Your Majesty, Please Don’t Kill Me Again - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Uwaah— What should I do now?”

I muttered to myself inaudibly while pulling my hair. Just because she rarely visited her hometown in Bellua, it was a mistake to forget that she might be absent here too. I honestly thought that she was in Champagne.

“Eek!”

The sound of embarrassment resonated on Fifth Avenue, where only aristocrats and the wealthy reside, and made me blush even though there were no people on the street. I hugged the suitcase I had flung to the ground. I didn’t eat anything today since I was too exhausted to take a break.

Right, let’s eat first.

I stepped outside on Fifth Avenue wearing my pink shoes, which were slightly dirty. I was familiar with the route since I frequently traveled there with my father, who occasionally had to travel to Champagne on official business. I also frequently visited Lehan, who studied here in the Capital.

Where I had previously ridden a horse-drawn carriage. However, it was quite challenging to walk on two legs.

To rest my breath, I sat down in the alley’s corner. It’s great that there aren’t any people nearby because the town is home to the only aristocracy. I had been riding in a carriage all day and looked like a lost child as I was dressed in a wrinkled red velvet dress and a bonnet I had prepared for the cold weather. Although it wasn’t obvious, it would be tough to even call in the guard if someone saw me. They would hardly care. I whimpered and staggered to my feet.

After walking for a while, I could hardly make it to the market when a horse-drawn carriage went by, even though it wasn’t very far. If it were a typical store, it would be closing time soon. As a young child, I was unable to enter the pub, so I hastily made my way away from there. I’m looking for street sellers because I don’t have much money left, but most of them are arranging their inventories and planning to go home already.

Fortunately, a street vendor selling dumplings raised his voice at the end of the street and pointed to the last dumplings still available.

“These are the last dumplings! Is no one gonna buy this? You can have it for half the price!”

Ah, I’m so lucky.

In response to the merchant’s comments, I grinned broadly and seized the money bag. I am not required by law to starve to death. I raced to the dumpling seller while shouting loudly and flapped my money bag like a desperate girl. The man with the dumpling shop grinned and nodded in agreement with my signals. I almost tossed the money to the dumpling seller because I was so tired when I got his approval, then I reached out to pick up the dumplings.

But I didn’t have a dumpling in my hand; I had a hand. My dumplings were abruptly caught by a delicate, white hand that leaped out of the air.

I turned with a glum grimace to look at the person whose hand had taken my dumplings since I was already drained from hunger and exhaustion. A girl smaller than me was the hand’s owner.

The child was shorter than me, so her face was entirely obscured by her wide-brimmed hat, which was inappropriate for the conditions in the middle of winter. 1

The girl’s long hair is the most typical shade of brown in the Empire, hanging beneath a ridiculous cap. A color that is less noticeable than my light brown but yet ugly enough for me to feel sorry for it. Although I briefly felt sorry for her because I had no idea how much that girl cared about her appearance at this time of year, it didn’t mean I had sympathy for handing out dumplings just because she had worse hair than I do. 2 I held the girl’s hand firmly while glaring ferociously.

“This dumpling is mine.”

The girl should have immediately put her hand away in response to my irate voice, but instead, she just looked up at me without doing anything. I noticed the girl’s eyes, which slightly perplexed me. She isn’t irritated like I was and isn’t even sorry. The child’s calm, glassy green eyes simply didn’t feel anything in return.

I was holding her hand tightly, but the girl, who was expressionless like a well-made doll, didn’t appear to mind. She certainly didn’t appear to be aware that I was holding her hand either. I briefly felt afraid and released the girl’s hand.

“Excuse me.”

The girl’s eyebrows furrow as I wave my hand in front of her, wondering whether there is something wrong with her thinking, given that she has a blank, unfocused countenance. On her face, which had hardly any emotions on it, anger slowly increased.

Anger?

I was surprised by the girl’s abrupt change. Isn’t that a big jump even if the proper emotional step is skipped? It makes no sense for her to be angry because, in the first place, she’s the one who took my dumplings. The girl glanced at me with an angry expression on her face, which could only mean she was either confused or irritated. I drew away and snorted in the anger that flashed in her foggy eyes like my soul had just died, and violence took over.

Why must I retreat?

The girl’s uneducated, angry look irritated me more. Why do I have to see such an angry face when I was the one who lost the dumplings, and I was the one who should be angry?

I stepped up a few steps to close the gap and seized the girl’s wrist once more. The young child’s face contorted at the strength I put into the hand I was holding. While arguing with the girl, I was concerned that the dumplings might burst, 3 but the child couldn’t get her hand out of my hold because she wasn’t as strong as her fair skin suggested.

