episode_0005

“Lady! Come down! What are you going to do if your dress rips?”

A voice called me urgently from under the tree where the fresh wind was blowing. That voice was harsh and always hurt my ears.

“Don’t worry! Cecil!!”

“Lady!”

“Elisha, wait a minute, I’ll show you my amazing friend right away. Ah, I found it.”

After hearing an angry voice trying to dissuade me, I removed the sleeping bug from the tree branch for my only friend.

“Lady!! It’s really dangerous!”

“That’s it! I’ll be down soon!!”

As I stretched out my hand, picked up the sleeping caterpillar, and jumped down from the tree, Nanny Cecil came running towards me in one step.

When I showed Cecil the bug I had just caught, she looked at me with a shocked expression.

“Lady! That’s dirty! What are you going to do if Grand Duke Grindea sees it…”

Cecil sighed, checked my well-being, and brushed away the leaves that were stuck here and there on my clothes.

“Are you hurt, Lady Elisias?”

“Yes! More than that, look at this, Cecil! It’s a scarab! Elisha, am I amazing?”

Ignoring Cecil’s incomprehensible expression, I showed it to my one and only rabbit doll friend Elisha, who was hugging me tightly, and smiled, and Cecil smiled.

“Thank goodness. But…now, let’s go study!”

“Eeenn I hate it! Wanna play a little more!”

Seeing me complaining, Cecil didn’t know what to do and couldn’t keep herself still.

When I was young, I always liked going on adventures here and there with my dear friend Elisha, rather than studying Caesareanology that was difficult to understand, arithmetic that required my brain, or etiquette that was not suitable for my body.

“Ha…Elysias.”

While I was smiling brightly at Cecil, a low and scary voice came from behind me.

I didn’t really like this voice.

Because my mother’s voice was not always kind when I was with her, it only became scary when she was urging me on.

“Ah, Dad…”

“Father! Didn’t I tell you to do it?”

When my father’s loud voice scolded me, I ended up hiding behind Nanny Cecile.

My father’s eyes became sharp, he looked at me, clicked his tongue, and turned away.

“When on earth is that guy going to grow up? He’s still such a fool…”

My father was always strict with me.

Because I was Grindea’s only daughter, whenever I was with the other servants, he treated me seriously and severely, and every time he did that, I just hated him like that.

“Don’t be like that, you’re still at a good age to have fun, right?”

As I was counting the number of ants passing by, waiting for my father to stop scolding me with my head down on the floor, I heard a kind voice.

“Is it good that I’m an ordinary kid? Oh my, you were having an adventure with my daughter Elisha?”

“Mother!”

When I lifted my head, glad to hear that warm voice, my mother was smiling and spreading her arms.

My mother, who was slim and tall, had the same white silver hair and blue eyes as me, always had grace and dignity when she walked, unlike me.

The warm, sweet peach-like scent that came from around my mother always made me smile.

I missed that scent and ran into my mother’s arms.

“But, ma’am…this child is an ordinary child…”

“Grand Duke.”

When my mother frowned and glared at my father who was about to say something more, my father closed his mouth and sighed, and my mother carefully hugged me.

“You’re right…I’m sorry, Elisias.”

My father took a long breath, knelt down to be eye level with me, and patted my head a few times with his large hand.

“You too, there will come a day when you understand my feelings. I’m sorry for getting angry, Elisias.”

My father smiled softly with a gentle expression, and my slightly upset mood quickly improved with those words.

“I’m sorry, father…”

“Oh my, my daughter apologized profusely, hasn’t she grown up a bit, Grand Duke?”

As I hesitated, my mother smiled and patted my head.

“It’s okay if you’re late, you just have to grow little by little and become a full-fledged adult.”

My mother stopped stroking my head, stood up and held my hand, and my father followed her and held the other hand.

“Yes! I understand, mother!”

My mother responded with a smile and we started taking a walk around the garden.

I loved these warm hands so much.

I wanted to continue to feel those warm hands and my father’s warm voice forever.

But that was just my foolishness.

When I turned 11, it was raining and thundering that night and I couldn’t sleep.

On such days, as I always did, I asked my mother to read my favorite fairy tale, [The Explorer’s Diary].

For some reason, my mother’s expression looked a little lonely that day, but she quickly smiled and listened to my foolish behavior.

I fell asleep to that soft voice, but woke up to the high-pitched voice coming through the sound of the rain.

Black silhouettes fluttering in front of my blurred vision. The black silhouettes looked like they were fighting.

“Do you know how old that child is now? Already 11 years old! 11 years old! Until a few years ago, I thought it was possible, but now it’s different!”

“Isn’t 11 years old the same age as other children when they start acting like kids?”

This voice is a voice I know.

Mother and father, but this very sharp voice was far from the sound I knew.

