The Price is Everything of Yours - Chapter 44

Quiet Benny Shire secretly liked Heath.

Although Heath spoke roughly, he occasionally displayed chivalry. After the incident where Heath discreetly picked up and returned Benny’s pen when it had rolled out the window onto the terrace during class, causing her embarrassment, Benny’s gaze often turned towards him.

But someone like her couldn’t help but know that Heath liked Idalia, so Benny had consulted with Alecto a few times.

You’re good with relationships, how should I naturally talk to Heath? What should I do to approach someone who’s not interested in me?

Alecto found the trivial love advice boring, but listened anyway. And gave a few pieces of advice. You’re unpopular because you’re so quiet, go and throw yourself at him!

But what had she betrayed?

The consultation content? What was wrong with the consultation content? Come to think of it, Benny wasn’t seen in class yesterday. Did she really throw herself at him and get rejected?

“What did I do?”

Unable to explain the details to Heath of all people, Alecto responded defensively for now.

Idalia took advantage of the gap to step back a couple of paces, and Heath took a step closer to Alecto.

“I heard Benny Shire likes me! Hey, if you go around talking like that, what position does that put me in? Benny hasn’t even come out of the dormitory since yesterday.”

What? Alecto was shocked.

Fine, let’s say rumors spread. Benny could have consulted with others too. But why say the source of that story was Alecto?

“What are you talking about! I never said such a thing.”

To tell the truth, Alecto had mentioned the story about Benny. In front of the two quietest kids in the class.

Well, they didn’t seem like they would ever talk about it… Oh, and in front of Angarad and Rhiannon too? They didn’t have anyone to tell…

But unable to say such things, Alecto just denied it for now.

“You’re lying! Who else would it be if not you? I heard Benny only talked to you about it!”

Aisling, who lived next door to Benny, approached and got angry. While Alecto was flustered, Aisling picked up Alecto’s inkwell and threw it on the floor. The surrounding children screamed and quickly dodged.

Crash. As the inkwell shattered, droplets of black ink spattered onto Alecto’s clothes and shoes.

Aisling was in the same state, but tall and composed Aisling showed no sign of caring as she shouted, revealing her indignation.

“Just you wait! You think you’re all that? Going around carelessly telling other people’s secrets! If Benny gets sick because of this, I’ll kill you!”

Aisling’s threat was simple, but intimidating due to her height and long limbs. Another child nearby sneered.

“I heard Yuna Berthold wants to kill you too. Why do you go around like that?”

Yuna Berthold was also one of the children who had consulted Alecto about her worries. In Yuna’s case, she had been glaring at Alecto every time she passed by since the day before yesterday, but Alecto had dismissed it thinking ‘Is she crazy?’

“Why Yuna?”

“I heard you said she’s as ugly as a pig and there’s no use in her trying to lose weight. Didn’t you pretend to be friends with her?”

Objectively speaking, Yuna was just cutely chubby, but she thought herself too fat.

The cause was clear. The boys’ evaluations of her appearance. Hey, Yuna Berthold. Aren’t you going to lose weight? Look at Megara, how slim and pretty she is. If you can’t have the face, at least be slim…

Alecto had noticed that she was counted among the ugliest girls in the class along with Yuna, and was quite concerned about that fact.

But wanting to appear bold, she deliberately stayed close to Yuna and often told her that looks were useless anyway.

Although comforted by those words, Yuna still disliked her appearance and reduced her meals to lose weight.

And she often confided in Alecto that she was bothered by her weight whenever children looked at her. Alecto was honestly annoyed, but listened quietly.

To be honest, there were times when Alecto had spoken about Yuna in the way described in that accusation. But only to a few people.

She had never said it to Yuna herself. Wasn’t that already showing patience? Anyone would dislike someone who whines all the time.

But that ungrateful thing doesn’t even appreciate the favor? Alecto retorted angrily.

“What are you talking about! When did I ever?”

“Wicked girl.”

Aisling whispered coldly. By then, the whole class had been focused on this commotion, but quickly averted their gazes pretending not to notice when they heard the classroom door open.

“What are you doing there?”

The history teacher, Sir Humbert, who had returned to the classroom, blinked his eyes looking at Aisling. Aisling lifted her chin with a hurt expression but answered it was nothing and returned to her seat.

However, Alecto couldn’t shake off the suspicion that the children’s hostile gazes were still directed at her.

Neris nodded as she listened to Diane’s story.

“I see that happened.”

“I was really surprised. I thought a fight was going to break out!”

Diane vividly described what had happened during the first-year history class today. Since the MacKinnon family, who were only rich, was also among Alecto’s targets for satire, there was some enjoyment evident in her description.

However, contrary to what Diane secretly hoped for, Neris showed no sign of gloating. Her eyes were calm, as if listening to an ordinary story.

In the end, Diane became a little self-conscious. She confessed, whispering with her hands cupped in front of her mouth.

“I feel a bit relieved that Alecto is being ostracized.”

Neris answered immediately without even raising an eyebrow.

“So do I.”

“Really?”

Diane’s eyes sparkled.

She knew how Alecto usually talked about not only the MacKinnon family, but also about herself and Neris. Because she didn’t particularly hide it and spoke in front of the people concerned.

Kids! Do you know who attends school befitting their status, and who barely attends thanks to money?

Kids! Honestly, if I had a status where I didn’t need to go to school, I don’t think I would go? I don’t want to have to apologize to distant relatives unnecessarily, you know?

