Volume 8, Chapter 36 – The Eldest Princess Stuck Like Glue

The nursery for the children couldn’t possibly be located within the noble district. Fia followed the directions the Watcher had given her back then, plus asking residents in the city, before finally finding the location. The city of Blossom, with its population of over a million, was simply too vast. By the time Fia arrived, both her own and Lucitine’s stomachs were growling.

“If only Anastasia were here.”

Fia, arriving at a corner of the city, murmured softly. Usually, trivial matters like this were things Anastasia helped her remember.

“So this is the place called a nursery?”

Lucitine observed the nursery, which resembled a church in appearance but looked rather dilapidated. The mottled, peeling exterior walls indicated it hadn’t been repaired in many years.

“How come it’s not splendid at all?”

Lucitine looked puzzled. Walking all the way from the noble district, she could clearly feel the changes in the gap between rich and poor. The noble district was spacious and clean, the pedestrians very polite. But leaving the noble district for the commoner quarters, the streets became quite crowded. In front of every household were piled everyday items like firewood, chairs, and barrels, and a strange, unpleasant smell hung in the air—a mix of musty, air-dried clothes and the sourness of sweat.

As for the block where the nursery was located, the houses could be described as sparse. Stone and wooden buildings were no longer packed closely together. The ground wasn’t paved with stone slabs. The streets were entirely filled with beastmen and humans dressed in short-sleeved shirts and short pants; elves were rare. Their clothes were patched with various colors, and their dirty appearance and thin figures reflected that they belonged to Blossom’s poor. On the way here, Lucitine had also noticed these people sharing a subtle-looking dish—it looked like a roasted rat.

Fia withdrew her gaze from the nearby beastmen and humans—mostly women and children, sitting at their doorsteps, staring blankly at her and Lucitine, two people whose attire didn’t fit the environment. She shook her head at Lucitine.

“Nurseries are places like this. If they’re built too well, it will cause all sorts of unexpected trouble.”

The simple reasoning was that a nursery only needed to guarantee shelter from wind and rain, and ensure the children inside were fed and clothed. Investing too much would make it a tool for those with ulterior motives to profit.

First, the nursery’s administrators might take kickbacks on food, building materials, and staff selection. Along with that, merchants supplying these materials would get involved. For example, if the nursery provided fine white bread to the children, that bread would hardly end up in the children’s hands. It would either be withheld and consumed internally by staff, or resold to others. In this process, children were always the vulnerable group.

Second, it would increase families’ willingness to abandon their children. Some families, to give their children a better life than usual, or to save expenses, would proactively abandon their children, letting them be taken in by the nursery, thinking they’d found a good place for their child and wouldn’t suffer pangs of conscience.

To avoid these situations, nurseries only needed to provide food adequate to prevent starvation—nothing too good. These were words Fia had overheard when Anastasia was convincing the Watcher.

Fia repeated what she’d heard to Lucitine, who nodded thoughtfully.

“So the living are troubled by money. In our undead world, there’s no concept of money.”

“The undead lack the desires of the living, so they don’t need things like money. The living are creatures who, in pursuit of a more comfortable life, willingly take on layer upon layer of shackles.”

“What does that mean?”

“Lucitine doesn’t need to know.”

Fia smiled wryly and shook her head. These concepts were still too early for Lucitine.

She stepped forward and pushed open the church door.

What greeted them was an exceptionally subtle smell.

A moldy, greasy, sour-rotten odor. Although it was summer, the air felt cold and damp, reminiscent of the strange smell of a refrigerator piled with leftovers.

If she hadn’t mentally prepared herself, Fia would have instinctively held her breath the moment she entered. But even so, it still took her a moment to recover and survey this church.

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It was about the size of three or four classrooms. The path from the door to the far end of the church was clear, but both sides were lined with tables and chairs bearing the marks of age. The deity statue at the far end had long been removed, replaced by a teaching blackboard. The floor was covered with dark, sticky spots here and there; stepping on them gave a tacky feeling. Fia guessed this was the result of someone spilling meals long ago that hadn’t been cleaned up properly.

