The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 22

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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 22
‘The Rebellion wasn’t something he proposed for his own sake — it was for us.’
From what I’d observed, Hebeniah seemed utterly unmoved by the Emperor.
She cursed him roundly in words, calling him worthless in every crude way imaginable, but it never went deeper than that.
Hebeniah alone looked upon the Emperor — whom all others feared — as beneath contempt.
‘So Clavis remains Clavis, even without his memories…….’
Back when I served as a palace knight, I’d once happened upon Clavis entering the Imperial Palace.
His eyes showed no reaction, even at the sight of that magnificent place.
His expression was vacant, as though his time here were a waste.
His stride carried the restless eagerness of someone desperate to leave.
Everything about that moment had been shocking, but what burned deepest into my mind was Clavis’s presence itself.
‘Something transcendent, it seemed.’
No matter how grand, nothing in this world could stand before Clavis.
His presence defied easy description — in truth, it rivaled that of a god.
Such commanding authority, such overwhelming power — it was woven into his very being.
That day, with nothing more than Clavis’s single visit, the Imperial Palace became the most shabby and pathetic place in all the world.
‘Wait…….’
As I focused on that long-buried memory, something I’d forgotten suddenly came back to me.
‘I think I actually spoke with Clavis that day.’
But why was I the only one standing there facing him, while everyone else knelt?
Yet the memory stopped there.
Dalis’s voice pulled my mind back to the present.
“What is this?”
“An Audio Device. You can sing with it, or broadcast announcements to the villagers.”
“Broadcast?”
“Well, like this, for example.”
Hebeniah picked up the Microphone connected to the Audio Device and loosened her throat lightly.
“Ahem. Attention, residents of Exilium Village. We will begin tax collection next week. The rate will be ninety percent…….”
Outside, a murmur of voices rose up.
“My voice carries out like this. Did you see the small black box mounted on the Street Lamp when you came in? The sound comes from there.”
“Remarkable.”
“Then I’d better go clear up the misunderstanding before people really panic. And while I’m at it, I’ll patrol the village on my Scooter.”
Hebeniah made a proposal to Flora.
“Want to ride the Scooter with me and have some fun?”
“The Scooter?”
“It’s like a toy you ride by pushing with your feet.”
“…….”
Flora looked up at Dalis with gleaming eyes.
“Um, Mom. We’ll have one here, won’t we?”
“Yes. I’ll wait here for you.”
“Okay, then hold this for me.”
She handed the Microphone to me, and Hebeniah went outside with Flora.
As I watched them go, a smile bloomed on Dalis’s lips.
“Flora is a good child. And so brave.”
Dalis turned to me.
I fiddled absently with the Microphone Hebeniah had left behind.
“Even when she said she wanted to go to her mother, she held back her fear and endured so courageously. Please praise her generously. She’s the kind of child who will succeed at anything.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“I’m alright. My mind wasn’t whole, but my body is healthy.”
“And your memories…….”
“They’re there.”
After my mind cleared through that call with Flora, I remembered everything I’d gone through in the meantime without a single gap.
“Please, my love! Don’t do this! Summoning a Demon? What kind of nonsense is that……!”
“It’s not nonsense!”
“D-dear…….”
“You’re the proof! Dalis, you yourself are proof that Demons exist! You, who are Half-Demon, Half-Human!”
“That, that’s…….”
“If you weren’t, why would I have married you? Well, even so, you’re half-decent enough to keep around.”
The day the Summoning Succession Ceremony was forced upon me.
Dalis had been betrayed by the husband she trusted, discovered a secret about her own birth that she never knew, and was abandoned in the Exile Land bearing a false accusation.
‘How could I not have asked…….’
The day before. Dalis learned of Desthe’s death through Hebeniah. And what had happened there as well.
She felt no sorrow.
Only regret.
‘I should have asked.’
How he discovered a secret even I didn’t know, and why he tried to summon a Demon.
But for now, she decided to set that aside.
“Ian.”
The most important thing was something else entirely.
“I remember how you cared for me all this time.”
“It wasn’t just me who helped you. Everyone in the village helped.”
“I’m grateful to everyone, but I’m most grateful to you. Every time the guards hit me, you were always there to hold me and protect me.”
Whenever the guards occasionally grew cruel, trying to torment Dalia in her mental confusion, Ian would step in and shield her, staying by her side.
“Thank you for protecting me.”
Dalis expressed her gratitude with genuine sincerity. Ian, embarrassed, could only rub the back of his neck endlessly.
“So here’s the thing…….”
“Sister…….”
“I know this is shameless. But I think I need to say it now.”
“…….”
“Let’s stay close friends going forward.”
As friends.
Ian’s flushed face gradually returned to its normal color.
“……Right. Of course.”
The arm rubbing his neck fell to his side.
Ian desperately hoped his response hadn’t sounded awkward, that the arm falling just now had looked natural.
* * *
[Let’s stay close friends going forward. As friends.]
[……Right. Of course.]
Even the adults who had paused their farmwork.
Even me, who had been showing off the Scooter.
“…….”
“…….”
All remained silent at Ian’s rejection broadcast live through the Street Lamp speaker.
