?]
“Worried? Hardly. To harm that woman, you’d need to bring the entire Imperial Knight Order and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
[I never specified who I was talking about?]
“......Who else would you bring up in conversation here besides me and that woman?”
His answer was perfectly reasonable, yet Evan couldn’t shake the feeling that he was making excuses.
[If you’re worried, why not go meet her?]
“I just told you I’m not worried about anything.”
Iris was the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom. No one in this market had the power to harm her. Whether personally or officially, worrying was pointless. Evan hated wasting time on pointless things. Therefore, there was absolutely no chance he would go meet her because he was worried about Iris.
“...I’m craving something sweet.”
But if it wasn’t pointless, then the story changed a little.
[Suddenly?]
“Yeah. Suddenly.”
Abaddon did not import sugar. It wasn’t that they deliberately avoided it. The coachman who traded food ingredients simply prioritized crops and preserved meats that could be bought in bulk over expensive sweeteners like sugar, whose demand was uncertain. Since Evan never placed any special orders, it had been a long time since sweet foods were available in Abaddon.
“Maybe it’s because I went so long without sugar and only recently started eating sweets again.”
There was no sugar among the ingredients the coachman had brought this time either. If he missed this chance, he’d have to wait nearly a month.
“Do you have any money on you?”
[My benefactor, did you forget I was a beggar?]
“Then I guess it can’t be helped.”
Evan had given all the money he was carrying to the coachman. All that remained was the errand money he had given Iris. Since he wanted something sweet, the only option was to ‘unavoidably’ go meet Iris.
[Have a safe trip, my benefactor. I, Natalia, will guard the luggage.]
Natalia. When Evan first heard her name, he made a dumbfounded face and asked,
“Isn’t it too half-hearted to name your daughter after a nickname of your own name?”
[I think it’s a pretty name. Don’t you?]
“......”
Evan remained silent. Agreeing would mean accepting the act of giving a daughter a name almost identical to her mother’s just because it was pretty. Denying it would be like insulting her name to her face. Natalia seemed to notice his dilemma and let out a small laugh, urging him on.
[Shouldn’t you go before it gets any later? Before she spends all your snack money.]
Evan wasn’t sure whether to thank her for being so quick-witted or scold her, but he did realize one thing.
‘I picked up a bothersome undead.’
“......Mind your own business.”
Evan gave a short reply and headed toward the Whirlpool Market.
...At a slightly faster pace than usual.