There Is No Need To Be Obsessed

As I was deep in thought, the carriage abruptly stopped.

Hillary, who was sitting across from me, hurriedly checked my condition.

“Lady Eureia! Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. What’s going on?”

The person who answered was the coachman.

“About that, some kid suddenly bolted out…”

“A kid?” I asked.

“Yes, it seems the child who got in the way is a beggar.”

Upon hearing this, Hillary’s complexion darkened. Then she said in a slightly lowered voice.

“I will take care of it. Please wait for a moment…”

“No, it’s okay.”

I answered briefly and alighted the carriage. Concerned, Hillary followed me.

“Please… Please, sir.”

“No, you brat! Come on, get out of the way!”

The coachman was angry. His feelings were understandable. Had there been an accident, it would have been a big deal.

“My-my lady…”

The coachman, who came to notice my presence, was at a loss for what to do and bowed helplessly.

“It’s fine.”

“But….”

I passed the troubled coachman and looked at the trembling child lying on the ground with her face down.

It’s closer to a teenage girl than a kid.

Although she was all skin and bones, her build was quite developed.

I suppose she is either thirteen or fourteen?

The girl, who felt my presence, raised her head and looked at me. Her pink eyes were tinged with a murky colour of despair.

As soon as my eyes met hers, the girl pressed her body down even more and begged.

“Your ladyship, my brother has not eaten anything for a week and is dying. I too, haven’t eaten anything today. If it goes on like this, we might really die. Please, please help me…!”

“You..?”

“…Yes?”

Instead of responding to her plea, I made a slip of tongue at her startling appearance. And the girl looked up with her quivering pupils.

I looked at the girl more closely.

Her pink hair was sparse, revealing reddish scalp, and her skin was swollen with unhealed wounds.

The clothes she was wearing were also ragged, not suitable for the season of autumn.

That’s not to mention her physique.

It’s true that I thought she was about fourteen years old, but in terms of her stature, she was as small and dwarfed as a 10-year-old child.

“Are you okay?”

“I-, I am fine. But…my brother is different. He has been weak since birth. We do not have money, so he’s not getting any treatment.”

The girl, upon saying so, once again hit the ground! She hammered her forehead against it quite hard.

Blood flew from her forehead.

“I won’t ask for your help for free. If necessary, you can enslave me. Please just help my little brother get only one decent meal, your ladyship.”

Her voice trembled, but she was not crying. She looked so drained that she couldn’t even shed a tear.

“Milady, there are not one or two children like this. If you help one child, other ones might rush in too.”

The coachman advised me.

What he said was true. In fact, I could already feel the eyes staring at us from time to time.

If I were to give her money or food, then as soon as I left, the poor girl would be attacked and robbed.

“She is a pitiful child, but there’s nothing we can do about it. It would be easier to pretend you didn’t see it.”

“Right. I don’t think I can help her right now.”

“Uh… please…”

The girl who heard my murmur let out a desperate plea.

“But I can’t just move on and ignore what I’ve already seen.”

“Pardon? What do you mean…?”

Leaving behind the perplexed coachman, I bent my knees and made eye contact with the girl.

Her eyes widened as I lowered my posture. Hillary also looked surprised, which was a rare sight I might say.

I brought my lips to the girl’s ear. Those words could only be heard by Hillary, who was close to me.

“I can’t do anything for you here.”

“…”

“Go to the Cheshire Guild. Go there and show them this. That way, you should be able to get help.”

I secretly put a small card in the girl’s hands.

It was a VIP card that Leone gave me. It was also issued by Leone himself.

If she showed it, the guardians would take the child to Leone, and Leone would recognise my card and help the child.

“It’s a gift from me for your being brave.”

“I am? Really?”

“Yes, you are. That’s all for now, there are many eyes watching, so be careful. You know what I mean, right?”

I withdrew myself and smiled softly.

The girl looked at me with wavering eyes. Moments later, she got up and slowly took her steps back. Then she ran away.

Looking at the girl’s back, I got back in the carriage after telling the coachman to start moving again.

I sat down and looked out the window.

As I felt a persistent gaze on me, I turned my head to see Hillary looking at me with strange eyes.

“Is there anything you want to say?”

“It’s nothing…”

But Hillary’s face said otherwise.

After minutes of hesitation, she parted her lips.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

As I played dumb, Hillary looked at me with trembling eyes.

“You could have just ignored it. Don’t you think she should be punished for obstructing the way? Why did you help the girl?”

I stared at Hillary for a moment, who was earnestly waiting for the answer.

Looks like it had quite an influence on her.

I did a background check on Hillary.

She was an orphan wandering on the street.

At a young age, she was captured by slave traders and sold to an acrobatic troupe where Hillary was forced to put on a Sword show. Without proper training or safety equipment.

The dangerous sword show left rough scars on her body. So they decided that they no longer needed her, and the acrobatic troupe sold her back to the mercenaries.

The mercenaries put her on the front line, making her the so-called human shield.

Having to endure all incoming attacks with her small, flabby body, Hillary learned swordsmanship in order to survive.

She then caught the eye of Leone on one of the expeditions and she was scouted.

That was her story until she came to my side.

Perhaps Hillary saw herself in that girl from before. So she’s bound to be confused.

It must have been a kindness she had never experienced before.

“Well…”

How should I answer her?