Ryan had been worrying about where he was going to stay, and now someone had come along to help him. The people of the Frank Empire were so nice! Thank goodness his mom had always told him to be a kind person. Now his kindness had been rewarded, and Ryan felt pretty satisfied.

“Mm. Come with me,” Brode said with a slight smile.

“Okay.” Ryan nodded, reassured.

Mara looked at the innocent smile on Ryan’s face and let out a pained sigh. She really was sorry for the kid.

After turning down a few streets, Brode led Ryan into a particularly dark alley. There wasn’t another soul around. Ryan realized something was wrong and asked, confused, “Where are you taking me? This place doesn’t look like it has an inn anywhere!”

But when Brode turned around, the smile of the reliable big brother from before was gone. In its place was a cruel, twisted face.

“Kid, I’m gonna teach you what it means not to trust people so easily. Mara, do it!” Brode shouted wildly.

“What do you mean?!” Ryan cried out in terror.

But it was already too late. Ryan felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. Then everything went black, and he fell to the cold ground. His last dazed look was fixed on Brode, who was rummaging through his pockets.

Why? Why was this happening?

Why were they doing this to me? Had I done something to offend them?!

Brode looked at the hatred in Ryan’s eyes and sneered. “Kid, if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for trusting people so easily. Here’s one piece of advice: you might become a great adventurer someday, but great adventurers know how hard people are to read. There are always so many reasons you have no choice but to do what you do, just to get by. Got it? Well, we’re off. See ya~”

Ryan squeezed his eyes shut in pain, and his consciousness slowly began to fade.

People are hard to read, huh......

......

Night.

Inside the library.

Elina clung to Alaya like a little squirrel and said in a sweet, pleading voice, “Mom~ It’s my birthday today. Can’t you let me go out and have some fun~?”

After having Elina cling to her for nearly half an hour, Alaya was getting a serious headache. But she couldn’t bring herself to chase away this Little Kitty.

It wasn’t that Alaya wouldn’t let her go out. It was just that, with Elina as popular as she was now, the moment she stepped outside, she’d be mobbed by people coming over to gawk at her. How could she enjoy a proper day out like that? All she could do was stay inside the castle.

As for taking high-ranking knights along, they could keep the crowds at bay, but then there’d be no point in going out at all. So Alaya was at a loss over what to do with Elina.

Eve and Caro stood to the side, looking just as helpless. Today, Elina was like a stubborn cat, refusing to listen to reason. She was determined to go out, and otherwise she’d just cling to Alaya and refuse to let go.

Elina insisted that she didn’t really want to go out all that much.....

What she really wanted was to get a closer look at how people were feeling—to see what ordinary people in the Frank Empire were really like, and what they thought of the things she’d said that morning.

That would help her figure out how to get along with them in the future. After all, as a princess, she couldn’t exactly spend every day drinking and shooting the breeze with commoners. She’d have to find another way to see how they lived.

When they reached an impasse, Eve suddenly had an idea. “What if Elina wears a hood and a mask to hide her face and hair, then puts on a hat to cover her hair? She could tuck her tail inside a cotton skirt and wear plain clothes. People wouldn’t recognize her unless they took a really close look.”

......