“Visitors?”

Hearing the door open, a middle-aged woman wiping tables in the empty church looked over. Although the woman wore a headscarf, Fia could tell from the slight bulge on top that she was a beastman.

After glancing at the paper bags Fia and Lucitine were carrying, the middle-aged woman looked away and continued wiping tables.

“This is a nursery, not the orphanage run by Her Highness the Third Princess. You two ladies have come to the wrong place.”

“We did come to the nursery. Aren’t nurseries and orphanages the same? What’s the difference?”

“Huh?” As if hearing something unbelievable, the middle-aged woman stopped bending to wipe and stared at Fia and the others in surprise. “But this is a nursery, not an orphanage.”

Still no explanation.

Fia decided to get to the point.

“Where’s your director? I’ll go find her. Also, have the children here eaten breakfast yet?”

“Breakfast? It’s not noon yet. The director is supervising the children working in the backyard. You two ladies really came to our nursery?”

“Yes.”

“I… I understand. I’ll take you two ladies to see the director right away.”

The middle-aged woman looked at them with an extremely rare expression. She wiped her hands with a rag and hurriedly led Fia and the others through the side door of the church.

The backyard the woman mentioned was on a small hill behind the church. Fia and Lucitine had to slowly make their way up a mountain path with weeds growing on both sides. Branches stretching out from left and right, and mosquitoes occasionally flying into their faces, made Fia uncomfortable.

Thanks to the slow pace, Fia learned a fair amount of unheard-of information from the middle-aged woman—like why the woman had thought Fia came to the wrong place.

Although in terms of function, nurseries and orphanages were the same—both took in homeless orphans—because the founders and the adopted people differed, treatment also varied greatly.

The orphanage was an institution established by Liti in the past to perfect her image as a kind and gentle princess. Since Liti had no real power, the orphanage operated under Liti’s name but was run by ministers. And since it was run by elf ministers, under the tradition of discriminating against other races, it naturally only took in elf orphans. Moreover, due to budget issues, it would deliberately filter children with talents in certain areas.

Under these circumstances, the orphanage naturally received praise from fellow elves, along with donations and sympathy visits. Kind-hearted elf merchants and nobles would donate from time to time, and occasionally kind noble ladies or heiresses would visit, selecting suitable attendants or adopted children to take home. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was a place for screening potential recruits for the nobility.

In contrast, the nursery had only recently been established. People only knew it was founded by Silvar nobles to raise the children of exiles brought back from the Land of Exile. No one knew exactly who proposed it. Plus, most of the children taken in were humans and beastmen. With these two labels attached, the nursery naturally ended up disliked by elves. So there were no donations, no visitors. This was why the middle-aged woman initially thought Fia and the others had come to the wrong place.

Furthermore, although Fia had allocated considerable funds, on one hand, the number of children brought back from the Land of Exile was too large. On the other hand, the nursery also took on the orphanage’s function. Located in the slums, it inevitably saw infants abandoned at its door. The nursery had no choice but to take in these infants as well. One thing led to another, even with Fia’s substantial allocations, the nursery faced the predicament of expenditures exceeding income.

The biggest expenses were wages and food. Raising infants was a heavy task that allowed no carelessness. If wages were too low, no one would do it. Food went without saying. Hence the scene Fia now witnessed—the nursery was very poor, with only one caregiver cleaning in the entire church.

“But if staff wages are the biggest expense, why don’t I see any staff?”

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Lucitine, walking behind Fia, tilted her head. Although this was her first time in a place with such an abundant natural atmosphere, she was more interested in the living’s humanities.

“Thanks to the Eldest Princess…” As if realizing she’d let something slip, the middle-aged woman quickly covered her mouth and guiltily corrected herself, “Thanks to the director’s blessing, the nursery isn’t just one place. We divide children by age into different nurseries. The ones here are those who will reach adulthood in a few years. The younger ones who need care live in more rural areas.”

