Chapter 8: The Night Market Can Brighten Up Your Day

----------------------------------------

Hikari bid goodbye to the girls; after the light-hearted conversation they had, it was closer to night-time. In fact, by the time they arrived home, they were promptly admonished by the staff.

A maid she had never seen before gripped her shoulders, saying “I can’t believe you girls were out so late!” though it may seem like honest kindness, the way her slender fingers exerted pressure onto her shoulders hurt. Hikari grit her teeth and smiled. She hoped no one saw the split second of wide-eyed shock she excibited, because that would be bad. Very bad indeed.

“Did you think it was fun?! If three heirs to several noble families are lost, who do you think takes the blame?!”

“That’s enough!”

“Who do you think you are!” came a shrill shout somewhere from the emerging crowd. The maid didn’t seem to care. Although she sported a worried and caring visage, the sheer mirth in her eyes was clear. She was enjoying this.

She was mocking her.

The girls were ruffled, and understandably so. While it was true they had been lost, it wasn’t their fault. The sudden encounter of the King and the Prince was something none of them could have accounted for! And what well-adjusted adult blamed a child for getting lost?

The four children put on display were confused by her actions, but found they couldn’t just boss her around. The audience made it so they had to act courteously...even towards the maids.

Hikari was actually surprised to see Michaela holding her tongue, but as her eyes ventured down, she saw the young girls’ hands shaking. Even though she wanted to wave the older woman away, she didn’t. Why was that?

Just as her friend Valerie opened her mouth to explain, Hikari decided to take the fall. She said: “We’re sorry. The road proved too troublesome for us to traverse. I hope you will forgive me. It was all my fault.”

Normally, Hikari wouldn’t have been so courteous, but she had to do some damage control. The horrible maid had attracted an audience; and while Hikari could care less about winning the Crown Princess Selection, she didn’t exactly want to cause a commotion. If it wasn’t already obvious, these children were very nosy. Hikari didn’t blame them - but it was definitely very uncomfortable to be in their presence at a time like this. The only other time she could recall was the first day she arrived.

She couldn’t let the maids tarnish her reputation. No doubt would it cause her life in high society to be much more difficult. Normally, you would just voice your concern and talk it out, right? But there was no such thing in this world. She had briefly forgotten the universe of this book...and if the nobles were horrid people, thought Hikari, whose to say the common folk weren’t the same?

‘Pff!’ Was that her mind playing tricks? She felt like she heard the older maid’s faint chuckle. Her eyes darted up from the ground, challenging. The maid said nothing and held her gaze.

It was horrible. She could still feel the looming threat that was the unstable maid. Her claw-like fingers, the teared skin underneath her pristine dress...Hikari wasn’t safe. She had angered someone, triggered some kind of event, and it was clear she was doomed.

She wasn’t some princess, she couldn’t just shed tears of beauty and expect a handsome male lead to save her; she was eight, dealing with an irate maid in front of a large crowd of uncaring young girls, and she wanted out. She didn’t have anybody to save her.

So she played along. Soon, the maid was placated and Hikari was finally allowed to move back into her room. She locked the door, slid down onto the ground in a fetal position and curled in. It was nothing at first. But as the minutes snailed by, her breathing quickened, and she realized with a jolt that she was crying. The tears were streaming down, and she couldn’t stop.

Instead of fighting it, she let herself let go.

‘That’s right...’

‘How did I last this long anyway?’

It had been five weeks since she woke up inside this horrid world. She knew no one, had yet to establish a single real connection, and lived in constant fear that if she said something, did something, or heard something significant, she would unleash some hidden terror, and she would die a brutal death. She was sick of it. Sick of living in fear and paranoia.

This incident showed that no matter what she did, she was still doomed. She had a small conversation with a friendly looking maid, and it spiraled into getting bullied by the most of the maids. She had largely attempted to ignore it, but...it was obvious.

They didn’t respect her. She had been ignored at morning; they didn’t send for a maid to dress her anymore. At first, she didn’t mind it. In fact, she was overjoyed - she was used to this. This was much more preferable. But before long, the treatment turned into smaller portions at breakfast, and she oddly considered if they did this because they knew of her strange ritual of eating in her bedroom. Considering the fact that the rest of the girls were allowed much more egregeous things (Lila Cookdale, 14, was allowed a personal salon including staff in her bedroom), Hikari didn’t think it was excessive at all.

