Chapter 28: The Great Western Albion Continent is peaceful today as well! (3)

[The Youngest Daughter of the Rosegarden Family Sneaks Out to Secretly Enjoy ‘Commoner Food’]

(※Pictured: Lady Lin Rosegarden, the youngest daughter of the Rosegarden family, happily indulging in street food.)

[Lin Rosegarden, the youngest daughter of Edwin Rosegarden, the Governor of Albion, was spotted enthusiastically eating ‘Fish and Cones,’ a signature street food of Albion.

According to local residents, she often sneaks out of the mansion in disguise to purchase and enjoy street food. Lunden, being the capital and port city of Albion, serves as a ‘Meeting Plaza’ where logistics from the imperial mainland and other countries converge, leading to a diverse and evolving food culture built on various ingredients…]

“Hahaha! So even the esteemed Governor’s daughter knows how good Fish and Cones taste!”

At a bustling tavern in Lunden,

People burst into laughter as they read the headline of the Lunden Times, the most famous newspaper in both the capital and the entire Great West.

“Of course! How could that not taste good?”

“That guy from the last article used a knife and fork to cut the fish…”

“Hah, that kind of nonsense happens all the time. Instead of wasting time pretending to be classy, they should raise my wages.”

“But our young lady knows how to eat properly. Hahaha!”

“Hard to believe such an adorable young lady is the daughter of that ruthless Governor Edwin.”

“Hey, watch your words! Our young lady is the daughter of the great Sir Leona.”
“She really takes after him.”

“Things were better when Sir Leona was still alive…”

“At least I know my taxes are being well spent.”

…

“What is this?”

Inside the Rose Pavilion, Governor Edwin Rosegarden tossed a newspaper onto his desk.

“Are you telling me that you and your men couldn’t even notice a child sneaking out?”

“…My apologies.”

The captain of the mansion’s guards bowed his head deeply.

His lips were tightly sealed, admitting fault without making excuses.

Strictly speaking, there had been no issue with the security itself.

The guards had maintained their usual strict vigilance, but they hadn’t accounted for Dinavel’s unique ability to conceal presence and mana.

Thanks to Dinavel, Lin had been able to sneak out to the streets of Lunden without being detected.

Only after the incident did Edwin remember the special abilities of the magical doll he had given as a gift.

Still, to him, the inability of the guards to detect even a magical doll’s hide-and-seek felt like negligence.

If it had been his second son, Rio, sneaking out instead of Lin, he might not have called the guard captain in for a scolding.

He would have likely just shrugged it off with, “Boys will be boys. Just assign a few guards to follow him”.

He wouldn’t have reacted so sensitively.

In other words,

It wasn’t so much anger at his subordinate’s incompetence as it was fear of losing his precious youngest daughter again.

It was more about his trauma being triggered than actual negligence.

After a brief pause and a sigh,

Edwin explained Dinavel’s stealth ability to the guard captain and instructed him to strengthen security with that in mind.

“There will not be a second time.”

“I understand.”

“Leave.”

“Yes, sir.”

The guard bowed respectfully and quietly left the room.

“A bit overprotective, don’t you think?”

“…You think so?”

Indeed.

When considering the safety of his two children,

Lin, guarded by multiple magical dolls, was far safer than Rio, who only carried a short sword.

With the dolls having achieved spirit manifestation, Lin was likely the safest child in the entire Albion continent.

“Lunden is a safe city. After all, it’s directly managed by your son, isn’t it?”

“You know how Lunden’s citizens view me as the Governor.”

In response to the head maid’s remark about being overprotective, Edwin replied bluntly.

Considering his position as a colonial governor and his pragmatic nature, he couldn’t guarantee that backlash wouldn’t one day fall on his precious daughter.

“Also, consider what kind of people those citizens are.”

Edwin’s expression hardened, as if recalling a bad memory, prompting the maid to fall silent.

“Aren’t those spirits always by the young lady’s side?”

“That’s not the issue. Lin has already experienced too many terrible things. If something unfortunate were to happen again, now that she’s finally back home, what would happen to her heart?”

“…….”

The maid lowered her head.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand Edwin’s stance, nor was she capable of persuading him when he was this resolute.

“Until she becomes an adult, Lin will stay within this mansion.”

“…The more you confine a child, the more they’ll want to escape.”