“Why do the children who need the most care live in the countryside? Shouldn’t they be in the city center with better conditions?”

“Didn’t you know? Hiring people is cheaper in more rural areas.”

Lucitine looked thoughtful, but Fia thought she probably didn’t fully understand. When the woman said rural labor was cheap, besides the difference between city and countryside, there was also racial discrimination.

Beastmen and humans were discriminated races in Blossom. Because they were discriminated against, they couldn’t find good jobs. Because they couldn’t find good jobs, they had no money. And because they had no money, they could only live on the city’s edges and in the countryside.

Like the beastmen women Fia had seen squatting by the roadside watching her and Lucitine on the way here—they were squatting because they couldn’t find work, not because they were so well-off they didn’t need to work. If there was work to be done, even heavy physical labor, they’d be willing. Let alone caring for infants, which was much lighter than carrying logs or cutting trees.

After continuing for a while, Lucitine’s stomach growled again. Helpless, Fia had her eat some of the baked flatbread from the paper bag to stave off hunger. Originally, Fia had planned to distribute the flatbread to the children here, then find a quiet place with Lucitine to eat and explain the rules of the living world.

“ Sniff sniff… there’s a nice smell.”

Sniffing at the golden flatbread with its crispy outer layer, Lucitine exclaimed sincerely.

Fia just found it amusing.

“You find everything nice-smelling.”

“I’m serious! The undead world doesn’t have these things. Before, I could only imagine what they tasted like from books and others’ descriptions.”

Lucitine’s eyes widened as she explained seriously. Then she stuck out her tongue and licked the sesame-speckled surface of the flatbread, her gaze growing dreamy.

“Didn’t you have your subordinates bring back local specialties from the living world? Undead can’t taste, but they still have smell, otherwise Lucitine wouldn’t talk about the air being sweet.”

“That’s true… but how could I bring that up with my subordinates? They see me as a deity. How could I, a dignified god, send my believers out to bring back something they despise? That would not only embarrass me, but also make future Venexes look foolish. Besides, things like flowers wither the moment they enter the kingdom of the dead. They can’t be brought in.”

“…That’s true. I forgot about your image among the undead.”

Right now, Lucitine showed no sign of being an undead queen, which made Fia forget how the undead perceived her. Thinking about it carefully, less than three years had passed since Lucitine’s replacement. That meant the consciousness currently inhabiting her body was actually less than three years old.

What a waste of such an elegant older sister’s body.

Muttering internally, Fia turned to look at Lucitine. The latter had opened her mouth wide and taken a big bite of the flatbread, leaving a large curved gap and a neat row of teeth marks, reminiscent of legends about the heavenly dog eating the moon.

As Fia expected, Lucitine’s pupils instantly dilated, and stars exploded in her eyes like she’d discovered a new world.

She’s going to say “delicious.”

Fia guessed. But unexpectedly, Lucitine quickly swallowed the sesame flatbread in a few bites, then blinked and held out the crescent-shaped flatbread to Fia.

“Does Fia want some?”

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“If I wanted to eat, I’d take it from the bag myself.”

“Then why was Fia staring at me?”

Just because I think you look cute eating like a squirrel.

But since Lucitine had already brought the flatbread to her lips, Fia, who also hadn’t eaten breakfast, was drawn by the food’s smell. She glanced at the flatbread tickling her cheek, then took a bite.

The texture was quite hard, and the flavor was unremarkable, but it was good enough to fill the stomach. The sesame on the surface elevated the fragrance a notch.

Lucitine would probably ask her, “How does it taste?” She’d just go along and say it was good too.

Thinking such thoughts, Fia suddenly felt a fragrant breeze brush her face, followed by something soft and aromatic lightly pecking the corner of her mouth. Her eyes flew wide open as she watched Lucitine’s lips, which had just kissed her, slowly retreat.