“Let go.”

The girl turned her attention to both my face and the hand I was holding. The child’s haughty and oppressive tone of voice made it easy for me to identify her. Since Fifth Avenue and the market are both close to the capital, it is not strange if at least one noble child wanders around. Rarely would two noble children fight over a dumpling that would only have cost them one silver penny?

“Put your hands away from my dumplings.”

I didn’t show the individual who treated me rudely the courtesy I should have. In addition, I felt insulted because it wasn’t how I was used to dealing with strangers. It’s because everyone spoke to me politely. Both from those older and younger than me. The girl’s eyes were wide open, and she might have been rebelling by looking up at me.

The girl’s scarf partially obscures her nose, which twitches. I took her example, which annoyed her more, and twitched my nose as well.

“Sir… I paid for this first, right?”

The mister, who was intently observing the altercation between the girl and I, nodded perplexedly in response to my question. The girl appeared to have neither money nor anything at all. You have no right to attempt to eat dumplings alone.

I pushed the hand of the girl staring at me suspiciously and twitched with only what I can assume was… anger, always an ignorant aristocratic child who knows nothing of the world, just like the old me.

“You have to pay for this… did you honestly think that this is your dining area?”

I raised my chin and talked as if I were ordering her. She likely didn’t realize she had to make a payment. Anyway, this is the current issue with the nobles. I’m not sure how she could have survived if her family had abruptly disintegrated. I reflected on my history alone, set aside my nagging conscience, and pretended to be someone I wasn’t.

“Are you insane?”

“Who?”

“You.”

Ironically, the young girl pointed angrily in my direction while gracefully raising her hand.

“Are you lost?”

The bean-sized child’s treatment of me as a subordinate didn’t feel right, but I continued to pose the inquiry regardless of her attitude. I was a little concerned when I noticed that she was just staring at me blankly. This nasty-tempered girl is half a head shorter than me. Therefore, regardless of her age, Lehan is younger than her. She wasn’t wearing particularly upscale attire, and there was no one to escort her. I couldn’t tell where the girl’s family was before, but I can now roughly predict where they were from.

She was the daughter of an administrative aristocrat, not a capital aristocrat. The nobles of the capital give their estates to a trustworthy official or associate to play, eat, or do business in the city. Administrative aristocrats are in charge of administration, live in the capital, and don’t own land.

It won’t be too difficult to locate the child’s home because I can vaguely recall the list of nobles. I gave the girl a pat on the back since she must have been sensitive.

“I’ll assist you with finding your home and eating dumplings. Keep your worries in check.”

“Do you want to die?”

The child said something scary while ignoring my warm concerns.

I obviously don’t want to die.

It’s not a word that doesn’t matter, but I had to leave the house because I didn’t want to die. The girl’s insults stunned me, and I immediately started laughing.

At a young age, when you don’t even understand what death is like, how can you say something like that?

I pretended to listen by opening my mouth.

“Me… dying. Huh.”

Her dark eyes initially made me feel a bit afraid, but it wasn’t scary, and I was only mildly astonished. Regardless, I can’t be convinced by a child younger than Lehan. The girl’s face, which was already wrinkled, got worse as her anger rose.

“You’ll get wrinkles.”

I made an offensive comment while pouting my lips. The girl scowled as if she didn’t know how to respond to what I said. The man with the dumplings waved his hands and stood between the girl and I as we started to actually fight.

“Hey, let’s not quarrel. Just one more steaming one from me.”

“Wait, really?”

I dropped her hands. While we were arguing, the dumplings grew cold. Dumplings that have just been freshly steamed are preferable. As I was walking towards the stand to get my fresh dumplings, the girl grabbed my hand. The recoil automatically dragged my head along with my stolen arm. I made myself look at the child’s green, lifeless-looking eyes again.

“You – “

“What?”

“Don’t cut me off, dimwit.”

The little one scowled when I spoke up reflexively. The girl speaks like a young aristocrat. Children nowadays, however, are not given the required character education.

Concerned about the Empire’s future, I shrugged. What type of future is there when Rupert becomes the Emperor?

It’s January, and this child is wearing a summertime wide-brimmed hat instead of a winter bonnet. ↩️

Lari is so self-conscious about her light-brown hair that she’s acting petty, making herself feel better that at least this child has a more unremarkable, dull shade of brown than her own hair. ↩️

“Dumplings might burst” suggests she might start crying or burst out. ↩️