Pardon the Abduction, Holy Knight - It's an Emergency - Chapter 2.3

“Thank you for being kind to my sister.”

It was none other than Violet, smiling as radiantly as a fully bloomed spring flower.

“But this is my job, so would you please move along?”

“……”

I blinked silently.

Even after quite a long silence, Violet was still looking at me with a smile that hadn’t faded.

A moment later, I held out my hand.

“I didn’t give it to you, miss.”

“……”

“Please return it, as I gave it to the young lady here.”

Violet’s gaze passed over my hand once, then returned to where my face was.

With an expression that seemed not to understand the current situation.

“What the….”

Soon, the smile gradually disappeared from Violet’s face.

“Why does this keep happening? How, how can you care more about someone else than me?”

What is this… something an attention seeker would say?

Is she so shocked just because I paid more attention to Echo?

Is her way of thinking different because she’s the female lead who naturally receives everyone’s love?

I barely swallowed a scoff and asked.

“You speak as if that shouldn’t happen.”

“Of course it shouldn’t!”

Of course?

“I said it was already decided. No matter who’s beside me, it’s natural for them to be overshadowed by me…!”

Shadow… what?

I glanced at Echo.

Contrary to my worry that she might have been hurt by Violet’s words, Echo was still looking down without any particular reaction.

I looked back at Violet.

Ha. I barely managed to hold back a laugh that almost escaped.

“You have quite the self-awareness.”

“What did you say?”

“I don’t know why you consider that natural, but I’m telling you, miss, there’s nothing natural in this world.”

If this had been a world in a novel where people only lived according to their given roles, I wouldn’t have been able to even refute Violet’s statement.

But it’s not.

From the moment I entered, this place was no longer just a world in a novel, but ‘reality’.

A reality where one can change their fate according to their will.

At my words, Violet’s pure face turned red with shame.

“Who are you to say, what do you know?”

“Violet, has some troublesome situation arisen?”

Perhaps having seen Violet and me arguing from afar, the Marquis couple approached.

Violet, whose voice had been trembling with anger, barely suppressed her rage and tightly closed her mouth.

“Who might this person be?”

The former Marquis Berto narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down.

Then, as if he decided there was no need to deal with me at all, he tried to soothe Violet and take her away.

Echo was still an afterthought.

“What do I know, you ask?”

I looked at Echo, who had her head down, and spoke loud enough for Violet and the Marquis couple to hear.

“You may not want to believe it, miss. But I know more than you think.”

Violet, who was about to leave with the Marquis couple, hesitated and turned back.

“For instance, where the real jewel is.”

I smiled and gently placed my hand on Echo’s back.

Naturally, the Marquis couple’s gaze turned towards Echo.

Echo was the child who had found the family heirloom that the Marquis couple had been searching for so desperately.

Whether it was by chance or not, it was certain that Echo had shown her value to them.

You could tell just by how the Marquis couple’s attitude towards Echo had changed.

“What consequences might befall the noble lords who missed that.”

As I emphasized the word ‘consequences’, the Marquis couple flinched.

You know how it is, right?

Like when a complete stranger says something meaningful as they pass by on the street, and that phrase lingers in your mind for a long time.

I hoped my words would remain in their minds for a long time.

“Who are you to speak such words?”

“I apologize if I’ve offended you. It’s just the words of a passerby who can see a little bit of the future.”

I bowed slightly in greeting.

“You can ignore what I just said.”

Though it would be difficult to ignore, of course.

***

In a small room with the lights off.

A small back with long purple hair trembled pitifully.

“Sob… I shouldn’t cry….”

Echo tried to hold back her tears, but they wouldn’t stop.

It was because the shock from what happened during the day hadn’t subsided easily.

“I thought you had learned something from watching your sister. Was this father’s misunderstanding?”

Although she had always heard such comparisons. Was it because she was convinced she wouldn’t hear them anymore?

Echo could only shed tears in front of her suddenly changed parents.

Even after returning home, she kept blaming herself.

Thinking that this happened because she foolishly brought up the dress, because she forgot the teacher’s advice.

Just when she was thinking she’d rather disappear.

A forgotten memory surfaced in Echo’s mind.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, client.”

Words that no one else had ever said to her.

Only the teacher had told Echo that she wasn’t at fault.

“The teacher was right….”

In Echo’s eyes, there was an emotion too empty and lonely for a child to bear.

“No matter how hard I try….”

Mom and Dad don’t love me…

She now had to accept the truth she had been afraid to acknowledge and had been avoiding until now.

Echo, who had been craving her parents’ affection for a long time, felt rather relieved.

Ironically, it was the most comfortable night since coming to this house.

***

“Teacher, here… Big brother Lucian told me to give you the final consultation fee and a letter….”

I received the money pouch and letter envelope that Echo handed over.

The clinking sound of money was always pleasant to hear.

I put the pouch down on the table and raised my head.

Echo, who had been fidgeting and glancing at me, smiled broadly.

“It’s been a while since that day, hasn’t it?”

“Yes… I missed you, teacher….”

“……”

I scratched my cheek and asked.

“How are things with your parents these days?”

“Mom and Dad… they don’t smile at me, but they bought me a dress…. And they also said I could come to family meals….”

In other words, the Marquis couple was being cautious around Echo.

I guess my false prophecy is bothering them, huh?

“What about you, client? Are you alright?”

“I’m okay, teacher… Now I don’t feel sad even if Mom and Dad ignore me….”

Echo mumbled, almost to herself, while fidgeting with her fingers.

“But I think I’d be sad if you did that, teacher….”

Huh? Me, all of a sudden?

Echo glanced at me as if checking my reaction.

“You know, teacher….”

“Yes?”

“Can I come again?”

I wondered what she was going to say.

I looked around my house, which is also my shop.

This is a guild. A place where there’s no need to let anyone in unless they’re a client with money.

“I think I’ll be busy….”

At my mumbling, Echo’s large eyes trembled slightly.

“But well, if it’s occasionally….”

Wouldn’t that be okay?

Echo, who had been watching my expression with a tense face, soon broke into a wide smile.

“Yes…! I’ll come again…!”