“Same as other children? Have you forgotten that that child is our Grindea’s child? You are my only daughter!”

“You don’t seem to know that before she is Grindea’s child, she is our precious daughter, right? When you’re 11, there are times when you’re scared of thunder and you can be scared of the night!”

I was so scared by that yelling that I closed my eyes that had slowly opened.

When I saw this for the first time, I held the hand of my friend Elisha, who I have been with for several years.

As I was holding my breath, I immediately felt my father’s unique sharp gaze.

“Do you think it is right for the only daughter of the highly-honored noble family, Grindea, to run away from etiquette classes and royal studies at her age without being able to graduate from puppetry? Even if your grades are good, your grades are terrible! There has to be a limit to putting ink on my father’s face!”

“It’s probably because it’s still difficult to understand!”

“Ha…do you…know how the servants treat Elisias? There are rumors going around that it may be an illegitimate child born somewhere else!”

My father’s voice grew louder along with the sound of a chair falling over.

“Do you know that there are ridiculous rumors going around about you not having inherited your brilliant brain? Do you know what other nobles think of me?”

My father shouted as if he was screaming, but no answer was heard.

“I accepted your lowly blood from the street life into my family―”

“―You!”

I flinched at the sudden shout of my mother.

“You, be careful what you say in front of Elisias.”

As I heard my mother’s crying voice for the first time, I closed my eyes even tighter.

It was scary, the voices of the two of you fighting were louder than the sound of thunder and sharper than the sound of the wind hitting the window at night.

Does your mother have low blood? Did you live on the streets? Are you saying that your mother is not from a noble family? But what about my mother, who, unlike me, is wise, clear-headed, and dignified?

When I heard the sound for the first time, I started to feel dizzy and felt like the soup I ate for dinner would come to me.

I didn’t want to hear the two of you arguing anymore.

I was desperately hoping that he would always return to his kind and kind voice.

I hoped that the researcher in the fairy tale I heard before going to bed would give me the knowledge of how to solve this situation.

If I could teach him that knowledge and method, I didn’t mind becoming a monster.

“Have you thought about how I feel when I insult you and Elisias itself? What does it mean that the criticism and jeers directed at you two will soon return to me and Grindea?”

I can hear my father gritting his teeth.

“If I had known it would be like this… I shouldn’t have given birth―”

“―Pair”

When I opened my eyes in surprise at the echoing sound, my father, who could not hide his red cheeks, and my mother, who was in tears, were standing there quietly.

“You… have things to say and things you can’t say…”

My father said nothing more and quietly bowed his head and left the room.

I closed my eyes again in case someone found out that I was awake, and then looked at the situation with narrowed eyes again.

As soon as my father left, my mother sat down and cried, covering her mouth in case I could hear it.

The words that came out of my father’s mouth struck my heart, and I asked about the meaning of my existence.

Should I never have been born?

why? Because I’m stupid? Because adventure is better than studying? By continuing to be with Elisha? Or is it because I didn’t live up to my father’s expectations?

Am I not the child of a noble family? Aren’t you your father’s daughter?

I close my eyes and try to calm down, but I find it increasingly difficult to breathe.

I feel like someone is strangling my neck and I can’t breathe.

As I gradually lose consciousness, I feel a warm body temperature on my head.

“I’m sorry, Elisias…our daughter…”

My mother repeatedly apologized to me and patted my head.

I can feel my mother’s hand on the back of my hand when I’m holding my breath and suppressing the loud sound of my heart.

Before, the hand seemed very big, but seeing it tremble like this made me realize how small and fragile my mother’s hand was.

Because that hand looked like it was going to crumble at any moment.

After that thunderous night, I hid Elisha in the corner of my closet and locked the door.

I continued to take the classes I had been running away from, and also began taking the swordsmanship and magic classes I had been neglecting.

Starting from dining etiquette, even the way he spoke when dealing with servants changed.

Because I wasn’t used to my body, I made mistakes and failed every time and was laughed at, so I wanted to give up, but I didn’t give up.

Because I wanted to see my mother and father smiling sweetly again.

My father looked disappointed in me due to endless mistakes and failures, but I was able to endure because of my mother’s warm smile.

I thought that if I didn’t give up and changed and lived up to his expectations, I would be able to see him smiling harmoniously again someday.

One day, when I stopped counting how many years I had been doing, an opportunity came.

My father called me into the audience room, and the atmosphere there was heavier and more serious than ever.

“Elysias, I will give you a mission.”

As I was taught, I kneel down, bow my head, and listen to my father until the end.

The content of the mission was simple.

Investigate the ecology of the monsters that have recently increased rapidly, conquer one dungeon, and retrieve the artifact at the bottom.

My mother looked at me with concern, but it was okay.

