Chapter 105

Yelena felt shocked as she looked at the boy. He was just so young. Although it might have been exaggerated by the fact that he was dangling from the hands of a fully-grown man, he really was just a squirt.

‘For a youngster like this, to…’

Had he really been about to throw that stone at Anna? After all, the stone wasn’t all that small. Even an adult would be seriously injured if they received a direct hit from a stone that size. Much less Anna.

“You all, just what do you think you’re doing here?”

“…”

“…Anna, come here.”

Anna, who had been crouching in the corner, immediately ran over to Yelena and hid behind her while grabbing hold of Yelena’s skirt.

This sight reminded Yelena of a moment she had experienced in the future.

‘Although we couldn’t be born on the same day and at the same time, we can at least choose to go together.’

It was the sight of Anna closing the door after hiding Yelena in the secret alcove.

Yelena bit her lip in anger.

“Just why are you doing something like this?”

“…”

“You there, give me an answer.”

The boy she directed this to flinched. She had picked the boy who was currently dangling from Max’s hand.

Hesitating for a moment, the boy soon spoke up, “I-It’s just what mom and dad are saying. That we can’t let them stay here.”

“What?”

“They said that we need to make them return to their own fief… that that would be the fair thing to do.”

As Yelena listened to the child’s explanation, she suddenly recalled the words that the children had been throwing around a while ago.

Foreigner. Outsider.

Those weren’t the sort of words that would come out of the mouths of children who were only six or seven years old.

That went for ‘parasite’ as well.

“No way…”

Her face hardened like stone, Yelena gave her attending maid a look.

“…are there really residents in our territory who are looking at Anna and Han’s families with dissatisfaction?”

If there were, it must be because Anna and Hans were both being supported by the Duke’s castle.

In a flustered tone, the attending maid cautiously replied, “It’s true that there was some turmoil at the very beginning. However, after some were punished to set an example, I heard that things had calmed down, but…”

Yelena let out a snort.

The situation was clear. Since they couldn’t express their distaste directly, they had decided to use their children instead.

“…how much is the monthly subsidy for each of the two households?”

“If I recall correctly it is…”

Yelena’s expression hardened even further upon hearing the sum that the attending maid quoted.

The money wasn’t all that much. And this wasn’t just because of Yelena’s perspective as a noble, it truly wasn’t a large amount. It was just enough money for each household to keep the budget of a single mother and her child afloat, not a penny more.

‘By setting the sponsorship amounts at this level, Ben must have been taking into account any backlash from the fief’s residents from the very start.’

However, if there was one thing that Ben didn’t take into account, it was that there were always people who didn’t act according to common sense.

Yelena lowered her gaze and scanned the children. Among these children here, there was not a single one whose clothes appeared any worse than Anna’s.

For the moment, Yelena kept herself from saying anything as she tried to keep a hold of her emotions. If she opened her mouth now, it felt like she might take out all of her rage on these undeserving children.

Of course it wasn’t like these children were faultless. However they were too young to be held fully accountable. The ones who should be confessing their sins and repenting, were the adults who shamelessly tried to conceal their blatant acts by cowardly hiding behind their children.

Just as Yelena was taking a few deep breaths in order to settle her anger, the sun emerged from behind the clouds to light up the whole alley.

Suddenly, one of the children asked a question in a low voice, “…are you really an angel?”

The boy was looking straight at Yelena as he asked this.

“…?”

The boy’s puzzled words seemed to act as some sort of signal. Starting with his question, similar inquiries began pouring in towards her from the other children.

“You’re an angel, right?”

“Are you here to punish us, Ms. Angel?”

“Did we do something bad?”

“If we get punished by Ms. Angel, does that mean we’re going to hell…?”

Yelena, who was puzzled by this abrupt outburst, soon realized what was going on.

Today, Yelena was wearing a white dress.

On top of that, her silver hair was so bright that at first glance it might look white. Because of this, it was often compared to the silver lining of a cloud.

White clothes, pale hair, along with her fair skin. And adding the final touch to this scene, was the sunlight pouring down onto Yelena.

With the help of a little imagination, all this would explain how Yelena, who appeared to be shining with an inner light, became an angel when reflected through the children’s eyes.

After staring blankly between the children and Yelena, Max spoke up as if to agree with them, “Indeed, she really does look-”

“…”

“My apologies.”

After receiving a fierce glare from the attending maid, Max immediately shut his mouth.

Yelena was perplexed. She hadn’t expected such a misunderstanding to occur.

‘So the reason why they fell silent as soon as I showed up was…’

When they had first caught sight of Yelena, the children had all fallen silent, as if they were all of one mind. She had thought that it was just from the surprise of an adult appearing.

Upon seeing how these children had fallen into a collective delusion, Yelena hesitated, but eventually said, “…that’s right. I am an angel. I’ve come here to punish bad children like you, who bully others.”

“Uwaaah!”