Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 16

Chapter 16

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Verity, who had arrived at the prayer room, frowned deeply.

"Ugh. Why are you still here and not gone?"

"You don't need to beg me to shoot you. My last bullet is always reserved for you."

"Cut your bangs. Since you can't see anything, you're walking around with that thing tucked in your waist. And why are your pants half-off again?"

"A pervert who can't act his age and only wears a school uniform wouldn't know anything about fashion."

"I see. So if you wear your pants down and show your ass, you come to love that kind of fashion. If that's acting your age, I'd rather be a pervert in the same school uniform for life."

After exchanging friendly middle-finger salutes with the angel, Verity checked that the others were safe.

Hebenia and Ian were crouched in the corner of the bed, fast asleep.

On the bed lay Flora and the young Crown Prince in priestly robes.

"Ah, so this is the child."

Verity stared down at the young Crown Prince.

"Sigh, both our Lady and the Crown Prince are still so young..."

"What about the Clavis?"

The angel asked, staring at the door.

The temple had gone on alert upon learning that a demon had put the city to sleep.

Yet no one had come to check on the young Crown Prince's safety. It was easy to guess how precarious his position was.

"She's asleep."

"I don't mean the little one."

"Ah, the old, stubborn one?"

The 'old, stubborn one' Verity referred to was the head of the Clavis family—Hebenia's grandfather.

"I don't know. That eccentric didn't tell us everything."

"Too bad I can't see it."

The angel took a lollipop from his pocket and put it in his mouth. With his outfit, it looked more like a strong cigarette than a candy.

"I would have loved to see the arrogant Clavis running away with their feet on fire."

"Haha, I agree with that much."

The angel's worn, golden eyes, hidden behind his bangs, flashed.

"So, why did you call me?"

"There was a forced succession ceremony."

"That's your demon problem..."

"And 'illegal enhancement' too."

"......"

A smile mixed with contempt, anger, and annoyance appeared at the corner of the angel's mouth.

Verity felt the same.

"It's a troublesome issue for both of us, isn't it?"

"Tch."

"We're going to keep an eye on the Emperor's side for now."

"That idiot is involved?"

"Surprising, isn't it? I was surprised too."

"I didn't think the Emperor had that kind of stature."

"That's exactly why it's more of a problem. We need to find out how this happened."

"You'll be busy for a while."

"So will you."

Just then.

"...Lord Verity?"

Ian, who hadn't forgotten his experience standing guard during outside training in his imperial knight days, quickly woke up.

"You're here."

"Yes. It's all over."

Verity patted his shoulder, saying he'd worked hard.

"But..."

Ian, holding the sleeping Hebenia, glanced at the bed.

"Ah, His Highness the Crown Prince will be fine."

Verity said as he picked up Flora.

"It seems our Lady made a wish for His Highness to that thug angel, so it's best we disappear quickly."

"That's not it..."

Ian hesitated for a long time before speaking.

"W-well, I injected His Highness with a sedative..."

"Oh dear, that must have left a bruise."

Verity placed a cat band-aid over the small red mark on the back of the young Crown Prince's neck.

"It has antibacterial properties, so it prevents infection. And it'll make the bruise fade quickly too."

"Thank you."

"...Idiots."

The angel glanced at them with contempt.

"Get lost."

"Yes sir! Keeping my distance from you has been my childhood dream!"

---

On days when I'm especially tired, I always have nightmares.

They're usually about 'family,' and on those days, I instinctively know.

Ah, here it comes again. I wonder what I'll see today.

I hadn't had a single nightmare since coming to the exile camp, but now that familiar feeling was back.

'But this is...'

A lavish palace-like place with countless people moving about.

Elegant maids in black uniforms, neatly dressed handsome servants, and even aides rushing around with stacks of documents.

'...Aides?'

How did I know they were aides?

In the midst of my confusion, someone quickly brushed past me.

My eyes widened as I turned.

"Habi! You'll fall!"

"Brother, hurry up!"

A young Hebenia and a dignified boy who looked like her.

"Edel is coming! We have to go fast!"

"We don't need to rush. Edel will come here."

"But that insufferable one is coming too! I can't let him bully Edel again—I'll slap him the moment I see him! Grandpa said you have to crush them from the start!"

The boy had the same rich chestnut hair as Hebenia.

His eyes were a brilliant blue, and he looked about fifteen.

'I see...'

I was currently dreaming of 'Hebenia Clavis's' childhood.

"You'll hit him with me too, right?"

"You shouldn't get used to violence. Remember the song I taught you?"

"Yeah!"

Young Hebenia wiggled her hips and sang.

"Power, strategy, and cruel tricks! This is the elegant princess's secret finishing move!"

