Caville slowly loosened his arms, holding Elody in tears.

I shouldn't bother my wife. If I bother her, She’ll forsake me. Elody will hate me if I keep crying, if I keep asking for hugs like I do. Maybe she’ll even hit me like the adults at the orphanage did. But it didn’t matter. You can hit me and bully me. . .

“Wife.”

“Huh?”

“I'll listen to you. I won't whine. Don't leave me.” Caville wept bitterly.

“What's wrong with him all of a sudden?”

Elody looked down at Caville with a worried look and stroked his round head. Why did he start self-reflecting while he was apart from her?

“He must have been very surprised.” Brienne said with pity, looking at Caville.

“I guess so. By the way, are there many children like that in the duchy? It looks like they were pickpockets.” Elody asked Brienne as she held Caville in her arms again and stroked his back.

“Well, there are kids like that everywhere. But their numbers have increased lately. I'm afraid they don't have enough food to eat.”

Elody let out a sigh. She would need to look around the duchy as soon as she finished organizing the greenhouse. After seeing the current state of the crops, Elody was thinking she needed to try something.

And then, someone appeared in front of them. It was a tall man wearing similar clothes to the fancy merchants earlier. He looked desperate. His skin was dark and impressive.

He gasped and asked with anxious eyes.

“Hey, have you seen two boys this small?”

Brienne and Elody exchanged glances at the man’s words.

Brienne asked back,“Why, were you just pickpocketed?”

When Brienne asked, the man’s eyes opened wide. His eyes were telling Hey, you too? Hey, me too! Brienne’s face, however, lacked enthusiasm.

“That's right! Have you? These guys. . . damn it! What's wrong with this duchy?”

The lord of this hopeless duchy was wiping away tears in Elody's arms.

Elody asked the man with a sour face, “What did you lose?”

“My mother’s keepsake. It’s a brooch, a shining piece of jewelry. It’s priceless to me.”

“Is this it?” Elody showed him the artifact, and the man quickly took the brooch from her.

“That's right! Ah. . .my mother. . .” Even though he was a grown-up man, he began to cry like Caville. Caville was so embarrassed that he looked up at him.

“Let's head off now, madam,” Briennesaid as he wrinkled his forehead, as if he had seen a terrible sight.

“Yes, Caville, do you want a piggyback ride?” Caville shook his head at Elody’s question.

“Then Brienne will carry you.”

“I see,” Brienne said. Brienne lifted him up gently. Caville seemed unhappy, but for now he shut his mouth since he was safely behind Brienne, and not separated from Elody.

“Wait a minute!”

The man caught up with the three of them as they turned to leave.

“How did you guys find this?” The man's face had become serious.

“Are you doubting us?” Brienne asked with a grim look. The man shook his head quickly and said, “That's not it! I'm just, I'm just curious. I'm sure two boys stole this earlier. I guess they're pickpockets, and it's possible that some grown-ups ordered them to. . .”

“I am the vice-captain of the knights belonging to the Duke of Cernoir, the lord of this duchy. How dare you doubt me!” Brienne chewed her teeth as if he were offended to be suspected. He was ready to grab the man by the collar. Elody finally came forward.

“The two boys ran away earlier, and we picked up what they dropped.”

The man, frightened by Brienne's expression, glanced at Elody's words, and looked at her.

“Oh. . .that little kid is so smart. Thank you for finding my belongings and I apologize for not recognizing that you did so before.”

Little kid? What did you call me, man? Elody turned fourteen this year, but she was still a short girl. However, the title of “kid” was still quite offensive. He didn’t even call me a girl. He just said kid. . .? Speechless.

The man introduced himself, pretending not to see Elody's unpleasant expression. Caville smiled, pretending to be cool, as if he weren’t crying at all.

“I'm Sirka, the owner of the group of merchants of Rondia.” The tall man with dark skin introduced himself in a polite manner.

“I see. Let's go. Madam,” Brienne said.

“Wait!” said Elody. Elody looked up at Sirka with very bright eyes.

“You're the owner of the group of merchants of Rondia?”

“That's right.”

“Hmm. You said I saved you, right?”

“Yes, of course. You found my mother's precious keepsake. Do you want something as a gift?”

“No gifts, come visit the duchy sometime soon.”

“What?”

“Because my boy is the owner of this duchy. When do we leave the duchy of Cernoir?”

