The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 38

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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 38
“But thank goodness!”
As if shaking off her gloom, Ribi clapped her hands together and laughed brightly.
“We all possess a Mysterious Aptitude, so if we awaken that power quickly, it’ll be a huge help to Haebenia.”
In that regard, Ribi envied Ian.
“You’re already pulling your weight, aren’t you?”
“I’m still far from it.”
Ian gave a bitter smile.
“You’re right about that. In the end, Haebenia is our village’s greatest strength. She knows it too—she doesn’t hesitate to step forward.”
“So honestly, I’d rather Haebenia were twenty-five.”
Seven feels unbearably unfair.
At twenty-five, the guilt might be more bearable.
Ian, who had been nodding in agreement with every word Ribi spoke, turned his head.
“I…”
His gaze fell on the bathroom, where the bathtub stood.
Haebenia was washing in there now. Whatever she found so delightful, her humming drifted all the way to the kitchen.
The corner of Ian’s mouth lifted slightly.
“I believe she’s seven.”
“Well, I do too, for now.”
“So I’m wrestling with the same worry you are.”
“You are?”
“Mine just takes a different shape.”
Ian exhaled heavily, as if burdened.
“When I think about how our own indecision has let a child make terrible choices without a second thought, it turns my stomach.”
“You’re really concerned about Haebenia’s emotional development, aren’t you?”
“Even if she’s lost her memory, she’s still Clavis—there must be something innate in her nature.”
Even the Demon Verity defers to Clavis.
But even accounting for that, Haebenia’s ways of thinking and her sense of right often overstepped all bounds.
‘Like that torture talk she pulled from the underground dungeon just yesterday.’
The problem was that everyone in the village lay at the root of every decision she made.
Because the adults couldn’t act, seven-year-old Haebenia bore the weight of every judgment alone, shouldering every consequence.
“I should be the one to step forward first.”
Before Haebenia made a bad choice, he needed to voice his own opinion first, and steel himself to carry it out with his own hands.
But the convictions he’d held so long kept making him hesitate.
“No, that’s wrong.”
Ribi spoke firmly to the self-recriminating Ian.
“That’s exactly why you need to be Haebenia’s conscience.”
“Me?”
“Don’t you see? Why Haebenia treats us so well.”
“…”
“Because we treated her well first.”
“What?”
Ian opened his eyes wide, as if hearing this for the first time.
Ribi let her shoulders relax, as if she’d expected exactly this, and breathed out lightly.
She began helping with the shrimp that Ian had abandoned, and only then did Ian move his hands again.
“When we were camping in the Primordial Forest, the training was so brutal that me and all the other adults were on the verge of passing out. Not a finger to spare.”
She could barely remember what had happened back then.
“So Haebenia ended up doing almost all the meal preparation, right?”
“Well, about that…”
“We felt terrible about it. Obviously we told Haebenia we were sorry. We’re not heartless!”
“So what happened after that?”
“Anyway, when we apologized to her…”
Ribi, remembering that time, laughed as if she were about to cry.
“She brought up the Exile Land.”
The small child, carrying bowls of stew thick with meat to each of the adults, smiled brightly and explained her effort this way:
“You and the adults did this for me too.”
“We did? When?”
“In the Exile Land!”
“…”
“Whenever you found a big piece of meat, you gave it to me. When the work was hard, you did it for me instead. When you found pretty flowers, you called me over to see them.”
That’s why he does the same for her in return.
“Does that even make sense?”
……
“Haebenia is seven years old. What could she possibly have done to end up in the Exile Land? She’s the one who’s truly innocent.”
That’s all—I simply helped her.
I looked after a seven-year-old because I felt sorry for her.
It wasn’t anything remarkable, yet there Haebenia was, scrambling to do something more, sparing no effort of her own body.
“……So we have to be Haebenia’s conscience and morality.”
She learns by watching us.
At Ribi’s words, goosebumps erupted across Ian’s entire body.
“You too…….”
Ribi, who had been trimming the shrimp and placing it in cold water, lifted her head.
Ian was gazing at his other sister, his eyes glistening with moisture.
“Such a thoughtful thing to understand…….”
Whoosh!
Ribi swung her leg hard beneath the table. Ian could have dodged, but he deliberately took the hit.
“Ow, that hurts!”
“Anyway, don’t torture yourself over it. Haebenia will live a good life, if only for our sake.”
“True, maybe it’s just her nature to be kind.”
“Which is exactly why she goes to such lengths puzzling over how to help people she doesn’t even know.”
Ribi answered cheerfully, remarking that she wouldn’t have bothered if it were her.
Ian, chuckling softly, shared the same thought.
‘If it hadn’t concerned me directly, I might have let it slide.’
More than that, my status as a knight of the Imperial Court would have prevented me from defying the emperor. It’s possible I might even have been the knight who attacked the medicine merchant.
But Haebenia is now willingly helping others.
‘It was needless worry.’
Haebenia would never cross that line.
* * *
The next day.
“I’ve prepared the torture instruments for now.”
……
“Why that face? You look like you’ve been betrayed or something.”
“Cut me some slack.”
Ribi said, gripping my shoulder with her hand.