"That's right. An elegant princess should use her head, not violence."

I was floored.

'Teaching a kid good stuff.'

But young Hebenia was no pushover either.

"But I don't understand what that means, so I'll just hit him."

"Then I'll protect you so Habi doesn't end up in the dungeon."

"Brother, are you an elegant princess too?"

"Yeah. The fist of terror meant only for our baby. Closer than the law."

"Hehe! But I'm not a baby!"

The affectionate siblings ran down the hallway again, and the adults around them watched with fond smiles.

Only I stood there with a stiff expression.

"What is this..."

I thought my family here was trash too. It was obvious that crazy people who would try to kill the Crown Princess while leaving their young daughter behind couldn't possibly be a proper family.

But the boy I'd just seen, though his sanity was questionable, was a good older brother who took good care of his little sister.

The employees also watched the young Hebenia with affection.

Her pretty clothes.

Her fine hair and plump cheeks.

'She was raised without want.'

She was truly the princess of the Clavis family.

'Then what about Chae Habin, age twenty-five?'

If she was so loved, why did she have to cross over to another world and live such a hard life?

"Fuck, what kind of bullshit..."

"Habi."

The curse that was about to escape in my frustration was stopped by young Hebenia's older brother.

"You shouldn't use such vulgar language. It'll dirty your pretty mouth."

"......"

The lavish mansion had disappeared, and now I stood alone with the boy in a dark space.

The boy looked at me like I was the most precious treasure in the world.

"......B-brother?"

I unconsciously called out to the boy like young Hebenia.

The boy smiled happily.

"Just wait a little longer."

I'll come to see you.

---

I woke up to a bumpy vibration.

"Ian oppa...?"

"Are you awake?"

Helped up by Ian, I groggily looked around. The first thing I saw was a curved arch-shaped tent ceiling.

A carriage...?

I also saw Verity and Flora sitting across from us. Flora was holding a rabbit doll tightly in her arms.

"We're outside the territory."

Verity handed me a canteen of water and said.

"I took care of the wicked demon. The others in the mansion are in a deep sleep, and I put an antibacterial band-aid on the young Crown Prince."

Verity indirectly alluded to the deaths of the Viscount of Deste and the two rats, out of consideration for Flora beside him.

'That reptile demon must have killed them.'

I took a sip of water from the canteen. The deaths of those three men were their own doing—I felt nothing.

"By the way, are you okay?"

Ian looked at me with worried eyes.

"Me? Yeah. I'm fine."

Considering the craziness of the previous day, I was surprisingly energetic.

As expected, the stamina of a young—no, a child's—body was a blessing.

But the worry on Ian and Verity's faces didn't fade.

Verity pointed to his own eye with his finger.

"My Lady, you were crying."

"Me?"

Startled, I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand to check. Sure enough, moisture came off on my hand.

"Unnie..."

Flora fidgeted with the doll's ear and asked.

"Does it hurt...?"

"No."

I answered with a big smile.

"It doesn't hurt at all!"

"Don't hurt..."

"Yeah. I won't."

Relieved by my answer, the child's expression relaxed as she fiddled with the rabbit doll.

Flora was a good child who could genuinely worry about someone she'd just met.

Watching her with satisfaction, I thought of the boy from my dream again.

'Ah, now I know why I cried.'

I cried out of anger.

Not joy at having a wealthy and powerful family, but frustration at my twenty-five years of life, which had been full of hardship despite having that privilege.

'How could I not cry?'

I definitely didn't cry because I missed them.

'What? Wait a little longer? My brother will come to see me?'

The day we meet again will be the ancestral rites when the whole family leaves me their inheritance.

"...Anyway, we're finally going home."

Ian stretched and said.

'Home...'

I really liked the word 'home' that Ian had used.

Yes, our home is in the small village hidden inside the primeval forest.

We now had a place to return to, safe and sound.

"Still, we've done about everything we needed to do."

Verity counted our achievements on his fingers.

"We rescued Flora, taught the bad demon a lesson, bought gifts with the money from selling the herbs, and gathered information—I'd say we did pretty well."

I nodded along in agreement.

'Yes, information gathering.'

We'd obtained extremely valuable information.

Framing Aunt Daliss, who had survived the succession ceremony, and sending her to an exile camp wasn't an easy task.

All of this required the approval and silence of those in power.

'Like the Emperor...'

The minerals mined through forced labor in the exile camp.

The herbs they said were being bought for the ailing Crown Princess.

'The bastard.'

In other words, putting all this together.

"There's no answer but a revolution."

"Pwah!"

Ian, who had been drinking water, spat it out in a spectacular spray.

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