My shoulders bounced with excitement. I was even more thrilled than I had been a few days ago when I went outside the estate with Hale.
Back then, I hadn’t been able to fully enjoy the outing because I ran into Roel. But now? There was nothing standing in my way!
I had friends my age with me, too.
“What should we eat first?”
“What’s there?”
“Have you ever had cotton candy?”
“Cotton candy?”
“You don’t know cotton candy? It looks like a fluffy cloud!”
Shirea, who was sitting next to me, shook her head. The twins sitting across from us did the same.
What—seriously? They’ve never had cotton candy before? I guess their territory doesn’t sell it?
For some reason, a strange sense of superiority bubbled up. Usually, I felt like I was always the one falling behind them, but not this time.
Maybe that’s why I suddenly felt a little smug.
“Alright then! That’s what we’re starting with!”
The carriage stopped at the plaza, and I grabbed Shirea and Rizley by the arms and ran. Erisen, glued to Rizley as usual, got dragged along like a sausage.
Luckily, we had stopped at the exact same spot where I first came with Hale.
Thank goodness! I know my way around here.
“Over here, this way!”
I led the others quickly to the cotton candy stand.
Just like before, one side was spinning the candy while the other had colorful cotton candy bags hanging like ornaments.
It honestly looked like a cotton candy tree.
“Five coins each, folks!”
“What color do you want? I’m getting white!”
“Blue.”
“Yellow.”
“Me too!”
That was Shirea, Rizley, and Erisen answering in turn.
I didn’t know if it was a coincidence, but we all ended up picking the colors that matched our respective clans.
“Mister, four please!”
“That’ll be two silver.”
“Uh…”
Wait a minute—come to think of it, I don’t have any money…?
I glanced around awkwardly, rolling my eyes. Shirea caught on.
“You don’t have money?”
“…”
How could I be the one to suggest this and not even think about money? A total oversight on my part.
This is why they say frogs in wells are dangerous!
“Shushu!”
I had no choice but to call Joshua. That’s literally what he was here for… right?
Though this probably wasn’t the kind of guarding he had in mind.
At my call, Joshua emerged from wherever he’d been hiding.
“Yes, young lady?”
“I don’t have any money…”
Joshua smiled like he’d seen this coming a mile away.
“Ah, cough, how much is it?”
He was clearly trying hard not to laugh, but it wasn’t working. It was so obvious.
If you’re gonna hide it, at least do it properly. Wait, don’t tell me you knew I didn’t have money and just sat back and watched?
I narrowed my eyes, glaring up at him, and he handed me two silver coins. Thanks to that, we all got our cotton candy.
“Thanks, Shushu.”
“No need to thank me, it’s my duty.”
I was slightly annoyed that he watched us struggle instead of stepping in, but… he had helped us, so I decided to let it go.
Under normal circumstances, I would’ve scolded him thoroughly.
Anyway, we all held cotton candy in our hands and strolled onward.
There were fewer crowds than last time, and more closed stalls, but it was still fun to look around.
Then, a random thought struck me.
Smiling as naturally as possible so the guards wouldn’t get suspicious, I whispered:
“…Wanna ditch them?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean let’s sneak off and explore just us, without the guards!”
At my explanation, the twins nodded eagerly without hesitation.
Shirea, on the other hand, didn’t look thrilled.
“What about you, Shia?”
“Sen, you know I’ve got good instincts, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“I’ll admit your idea sounds tempting… but I have a bad feeling about it.”
If one of the twins had said that, I probably would’ve just laughed it off. But since it was Shirea… now I was really second-guessing things.
“…Are your instincts usually right?”
“Nine out of ten.”
Whoa, that’s basically always.
In that case, I guess we have no choice but to stay under watch for now. If something bad happened, Hale would be the one in trouble.
“But it’s just a feeling, right?”
Just as I was about to give up, Erisen jumped into the conversation.
“What’s gonna happen to us? Even if something does happen, we’ve got pheromones, don’t we?”
At the word “pheromone,” I flinched.
Sure, they might know how to use theirs… but I don’t yet.
Noticing my hesitation, Erisen added confidently.
“Don’t worry, Senika. No matter what happens, my brother will protect you!”
“E-Erisen!”
Honestly, I thought he was going to say he would protect me, not pawn me off to Rizley.
