Chapter 1

“Elodia! What have you been doing all this time, not even cleaning properly while the children were bathing!”

“…I was doing it, but there’s just too much work.”

Smack!

“Talking back now, are you?”

“I’m sorry, Teacher.”

Young Elodia gripped the broom tightly with both hands and lowered her head.

Behind the teacher who had slapped Elodia’s cheek, the children who had washed themselves in warm water began to enter one by one.

The teacher turned to the children and soon smiled.

One child, shaking out still-damp hair and watching Elodia get scolded, said,

“That lowly thing must have done something wrong again.”

“She never does anything right.”

“Serves her right.”

“Let’s go to bed, everyone.”

At the gentle teacher’s voice, the children lined up and entered the room.

Left alone, Elodia continued sweeping the floor with her broom.

Elodia gathered the deliberately scattered dust, ashes, and rolling trash with her small hands and threw them into the trash bin.

As Elodia knelt and picked up the trash with both hands, the orphanage teacher looked down and spoke.

“Elodia.”

“…….”

“Don’t even dream of sleeping until you’ve cleaned up everything here. The children are sleeping, so don’t make any noise.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Once again left alone, Elodia hugged her knees and buried her head.

Elodia knew her situation well.

An orphanage for noble bastards.

A bundle of gold coins stuffed into the cloth that wrapped the child.

These children, if lucky, might get a chance to work in the noble family that abandoned them.

If a family had no heir, sometimes the child would inherit the family.

But that was extremely rare.

“In the end, we’re all abandoned…….”

Just like me.

Elodia couldn’t understand what made her different from the children sleeping soundly in the white bedding she had arranged.

But the head teacher always said,

「Elodia. You are different from these children. You have a very dirty, lowly bloodline. So, if you don’t want to offend ‘those people,’ you must live quietly, curled up at the bottom.」

The teacher always said,

「There wasn’t a single coin in your bundle, Elodia. Do you know what that means? Feeding you, clothing you, and giving you a place to sleep is a deficit for the orphanage. So don’t forget this grace.」

I see. Good blood and money are more important than anything.

After finishing the cleaning, Elodia stood up with the cleaning tools.

Clack.

She opened the storage room door and lay down on a thin blanket.

It was a place where she couldn’t sleep unless she curled up and hugged her knees because the cold seeped up from the floor.

“Ah, it’s so cold……”

That night, Elodia dreamed.

It was a dream of a pretty and gentle woman working at a ‘toy company.’

Unlike the orphanage teacher, the woman in the dream loved children very much.

She often donated money collected for the orphanage and spent time with the children.

She gave toys as gifts and played with them.

She didn’t seem to have a lot of money or great power.

But she seemed to love all the children equally.

Elodia approached the woman and grabbed her finger.

「Mom…?」

Could she really be her mom?

Was her mom appearing in her dream?

The woman turned to Elodia.

Meeting her gaze, Elodia felt her heart drop with a thud.

「Elodia.」

The woman knelt down and wiped Elodia’s flowing tears.

She hugged Elodia tightly.

‘Why did I forget you all this time?’

That woman… was me.

***

Bang.

“Guild Leader! What were you thinking so deeply that you didn’t even answer when called?”

“Huh? Ah, sorry. I dozed off for a moment.”

She massaged her numb arm after coming to her senses with her chin propped up.

‘Last night, I think I dreamed about something from long ago…….’

She tried to recall, but the loud voice of the assistant who entered the guild leader’s office scattered her already blurry memories.

“Is this the time for that? The Imperial Family isn’t likely to grant a noble title easily. We’ve delivered everything they wanted, but those people……!”

“Calm down. The Imperial Family hears what’s said by day, and the Mage Tower hears what’s said by night.”

She patted Jack’s shoulder.

“But didn’t they promise to give you a noble title?! Now they’re going back on their word, how can I not be frustrated?”

Jack ruffled his short hair fiercely. Unable to control his emotions, his face twisted with annoyance as he sighed.

