Have you ever heard such a loud voice in your life? For the first time in my life, I raised my voice. And in exchange for my blathering, it punished me to catch my breath.
Surprised by my voice, the boy was covering his ears with his own hands. Unlike the menacing appearance a little while ago, he looked like the fragile herbivore that appeared surprised.
Perhaps that's why I didn't feel frightened, even though I saw somebody for the first time. Of course, I look more like a herbivore here.
"Please let me meet!"
When I raised my voice again, someone appeared behind me. All of a sudden, she emerged from behind, without a single sound of footsteps. She was wearing a thin shawl, a pipe cigarette in her mouth, and with an irritated face, she rolled her eyes around to find the main culprit of this uproar.
"I was wondering who's making so much of commotion, so why can't I see anyone?"
"Down!"
I don't know if she was deliberately pretending not to see me or if she didn't really see me, but because of my frustration, I raised my voice again.
Her gaze turned to me, and she remained quiet for a long time. Slowly, she looked at me from head to toe. It was a look that evaluated who I was and what kind of person I was. And a moment later, with a bizarre expression, cigarette smoke came out of her mouth.
"Yes, a little kid wearing a ragged dress. So, what do you want to trade with me?"
"Please look after me from this merchant's group, Then I'll give you what you need!"
"…I don't have a hobby of doing charity work."
Once more, the smoke came out of her mouth. The smoke spread over her, obscuring her face, making me unable to read her expression, and that worried me. So I quickly opened my bag and took out all the documents inside and showed them.
"I brought it because I heard the director saying that this document should not be in the hands of the head of the merchant's group. Don't you need this document?"
If you need it, take care of me. Give me a place to live and be the stage for the next step where I can twist this story. I looked at her with desperation, but I couldn't see her face well in the mysterious mist that was still coming out.
She reached out her hand to me. If my condition had been normal, I would have decided after I had received a definite answer, but I had no intention of doing so now. I wiped the sweat from the tension in my hands and forced the papers into her hands.
I waited nervously for her answer as I listened to the little sigh of the boy next to me. She took the papers, and, as she had observed me, she turned over the papers at a leisurely pace. When the last sheet was finally over, her mouth, which had been quietly shut, opened up.
"I don't know where you heard and stole this document from, but you came to see me just for a reason like this?" I could hear a small sound of chuckling behind that breath-taking voice.
"This is something that even the children in the slums can do. No, rather, the slum kids will move their hands and feet quicker than you."
"What?" Well, that can't be true. I'm sure you need that document, so the main characters were making a fuss and brought it in secret?
'Why, why aren't you happy to see the documents?' She looked at the documents and showed that attitude, which made me confused. It was as if there was a sudden obstacle in front of me while I was running so hard and, It forced me to fall. I couldn't control my expression.
'What should I do?' As I stood helplessly, biting my lips vigorously and shaking my pupil around, she said something to me.
"You have a peculiar hair color."
"….."
Purple hair, realizing her meaning, I looked up at her with a contemplated look. The eyes under the smoke seemed to me as though it was laughing at me. No, to be precise, it seemed to laugh at someone's daughter.
"Your hair color is not common here. I don't know if the neighboring empire would know since it's this pale purple. Anyone who sees you would know that you're her daughter."
"I'm…."
It felt like something was strangling me. It was hard to breathe properly, knowing that the place where I fled to live was the same as other places. And with that, anger rose again.
What did I do wrong?
What did my mom do wrong? This much, to this extent.
You don't even know me very well!
I could feel my fingernails poking into my fist. I don't know how to express this anger, I was just too sad. I had to clench my fist desperately because I thought the tears I had endured would explode in front of the first person I saw in my life. Pressing down the sadness that came up with the pain in the palm of my hand, I looked up at her with quivering eyes. Before I knew it, the smoke covered her face again like a veil.
"Because I- I'm the daughter of a wicked woman? Is that why you want to kick me out?"
There was no return answer. Silence, in other words, is positive.
"I let you in and… We can't afford to lose money in business. I'm sure you've come for a deal, but from my point of view, it's just losing business. Turn around and go back when I'm saying nicely."
[This isn't where you belong.] With those words, she tried to disappear quietly as the way she had first appeared.
"Then where is the place that I belong to?"
But my words that followed caught her leaving footsteps.
"A nursery that ostracizes and abuses me, or next to an indifferent father who denies my existence, without even properly confirming whether I am his daughter? Or right next to my dead mother?"
"….."