Are you seriously trying to run off and dump your responsibility onto your brother?
As I stared at him with an incredulous look, Shirea suddenly stepped in front of me.
“Why should you protect Sen? I’ll be the one protecting her.”
The tone was icy and filled with something like menace. What the heck?
“My brother’s stronger than you, though?”
“You wanna test that right here and now?”
The conversation had taken a weird turn—from “who protects Senika” to a contest of strength.
Guys, seriously, what’s so amazing about protecting me? Isn’t it kind of a hassle?
And why is Shirea, who’s usually calm, rising to the bait like this?
“H-Hey, why are you all doing this?!”
“Why don’t we just protect her together?!”
I ended up shouting in the middle of the street, and every passerby turned to stare.
Sure, adults might think “how serious could a kid fight be,” but these weren’t ordinary kids. They were heirs to powerful clans, with strong voices and even stronger auras. Of course people would stare.
Seeing the guards starting to approach, I shook my head quickly to keep them away. If they came now, they’d definitely realize we were planning to run off.
Rizley and I each grabbed one of them to break up the tension.
After calming everyone down with some effort, we finally reached a conclusion.
“…Fine. Running off is cool, but no using pheromones on civilians.”
“If someone tries to hurt us, we don’t have a choice.”
“Didn’t the Hwangryong clan teach you not to use pheromones on civilians?”
…Did she just say messing with family equals death?
Shirea said it so casually that I almost nodded along by reflex.
Also—wait. I didn’t know we weren’t supposed to use pheromones on civilians. Maybe they haven’t taught me yet because I still can’t use mine?
I mean, it is common sense, I guess…
“But how are we going to fool the guards?”
“Uh…”
I blinked at Erisen’s question. I hadn’t thought that far ahead…
Yeah, I definitely have a bad habit of blurting things out without thinking. I really need to work on that.
Luckily, someone else stepped in to fix it for me.
“That’s easy.”
“Huh?”
“We just need to use the fact that we’re smaller than them.”
This time, it was Shirea who picked up the slack.
“If we blend quickly into the crowd, they won’t be able to follow.”
Her answer was clear and honestly, it was kind of obvious in hindsight.
Compared to the tall and broad guards, we could move faster and more discreetly through the crowd.
“That’s a good plan, but… doesn’t the Cheongryong clan dislike humans?”
“We do, but that doesn’t mean humans are filthy.”
…Wait. The Cheongryong clan doesn’t like humans?
I didn’t know that. I only heard about the Heukryong clan from Eve. So Shirea’s clan too…?
Then why would she want to be friends with me?
Is Shirea the exception? But if so, why didn’t she deny it when Erisen brought it up earlier?
Ugh. I don’t like how this feels… I’ll ask her about it later.
“Alright, I’ll go get some money! We’ll need it if we’re gonna have fun.”
“Be careful not to get caught.”
“Please, just watch me—I’m a pro at shameless begging.”
I waved off Shirea’s concern and walked up to Joshua.
“Is something the matter?”
“Shushu, I need money.”
“Money?”
“Yeah! I wanna pay for stuff myself!”
Joshua blinked a few times, then covered his mouth with a gloved hand, visibly moved.
“I didn’t even realize…!”
Uh, that’s not what I meant, but okay. Should I correct him? …Nah. If he’s misunderstanding in a good way, I’ll let him have it.
“Here, take this! Take it all!”
He pulled a heavy white pouch with the family seal from inside his jacket and handed it to me.
Judging by the weight, it was definitely full of coins.
“Thanks! You can bill my dad!”
“…Me, personally?”
“If you don’t want to, you could always ask Rita.”
“No! I mean, it’s not that I don’t want to…”
I cut off the conversation and turned away, heading back to the others. I thought I heard him muttering something, but whatever.
Anyway, mission complete: I got the money! Now all that’s left is to sneak away without getting caught.
We headed straight toward the crowd. Based on the noise, it sounded like there was a puppet show in the center of the plaza.
Since that area would be packed, we could pretend to be watching and slip away unnoticed.
“Wow! A PUPPET SHOW! Never seen one before!”
“Sen, maybe… don’t say anything?”
“Why? Didn’t I sound totally convincing?”
“…”
Their silence was enough. Alright. Maybe I’ll hold off on acting for now…