However, it was obvious that they were targeting her. They were actually crazy enough to starve an eight-year-old. It made her blood boil. Not for her, mind - but for the fact that if she wasn’t here, young Renetia would have had to do through the same treatment. While she hated the little brat when she read the books, she could help but think that it was incidents like these that shaped the brat that eventually became a monster.

For now, she could only make assumptions. Still, it was strange to think of how it all came to be. She had no idea if it was that same suspiciously beautiful maid that slandered her to the rest; or maybe they saw an opening and readied themselves. They probably thought Renetia was an easy target. As she was right now, Hikari decided, she was.

An easy target indeed. So, with no further preamble, Hikari knew what she had to do. She dried her tears, washed off in the connected bathroom before preening herself. She unlocked the door carefully, and set about on an adventure. She was going to make some new friends.

She dressed down, which was very hard. Eventually, after browsing her closet, she was able to find a very dull dress. But it wasn't enough. To appear as a believable commoner, Hikari felt like she'd have to do something more. She tried her best to dirty her dress, picking up outside earth to make the dull dress appear worse off than it was.

Would it be enough?

That, alongside a hood, made for a less conspicuous overall look. Normally, this kind of look was impossible to achieve for a noble lady. Even if they wanted to appear like an average commoner, their soft hands, bright eyes, and pristine beauty developed over the years made it very difficult. Even so, Hikari wasn’t that discouraged. She opened her window and exited. Luckily for her, her room was overlooking a lake, and was on the lowest floor.

Her feet touched the grassy exterior and she sighed in relief.

She was outside.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

----------------------------------------

The sheer opulence of the nobles of this universe astounded Hikari at times. The further she walked away from the mansion, the grander it seemed; a marbled main house with many smaller compounds, overlooking a grand and beautiful sea. It was different than Renetia's house, which was darker in color and surrounded by a rare forest.

It had a real beach-side charm to it; color-ful and charming in a way only accessable by using light colors. Hikari assumed that, once all the brats had left, the Hessel family would make great use of its warm mood and beauty.

But the worst part? Apparently, the house wasn't even their main home! August, an old seller, told her as much.

"But how can they afford that?" asked Hikari. Either the Baron was richer than most nobility, or the nobles had squerrelled away more money than she thought possible.

"Who knows? Most of the townspeople have their ideas," he laughed. "Lopley from the parlor over there thinks he's secretly a slaver! A slaver! That's ridiculous in my book. If that was true, he'd be much more...you know, imposing! But you know him, always exaggerating," he paused. "Oh, wait. You don't know him yet. Well, he's a hoot!"

"He sounds like fun." 'It's not like that storyline hasn't been used in the Manga before'...but Hikari couldn't say that.

"He's a giant worrywart! Got it from his mother, but shh! Don't say that to anybody else." August grinned, a radiant smile overtaking him as he readied her order. It was a charming food stall. It was a lovely place.

"I won't. But, um..." Hikari began. "Wait, I've heard a rumor that that house belongs to a 'Florian'..."

"Huh, where'd you hear that? That's rubbish."

"Truly?"

"Yes! Everyone knows that that Mansion belongs to the Hessel Baron lineage. It's their ancestral home. Why, the King himself granted it to the Baron Pilgrim Hessel in Year 363 for saving him from an evil woman among his concubines! That home is their pride and joy." August prattled on, not realizing Hikari's eyes widening at the new information.

'Then...that means... Baron lied to me.' Hikari was getting really, really tired of that blonde-haired cheat. And if she had to be honest, his entire demeanor was hateful. His airy laugh, his nonchalance...it was like the man didn't know anxiety. It pissed her off.

And what was with the story August told her? An "Evil Woman"? Hikari was quick to doubt that was how it truly went down.Was that the whole story? Or was that woman simply a political enemy that the former Baron got rid of?