“Your brother over there praised you tremendously yesterday for being good.”
“He could have just said it outright.”
“From now on, I’ll just nag you instead…….”
Ian heaved a heavy sigh and cast a disapproving glance at the tools I’d prepared.
Then, like a frustrated adult, he kept touching the back of his neck.
“So, what exactly is this?”
“Ian, let me be clear—I’m opposed to torture.”
Genuinely.
I’d paid attention in history class, so I understood the cruelty and severity of torture better than most.
But sometimes, the world presented cases where beating was the only language.
So wouldn’t it be more efficient to experience firsthand how much beating hurts before actually resorting to it?
“Good grief…….”
Verity sighed as though the ground were opening up beneath him, staring at me like I was a foolish child.
“In all my long years of existence, this is the first time I’ve heard someone suggest experiencing torture directly before administering it.”
“Heh, really?”
“Is this self-masochism? Or self-sadism? The word combination terrifies me even as I say it aloud.”
The demon butler shuddered and made the sign of the cross.
I snorted derisively.
“There’s a reason for this, actually.”
Anyone can guess how much it hurts to be burned by a heated branding iron or whipped.
Because everyone has burned themselves on something hot at least once, or fallen and scraped their skin, or been injured.
“But I have no idea why Shinbone Twisting hurts.”
“So we’ve got someone here who doesn’t know whether to dip it in mustard or soy sauce…….”
“In the end, it’s just curiosity?”
Ribi tilted her head back and forth, looking at the wooden chair for Shinbone Twisting.
“What exactly does Shinbone Twisting do?”
“Unnie! Let me show you how it’s done!”
“So in the end, you’re just curious and want to satisfy that curiosity while you have the chance. You must have been quite the handful as a child, young lady. I’m actually feeling sympathy for Clavis for the first time…….”
“Stop talking and tie me up already.”
I sat down in the wooden chair, my heart thudding.
‘This feels like being at the Korean Folk Village.’
Rather than binding my legs with rope, Verity instructed Ian to hold them firmly in place.
“Huh? Just tie them up.”
“How can I subject a seven-year-old to actual torture.”
“I’m twenty-five!”
“Your appearance says seven, so no.”
Verity brought over two training rods and wedged them between my shins.
“Wait?”
Not the thighs?
‘In historical dramas, they always put them on the thighs……’
I blinked, watching what Verity was doing.
“Young lady, when you actually perform the Shinbone Twisting, you twist the shins.”
“Why?”
“Because it hurts.”
As she spoke, Verity crossed the rods like scissors and twisted them.
Very slightly.
“Hngh!”
And I let out a short, sharp cry as my bones twisted in agony.
My eyes welled up with tears, and I could only whimper helplessly—then I heard a clicking sound.
Ian’s voice asking “What are you doing?” sounded muffled as he withdrew the rod.
“It’s funny, so I wanted to take a picture.”
“Stop that and comfort her, please. The child’s crying…….”
“The young lady’s crying? Let me take one more photo.”
“Ah, it hurts…….”
“See? That’s torture.”
“……Well, I’ve had my laugh, so can I go back and study now?”
Having lost interest, Ribi headed home.
Released from the chair, I collapsed to the floor in a kneeling position.
“That really did hurt, didn’t it.”
Ian’s hand stroking my back was so tender.
‘Torture is dangerous. It hurt too much……’
I found myself newly grateful for Article 12, Section 1 of the Korean Constitution, which guarantees freedom from torture, and I deeply agreed with the Geneva Conventions, which strictly forbid torture and inhumane treatment in wartime.
“Have you had enough mischief?”
Verity asked, putting away the torture chair.
“More or less……?”
“Is there more mischief left?”
“Did you eat too much breakfast? From now on, you’ll have only three shrimp.”
I managed to stand up, glancing at my shins.
Today I was wearing long pants, so the bruises weren’t visible, but judging by the pain, there were definitely marks.
“Ian.”
Before I spoke, I asked for something first.
“Promise you won’t get angry.”
“What ridiculous thing are you about to say that you’re laying this groundwork?”
“Haha! Young lady, your credibility is thinner than an ant’s leg.”
“Ah, just promise me, please!”
“Tell me first.”
I didn’t manage to extract a promise that he wouldn’t get angry, but seeing Ian’s expression, I could sense a tolerance that said he’d hear me out to the end.
So I went ahead and spoke.
“Let’s try raising some monsters.”
“Verity, let’s do the Shinbone Twisting on Haebenia once more.”
“Ah, Ian! Iaaaan!”
I quickly grabbed Ian’s pant leg and threw myself on the floor.
“You said to tell you! And I haven’t finished explaining yet!”
“Even if you’re not quite tasty enough to eat, you might still make a decent nutritional supplement.”
“Oh no, I’ve lost all my credibility…….”
Verity clicked her tongue and hid the rods she’d used for the Shinbone Twisting in her Subspace Pocket.
I held tight to Ian’s leg as I spoke.
“It’s for securing full combat power and expanding the village’s revenue sources!”
Only then did Ian’s gaze—which had been fixed on me like I was some sort of troublemaker—soften slightly.

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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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