Rea had dashed out of the banquet hall, but because of the strangely twisted roads, she couldn't get far.
She had an intuition that going right would lead endlessly into the forest owned by the estate, going left to the lodgings, and the middle path would flow into the village where commoners lived.
All of this was the work of a mage called Mistress.
With nowhere to go in any direction, Rea sat at the entrance of the path closest to the forest, buried her face in her bread bundle, and shed tears.
"Don't cry."
Nothing would change even if she cried.
She had spent many days enduring through tears, but no one had cared about the tears of Rea and Earei.
Even Queen Seorin.
Rea knew how futile tears were, and that people would only find her pathetic if she cried.
Her crying was met with hatred and contempt.
So she wouldn't cry.
These tears were merely a physical reaction.
She wasn't crying because she was sad.
Thinking that way made her feel much better.
Rea became expressionless as tears flowed.
Her already dry heart grew even drier.
"I was alone from the start."
There had been no one friendly to her.
The Baron and Baroness of Bashuport came to mind for a moment, but she knew that even in their hearts, resentment toward her had taken root.
It was a fact unrelated to whatever feelings she held for them.
"And I'm alone now, too. Nothing has changed."
Seorin came to mind.
But Seorin would not need her as a woman.
Rea didn't deny that the reason Seorin had taken an interest in Earei had nothing to do with the respect and consideration shown to her, but rather his usefulness.
Rea didn't deny it.
That she was alone.
But to prepare for the future, she must not be alone.
But,
But…
"I don't think I can do this anymore today…"
It was a self-confession akin to a sob.
Rea raised her head.
It was evening in the banquet hall, but outside, it was still broad daylight.
Rea pricked up her ears.
Because of magic, sounds from inside the banquet hall were blocked from leaking out.
"Hoooo…"
She looked up at the sky with red-rimmed eyes.
Keeping her head tilted back, Rea, who had lowered only her eyes to gaze at the middle path, kicked the ground and ran.
"Wait, Rearie!"
She heard a voice calling from behind but ignored it.
Whenever she answered the one calling her, greater insults or mockery came back.
Rea ran clutching her bread bundle.
The wind blew fiercely, her ears rang, and her tears dried in an instant.
Since she didn't blink, her eyelids stung.
Suddenly, she realized she was running without breathing.
She was running as fast as she had when she was a general, and her legs were screaming.
Having forgotten the pain due to her depression, Rea reached her limit and stopped as if collapsing forward.
"Haa, haa, haa…"
Spewing out her pent-up breath, Rea leaned against a tree.
It was a huge tree.
She had run frantically along the middle path, passed several houses, and arrived at a square with this tree.
Now that she thought about it, it was her first excursion since marrying Seorin.
She felt unfamiliar sensations and new senses.
At the thought of breathing different air, she could momentarily forget the sadness and depression Shuren had given her.
But it didn't last long.
When she saw it, Rea thought it was some kind of potato sack.
It writhed slightly, so she wondered if a large bug or small animal was inside, but when it soon lifted its head and she met its gloomy eyes, she realized it was a crouching child.
The child's hair was matted with oil, and their bones were gaunt.
They looked like a street urchin who had lost their parents.
Since she herself had been sold by her parents, Rea felt pity and pulled out a loaf of bread from her bundle.
The child, upon seeing the light brown bread, twitched their nose like a puppy and cautiously approached.
The child's eyes were full of wariness.
Rea gave a faint smile to signal reassurance.
When the child saw the smile of a beauty who looked even more forlorn than themselves, they instead pitied Rea and took the bread to their mouth.
The child's eyes, still not lowering their guard, widened.
Sweeter and softer than expected, the child soon began devouring the bread frantically.
"Eat slowly."
Rea, who had been reaching into her bundle in case the child asked for another, noticed countless gazes pouring onto her.
They were all children.
Children had been crouching and lying everywhere in the Great Tree Square.
"Where'd you get that?"
A mop-headed boy asked the child who was eating the bread.
The child pointed at Rea with their finger.
Rea smiled and held out bread.
The mop-head snatched it and held out his other hand.
"Give me more."
"I can't right now."
Rea roughly counted the number of children and shook her head.
"I'll give you more after the other kids each get one."
"There's no such thing, give me more!"
The mop-head stuffed the bread into his pocket and shouted spitefully.
"See? She has food! Let's take it all, eat our fill, and give the rest to the Sister!"
"Yeah!"
The children's eyes changed.
Feeling hostility, Rea stepped back, but the children approached in turn.
The positions of the wary and the waried had reversed.
"The bundle! She took bread out of that bundle!"
"Great, let's snatch the bundle first!"
"Waaaah—!"
The children swarmed.