An awkward silence pressed down upon the village.
“Woo-hoo!”
Only Flora, riding the pink Scooter, cheered thoughtlessly.
“Are Mommy and Ian going to be friends? Did you become friends?”
“Well…….”
A very awkward and sorrowful kind of friendship.
Swallowing words I couldn’t bear to speak aloud, I offered Flora a bittersweet smile.
‘So she knew all along.’
That Ian had feelings for her.
‘Well, we all figured it out anyway.’
But now that Dalis understood the circumstances facing her and her daughter, she would have no room in her heart to accept Ian’s feelings.
‘At least the Audio Device’s performance is verified.’
To prevent accidents like this in the future, I thought I’d better add not just instructions but also a warning against confessions next to the Audio Device.
“This is the Village Chief’s first order.”
I announced.
“What you just heard is to remain secret, and let us all shower Ian with warm regards and generous support.”
The Exile Household members nodded with solemn expressions.
‘As for tomorrow morning’s exercise music…….’
One love is forgotten through another love.
I decided on a techno remix version.
* * *
For a while, the village enjoyed peaceful days.
The only incident, if it could be called that, was Ian’s unrequited love becoming common knowledge throughout the neighborhood.
But thanks to the adults’ warm regard and generous support, Ian was able to overcome the pain of his rejection fairly quickly.
“So it was definitely not my fault for the morning exercise music selection…….”
“No, it was totally you.”
Ian was shelling peas when he flicked a bean at me.
I opened my mouth with a delighted squeak and caught it on my tongue.
“Mmm, that’s delicious!”
“This annoying seven-year-old……!”
“Don’t pick a fight with her like she’s your own age.”
Libi, who had been shelling peas alongside him, chided gently.
“You’ve been treating Hebeniah like a friend lately, haven’t you?”
“She’s no ordinary child. Just look how cunning she is.”
Ian pointed out my true nature, saying that my ruthlessness was almost on par with a twenty-five-year-old adult who’d clawed her way through the world.
I nodded.
“The truth is, I lived to twenty-five in another world, then came back to this one. I turned into a seven-year-old prisoner overnight…….”
“See how she counters? I told you she’s no ordinary child.”
“It’s the Clavis Household for you.”
“Hebeniah, did your memories actually come back?”
“A little.”
It was an answer neither Libi nor Ian had expected; their eyes went wide as saucers.
‘Why bother hiding it?’
If I tried to cover it up with lies, it could only make things worse.
So I decided to be brazenly casual about it, letting them see it as just another bit of childish mischief the way Ian had reacted earlier.
“I don’t remember everything, but I did remember that I have a brother who looks a lot like me, and he seemed incredibly kind…….”
“What?”
“Huh?”
I hadn’t even finished my sentence.
“Kind?”
“That Clavis?”
Ian and Libi gasped in horror, one after the other.
‘So my brother’s name is Clavis.’
From their reaction, it was clear that this brother of mine had problems with his character and personality much like grandfather did.
“He sang to me and played with me, though.”
Blood is blood, after all.
I taught them the song my brother had sung to me in the dream.
“Scheming, Strategy, and Cruel Tactics — these are the secret techniques of an elegant princess alone.”
“Oh my goodness……!”
“Of course it’s the Clavis Household…….”
“But it’s not entirely wrong, is it?”
You had to do that much just to survive.
Leaving the stunned pair behind, I hopped on the Scooter parked in the yard and headed toward the village hall.
Every neighbor I passed while speeding through the air praised how cool I looked.
‘I’ve completely adapted to this seven-year-old body now.’
At twenty-five, I didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed doing this.
Beep-beep.
I parked the Scooter neatly in the Village Chief’s reserved spot and went into the hall.
“You’ve arrived, miss…….”
When I opened the office door, Verity was hunched over her desk, sniffling miserably.
Verity was in the middle of paperwork that the pale Demon who’d visited recently had assigned to her.
She’d been putting off the village hall preparations as an excuse, but finally the deadline had caught up with her.
‘Computer work, huh…….’
I was actually a bit envious.
‘The Demon civilization really is similar to the Korea I lived in.’
I fidgeted with the Watch on my left wrist as I spoke.
“I told you so. I said we should do the village hall construction after finishing all the paperwork. Now I feel bad.”
“It’s fine. I actually work better when there’s pressure.”
“Have some of this while you work.”
I pulled a bowl of peas from my pocket.
They were boiled peas coated in melted sugar and hardened into a treat.
“Ugh, I was just craving something sweet…….”
Verity gratefully grabbed a handful and popped them into her mouth.
“Would you like some too, miss?”
“I can’t eat sugar-coated sweets because I’m watching my weight.”
If Libi caught me eating them, she’d scold me mercilessly.
‘Even if I snuck something, she’d find out somehow…….’
The thought of Libi’s nagging made my body shudder involuntarily.
Watching me like that, Verity spoke up.
“You’ve gotten quite skilled at it now.”
“I think so too.”
Just now, I’d pulled an object from my pocket that was far larger than the pocket itself.
It was a new technique using the Opening and Closing skill—the Makeshift Spatial Pocket.

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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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