The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 111

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 111
* * *
It began with Cavelis’s sponsorship of the Orphanage.
A confirmed bachelor, he’d initiated private patronage for the sake of his reputation—after all, his standing was directly tied to the Octo Commerce Association’s standing.
What started as a calculated gesture, however, took an unexpected turn.
Cavelis had grown fond of two orphan sisters.
“If you’re willing, I’d like to formally sponsor both children.”
Before the sponsorship could proceed, he’d planned a meeting to ask the girls’ wishes—but they never appeared at the appointed place.
“The children didn’t show. Were they perhaps ill?”
“We sent them by carriage. Though then you changed your mind and mentioned adoption as a precondition…….”
“I said that?”
“No, well—you even sent someone to oversee it……?”
Only then did the two of them realize something was terribly amiss.
Cavelis and Edul filed a missing persons report at once and attempted to track the carriage.
Yet days passed without any investigation being launched.
“Later, we found out.”
Edul’s voice trembled as she testified, her small fists clenching so tightly her knuckles went white with fear.
“That the report was never even filed.”
“Could it be…….”
Popina, who had been listening in silence, spoke up.
“Did Arun and Kanna do it?”
“…….”
“Damn.”
Popina sprang to his feet, then washed his face repeatedly with both hands—an almost desperate gesture. His expression was one of barely suppressed anguish.
From that reaction, everyone understood who bore those names.
‘Popina’s eldest brother and sister.’
Hebenia consulted the list Olive had provided the day before and confirmed the Octo Commerce Association chairman’s name. That left only those two.
“After that, Cavelis began investigating the whereabouts of the other children who’d been adopted before. He found those cases suspicious as well.”
“……They’re all gone.”
When Olive spoke the truth aloud, Edul finally buried her face in her hands and wept, her shoulders shaking.
“Cavelis helped me and the children escape the orphanage, evading his own siblings’ notice.”
“The director and the others?”
“They were all complicit. He administered them a Sleeping Draught to ensure they slept deeply, then had us board a carriage he’d arranged in secret and brought us here…….”
This was hardly a moment for jest.
‘State-Sponsored Kidnapping.’
Olive crossed his arms, his fingers tapping lightly in thought.
‘Crimes orchestrated behind the scenes by a major trading house…….’
The sisters Cavelis had wanted to sponsor were likely victims rescued from the Antemma Research Institute. The descriptions of the children Edul had given matched perfectly.
As for the children adopted earlier, confirming their fate would be difficult.
‘There’s virtually no chance they’re still alive.’
Olive couldn’t make sense of it.
‘……What on earth is the purpose?’
The Antemma Research Institute had only revealed traces of Human Experimentation; they’d uncovered no concrete information.
‘Every crime has a purpose. Even if I’m forced to accept the sordid nonsense about gratifying base urges, there’s always some reason I can rationalize.’
The Emperor simply could not grasp any of it.
‘The scale is too vast for mere depravity. And it’s too methodical. So there must be a purpose sufficient to justify it…….’
“Edul.”
Then.
Hebenia’s voice broke the heavy silence.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
Edul, barely having ceased her tears, lifted her head.
And flinched, her shoulders trembling.
“When you fled, what did you take with you from the orphanage?”
“…….”
“When I visited the orphanage yesterday, it was completely ransacked. Given what you’ve told us, you must have been in too much of a hurry to gather anything. Which means that chaos is likely the handiwork of strangers searching for something.”
“…….”
“What did you take with you?”
“Ah, u……!”
Edul’s teeth chattered as her body trembled.
Before her stood a cute seven-year-old girl, yet Edul felt like a guilty sinner standing before something supremely exalted and terrifying.
The wretched woman could scarcely draw breath, her chest heaving in short, shallow gasps.
She didn’t dare lift her head, quickly bending her neck down instead.
“…Your Highness.”
Edul wept openly, her voice trembling with contrition.
“I’m so sorry…….”
I failed to do right by them.
The children.
“Hic, gulp, protect, whimper…….”
Because I was lowborn and weak.
As her sobs grew louder than her labored breathing,
Tap.
“Breathe.”
Verity stroked Edul’s back slowly.
“It’s all right. Close your eyes and follow the rhythm of my hand as you exhale. Don’t breathe in too deeply. Even if it feels suffocating, that’s how it must be.”
“Hah, gasp…….”
“You’re doing well. That’s right.”
Edul gradually steadied herself, coughing a few times as her breathing evened out.
Only then did she recover her composure.
‘Just… just now…….’
What was that?
She stared at Hebenia with an expression of disbelief.
“Are you all right?”
Hebenia regarded Edul with genuine concern, her eyebrows drawn down with worry.
She seemed greatly startled by Edul’s hyperventilation.
‘I must have been so frightened and sad that I imagined it.’
Embarrassed, Edul smiled and assured her she was fine. Hebenia’s expression lightened considerably.
Edul concluded she’d simply been exhausted and answered the earlier question.
“I’ve brought the Ledger that the orphanage director kept.”
Without noticing, her manner of speech had naturally shifted to formal.