He has consistently trained in swordsmanship and magic as well as anyone else, and although he is still lacking, he has not neglected his studies to acquire pride and mission as a nobleman.

If I do this right, my father will be able to smile a little.

I will be able to become a daughter that my father can be proud of.

“Elysias…”

As I finished preparing for the adventure, my father came into my room.

“Did you call me? Father.”

Maybe it was because I reacted a little coldly, but my father was surprised for a moment and hesitated before extending his hand to me.

“I look forward to completing this mission properly.”

My father carefully stroked my head with his rough hands.

I placed my hand on the left side of my heart and gave a light salute.

“Don’t worry, father, I will perfectly carry out the mission you have given me under the name and mission of Elysias, Louis, Vin, and Grindea.”

With those words, I came out of the room. Then a small voice is heard from behind

“Slight…”

I don’t know what those words were, but it was definitely a very heartbreaking sound.

How long had it been since I started walking and left on my adventure? I saw a beggar begging in the city.

I felt that it was not right for the pride of the Greendea family to ignore the needy, so I gave them a piece of gold as support money that my father had given me.

“Ho, are you an adventurer?”

What was so surprising? The beggar who was looking at the gold coins was so startled that he fell back and, stuttering, asked me.

“Well…it’s true that we’re going on an adventure, so that’s right.”

“If you are an adventurer…”

The beggar lost in thought a little at my answer, smiled meaningfully, and handed me a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.

“If you have the information you want, go to a bar called Anjules Labia and do what it says on the paper!”

“Hmm…information…”

That inexplicable, servile expression was annoying, but the information was significantly lacking right now.

The dungeons hidden in each area are difficult to find on your own, so I thought I shouldn’t miss this great opportunity.

At first I thought everything was going well.

Until a strange man in a robe approaches and tells him that the paper is fake.

He was a strangely fascinating man.

As if he knew at once my identity, which was not known to the outside world, he came out confidently even when a knife was pushed to my throat.

Even though he knew my identity, I boldly came out and thought that he might be the hidden expert here, but I was surprised when I saw the delicate face under the robe.

He looked younger than me, but he also said he was older than me.

A mysterious and mysterious man who speaks in incomprehensible language and appears to know a lot and nothing he doesn’t know.

Even though he knew my identity, he did not treat me as a noble girl from the Grindea family, but rather treated me like a friend whom I had only seen in books, who was fair, equal, and equal with him.

As I was looking at this man, I immediately remembered the fairy tale [Diary of an Explorer] that my mother told me when I was young.

“He, he, he… Yes! That’s all I heard! Three, explorers who set out on a journey to explore and spread the knowledge and truth of the world! That’s it!”

As expected, he was indeed the legendary character explorer.

“You said you were a fan of me earlier, right? That’s because I’m also a fan of Elisias.”

I understand that the person called the Explorer disappeared because he was disappointed with the people who helped him.

That kind of weak-hearted person is trying to help me this time because he is my “fan”.

What is it about me that makes you a fan? Why are you trying to help me, a person who is full of failures and doesn’t know how to do anything right? I really don’t understand.

“Ugh…”

I let out an embarrassed sound as the stinging sunlight through the window bothered my eyes.

“Is it morning…”

I feel like I want to lie down more, but I can’t.

At the sound of birds chirping noisily, I opened my eyes and got out of bed, raised my head and looked around.

The mysterious explorer named Harry, who had apparently fallen asleep in bed with me yesterday, was nowhere to be seen.

“No way?”

Although it is said that the money bag recognizes my mana and opens, I checked the location of the support money I had brought along with my clothes just in case.

Fortunately, the locations of the items remained the same. So where did it go?

When I got out of bed, still dizzy, I felt a slight pain in my head.

When I moved my hand to the area where I felt the pain, there was a small lump there.

“Ouch, ouch…”

In my life, I have never been whipped by my mother or father, nor have I been stabbed by anyone, but yesterday I was scolded and beaten by someone else for the first time.

I don’t know why I was angry, but it felt strange.

As I was getting dressed to find out his whereabouts, I saw a small piece of paper lying on the table.

There was something scrawled on the paper in crooked letters.

[You careless girl, be careful!! I’m really… no, don’t panic when I wake up and suddenly disappear, what am I… I can’t sleep at all, so I’ll take a walk and then sleep in another dorm, so I’ll sleep comfortably and wake up, and refer to the back page]

I turned the paper back, feeling puzzled by the written words.

[I ordered breakfast, so make sure to eat it when you wake up in the morning and don’t be picky?]

At those words, I burst out laughing.

“Are you my mother hahahaha!!”

It’s been a while since I’ve smiled since I left home. I felt a little bad after waking up from a depressing dream, but the note he left made me burst into laughter.

“Really…an amazing man.”