Chapter 18

Until now, I had been strolling in the Royal Capital whenever I got the day off . Rather than hanging out in the nobles’ district, it was my pleasure wandering in the commoner district . But ever since Ryuu was born, I haven’t had the time for strolling around .

I was thinking of playing with him today, but he seems to be playing outside the capital alone . He will come back if I call him, but I didn’t want to do that . He might make friends with someone out there .

As a result, while strolling for no purpose, I ended up in the commoner’s residential area . The small houses were crowded and confined, and the alleys were intricate .

There are no shops that I can use as a landmark, so I got lost . I remember the way I came, but I don’t know the way back . It’s fun to go to interesting places randomly .

Instinctively following the path, I went further into the intricate place and heard children’s voices . It’s like they were arguing or something with mean voices .

「Your hair is disgusting . 」

「I know he’s a demon child . He doesn’t have a father, right? 」

「Oh, does your mother like a demon? 」

I can hear the crying voice of a child being cursed at . I didn’t plan to intervene in the children’s quarrel, but I changed my mind when I heard the harsh words .

When I hear the voice from the other side of the house, so I jumped over and landed silently .

The three boys surrounded a boy with dark brown hair . They look like seven years old .

「What were you doing? 」

When I spoke, the three boys looked back in horror .

「W-what about it? It’s honestly none of your business . 」

「Isn’t it uncool ganging up on someone to bully them? 」

I wore a simple dress and hat to hide my hair for my stroll in the Royal Capital . They’d never thought that a lady from a noble family will visit such a place .

「His hair is black, isn’t it? This guy is evil, and we are not the bad guys here . 」

The boy’s dark brown hair was the darkest colour I had ever seen in this world . Even Patrick’s grey hair was close to white, and it used to worry him, it makes sense if his hair made him into the subject of discrimination .

「Not everyone with black hair is bad people, right? 」

「But, his hair is black? Onee-san also think he’s terrible, right? 」

They didn’t appear to hold any reservation about discrimination against black hair . Maybe because they’re children? Adults might have some unpleasant feelings about it, but they didn’t show it .

Once again, I realize the seriousness of discrimination against black hair in this kingdom . Until now I had let it slide, but when I saw someone else getting bullied over it, I thought I had to do something about it . Maybe my feeling was numb .

「But I don’t think his hair is black . 」

In front of the flabbergasted boys, I took off my hat and exposed my hair .

「Isn’t this the true black? 」

The boys who looked at my black hair that look as dark as the night before began to make a noise when they see my unbelievable hair .

「A real demon? 」

「Aren’t you a demon? 」

「Oi! Don’t be scared . It’s just an ordinary person . 」

The leader of the group trying to calm down the other boys by saying that, but he didn’t realize how contradictory his statement is .

「You call that a Demon King? After this don’t ever call dark brown as black from now on . It’s unpleasant to mix them up . 」

When I said that, magical black balls are floating around me . When they saw it, there’s fear in their expression, and they screamed and ran away .

「He-lp! 」

I hope this will help lighten the bullying that the dark brown-haired boy went through…

「A-ano… Thank you for your help . 」

Hey, dark brown-haired boy, it would have been meaningless if I stoop to their level and hating on you too .

「See, you are going to run away too . Your hair is not black . 」

「No, I’m fine . If anything, it’s my hair’s fault . 」

The boy replied with a faint smile that is about to break . He sounds like about to give up, just like the old me .

「My name is Yumiela, how about you? 」

「I’m Phil, and I’m six years old . 」

He was six years old, and I was five when I started to remember a memory from my previous life, and that moment made a great difference .

The memory of my previous life made me mentally stable . I also understood that discrimination would be unfounded . Since he has no such thing, his trauma is very deep .

「Phil-kun, do you have any friends? 」

「No, I don’t . 」

「How about your family? 」

「I don’t have a father, but my mother is kind . 」

When he spoke about his mother, he got this tranquil look on his face . He has a good family . I think that’s something meaningful in his heart .

「My parents didn’t want to see my face, and frankly, I haven’t met them yet . 」

「Etto, that’s… 」

「But recently I made some friends . And I have a cute child, too . 」

「What… Yumiela-san have a child?! 」

Ah, I was about to explain that .

Hmm, I wonder if he should become Ryuu’s friend? They can be friends, and I’d be relieved that my son has friends . I think it’s a good idea and a win-win for everyone .

「He’s not a child that I gave birth . He doesn’t have any friends yet; would you like to meet him? 」

「Ha-hai . If it’s fine for me… 」

「My child is black too, okay? 」

「Okay! I don’t care about the hair colour . 」

It’s not that his hair is black, but his whole body is . Well, that’s the same thing .

「Where are we going? 」

I brought Phil outside of the Royal Capital’s outer wall . If you think about it carefully, he’s less wary of strangers .

「Wait a minute . I think he’ll come in 5 minutes . 」

I cast dark magic into the sky like a firework to call Ryuu .

「Oh, you used magic just now . Perhaps Yumiela-san is noble? 」

He’s unexpectedly sharp . He speaks well and seems very mature . I got the impression that boys at his age are rowdy; maybe his circumstance also plays a factor here .

「Don’t worry too much about it, I’m a low ranking noble . 」

For the time being, the Count is in high-ranking aristocrat category, but unless I told him, there would be no telling .

「It looks like he’s here . 」

It’s not even three minutes yet, so Ryuu seems to play in the neighborhood . When I pointed at the distant sky, Phil looked around restlessly .

「Eh, dragon? He is the one that has recently come to the Royal Capital . 」

「Yeah, I want my child to meet you . Ryuu is a gentle child, so be at ease . 」

Ryuu, who flew straight at me, makes a thundering roar when he lands on the ground .

「Ryuu, this boy is Phil-kun . Let’s get along well, okay? 」

He roars at Phil, in his language that means he’s good . Seeing this, he collapsed backwards .

「O-ohh . 」

Phil is too afraid to speak . Um, this isn’t going well . If you look at my child closely, you can see how charming and lovely he is, but his best quality is rarely transmitted .

「N-nice to meet you, Ryuu-kun . 」

To my surprise, even when he paralyzed with terror, Phil stretched out his hand to Ryuu’s nose tip . It was ticklish for Ryuu, but there was no movement from him .

「Phil-kun, are you okay? Aren’t you afraid? 」

When she lifted Phil from behind helping him up, he began to talk .

「Because I’ve had an unpleasant experience with my looks… Etto, I don’t want to dislike someone based on their appearance . Ryuu-kun looks scary, but he didn’t mind when I touched him, maybe I could be friends with him… 」

「Phil is strong . 」

Patrick told me before that I was strong, but I think people like Phil is the stronger .

「Yumiela-san, do you have a friend? 」

Right now, we are flying in the sky riding on Ryuu’s back . At first, Phil was afraid of him, but now he seems to enjoy the scenery .

「Un, his name is Patrick . Why do you ask? 」

「I couldn’t make a friend by myself, so Yumiela-san is amazing . 」

That’s not true . It was Patrick who approached me and spoke to me for the first time .

「I’m the same as Phil . He is the one who greets me from the other side . I was halfway giving up that I will ever make friends . 」

Phil seems taken aback hearing that I had given up . Looking at his experience, I’m not surprised if he feels the same . Something had to be done, so there will be no other children who had to deal with this problem like Phil .

But how do you stop discrimination?