Volume 1, Chapter 11 – Claire

Despite her young age—only sixteen or seventeen—the girl’s demeanor and tone of voice exuded an irresistible charm, as though she were the ruler of the world.

A bizarre question.

Fia couldn’t help but glance at the girl’s face. Those deep, emerald-green eyes brimmed with intense curiosity, and upon closer inspection, there was even a hint of probing in them.

However, she stood too close to Fia, so close that Fia could smell the fragrant scent wafting from her. Fia had no experience facing such a beautiful woman and had no idea where to direct her gaze. For a moment, she could only awkwardly shift her eyes to the ground beside them.

“Scared? Why would you think that?”

“Like when you see a giant monster or something chaotic?”

The girl pressed further.

No, no, ordinary people wouldn’t think that way at all. You’re a beauty on par with an elf princess—are you just naturally like this? But this is too much. At your age, you should have some awareness of your own beauty.

Blushing, Fia could only answer honestly, despite her embarrassment.

“No. I just thought you were beautiful, so I couldn’t help but stare a little. What are you doing here so late at night?”

“You’re not afraid of me? What an extraordinary girl.”

The girl lightly covered her mouth with her hand, her tone and eyes betraying surprise. But soon, she regained her composed demeanor. She took a small step back, maintaining a polite distance, and placed her right hand over her chest with a smile.

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“Claire. That’s my name. I’m just a commoner, so I have no family name. I’m here this late to check if the slaves here have been tainted by the Darkborn. Ah, I’m not from the Holy Kingdom—I’m a doctor living nearby. You… you’re a noble, aren’t you?”

Just a commoner?

That was impossible to believe.

Even if Claire’s tone was dripping with sincerity, anyone else listening would think she was lying.

No commoner could carry herself with the aura of a goddess descended to the mortal world, especially with those silver lights that had seemed to gather around her earlier. It was hard to believe this girl was ordinary.

Yet, deep down, Fia’s intuition told her Claire wasn’t deceiving her. Everything she said was true.

Fia couldn’t help but steal another glance at Claire’s emerald eyes. Within those profound depths, she found nothing but sincerity.

Seeing that Fia didn’t respond, Claire lowered her hand from her chest and tilted her body slightly, making way.

“No need to answer if you don’t want to. I know elves aren’t treated well in the Holy Kingdom, and I don’t want to get involved in the conflicts between the Holy Kingdom and the elves. But I have a small request—could you help me feed this food to the cat-eared child over there? She’s too afraid of me to take the bread from my hands, but I think if it’s you, she might accept it. You’re cute—I’m sure she’ll like you.”

Calling someone cute upon first meeting could be considered rude, couldn’t it?

Though Fia thought this, she didn’t actually feel offended. For some reason, being called cute by Claire stirred a faint joy in her heart. It might seem hard to understand or even shameless, but Fia truly felt happy being praised like this.

Even though she had only recently embraced her identity as a woman, such a reaction was hardly something to be proud of.

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With a slightly tsundere tone, Fia retorted, unwilling to be outdone.

“If even a beauty like you can’t get her to accept food, there’s no way I’ll make a difference. She’s probably just reacting to the stress of her environment changing, or maybe she resents us free people looking down on her.” Saying this, Fia took the bread Claire handed her. “But since you asked, I’ll give it a try. My name is Dofi—no, Fia.”

“Thank you.”

Holding the small loaf of black bread in her palm, Fia followed Claire to the human-sized iron cage where the latter had been standing earlier.

Inside the cage was a cat-eared girl wrapped in a gray cloth. Likely due to chronic malnutrition, she was extremely thin, with almost no visible muscle—just skin covered in grime clinging tightly to her bones. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her breathing was weak.

Though cat-eared girls in comics often seemed cute, Fia felt no such thing looking at this girl—only pity.

“At first, many buyers wanted to purchase her, but her temper was so fierce that she scared them all away. In the end, she became worthless as a slave. Her current owner probably wants to starve her into submission, but it seems they went too far. At this rate, she won’t last another two days.”

Claire explained from behind Fia.

“Then why don’t you just buy her and take her away?”

“I do plan to buy her, but I can’t take care of them forever. I have my own mission. Besides, I’m cursed—everyone fears me. Even if I wanted to buy them, they wouldn’t want to come with me. Like this.”

Her tone was matter-of-fact, laced with resignation. Claire stepped forward, approaching the cat-eared girl curled up in the cage.

In less than a second, the girl’s eyes flew open, and she scrambled back to the farthest corner of the cage, trembling violently—her legs, teeth, and even her tail curled up in fear. Her eyes were filled with terror, as though Claire weren’t a moon elf but some monstrous beast.

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She really was afraid of Claire.

Yet Fia felt no fear from Claire at all.

“You’re scaring her. Let me handle it.”

Urging Claire to step back, Fia blocked the cat-eared girl’s line of sight and extended the black bread toward her.

Unlike when Claire approached, the fear in the girl’s eyes gradually lessened. After sniffing the air a few times to confirm it was food, she lunged forward like a starving wolf, snatching the bread from Fia’s open palm and devouring it ravenously.

It was a sight too pitiful to watch.

The miserable scene made Fia instinctively avert her gaze. Maybe she should talk to Anastasia about buying this girl and setting her free.

But—

Could she really ask Anastasia for this? She still didn’t know how Anastasia would respond to her, yet here she was, making demands left and right. Wouldn’t that be shameless?

As Fia lost herself in these thoughts, the cat-eared girl finished the bread and began licking the crumbs off the ground.

A sense of irritation welled up inside her.

Fia reached into her pocket, pulled out some candies the elf princess carried, and placed them beside the girl before turning away. But contrary to her expectation—that the girl would immediately gobble them up—a timid yet grateful voice came from behind her.

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“Th… thank you…”

The cat-eared girl wasn’t very fluent in human speech.

‘You’re welcome.’

Fia didn’t say it aloud, merely waving a hand in acknowledgment before trudging gloomily toward the mansion.

“You helped her, yet you don’t seem happy at all.”

Claire’s voice reached her ears. She hadn’t left but was walking alongside Fia now.

“Of course I’m not happy. First, I run into an unprecedented mess, then a girl as beautiful as a fairy tricks me into witnessing the misery of slaves. No one would be happy in my place.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to help her. I didn’t realize you were in a bad mood.” Though her expression was apologetic, Fia sensed Claire studying her with a strange look, as though she’d seen something unbelievable. “As an apology, I can lend an ear to your troubles. I may look like a sheltered noble lady, but I’m actually quite good at solving problems. Maybe I can help.”

As she spoke, Claire stopped walking, clasped her hands behind her back, and smiled playfully.

Under the glow of the pale moonlight, those deep, pure emerald eyes radiated a mesmerizing, tender charm.

“So, shall we take a walk together?”