Her cheeks flushed rapidly, and her mind heated up just as fast.

“Hey.”

Isn’t this girl an idiot? How did she know to suddenly attack?

Even Fia, with her high resistance, couldn’t help but blush and sweat. She could already hear the beastman woman clicking her tongue, muttering something in beastman language about declining public morals.

“Hmm… Same flatbread, but the one near Fia’s mouth is sweeter.”

As if giving her impressions after tasting, Lucitine sighed softly, savoring the flavor in her mouth. She hadn’t purely suddenly attacked; she’d seen flatbread crumbs at the corner of Fia’s mouth, so she bent down and gently licked them away with her tongue.

Of course, she wasn’t so innocent as to merely think it would be wasteful.

Looking at Fia’s flushed face, as if relishing the moment, she lightly touched her own lips with her finger.

“This is the taste of love, right? Even though it’s the same thing, the one Fia ate was more delicious. And this feeling of my heart pounding… I think I understand a little.”

“You—”

Fia wanted to say something, but didn’t know what was appropriate.

Good thing her first kiss had long been given to Claire, otherwise she’d regret it for life.

Forcing down the embarrassment of being kissed, Fia put her hands on her hips in exasperation.

“Keep this up and I’ll start charging you.”

“How much?”

“…”

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As if sensing Fia’s speechlessness, Lucitine awkwardly averted her gaze and forced a smile.

“Ahaha, I’m just joking, joking. Because I heard maids mention it before, I always wanted to try what this lovers’ feeling was like. I don’t know anyone else, so I could only try with Fia.”

“Exactly, that’s something only lovers can do. We’re not lovers yet. You need to mind your boundaries. With any other woman, they’d either be crying that you stole their first kiss, or they’d have already slapped you.”

“Then the fact that Fia didn’t do that means Fia also has feelings for me?”

“No, it just means I’m very mature.”

Fia closed her eyes and puffed out her chest.

“Eh,” although she didn’t get the expected answer, Lucitine wasn’t discouraged at all. On the contrary, using her height advantage, she intimately put her free arm around Fia’s shoulder, her face full of pride. “Anyway, I only recognize Fia. Even if Fia wants to shake me off, I’ll keep clinging to Fia.”

“Are you a slug?”

“Even if I am, Fia made me. Who asked you to give me, the Queen of Death, a living body?”

“…”

Do you even have any self-awareness of being the Queen of Death? Was that you facing the human envoy before?

Fia felt like she’d attracted a fly buzzing in her ear every day, and one that suddenly attacked, making her embarrassed too.

Suddenly, Lucitine quieted down. This unusual silence made Fia turn to look at Lucitine’s elegant, queenly face. Lucitine had rested her chin on Fia’s right shoulder. She reached out and took Fia’s right palm, staring intently at Fia’s little finger.

“This ruby ring… somehow feels very familiar. It seems like it’s been glowing since the first time I saw Fia.”

“—!”

As if electrocuted, Fia snatched her hand back and distanced herself from Lucitine. Sensing Fia’s tension, Lucitine also stopped walking. Like a child who’d done something wrong, she hunched her shoulders slightly, looked apologetic, and timidly gazed at Fia’s face.

“Did… did I do something wrong?”

“No, Lucitine did nothing wrong. I overreacted.”

Fia, having almost thought Lucitine had discovered her connection with Chaos, breathed a sigh of relief. Recovering from her on-guard expression, she instead put on a helpless tone.

“This contains Anastasia’s soul. Speaking of which, Lucitine is the Queen of Death who controls souls. Your understanding of souls should be more thorough than anyone’s. Does Lucitine know how to extract the soul from this ring and preserve it properly?”

“I don’t quite understand what Fia means. Anastasia is that golden-haired elf, isn’t she? She’s alive and well, right?”

“This is a long story. Let me tell you from the beginning.”