“It’s a record of where the children were adopted and donations made by the foundation.”
“Ah, well, adoptions you say…….”
Modi cleared his throat as though loosening a tight knot, and asked,
“Could there be any suspicious adoptions listed?”
“I’m not certain, but Cavelis was startled when he saw it.”
“Him?”
Popina asked where the ledger was kept.
Edul answered that Cavelis had secured it in a safe.
At that, everyone turned to look at the unconscious Cavelis.
Hebenia’s brow furrowed.
‘Tsk, the medicines Verity’s given him have been lasting a full day now.’
They would have to wait until he woke before discussing anything further. There was nothing to do but grit their teeth and wait a day or so.
“The stranger who came to the orphanage—did he come to destroy that ledger?”
Ian posed the question to Hebenia.
Hebenia pursed her lips, rolling them this way and that as she pondered, then finally tilted her head.
“It doesn’t quite add up to just that alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m not sure…….”
Hebenia gathered her thoughts on how to express the questions nagging at her, then called upon Edul again.
“Edul.”
“Yes.”
“I have a few more questions. If you don’t know the answer, just tell me so.”
“Yes, of course…….”
“Have any nobles ever visited the orphanage directly?”
“Oh, yes.”
Edul nodded quickly.
“Because the Temari Territory is known for its sightseeing and leisure, nobles often visit and show their goodwill.”
“Among those nobles, did…….”
The Saikpeu Family ever visit?
* * *
Unfortunately, Edul’s answer was that she didn’t know.
“Guests only came by when I stepped out on errands, but I do remember seeing that name in the ledger.”
And that was no lie.
‘Ppoppi and Chutchu are being so well-behaved.’
The two dogs still lay comfortably at my feet.
If Edul had been dishonest, or harbored even the slightest ill intent, they would’ve growled and lunged at her immediately.
Ian’s brow furrowed.
“The Saikpeu Family—their high priest, then?”
“Yes.”
“What made you suspect the Saikpeu Family?”
“We encountered an Angel the family had summoned at the Antemma Research Institute.”
So there was a strong chance they were connected to the faction responsible for kidnapping the victims brought into the research facility.
‘I was only asking on a whim, really…….’
I never thought I’d find the answer so quickly.
I’d need to check the ledger to be certain, but it seemed the ledger recorded those involved in past incidents.
‘Then those strangers had good reason to make such a fuss.’
“Young lady.”
Olive called out to me.
“Perhaps it would be best to rest for a moment.”
His gaze was directed at Edul. He seemed concerned for her, exhausted and shaken by the sudden turn of events.
I nodded and jumped down from my chair.
“We’ll stay here tonight.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
It was presumptuous to stay without the house owner’s permission, but we needed to be here to protect Edul and the children.
‘Of all people, his brother…….’
I kept glancing at Popina, who had been silent ever since.
The shock seemed to have hit him hard—he stood alone, holding the red wig in one hand.
Sadly, even in a situation like this, the sight of him without his wig was genuinely hilarious. I had to bite the inside of my cheek so hard to suppress my laughter that it ached.
No one could easily approach him.
Modi and Ian seemed to have decided to wait for him to sort through his thoughts.
“Modi.”
But I was the mayor, after all.
“We need to go negotiate the factory purchase.”
“Huh? Oh, yes, right…….”
“I’ll bring Pex. Let’s limit ourselves to buying a maximum of three factories.”
I steeled myself and proceeded with what needed to be done.
‘The best thing is to act as normally as possible.’
Modi set out with Pex to inspect the factories again, with Ian accompanying them as an escort just in case.
The rest of us cleaned up the wrecked interior of the mansion.
Verity spoke as she righted the overturned furniture.
“At least we didn’t kill anyone.”
“Today taught me you shouldn’t kill carelessly. I almost killed an innocent person.”
“You shouldn’t kill people carelessly to begin with.”
With Ian gone, Olive resorted to lecturing me with common sense.
After we’d tidied up the mansion, I helped Edul prepare lunch.
Popina assisted us then as well.
“Keeping busy keeps my mind off things.”
He wrapped a scarf around his clean-shaven head—which he kept immaculate every morning—tied on an apron, and began slicing.
With practiced skill, he trimmed the ingredients and combined the seasonings and spices in just the right proportions, soon filling the air with a mouth-watering aroma.
I sniffed appreciatively.
“Oh, it’s the stew from the exile!”
“We have to feed the children downstairs too. This is the best hearty dish I can make quickly.”
Popina’s face was already beaded with sweat as he stirred the stew diligently over the hot flames.
I pulled up a chair, climbed onto it, and gently wiped his perspiration away with a handkerchief.
“I was sick of eating that dish and never wanted to make it again…….”
Popina smiled sadly.
“But making it again, those days don’t seem quite so terrible anymore.”
“They weren’t terrible?”
Perhaps because life had become comfortable lately, those who had lived through the banishment often spoke of that time with unnecessary nostalgia.
No matter how peaceful the exile had been, they’d still been trapped under a false accusation—they shouldn’t be romanticizing it!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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