Unable to hit the children, and exhausted from running all the way to Great Tree Square, Rea struggled to hug the bundle to her chest.
But several were already clinging to and pulling at the bundle.
Rea barely held onto the bundle's knot and endured.
With her weakened strength, holding on was all she could do.
"Hit her body! Make her fall!"
Having given the order, the mop-head charged to collide with her himself.
Rea, locked in a tug-of-war with the children, was on the verge of taking a beating helplessly.
"Once she falls, grab all the bread in the bundle and run!"
"Woooah—!"
More fired up by the children's cheers, the mop-head lowered his shoulder and took a tackling stance.
The boy who had run up to Rea put on a gleeful expression before being kicked by Viscountess Nerasmun, who had chased after Rea, and sent flying far away.
"Uwah!"
"Out of my way, you wretches."
The viscountess drew the Cinquedea, a short but thick dagger, and pointed it at the children.
Rea gasped at the well-honed weapon that could easily slice off the children's heads.
"Nerasmun! Don't!"
"Shut up. Do you know how out of breath I am from chasing you?"
Indeed, Nerasmun took a deep breath and aimed her blade at the children clinging to the bundle.
"Let go. If you're so hungry, I'll cut off your hands and shove them down your throats."
The children hastily let go of the bundle and rushed to the mop-headed boy.
"Durk!"
"Kuhack…!"
He coughed, but didn't seem to have taken much damage.
He seemed more shocked by the fact that he had simply been sent flying.
"You're the leader?"
Nerasmun had no intention of sparing them just because they were children.
The tip of the Cinquedea was aimed at the boy.
Even if it was a disguise, she was still someone who bore the undeniable noble title of Bashuport; the children had to pay the price for touching the hidden trump card called Birensha.
"But since they're kids, let's pierce their throats in one go and send them off with less pain."
This was the mercy Nerasmun bestowed.
"Hieek!"
"Nerasmun, don't!"
Rea stepped in front of the mop-headed boy who sensed death.
"Move."
"They're just hungry children."
"I think charging at and trying to rob someone just because you're hungry reaches a very dangerous territory, don't you?"
"That's what hunger is like."
"This is also what things are like. Eliminate threats first, ask questions later."
"Viscountess!"
"If I hadn't come, you might have been beaten to death by these brats or stripped naked and sold off. And these are ungrateful wretches who tried to harm someone trying to give them bread, at that."
A fierce battle of wills occurred, but Nerasmun was inwardly surprised.
Rea, who had helplessly suffered and cried among nobles, did not back down an inch for commoners.
"Hunger is that frightening."
"No matter how starved, nobles never abandon their pride."
"We have no pride, no titles, and no food. Is it a sin to want to live, even if it's miserable?"
"Sophistry. That can't be a reason to harm your benefactor."
"Likewise, that can't be a reason this child has to die."
Rea approached the mop-headed boy.
"Are you alright?"
"Hmph, like I'd apologize just because you—"
Smack!
"Ugh!"
Rea struck the boy's forehead with a palm and said coldly.
"That doesn't mean I said you wouldn't be punished."
"Uuuugh…!"
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
It hurt so much that the mop-headed boy burst into tears and begged.
"I was wroooong!!!!! Waaaaah!"
Rea swept her stern gaze over the children.
Intimidated by her momentum, the children could only fidget nearby.
Rea took out bread from her bundle and held it out to the mop-head, Durk.
"Here, the Sister's share."
"Waaaaah… Th-thank you…"
Perhaps the bread for the Sister was indeed important, for Durk accepted it even as he cried.
Rea opened her bundle.
It was filled with bread prepared as party supplies, of which hardly any had been eaten.
"Here! This is a gift bestowed upon you all by His Majesty King Seorin!"
Rea clapped her hands and spoke to the children.
"Those who want bread, line up in front of me and take one each! One each! No two!"
"B-but Durk got two…"
"I told you, it's the Sister's share. Make sure you give it to the Sister."
Having subdued the children in an instant, Rea took out a handkerchief and wiped Durk's tears.
"Don't do that again. Understood?"
"Hic… Yes…"
Nerasmun stood a short distance away and watched Rea handing out bread.
She really didn't like the sight.
"It's not even funny. You had a handkerchief, yet you didn't wipe your own tears?"
She'd been struck in a weak spot.
Who would have thought she'd hand out bread here invoking the Queen's name?
Whether it was calculated or improvised, it turned her stomach.
"Hmph, those children are only the beginning, Birensha."
Burning with resentment, the viscountess growled softly at Rea.
"The tragedy of the people your Queen neglected while making children, and the wounds of the nobles—they're only just beginning."
Whether she knew it or not, Rea's lips never stopped smiling at the joy of being helpful to others.