“Um. . .I'm thinking of staying for another month. . .the view here is so beautiful,” the man replied evasively, adding words. The man seemed to be embarrassed when Elody told him to come to the castle.

“Then come to the castle a few days before you leave.”

“. . . Pardon?”

“Come on, let's go!” At the end of the words, Elody grabbed and dragged Brienne's arm.

“Are you sure, madam?” Brienne asked.

I've done it.

Elody was puzzled at herself, acting very impulsively. However, business was the most important thing when it came to making money. To make money, she had to lead a trader group or have a specific group to do business with directly. The bigger the group, the better.

That's why she told him to come to the castle when he said he was the owner of the group of merchants of Rondia.

You don't have anything to sell. . .but since he said he's staying for another month. . .

Elody had to prepare something worthy of trading before the month ended. She had a rough idea, but she wasn't sure since it hadn't been tested yet. Still, she thought, if I combine the samples and ideas collected so far, I will be able to get something. Of course, even if I fail to make a deal, it is a good opportunity to get acquainted with the owner of the huge group of merchants.

“Let's go now!” Brienne said.

Elody hurried to the place where the herb merchants were. They bumped into Marie on the way and she looked surprised at Caville's swollen eyes.

“Oh! my lord, why are your eyes…….Did you cry?” She asked.

In response, Caville buried his head on Brienne’s shoulders and covered his face in shame.

“Oh, come on, come on!” Elody said.

Elody was in such a hurry, Marie failed to get a proper explanation concerning Caville's swollen eyes. The first market visit ended with Elody's impatience.

***

Elody, who returned to the castle, let Caville wash first in the bathroom and then organized the samples she had collected. For months, Caville's bath was left to Norman, the butler. He was getting bigger, so she couldn't keep washing him.He's grown more than he did last year.

Norman was one of the few adults Caville felt friendly with. That's why she left Caville with him.

Elody agonized over a list of sample herbs and magic drugs from the market. Most of the magic drugs on the market were fake or weak in effect. Many also had side effects.

And magic drugs like treatments and painkillers that could work for her needs, those were too expensive. Therefore, ordinary farmers dried medicinal herbs from the local doctors and drank tea. It didn’t always work. In addition, they had to visit the temples for illnesses or injuries that were too serious for the local doctors.

However, there were no temples in the duchy of Cernoir except for empty ones.

What should I make?

If she didn't make the proper item for trade within a month, she was just going to have a friendship with the merchant, and nothing more. Another opportunity would come when Sirka was served as a guest.

I can't treat the visitor with disappointment, so I'll have to feed him something delicious.

Anyway, it was important for Elody to study magic drugs, even if she didn’t make money off of them. If she did, she could cure the incurable diseases that would overtake her in the future.

I need to develop and trade anything I can with my magic drug abilities. The nobles of the world were not happy with trade. The reason was simple. The nobles were not pleased with the idea of other nobles of other duchies making money through trade. That’s just how they were. The former duke was the same, that’s why the commercial district of the duchy had not developed much. In Elody's eyes, the nobles looked like idiots who cared only about immediate problems. It was the same in real history.

“Wife. . .”

Before she knew it, Caville, who had washed up and changed into his pajamas, came wriggling into the room. Even at the age of eight, Caville was much smaller than his peers.

“Did you wash up, Caville?”

“Yes,” he said.

Caville was still frightened by what he had experienced in the marketplace, and he had been acting downtrodden since arriving at the castle. He looked pitiful.

“Come on, let's go to bed early today. I'll put you to sleep.”

“What about you, wife? Aren't you sleeping?”

“Not yet, I have something to study. You don't have to worry, I’ll stay right here.”

“Really? You're not going, are you?”

“Of course, I've got nowhere to go. I'll be right next to you.”

“Okay.” Caville lay on the bed with anxious eyes. Elody covered his chest with a thick blanket and lay down beside him.

“Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?”

“Yes, please.”

Elody patted Caville on the chest with an even beat and began singing the lullaby. Maybe he was tired, but after a while, Caville's eyelids slowly blinked.

“Good night, my baby,” Elody sang.

Even before the song was over, Caville fell asleep. He looked adorable because of how well he slept and ate. He looked as cute as an angel when he fell asleep. Elody kissed Caville gently on the back of his hand and got out of the bed.