The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 116

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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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Episode 116
‘What do I do now?’
I was flustered.
Ppoppi and Chutchu couldn’t be called good by any stretch of the imagination, but they were loyal dogs who listened well to my commands.
Yet there they were, acting on their own impulses.
‘Are they trying to mate here too?’
I still hadn’t forgotten the conversation the Dog-Cat Translator had relayed between the two of them.
I’d bet anything that while I was suffering through exile, those two had been thoroughly indulging nature and breeding with enthusiasm.
‘Sigh, fine. Go ahead and have your fun.’
After all, this place had its own pair of divine wolf beasts that had expressed their love here as well.
“Should we not go after them?”
Comer appeared at my side, asking the question. I merely shrugged.
“It’s all right. They’re clever and strong—they’ll come back safely on their own.”
“You remember everything I taught you?”
“Of course, Grandfather!”
Today I was playing the role of Comer’s closest associate’s granddaughter.
The setup was that his associate’s wife—my supposed grandmother—was a distant relative of the Okto Merchant Guild master himself.
“I’m so excited about Annabel.”
The alias “Annabel” was one I’d chosen myself. Being famous as the name of a haunted doll, it was my way of saying I’d slip through unnoticed and accomplish everything I set out to do.
“Thank you so much for bringing me, Grandfather Comer!”
* * *
“Oh, the Okto Merchant Guild master.”
The Countess of Reten, who had been greeting guests, frowned for an instant, but her face quickly brightened as though nothing had happened.
“I was worried you wouldn’t come, but here you are.”
“You invited me, so of course I made time for it.”
The two exchanged greetings with smiling faces.
“I really hate that you’re here.”
“I’ve wasted my precious time on someone like you.”
‘…is what I’m hearing.’
I touched my ear tentatively. Since my hearing was fine, it seemed the Noble Speech Pattern I’d learned from Frelia was automatically translating things in my brain.
The Countess of Reten appeared to be a woman in her fifties.
Her red hair was swept up to expose her neck, and while her heavy eye makeup and large dangling earrings were perhaps a touch overdone, they suited her well enough.
But the dress itself didn’t match her age at all. It would have looked much better on Libi.
I had no intention of judging her taste, but if she’d worn something more appropriate to her years, she might have appeared younger.
“Who is this child?”
“My cousin’s granddaughter.”
“Hello, I’m Annabel.”
I grasped the hem of my skirt lightly with both hands, then curtsied quite charmingly.
“Oh my.”
The Countess of Reten let out a single exclamation and then smiled brightly.
“Well then, do come in. The children will be gathering in a separate space. By the way, did you hear that His Highness the Crown Prince is attending today’s gathering?”
“His Highness the Prince will be there as well, then?”
“Being the Okto Merchant Guild master’s young cousin, she’ll fit right in, I’m sure.”
“Of course she will—whose granddaughter is she?”
Comer knelt on one knee before me. Then he pulled me gently into an embrace.
I wrapped my arms around his neck like an affectionate granddaughter.
“Have a wonderful time.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
I moved toward the Children’s Tea Party Hall under the guidance of a servant.
‘The Countess of Reten….’
The way she’d accepted my greeting half-heartedly, how she’d deliberately omitted mentioning His Highness the Prince before Comer brought it up, saying it would suit me—all of it.
‘She’s decided I’m a child Comer hastily brought along to attend the tea party.’
That’s what I was banking on, so I’d deliberately introduced myself without a family name, just a given name.
This would make things considerably rougher on the adults’ side of the gathering.
The Imperial Court wanted to push hard for the Port Expansion Project, while the Okto Merchant Guild wanted to discuss it more carefully.
‘The Guild master will use this opportunity to reorganize his connections.’
As I was thinking this, I arrived at the Children’s Tea Party Hall.
The Sacred Realm of Divine Beasts refers to the entirety of the ancient temple ruins and the forest that surrounds it.
The adults had set up tables and chairs on the temple ruins for their gathering, while the children were to meet in a large marble pavilion constructed at the forest’s entrance.
‘This looks like an ancient ruin too.’
Treating a historical site that ought to be preserved with such carelessness.
After spending twenty-five years in a civilized society, I simply couldn’t comprehend it. Though it seems this passes for madness here too.
Children who had arrived earlier were already seated at the table.
‘The seat of honor was empty.’
More precisely, both the seat of honor and the lowest seat facing it stood vacant.
I was guided to the seat directly beside the lowest one. In other words, the very edge of the table.
The children regarded me with curious eyes. Every one of them wore expensive clothes and glittered with ornate jewelry.
‘Though I’m no shabby sight myself.’
Which explained their curiosity.
These children were likely offspring of wealthy families from the Southern Region, so I might have had some passing acquaintance with them, but seeing an unfamiliar child exuding such refined elegance was surprising.
‘I couldn’t care less about them.’
But the refreshments on the table — that was another matter.
‘I’ll nibble and slip them into my sub-space. I need to stock up. When I return to the village, I can share them with Libi and the others…….’
It was then.
“The Crown Prince enters.”
Every child rose from their seat.
I quickly deposited three cookies slathered with jam into my sub-space and stood with them.
Crown Prince Pereus appeared, trailing a multitude of attendants behind him.
