Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 85

Chapter 85

Of course, to form a true alliance with those three trustworthy candidates, I also needed to satisfy them.

'Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without loss—no, without defeat!'

After parting with Aunt Prellia, I went looking for Ian first.

Finding Ian was easy.

"Aunt Daliss, have you seen Ian oppa?"

"He's probably at the training ground. He passed by a little while ago."

"Hi, unnie!"

"Thank you for letting me know. Hi, Flora!"

"Hebenia unnie, are you going to Ian oppa?"

Flora, covered in dirt, asked. She was holding a small trowel, helping her mother tend the front garden.

"Yeah. Flora, want to come with me?"

"Yes!"

"Auntie, is that okay?"

"I hope it's not a bother."

"It's not a bother. Flora, go get your scooter!"

"Okay!"

Flora took off her apron and brought out her pink scooter parked in front of the door.

'Sigh, so cute.'

My lips wouldn't stop smiling at the sight of Flora.

'Kids should be bold like this.'

When she first came here, Flora couldn't even express her own thoughts properly.

Later, I found out she often had nightmares at night and wet the bed.

She was especially wary and afraid of adult men, due to her biological father's abuse.

"Mom, I'm going out!"

"Listen to your sister. Be careful riding."

"I know! Ugh, so much nagging!"

"Mom's just worried about you."

But now she could speak her mind clearly and had become bold enough to greet others first.

"Come back safely, Hebenia."

"Yes!"

"Both of you be careful."

With a warm send-off, the two scooters sped off.

"Unnie, unnie."

After we'd gone some distance from the house.

"Hey, you know my mom is friends with Ian oppa, right?"

"Yeah."

"But lately, I see them a little differently?"

Squeak, I hit the brakes.

Flora, who also stopped, grabbed my wrist and led me into a deep alley.

Dragged along, I heard an incredible truth.

"It's a secret, but my mom likes Ian oppa."

"Gasp!"

"But not as a friend. I can tell."

Now that she'd made many friends and learned a lot at the temporary school, Flora knew that there were many kinds of 'like.'

"Ian oppa likes my mom too. Not as a friend."

"Oh my goodness!"

I was genuinely surprised.

'Flora was hoarding all this delightful drama all to herself!'

This was The Guest and His Mother—Exilium Village edition.

"So I asked Mom—do you want to marry Ian oppa?"

"Oh my, oh my."

These kids are so precocious these days—look at Flora go!

I listened more seriously than ever. So I could tell Libby later.

"But Mom lied."

"What did she say?"

"She said he's just a friend who lives next door."

"Oh dear..."

"But I know it's a lie."

"Wow, Flora, you're so smart. You figured that out right away?"

"At age five, you know everything."

Lifting her chin slightly, Flora's smug look was so cute I could bite her.

But since she was being serious, I held back my laughter and kept a solemn face.

"Mom likes Ian oppa like she wants to marry him. I'd like Ian oppa to be my dad too. My real dad was scary and I hate him."

"Ian oppa also..."

I want to say he's dying to be your dad, but I held back.

I tease Ian a lot, but this wasn't my place to interfere.

So I helped him within reasonable bounds.

"Ian oppa likes you and your aunt too."

"Yeah."

"But let's keep this a secret from Ian oppa."

"But Ian oppa likes my mom too."

"......"

The kid knew everything.

Still, I told her it was better to keep it a secret, and Flora thought for a moment, then nodded and mimed zipping her lips.

"Love battles are like cutting water with a sword."

"Cutting water."

"Right, cutting water. I read in a book that you shouldn't interfere."

"......"

What kind of book did she read?

I wanted to read it too.

---

After parking our scooters, Flora and I entered the training ground.

The moment we stepped in, the air felt sharp enough to sting our skin. Inside, deafening sounds echoed continuously.

I quickly put up a barrier to protect Flora.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Flora seemed unfazed.

'Right, she's a demon too.'

Flora was, strictly speaking, a demon hybrid. The daughter of a half-demon.

'Come to think of it, Aunt Daliss said her father was a demon. Could we find him if we asked Verity? Of course, only if Auntie wants to.'

Inside the training ground, I saw Ian learning swordsmanship from Verity.

Ian was drenched in sweat.

The spot where he stood was marked with dark drops, as if it had rained.

Verity, on the other hand, showed little change aside from slightly flushed cheeks.

"Your waist is open!"

"Ugh!"

