Even if someone else had illegally copied and sold it, it seemed unfair that the author was sentenced to death, but there was nothing to be done.
The people who sold the copied versions were all nobles… I supposed the charge of being presumptuous enough to deceive nobles was also included.
A large part of it was also due to their insistence that they wouldn't have been fooled if this person hadn't used such enchanting writing and smooth talk.
‘Certainly. He wrote well.’
Even I, as a child, was fascinated, and even looking at it again as an adult, I was impressed by how well-written and solid it was.
I couldn't blame those who were fooled. Of course, the act of knowing it was a scam yet copying and selling the map to recoup their losses was wrong, though.
“So. My uncle met with the adventurer Misquit. He said he would buy a map for my birthday to show me where the Land of Fairies is…”
“Gasp.”
I was startled. What? The initial victim, and the person who knew it was a scam yet spread it further through a secondary scam, was someone from our group?
I had never heard of the nobles who were victims, so this was the first time I learned about this fact in this life. When I gasped in surprise, the young lady who had been bragging widened her eyes.
“Why are you like that?”
“No, that… Wouldn’t it be better not to buy that map?”
Because it’s a scam… But I couldn’t give that as a reason. Not only was there no evidence, but as an adult, I wanted to protect the children's innocent wonder.
I racked my brain and tried to remember the contents of the book.
“In that book, Misquit was able to go to the Fairy Kingdom because he was invited, wasn’t he? But if you buy a map and go, you haven’t been invited, have you?”
“That’s true, but…”
“Think about it, Young Lady. If someone you’ve never met, whom you haven’t invited, just shows up at your mansion because they know the location and asks to be your friend, would you happily accept them?”
“That’s…”
The young ladies listened to me and then replied shyly, hesitating, that they probably wouldn’t like it.
Phew, I felt relieved when my words seemed to get through to them to some extent. However, the young ladies still seemed to have difficulty giving up.
“But I still want to visit at least once…”
“Would it be okay if we just watch from afar without going inside?”
It wasn't something that could be granted with my permission, but their eyes were so pitiful as they held my hands and asked if it was possible.
After much thought, I came up with a solution that everyone could agree on.
“…Rather than secretly watching or going inside, how about just becoming friends and entering legitimately?”
“Become friends?”
“Yes. The book clearly explains how Misquit became friends with a fairy, doesn’t it? If you follow that, you should be able to become friends as well.”
I said, recalling that although the Land of Fairies wasn’t given a precise location, the place where he first met a fairy friend was said to be a lake in a certain province.
If they followed the book to become friends, their time and effort would be wasted, but at least they wouldn’t waste money.
‘And the spread of the scam would also stop.’
Even if it didn’t completely disappear, I decided that reducing the number of perpetrators by even one would be meaningful.
Perhaps my persuasion worked, as the young ladies’ eyes lit up, and they began discussing what gifts to bring to become friends with the fairies.
‘Oh dear. My energy is drained…’
Since the situation seemed resolved for now, I got up from my seat. It wasn’t time for the gathering to end yet, but I just wanted to get away from this place for a bit and rest.
Using the restroom as an excuse to leave, I hid in the garden maze. If the gathering place had been my Count’s mansion, I would have gone to my room to take a breather, but unfortunately, this was another noble’s mansion, so there was no private place for me to rest.
The maze was designed to also serve as a walking path, so there were stone benches placed throughout. I sat on one of them and looked up at the sky.
“Haa…”
I thought I could make friends in this life. I hadn’t expected my peers to be so childish.
‘More like younger siblings than friends…’
I got along well with Ray, though. I smiled.
Ray certainly had a youthful feeling about him, but meeting actual young children made me realize anew how mature he was.
‘If only I had another friend just like Ray…’
That was when I was leaning on the bench, lost in thought about whether there might be another such friend.
“Do you believe in fairies?”
Someone spoke to me. I hadn’t even heard the soft sound of approaching footsteps, so I was startled and lowered my head to look in front of me, where a girl was standing.
She was standing in the shadow created by the maze, so I couldn’t see her face clearly, but looking at the clothes she was wearing, she didn’t seem to be one of the young ladies who had been at the table earlier.
‘Huh? Who is it?’
All the children who had gathered for the meeting were sitting together at that table, so I was bewildered. Could she be the child of a noble who had arrived late for the gathering? As I was pondering this, the girl took a step out of the shadow and asked again.