The Crown Prince, whom I hadn’t seen in weeks, had a more defined jawline than before. His blue eyes, slightly darkened as if shadowed by the pavilion, gleamed with an unsettling edge.
‘Ugh, truly pathetic.’
I had no expectation that he would reflect on what had happened at the Deste Estate.
But still.
‘This isn’t it, though.’
What struck me as absurd was the appearance of Prince Aidellos, who came trailing after the Crown Prince and his attendants.
Unlike the Crown Prince, who was dressed handsomely, Prince Aidellos wore simple white robes like those a priest might don.
He wasn’t even attended by a single retainer. No one announced his entrance.
“Be seated,” the Crown Prince said.
Everyone sat in their chairs. They were even pretending not to see Prince Aidellos.
‘Unbelievable.’
I was dumbfounded.
‘This is how you’ll restore your pride? How is this any different from getting scolded by your father and then beating your younger brother to soothe your wounded feelings?’
How painful and sorrowful it must be for the one on the receiving end.
‘I’m sorry, but you absolutely cannot do this.’
I had tried to let it slide because he was just nine years old.
“……Hey.”
The child seated directly beside me tapped my shoulder with her hand. She was a girl with short orange hair and a flower-shaped hair ornament pinned in it.
“What are you doing? Sit down.”
“I can’t sit.”
I spoke loudly, making sure everyone heard.
“The Prince hasn’t sat down yet.”
The other children gasped, staring at me as if I were mad.
One gaze in particular was chilling — the Crown Prince’s.
I spoke on, unruffled as an oblivious child.
“And that attendant is quite foolish too. He didn’t even announce the Prince’s entrance! That’s disrespecting the Queen!”
“Ah…….”
In that moment, Prince Aidellos, seated alone at the lowest seat, let out an awkward laugh and smiled softly.
Only then did I sit down.
‘Oh, look at our Prince’s face.’
The Prince, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, was as beautiful as ever. In his white robes, he looked almost angelic.
Yet he seemed somewhat tired, perhaps from his duties on the prayer pilgrimage.
Forget the tea party — I wanted to carry him off to a soft bed and let him sleep immediately.
“But why is the Prince wearing clothes like a priest’s? Do you not have proper clothes? Why didn’t you bring an attendant? Do you not have attendants?”
Gasps of horror echoed around the table.
The young Prince remained composed despite my rude and ignorant questions.
“I am currently observing a prayer practice, so I must be careful with my attire and conduct. That is why I wear white robes and do not travel with attendants.”
“Why does the Prince pray?”
“I wish to become a priest when I grow up, so I am studying in advance.”
“I see. I didn’t know that!”
I stood up on the seat of my chair and, leaning on the table, reached for a plate on the far side.
It was a plate holding chocolate dusted with gold.
And she set it down in front of Prince Aidellos.
“Please, have some!”
* * *
‘What is this madwoman doing?’
Monile Fala, with her orange bob adorned with a flower-shaped hair ornament, watched the pink-haired girl beside her with a look of profound bemusement.
‘Is she trying to destroy her entire house?’
Every child gathered here came from one of the Southern Region’s most prominent families.
Monile herself came from a merchant family that operated several jewelry shops.
“Never displease the Crown Prince.”
“Don’t even catch his eye. Just stay quiet.”
“And whatever you do, don’t make eye contact with the Prince.”
Right up until the tea party, her parents had drummed these warnings into Monile.
For an eight-year-old, Monile was precocious and wise enough to grasp it immediately—that earning the Imperial Court’s displeasure was dangerous, but drawing its attention carelessly was just as risky.
Because the Imperial Court had become terribly unstable ever since Clavis destroyed the Deste family.
She’d overheard her parents discussing it once.
‘But this girl…….’
She was out of her mind.
She was ignoring the Crown Prince, talking only to the Prince, and deliberately drawing attention with every move.
She was doing everything Monile’s parents had forbidden.
As a result, the tea party’s atmosphere was in shambles.
Yet no one was stopping this child.
‘Pink hair.’
The head of the Okto Merchant Guild—the most influential figure in the Southern Region—had been born with pink hair.
And so his descendants had inherited the same pink locks through bloodline.
And now, at this tea party, there was another pink-haired child besides this oblivious girl.
Rosy Okto—the daughter of Arun Okto, the eldest son of the Merchant Guild head.
Rosy, seated directly beside the Crown Prince, had been growing increasingly irritated by this pink-haired child’s relentless chatter with the Prince.
“You.”
Finally, Rosy spoke up.
“I understand you’re excited because it’s your first time at a tea party, but could you please be quiet?”
“Sure!”
…….
The girl answered so readily that Rosy’s expression darkened. She felt as though she’d been the one made fun of.
“Um…….”
Then another child sitting beside Rosy spoke up.
“Who are you, anyway? I don’t know your name, so I don’t know what to call you.”
“Oh, I’m Annabel.”
“Your family name?”
“I don’t have one.”
The children’s eyes darted rapidly between one another.
‘No family name?’
‘Then how did she even get here?’
‘Looking at where she’s seated at the lowest seat, she can’t be from any prominent house…….’
Then.
“Grandfather Comer gave me the name ‘Okto’ too, but, hmm, I didn’t like it. So I just go by my first name.”
“What?”
Rosy shot to her feet.

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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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