Thanking the old man and buying a large cup of fruit water, 'the specialty of Hessel County!', the old man insisted, Hikari slumped down beside a treetrunk. She was in deep thought. She had traversed outside in order to clear her head. She might not be a child, but staying inside the manor made her feel pissed beyond imagination. While she knew she could simply use her noble status...Hikari shuddered. That wasn't her, and that wasn't the right way to go about it. What if the maids were all executed? What if, by voicing her concern, she was demeaned by her competitors or word got back to her father? She didn't know how he would treat Renetia. He might spoil her, he might destroy her.

"My memories seem useless," muttered Hikari as she stared down into her cup, contemplative and sad. "No matter what I do, I arrive at the same train of thought. Why is this so difficult? ...It's too much."

"What's too much?" came a quick and sudden reply. Turning around quickly, she saw a young man sporting a confused look. He was beautiful; his purple eyes shone in the dark night. His raven hair had a hint of blue, and he seemed almost like a creature of the night, his features amplified by the cold dark night. He asked her question - and weirdly enough, she felt obligated to answer. He was but a stranger - what's the worst it could do?

"Who are you?"

"Just someone who's concerned." And Hikari realized that Night Market or not, a lone 8-year old walking around probably set off some alarms. "Where are your parents? I'll take you to them," the purple-eyed boy offered.

"I don't want to go home. If I go, I'll die."

"WHAT?!"

The sheer horror in the guy's face was so exaggerated it was funny. 'Am I a bad person for finding this funny?' Hikari wondered. 'Whatever, he seems funny.' He was that type of unintentionally funny person, and she wanted to laugh.

At least, that was what she told herself.

She leveled him with a weary look and answered. "I'm in a troubling scenario. I have to navigate all sorts of volatile people and strange situations, and it's all too much. How can I do that without feeling like I do now?" Hikari bit her lip. "Will I feel like that forever? Everything just seems impossible."

Hikari had never realized how much mental strain she was under. It was only here, away from all the important people, that she felt herself relax. Her shoulders easing, and only then could she feel the difference. Out here, nobody cared about her. It was only back inside that gilded Mansion that her every move was observed, and quite frankly, she was sick of it. She had tried playing this otome by the book. Truth of the matter was, she couldn't do it. The central plot began in 7 years' time. 7 more years of this?! Hikari was about to faint.

The boy rolled his neck and sat beside her. It was a wide tree trunk, and Hikari didn't mind. Besides, she noted, he was too old to really care about her that way. To him, she was just a sad child.

He looked at her and said, "Sounds tough." and then he made a motion to leave. Hikari's eye near bulged out of her socket.

"That's it?!"

The guy turned back slowly. "Yeah, ah...I don't know what to say."

"Okay, so?!"

"I just...I realized I might have been too presumptious. I don't know anything about you. What if I give you bad advice, and you act on it? Wait a little, I'll bring my dad. Or my grandma."

On a normal day, Hikari would have accepted the nervous boy's lament and bid him farewell. But it wasn't a normal day, she felt fury so deeply inside her tiny body that her body shook, and she just realized she needed someone to talk to. So this random guy would do nicely.

"I realize that, but you were the one who reached out to me first. Leaving me like that is plenty rude in my opinion."

"Ack! I said I was sorry...This is just too heavy!"

"And? Talk. To. Me. Be it pity, boredom or malice, I don't care. Just sit." Hikari had a strange feeling that her image was being tainted inside this poor guy's mind. But what was done was done.

The guy sat down and she began.

"My maid wants to kill me," she said. He jumped, "Your maid?! Won't she go to jail?"

"Yeah. Probably not. I don't know. It's kind of complicated."

"I had some other girls say as much to me. And while it could be they were lying, it seems plausible. Life is hard," she ends.

An uncomfortable silence stretched on, but she didn't care.

"I feel like my Dad doesn't love me," she said. "Why should he? My mom basically got pregnant with me in order to try and swindle him out of money and home," she sighed a long, painful sigh. "But I'm not like that. I would never take his money from him. It's his! I know that! But I don't think he knows that I know that."

"You know, I'm even hesitant to eat and sleep under the same roof as him! Not to mention the fact that all the staff know that story. I know they look at me funny!" She seethed. Then, that anger turned to misery.

