“You have to stay right next to me.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“If someone else talks to you… well, you can answer them, but you absolutely can’t just go along with them.”
“Yees.”
“Even if they say they’ll buy you something delicious or show you something interesting, you absolutely can’t. Understand?”
“Of course, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“No, actually just report to me if anyone approaches you. You shouldn’t be out of my sight in the first place…”
“Hyungnim.”
As I busily nagged while fixing the little one’s flipped cap, Lenox looked up at me with a beaming smile.
“You don’t need to worry. I listen well.”
“Why wouldn’t I need to worry? I’m your guardian. And what do you mean you listen well, you stubborn little thing?”
“Mmm. Then…”
After thinking hard about something, Lenox quickly stretched out his arms. His tiny hands firmly grasped mine.
“Would this work?”
“…”
“If we hold hands tightly, Hyungnim won’t lose me, and I’ll feel happy… won’t that work?”
“…I never said it wouldn’t.”
In the end, I held Lenox’s hand all the way until we arrived at the castle gate.
The ash-gray castle, built high like a fortress, was protected by walls that encircled it. Among them, the southern gate was the closest to the residential area and was the passage most frequently used for bringing in supplies or transporting provisions.
So today, too, the area around the gate was bustling. Soldiers were busy diligently moving carts and checking the count of loaded items.
When I naturally approached them and took the supply ledger, Lenox pouted.
“I thought it was just the two of us going, Hyungnim?”
“Call me Your Imperial Majesty when others are around.”
I said while checking the items.
“I never said it would be just the two of us.”
“…”
“We’re going to distribute supplies to the territory’s people. You have to come today too.”
“Should I go and pull the carts too?”
“No. You just need to show your face.”
“My face?”
“Because it’s the same as you distributing the items yourself. The people need to know who they’re getting through the winter thanks to.”
When I explained that the imperial capital had provided support funds after hearing that Lenox would be staying here, the little one fiddling with his coat tilted his head.
“I haven’t been here very long, but the supplies already arrived? The imperial capital is incredibly far from here.”
“Of course it’s far.”
The supplies prepared in his name probably haven’t even left the capital yet. These were second-wave supplies prepared in advance, and the new ones coming would be the third wave.
It’s just the order that’s changing, that’s all.
If they were going to be distributed anyway, it didn’t matter if the reason changed a bit. It was like the idiom about the monkeys and their acorns.
The cheeks of the little one, slightly sulky upon learning this wasn’t a pleasure trip, turned a healthy rosy pink when I took his hand again.
“But Hyungnim, isn’t it a bit of a stretch to say I’m really the one distributing these?”
“Hm?”
“You know what I mean. The one who sent the supplies is His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, and the one who decided to distribute them to the people is Your Grace the Grand Duke. The soldiers moved them… So what help was I?”
I gently shook our clasped hands and answered.
“You became the reason.”
“Reason?”
“Yes. Sometimes having a justification is important. There are times when you can only move if you have one.”
I tried to explain as simply as possible, but it seemed to be quite difficult for a ten-year-old. I stroked his fluffy golden hair.
“Didn’t you say people avoid you?”
If people kept trying to avoid this little one because of the curse related to the wandering dancer—
“I just wanted to show them a reason stronger than that prejudice.”
Even if that damn curse exists, not everyone in this land will die. It can’t be that cruel. Because that’s the nature of the one who created this world.
“So just wait and see. The people of this land will have no choice but to like you.”
The presence of a loaf of bread to eat for dinner tonight was bound to be greater than some insubstantial curse.
After a brief silence, Lenox said.
“Hyungnim is a kind person.”
“Did all the kind people in the world die?”
“No.”
“I’m not really a good person.”
“That’s not true either…”
We arrived at the square in the center of the village with the supply carts. I laid a blanket on top of the high-stacked boxes and lifted the little one up to sit on it.
“Here. Sit here quietly.”
“Yes!”
Soon people approached and formed a line. The faces of those receiving bread, grain, and cloth were bright.
“The food we received last time was just running out, so this is perfect timing. Did they say the new Grand Duke is distributing them again this time?”
“I heard from the knight over there earlier that the young His Imperial Majesty the Emperor came up from the capital! It seems he’s the one distributing them this time.”
“Oh, really?”
The smiling people also offered thanks to Lenox sitting on the boxes.
“Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“I don’t know how you ended up coming all the way to this cold land, but I hope you’ll be happy while you’re here.”
“I’ll eat well!”
Lenox’s expression, awkward and unsure at first, gradually brightened. After a while, he even eagerly greeted people first.
“Next… next time too…”
The little one glanced at me. I answered, pretending to be generous.
“…I hadn’t really thought about it, but since you want it so much, I have no choice. For your sake, I’ll consider additional supplies.”
Lenox smiled brightly and cheerfully called out.
“I’ll give you more next time too!”
But after an hour or two like that, Lenox gradually began to get bored. Perhaps because of the cold weather, he also started sniffling.
I asked the little one who was tapping his toes.
“Are you bored?”
“No!”
“It’s written all over your face that you’re bored.”
“…Just a tiny bit.”
Clicking my tongue, I looked around. The line had shortened considerably, and this was enough to make his face well-known. The rest could probably rely on the power of rumors.
“Don’t you want to go play?”
“Still… if I just take off when there’s work to do, that makes me a bad child.”
“Who says you have to live as a good child for someone else’s sake?”
The expression ‘good child’ was probably made for the convenience of adults, wasn’t it? Since it basically means easy to manage and obedient to orders.
“Not listening is the default for kids.”
After checking the ledger, I called Billy who was behind me.
“Take Lenox and show him around the village a bit.”
“Understood, Your Imperial Majesty. However…”
As I handed Lenox my pocket watch and told him to return within two hours, Billy, who had been standing quietly, carefully spoke.
“I think the young Your Imperial Majesty would prefer to go with Your Grace the Grand Duke. We can finish the remaining supplies…”
“Mm. I’d like to do that if I could.”
I quietly stared at the system window floating in the air.
[Current Chaos Meter: 67%]
[From ‘Chaos Meter’ 60%, there is a risk of losing consciousness!]
Rather than collapsing on the street and making things harder for the ten-year-old, it seemed better to let him go sightseeing on his own.
I pretended not to notice Lenox sulking again and took out my coin purse.
“Buy him whatever he wants to eat. Well, isn’t there a place that sells snacks kids that age like?”
“…There is one not too far away. I’ll take him there.”
“Good. Make sure he has a good time.”
Lenox won’t stay here forever. Maybe he’ll barely make it through this winter and leave when spring comes.
Still, while he’s here, I hoped he’d make memories worth cherishing, even if they’re very small and trivial. I hoped he’d remember that somewhere in this world, there are people who like you with hearts bigger than prejudice, people who are grateful to you.
So that you could form attachments anywhere in this world.
After Lenox, who kept looking back with regret, disappeared, I helped with the remaining supply work. Sorting items from remaining items, keeping future plans in mind, and leading people made the throbbing headache somewhat bearable.
And so, two hours after the promise I made with my young brother—
“Your Grace the Grand Duke!”
Feeling somehow ominous, I turned around with narrowed eyes. The excited voice of the ten-year-old sounded somehow concerning.
Sure enough.
The little one running over with sparkling blue eyes had something cradled in his arms.
“Hyungnim!”
Lenox had… picked up a fox of unknown origin.