Although it was winter, the dormitory where Diane stayed was warm enough with plenty of fires lit. The two girls were doing homework together with quilted blankets filled with wool covering their knees. Neris was doing homework for the subjects she took, and Diane for the subjects she took.

Neris suddenly spoke to Betty, who was looking at the two cute girls with fondness.

“Betty, I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes, Miss Neris. Anything you say.”

“You said you were from Malsoz, right? It’s for homework, but could you tell me about Rethorn?”

Rethorn was the name of the larger region that included Betty’s hometown, Malsoz.

Betty was the third daughter in a family with many children, and came to the MacKinnon family through an introduction from a distant land where her older sister had married. As it was such a roundabout introduction, Rethorn was far from the MacKinnon earldom. Diane’s eyes also sparkled with interest.

“I’ve heard about it once! Rethorn is famous for medicinal herbs, right?”

Betty answered with a smile.

“Yes. It’s rumored that they’re more effective than those from any other land in Vista, so even noble people use them. The most famous in Rethorn is the Bias grass, which is as popular as it appears in the scriptures. And there’s a herb called nettle pouch that grows abundantly in Kinia village but nowhere else. It’s good for neuralgia…”

Some herbs are good for this, children in some villages pick herbs from the age of three. Only this grows in some villages. Betty’s explanation was all over the place, but Neris listened attentively with her usual un-childlike patience. And after the explanation ended, she quietly said.

“Rethorn sounds really amazing. But listening to this makes me worry, does that mean the people in Kinia village don’t farm or tend sheep, and everyone just relies on nettle pouches? If the amount of nettle pouches suddenly decreases, their livelihood would become difficult.”

“Oh no, there’s always so much that we can’t pick it all even if we tried. It’s like a weed in that village.”

Betty, who had sent her younger brother to work in Kinia village, answered nonchalantly. Neris smiled.

“That’s good then.”

Her words were calm, but Neris’s heart was in a state of excitement. The purpose for which she had asked Betty about Rethorn seemed likely to be achieved faster than expected.

The homework was just an excuse. Neris needed funds that she could use freely, besides the tuition provided by the Elandria family and the small amounts of money sent from home. After all, you need money to move around.

But the only thing a twelve-year-old Academy student could officially do was to help with the teacher’s odd jobs and receive a few coins in the name of scholarship. She couldn’t ask Cledwin for pocket money on top of that, could she?

Money that could buy something bigger than flower seeds. Money that could be earned quietly without becoming an unnecessary target.

As she was looking for such things, Neris recalled one incident from her previous life. It was during the time when she was the Crown Princess and served Great Lady Mariah.

The original reason for the Great Lady’s seclusion was not old age, but as she was getting on in years, her joints would ache for no reason at times. One of the doctors she kept was from Rethorn.

He boasted that he used special herbs, and indeed his medicine was incredibly effective.

However, he never revealed what the ingredients were, saying it was a trade secret. Neris clearly heard the complaints of another doctor, who also served the Great Lady and disliked this doctor, while drinking.

“That crazy bastard who brags about his assistant’s discovery as if it’s his own! If only I had an assistant from Rantville…”

When she casually reported what she had heard, Great Lady Mariah burst into laughter.

“Oh? Rantville, you say?”

“Yes, Aunt.”

“I knew he had a woman from Rantville. I can guess roughly what’s going on.”

As it was, the doctor from Rethorn was demanding more and more money from the Great Lady on the pretext of herbs that only people from his hometown knew about.

The Great Lady was originally cold to everyone, so the tactless doctor didn’t realize it, but Neris, who was always by her side serving her, knew that the Great Lady was looking for a substitute.

Later, the doctor from Rethorn was expelled from the imperial capital on a small pretext. The one who replaced him was a boy who was said to be his illegitimate child and assistant.

He confessed the truth while trembling. He didn’t like his father, but at his young age and with the status of an illegitimate child, his father was the only one he could rely on.

When his father was suddenly expelled, he was so scared that even Neris felt sorry for him.

“It’s been over fifteen years since the nettle pouches disappeared, but they say that if you have just that, you can instantly relieve an old person’s joint pain… My father searched the area near Kinia village like combing for lice to find nettle pouches. He managed to find a few roots, but they were all withered… When I accidentally mixed them with hallograss from my mother’s hometown and grew them, they grew healthy and the medicinal effect was much better.”

The nettle pouches, which are now said to grow abundantly, were soon to disappear due to a sudden disease.

The people of Kinia village quickly brought in and started growing other medicinal herbs, so there was little damage to the villagers, but nettle pouches immediately became a relic of the past.

Based on what Neris had looked into out of interest at the time, the disease would start within about half a year from now. Then, what if she used hallograss before that doctor from Rethorn?

It hadn’t been long since she found out that Betty was from Rethorn. Neris thought this was an opportunity.

Are old people who feel pain in their joints only Great Lady Mariah? How expensive were the clothes worn by the doctors she saw in the Great Lady’s mansion, and how arrogantly did they behave?

It would be difficult for Neris herself to grow enough plants to sell. Her only horticultural experience was briefly growing flowers in her previous life. But Betty might be able to introduce someone reliable.

Someone who could grow a ‘new’ medicinal herb that could change the landscape of medical care in high society.

“Thank you. That was a big help.”

To Neris’s sincere thanks, Betty innocently replied.

“It’s nothing, miss. If you need my help, please just say the word anytime.”