"I just...I thought now that I was somewhere...else, things would be different. But they're not. Now, I have entirely new maids...and I cracked a joke with one. Do you know what she did? She ran away in tears. How...how bad at making friends am I?" A muffled sob escaped her mouth. Suddenly, speaking became too much. She had to stop.

"That's horrible," replied the boy.

Hikari noticed he had gotten closer during her tale, but she carried on. "Yeah! What did I even do to her? And before you think, 'Oh, you're one of those psychopathic Young Ladies that think maids are disposable, no! I don't! I respect them so much! They serve a bunch of annoying insignificant brats and get nothing in return. I simply wanted to help, is all! Seriously! I even offered to lessen her work, and the girl ran off crying. Now the rest of the maids plan to kill me," Hikari exclaimed. "Literally for no reason. I bet it's cause Baron Hessel's entertained before, and they had to deal with some other snotnosed brat who wreacked havoc. Why do I have to die because little Persephone treated her maids like dogs? I'm completely innocent!" Hikari ended her rant in a frustrated yell.

"...Are you sure they want to kill you?"

"Do you think I'd lie about something like this? In fact, this time tomorrow, I'll likely be lying in a grave."

"T-then, why are you so calm? And don't you think you're just misunderstanding? This is just...so dramatic. This can't be real! My dad's a fisherman, and he says all sorts of things about nobles, but your story's the craziest one yet!" The boy was pacing around, almost like it was him who was getting killed tomorrow. Even though it was morbid, it made Hikari smirk.

'What a goofball,' she thought.

"Yeah, well...that's nobles for you. They act all luxurious and dignified, but this is pretty much what they do. It's not your fault for not realizing that. They definitely try to hide as much as they can." Hikari thought back to the manga's #52 chapter, where a subplot involved a Princess Peridot who used her father's wealth to manipulate an entire town from a different country into obeying her flimsy demands. Back when she was Hikari in the Real World, reading that chapter made her pause in shock. That was a national issue, right? So how come it was covered up so meticulously! The peasants deserved to know!

It was ridiculous, really.

"How else could the nobles do as they wish? If you people knew what horrors were under their masks," said Hikari, her eyes growing dull.

"You'd have them all executed. And even that would not be enough." The institutions, the roads, the lifeblood of the country...all of it could at any point become obsolete in the hands of the greedy rich. The peasants were stuck with trusting them due to their lacking education - but that trust was most of the time repaid with derision and disgust.

How was that fair?

"What do you mean?" the boy said, growing concerned at the lack of light in Hikari's eyes.

"Nothing. Forget this talk, forget my ramblings," she said as she got back up. "It's not important."

As she turned to leave, the boy sprang up from his seat, enraged. "How can it not be important?! You look like you're going back to a lion's den! I-ah, um..." he grumbled, trying but failing to find the words to express his feelings. He was angry, Hikari decided. But not at her.

For her. Unexpectedly, Fisherman's Son was a stand-up guy. She smiled.

"Just, don't go. We'll figure something out," he tried. "Can't you stay in my house? Or if you want, you can stay at my friend Gliss' house. I'll explain the situation. She'll understand."

"If you go, you'll die. This much is normal."

"That's very kind of you." His chest puffed up in hope.

"But no thank you." And just as quickly, he deflated.

"In any case, this isn't something you can solve for me," she said. "But that's okay."

"How-"

"You can't solve it, but you saved me anyway."

"Ah, I know! You don't have to worry about that maid thing. I'll figure something out," she smirked. "Truly. Thank you and goodbye."

"You're crazy, you know that?" he muttered, and she knew he didn't mean any harm. "Take care!" he shouted, once she had become a speck in the horizon. It was nice.

And she left him to his musings. Years after this encounter, Hikari wondered what became of that guy. But his words, and more importantly, his pure emotion behind his words really cheered her up. Because it showed that humans were still human, even in this emotion-deprived Manga. She just needed to up her game a little.

'I needed this,' she thought as she clutched her hand. Venturing back to Pearl Mansion, she thought of a way to take down the maids, save Olivia and escape the Princess Selection without causing harm to herself. And, one day, to repay the Fisherman's Son for this motivation she felt coarsing through her.

A new dawn broke.

----------------------------------------