“Shh. You’re agitated, Jack.”

But at her words, he soon straightened up and bowed his head.

“…I’m sorry. But if the deal with the Imperial Family really falls through… what will you do then?”

“Well. It’s already happened. What matters is what comes next.”

She already harbored many grudges against the Imperial Family. Now was the time to end this persistent relationship.

Even if it meant exile, she wouldn’t have to grovel like the Imperial Family’s dog anymore.

Because……

Watching Jack’s troubled face, she smiled brightly.

“Jack, those bastards never intended to give me a title. No, they never did from the start.”

“What?”

“They were just playing with me.”

“What… How do you know that?”

She pulled out a bundle of keys from inside her jacket and rose from the sofa.

Then, sitting in her office chair, she inserted a key into the top drawer and turned it.

Inside the drawer lay a black oval artifact.

“Look at this.”

Jack’s already fierce expression darkened further as he looked at the artifact she took out.

“It’s an artifact with a recording function.”

She pressed the button firmly.

-Your Majesty, will you really grant a noble title to the leader of the Everdeen Guild?

-……

-May I speak frankly?

-……

-Currently, the Everdeen Guild is receiving overwhelming support from commoners. Most of the guild’s sales are from commoners. I believe creating a precedent where a commoner becomes a noble should be avoided in this situation.

-That is my thought as well. If I grant the guild leader a title, the worms will all dream of becoming nobles.

Tap tap. The sound of fingernails tapping something was mixed in.

-Use them, and when they’re no longer useful, discard them.

Click.

With a noise from the artifact, the voices stopped.

She spoke indifferently.

“It’s time to be discarded.”

“Those bastards! We should storm in and slit the Emperor’s throat!”

“Watch your mouth.”

She looked up at Jack, bringing her index finger to her lips to signal him to be quiet.

Jack was a companion and subordinate who had grown through countless trials with her.

So the emotions Jack felt now weren’t much different from her own.

It wasn’t strange for him to be furious.

But since his voice was so loud, caution was needed. If anyone overheard, it would be hard to clean up the mess.

She curled her lips and began,

“We can’t just sit back and take this.”

“…Do you have a plan?”

“Well, I am Elodia Everdeen.”

Jack clenched his fist tightly.

“That surname…….”

Yes, it had become meaningless now.

But she had no intention of abandoning “Everdeen”—the name of the guild they had built together over the years, and the title that would have been hers.

She let out a light laugh and joked,

“Shall we go into exile like this?”

Jack, who had been bowing his head, looked up. He gazed at her with trembling eyes and hardened his expression.

“We can’t take all the employees with us. You know that, right? Too many eyes are watching.”

Upon hearing this, Jack bowed his head deeply again.

“You wouldn’t abandon us, Guild Leader.”

“You know me well. It’s not the right time yet.”

She tapped her desk with her fingers, lost in thought.

Commoners couldn’t own personal estates. Not just estates, but any real estate.

Even the buildings the Everdeen Guild used were rented monthly.

Because she, Elodia, the guild leader, was a commoner.

Even though she had enough money to buy the building and nearby land outright, she couldn’t.

“If things keep going like this, it’s only a matter of time before we lose our position in the Empire.”

“Hnnng.”

She drew a triangle on the paper with her fountain pen, pondering briefly.

The top vertex: Imperial Family.

Left: Mage Tower.

Right: Duke Fernande.

Having been abandoned by the Imperial Family, she had no choice but to join forces with one of the other three powers in the Empire.

She circled one spot and stood up. Then, she smashed the replica artifact with her fist.

Crack.

“We’re the ones doing the discarding. Not the Imperial Family.”

“Yes, yes, Guild Leader!”

“So don’t lose heart. I’ll take care of all of you.”

Even if she had to kneel at the feet of the powerful, press her forehead to the floor, and kiss their instep, she would take responsibility for her people.

Because she was Elodia Everdeen, the leader of the Everdeen Guild.