“Tell me. Do you really think fairies exist?”
Surprisingly, the girl who stepped out of the shadow was someone I had never seen before. Her dark gray hair was rare in the Empire, so I couldn’t have been mistaken.
‘Gray hair? Which family is that?’
There was no family that immediately came to mind within the gathering.
Could she be related through her mother’s side, or something like that? The family I could think of right now was…
‘The Esteban Grand Ducal family…’
I shook my head, recalling the dark gray hair of Grand Duke Esteban whom I had seen in my past life.
He was the only person who came to mind, but the problem was that there was no one from the Esteban Grand Ducal family in our gathering.
‘Besides, we have no connection?’
Compared to the Grand Ducal families who were part of the great ten families since the founding of the nation, our family was practically a new noble.
Entering their circle was extremely difficult, and even if one did, they could only act at the lowest level. This was due to the large difference in influence.
Families already established in the capital had no reason whatsoever to humble themselves and enter our circle, so there was bound to be no connection.
While I pondered who this person might be, the child's eyes narrowed in displeasure at my lack of answer.
"I told you to speak! Do you believe it?"
Does she think I'm ignoring her? Her tone has grown sharp, but her regal bearing makes it seem perfectly natural.
That's one thing, but I'm still struggling with how to respond.
If I say I don't believe it, she probably won't be disappointed like the other girls...
The problem was that if she was serious about things like this, she might be a destroyer of innocent wonder. For example, saying that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist and the one who buys your pulled teeth is just your parents…
‘If I say I don’t believe, she might go to the young ladies who firmly believe in the existence of fairies and shout that fairies don’t exist…’
If that happened, it might shatter not just their innocence but the entire gathering. What kind of noble would just stand by if their beloved daughters burst into tears?
At that time, even Pedro believed in fairies, so such a big incident never happened.
As I was desperately trying to figure out how to stop this destroyer of innocence, the approaching girl gave a small laugh.
“Are you so scared you can’t answer?”
“…? Of what?”
Did she think I was intimidated and couldn’t answer because she had glared at me? I stared at her, dumbfounded.
She had a cute face, yet how spoiled must she have been to think everyone would tremble in fear if she furrowed her brow.
I snorted in disbelief, but the girl, whom I expected to get angry and lash out, instead widened her eyes in surprise.
‘Wha- what is it?’
No matter how I looked at it, this shouldn’t be happening? Her face was as if she was witnessing a breakdown of the world’s truths, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, or night falling and it becoming dark. I was the one who was surprised.
“You’re not scared?”
“No, I’m not scared…?”
The girl was so surprised that I felt a little flustered. It felt like I had violated some taboo.
So my voice trembled slightly, but I pretended to be nonchalant, and the girl stared at me blankly with a bewildered expression. It was a look as if she was seeing something that shouldn't exist in this world.
“You, what…”
Just as I was about to ask what she was, the girl approached with quick strides. She came so close that there wasn’t enough space for another person between us and stared down at me.
Are you… are you going to fight? I was flustered by the reduced distance, but the girl extended her hand.
"Hand..."
"...Hand? You want my hand?"
Seeing her unresponsive, I held out my hand as if for a handshake, and the girl was startled as if she had touched fire.
‘What?’
Have I seen this scene before? As I stood still without withdrawing my hand, the girl hesitated and reached out her hand.
Our fingertips touched, and then our palms brushed. She gently took my hand, and when I clasped hers in return, the girl’s mouth fell open in surprise.
And then she smiled brightly.
***
The first action Aries took after noticing Raymund’s strangeness was to intercept the letter he sent to the Estarotte County.
“P-please return it!”
The valet assigned to the task trembled and shouted, but Aries smiled.
“I’m not going to take it completely. I’ll just look at it for a moment and return it.”
“But…!”
“If you keep silent about me seeing it, no one will know. I won’t say anything.”
The terrified valet knelt down as if he had seen nothing. Aries coldly scoffed at the valet and opened the envelope to check the letter.
As her eyes scanned down each line of text, her anger gradually rose.
“Ha! What utterly ridiculous…”
The content of the letter was nothing special. It was just about what he ate for breakfast that day, what he did in the afternoon, and what he did before going to sleep… It was all just mundane, everyday things.
But Aries was flabbergasted.
From her perspective, this was nothing more than a farce of a monster pretending to be a normal person.
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