"Do you want me to die, too? No one feeling sorry, like when my mother died, saying it was nice and laughing at me. Do you want me to die like that too? Why? Is it because I'm the daughter of a wicked woman?"
There was no answer. Nevertheless, the mouth that burst once did not know how to stop, nor did I want to stop.
"But I don't want to die. I want to live."
I just wanted someone to listen. Yet after I said I wanted to live, I couldn't have felt more dejected than this. Is it because I knew it couldn't happen? As soon as my words were over, a tiny voice suddenly rang out in the air in this tense silence.
[Aa-Ah. Can you hear me, Mother? There's a bit of a noisy commotion occurring.]
The cheerful man's voice broke her silence.
"What's going on?"
Strangely, the man's voice seemed to be heard from her. When I listened carefully, it really was the sound that came from the white mist surrounding her.
[The nursery must have caught fire. Seems like it was quite a big deal, and the security guards are in trouble because the small mountain behind the nursery might catch fire. Looks like the castle gate guards are rushing in, too.]
"Fire in the nursery?"
As soon as the words were over, the white smoke that covered her face vanished like melting snow. Her expression was full of interest. And along with that, her intriguing gaze, and the boy's astonished gaze, turned to me as well. It seemed like the gaze was asking me what had happened. I spoke calmly like it wasn't anything trifle.
"I set the fire and came out, to make sure they didn't know I escaped."
"… you?"
"I left my door locked to make it look like I couldn't break free and was killed. They'll figure it out when I go back that I'm the culprit and I'll be beaten to death."
The boy's expression next to me, filled with dismay at the calm words. As if he had heard something he couldn't hear, I sighed a little to that weak reaction.
"What do you mean, beaten to death?" And in response, she asked me.
Although it wasn't a very pleasant one, It was the first question that came back to me.
"They're going to drag me somewhere tomorrow because I'm being cheeky. And If I go there and get some scolding, they said, I'll never be that cheeky again. But the director said there's a lot of people out there who hate my mother."
"You must be talking about the slums."
"Does my mom have anything to do with the slums?"
There was no answerback, I don't know if it was because she was afraid that a child would get hurt, or because she didn't want to say it like everyone else…
I was expecting a little more, and hope subsided, as I expected more.
'I really feel like crying.'
I mean, I feel my eyes are sore, but crying here won't solve the problem… You'll just lose your energy. I slapped myself on the cheek for no reason and looked up at her with a straight face.
I came with my own feet, and I'm walking out with my own feet too. I'm not getting kicked out. I put aside my fear for a moment and looked up at her boldly and said,
"I came here just because I thought the director hated you, so you would help me."
I put up with my sorrow and spoke.
"So I picked up the director's words and came here… and, after all, you can't help me, can you?"
You want me to die, don't you?
Everyone wants me to die.
As if it were natural as if it were set.
Her glaring eyes were passionate. There were no tears, but her eyes looked like she was already crying, but she did not want to avoid the gaze, which was looking at her loosely.
To be honest, I wanted her to catch me. When I get out of here, I have nowhere else to go. I might shiver and die in the cold before I even get beaten and die. I really don't want to die.
"Hmm."
There was a sound of pondering for a moment, and I wondered whether my innermost thoughts had reached her. Her eyes were shining interestingly, and her mouth was smiling a little differently than before.
"Let's start by introducing ourselves first. My name is Chloe Benedito. What's your name?"
"It's Daphne."
"Yes, Daphne, what is it exactly that you want?"
"… I want to live."
The voice of sincerity came out incessantly trembling. It was a trembling voice, but it contained a firm will, and the answer must have been in Chloe's favor. Chloe smiled, her eyes curled like foxes.
"No matter how urgent it is, it is difficult to get into the main subject as soon as we meet. There's a procedure for meeting people."
Chloe tapped her cheek with a relaxed expression. After a short thought, she smiled.
"I've already heard the major point, but I'm still a person of courtesy. So I'd like to receive a flower from you as a greeting to me."
"Flower?"
What are you talking about all of a sudden?
"So you're saying that the documents weren't enough, right?"
When I opened my eyes wide because I didn't understand, she spoke in such a way that I was right.
"It's enough, but I'm saying I'm not satisfied. Merchants are greedy people."
Does that mean I should get one more?
Or is she turning around and saying no?
"… There are no flowers blooming in this weather." She nodded as if it were natural.
"If there isn't, you must go and get it. Do you think I'm going to take that easy-to-get stuff as a greeting?"