"If it were me, I'd have stabbed you in the neck the moment you announced your open waist. What can you do with such sluggishness? I'm even giving you openings by chatting..."

"Hyaaah!"

"All that spirit, but you're so slow."

Ian swung his sword as if delivering a decisive blow, but Verity easily dodged by twisting his body to the side.

Then he lightly tapped Ian's chin with his wooden sword.

"Normally, I'd swing harder, but..."

Verity clicked his tongue and glanced at us below the training platform.

"We have small, cute guests."

"Huff, pant...?"

Ian, too breathless to answer, followed Verity's gesture.

"Ian oppa!"

"Oppa!"

Only then noticing us, Ian smiled warmly.

While Ian caught his breath, I stared in awe at the crescent-shaped sword marks scattered around.

"Most of them are mine..."

Verity, who had approached silently, pointed at one spot.

The largest and deepest sword mark carved into the ceiling behind where Verity had stood moments ago.

"That one is Sir Ian's work."

"The day has finally come when I shouldn't mess with Ian oppa."

"Just say that and actually be nice to him."

"By the way, did you sweat? There's a drop here."

"I sweated because it's hot. Because it's hot."

I imagined Ian's pride at having left that massive mark.

He was growing at an astonishing rate.

'Can I transfer like that again?'

I became curious. I decided to ask if I could join Ian's training next time.

'Combined training, sounds good?'

Just then, Ian came down.

"What brings you two here together?"

"I came to ask you something. Today, Flora is my special secretary."

"I'm the secretary!"

Flora's spirited introduction made Ian and Verity smile with helpless affection.

Naturally, I was one of them.

"Oppa, you've met the Crown Prince before, right?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of person was he? Personality and such."

"Hmm..."

Ian moved his tightly pressed lips from side to side, recalling a few years ago.

Ian was the most serious and polite person I knew, and he chose his words carefully. He rarely cursed.

"If he were my kid, I would have definitely hit him at least once to teach him a lesson."

"Oh dear."

That was practically the worst review possible.

"Of course, hitting isn't the answer."

But, sigh...

Ian repeatedly retracted and restated his words.

"I understand his upbringing. He lost his mother at birth, his father is like that, and his stepmother was a mistress. How could he have grown up sane?"

Despite such a massive excuse, he still earned that review from the good-natured Ian—the Crown Prince was quite something.

But considering the episode I'd heard recently, his actions were beyond criticism.

"I'd appreciate it if you did. I'm not in a good mood today."

"Your grandmother's sixty-third birthday must be sad again this year."

"In memory of my late mother."

A legitimate son, and he couldn't even say that to his half-sibling?

"But when a fire broke out in his sister's palace..."

Just as I was about to sympathize with the Crown Prince, Ian quickly snapped me back to reality.

"Did that bastard set the fire?"

Verity clicked his tongue with an "Oh dear."

"A kid committing arson—he's going to be a troublemaker in a negative way. Has he also killed insects or small animals?"

"Nothing was proven. But I remember he was summoned by the Emperor and severely reprimanded. Though the reason was never disclosed."

"His sister's palace—the Crown Princess?"

"No, the Crown Princess."

What followed was shocking.

"All knights were mobilized to put out the fire. I was at the scene too."

After they'd barely managed to extinguish the fire, the Crown Prince arrived.

"I remember vividly."

Smoke rose from the extinguished ashes, and thin rain began to fall.

A servant held a blue umbrella over the Crown Prince.

And beneath it, he simply said:

"Tch, what a shame."

---

'Yeah, understandable, my foot.'

It seemed I'd always had a good eye for people, even as a child.

'Well done, younger me, for hating the Crown Prince!'

I patted my own bottom in self-praise.

'It was chilling but important information.'

Now I had an idea of how to handle the Crown Prince, who would be coming with the Grand Duchess of Stria.

Just then, Flora, who had been quiet, asked me.

"Unnie, what's a Crown Prince?"

Only then did I realize our conversation wasn't exactly child-appropriate.

Ian and Verity also looked apologetic, realizing their mistake.

"A Crown Prince is the Emperor's son. The Emperor is the king, and the Crown Prince will become the Emperor when he grows up."

"Is the Crown Prince a bad person?"

"That's what we're trying to find out."

I commanded Flora.

"Secretary Flora!"

"Yes!"

"Our conversation just now is a top secret. You must not tell your mother. Understood?"

"Yes!"

"Good, a good secretary gets a strawberry milk candy."

The bribe for silence worked well.

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