Edwin didn’t respond.

His mind seemed made up as he called in his subordinate and issued firm instructions.

***

“Huh…?”

Her allowance was gone.

After enjoying a refreshing outdoor tea time in the afternoon and returning to her room…

The pile of pocket money she had saved up had mysteriously disappeared.

“…Rio!!”

There was only one possible culprit in the mansion.

Charging toward her older brother’s room, Lin didn’t hesitate.

“Where did you hide my allowance? Answer me right now!”

“W-What’s with you all of a sudden…?”

Rio, who was peacefully reading a book in his room, looked completely bewildered.

Him?

Reading in his free time?

That punk who would never willingly pick up a book?

Is this some kind of act!?

“Don’t even try to play innocent! I already know it’s you!”

“…Tsk.”

As expected.

With a click of his tongue, Rio admitted his crime.

Even though they were family… No! Especially because they were family, money matters should be handled meticulously!

Jokingly hiding the pocket money her father gave her—now that was crossing a line.

“Yeah. I did it.”

“I knew it…!!”

Rio’s complete lack of guilt only made Lin angrier.

This wouldn’t do.

Once she retrieved her allowance, she’d have to give him a thorough etiquette lesson.

“Hand it over before you get zapped. Now.”

“Money? What money?”

“Still playing dumb!? Dinavel!”

“Zap, zap, here we go!”

“W-Wait…!”

Zap!

The shocking punishment hit the stubborn brat who dared to lie twice.

Despite that, Rio still looked at her blankly, asking what she was talking about.

Didn’t he just admit it a moment ago?

Why the sudden change?

Fine.

There was no other way.

She’d have to make him see the crime with his own eyes and confess again.

Dragging Rio to her room, Lin pointed to the empty allowance stash.

“…What’s the big deal about this?”

“This stash was full of my allowance! You hid it, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You literally just admitted it earlier! Why are you denying it now!?”

For a moment, Lin considered giving him another zap, but Rio’s genuinely puzzled expression made her pause.

“Father and Brother buy me whatever I want. Why would I steal money from a little brat like you?”

“Excuse me? You’re a brat too! Stop acting like an adult.”

And for the record, I’m the one with the adult mind here.

Who is he calling a brat anyway?

“Hmph. You just don’t understand. I grew a whole 2 centimeters this month.”

“…Huh?”

“Pitiful little sister. How much did you grow this month?”

Lin mentally calculated, flexing her fingers as she thought about last month’s and this month’s height measurements.

Last month, she was 135 cm, and this month…

“Hah. I remember clearly. Your current height is 135.3 cm. Compared to my remarkable 2 cm growth, you’re 1.7 cm shorter—such a disappointing figure.”

Understood.

This had to be part of his cunning plan.

By diverting my attention with talk about height, he was sneakily trying to take my allowance.

Right.

The important thing right now was my allowance.

Who cares about height?

Even though I did my stretching exercises every morning and diligently drank milk,

None of that mattered right now.

Not one bit!

“Shut up! Just give me back my allowance!”

“Like I’d know where your snacks are…!”

And so, we ended up rolling around on the floor, scratching and biting at each other.

The commotion brought some maids over, who eventually fetched Leonard.

Only then did the fight finally end.

“What? Father did that…?”

“He said he left you another gift instead. Didn’t you notice?”

According to Leonard,

It turned out that Father had reclaimed my allowance.

“Ah. Found it.”

After carefully examining my room, Leonard gestured from inside the dressing room.

“Heh, there sure are a lot of cute clothes here.”

Following him in, I saw that the already overflowing racks of fabric and jewelry had increased several times over.

There were so many outfits that even if I wore a new one every day, I wouldn’t be able to go through them all by the end of the year.

Besides, considering I was still growing, it was a colossal waste of money.

“Why… Why would Father do this…?”

The shock of seeing my precious allowance turned into clothes and accessories made my legs wobble.

Barely managing to stabilize myself, I sat down on the bed.

Just then, I heard a faint clicking sound from inside the blanket.

“…Huh?”

Curious, I turned my head, and—

Pop!

A toy suddenly sprang out like a jack-in-the-box.

“Kyaa!”

“Hahaha!”

In my rage over losing my allowance,

I mustered all my strength and kicked my cocky little brother right in the shin.