The little girl who had entered the house sat down in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere of the Noble Mansion.
She looked both anxious and curious.
Fidgeting restlessly and glancing around, she carefully reached out to touch this and that.
When Eze walked into the kitchen, Vielliane, wearing a mischievous grin, pulled him into a corner. Shoulder to shoulder, she whispered:
“First, you scare your fiancée away, and now you’re already cozying up to a new girl. Eze, you really are one incredible scumbag~”
Eze made a disgusted face.
“Don’t joke like that, I’m about to puke!”
“And not just any girl—what’s this? A little girl? That must be… a lolicon, right? Bringing such a tiny girl home, what are you trying to do? Lolicon?”
“I… whatever, if being a lolicon means being a lolicon, then so be it.”
Exhausted beyond words, Eze didn’t want to argue anymore.
Besides, Vielliane wouldn’t actually take it seriously.
He grabbed some ready-made cookies, quickly brewed two cups of tea, and returned to the living room.
After setting the items down, he sat across from the little girl.
The girl quickly straightened up, her hands obediently resting on her knees.
“Big brother, are you… a noble lord?”
“No, I’m not. It’s just that, for some reason, I’m temporarily staying in this mansion.”
Eze took a sip from his tea cup.
His argument with Heidi had left him parched, and he hadn’t even had the chance to drink water until now.
The little girl imitated him, picking up her cup to take a sip as well.
Whether it was too hot or she wasn’t used to the taste of tea leaves, her features immediately scrunched up.
Still, with a trembling voice she said:
“Good… good to drink, thank you…”
Polite enough, but her excessive nervousness made speaking difficult.
Eze glanced toward the kitchen.
“Want me to get you some juice?”
“Drink this.”
Before he finished speaking, a glass of orange-colored juice was placed in front of the little girl.
Vielliane, who brought it over, naturally sat down beside Eze, squeezing in next to him.
“Thank you…”
Surprised by Vielliane’s sudden appearance, the little girl blinked, then asked:
“Big sister, who are you? Are you big brother’s wife?”
“Yes, I’m Eze’s wife~”
That comment instantly brightened Vielliane’s mood; a broad smile spread across her face as she draped her arm around Eze’s neck and flashed a V sign.
“How about it? Aren’t we a perfect match?”
Completely ignoring Eze’s dark and reluctant expression.
The little girl nodded seriously.
“Mm, of course. Big sister is very pretty, and big brother is handsome and strong—”
Once the words left her mouth, Vielliane’s mood lifted even higher.
Her eyes almost sparkled with stars.
“That’s right! My Eze is handsome and strong! Not only that, he’s a genius, and super cute too… Oh, by the way, his name is Eze, I’m Vielliane, and you are?”
The little girl put down her cup and bowed her head slightly.
“My name is Anna.”
A simple name, with no surname.
But considering her mixed-race background, it wasn’t strange—most likely just something someone casually came up with.
Eze nodded gently and was about to say something when Vielliane, still buzzing with energy, shoved him into the corner of the sofa, spilling much of the tea in his cup.
“Oh my, what a cute name! Good girl~ good girl~ Hey, are you interested in hearing more about Eze? Don’t be fooled by his looks, actually—”
“Stop filling the kid’s head with weird stuff!!”
Unable to take it anymore, Eze gave Vielliane’s head a light chop.
Wincing from the pain, she shut up, teary-eyed, and slipped off to the side.
This girl was drifting further and further from the elegant image she once had.
Growing more tired by the second, Eze sighed.
“Ahem, Anna, right? You said you came to the Noble District looking for me?”
The little girl nodded seriously again.
“Yes! A few nights ago, I happened to see big brother carrying big sister on his back through Commercial Street, so I followed. But as soon as I entered the Noble District, the guards stopped me.”
She was talking about the day the two of them went on their “date.”
At that time, Eze’s attention was completely on Heidi, so he hadn’t noticed the little tail following behind.
He realized he had been careless.
Anna continued:
“For the past few days, I’ve been waiting at the entrance to the Noble District to see if I could find big brother, but unfortunately, I never met him.”
“So you snuck in secretly and got caught?”
Anna nodded sheepishly.
Eze silently gulped.
This girl looked polite, well-behaved, and sensible, but she was actually quite bold.
“So, what did you want to see me about? Did someone cause trouble in your shop again, and you want me to help?”
Anna paused, then shook her head desperately.
“No, of course not! Ever since big brother scared off the bad guys that day, no one has come to cause trouble in the shop!”
She reached into her slightly worn clothes and took out a small pouch, holding it out with both hands.
Eze curiously took it and weighed it.
It was heavier than it looked, and the jingling sound inside…
“Money?”
“Yes! Our shop has been constantly troubled, so we saved up this money hoping to hire someone from the Adventurer’s Guild to station here permanently, but no one accepted the commission…”
That was no surprise—because the guild itself was behind the initial trouble.
And the reason things had calmed down was because Eze’s previous actions had thrown the guild into chaos, so they no longer had time to bother with them.
Anna, however, didn’t know any of that.
She looked Eze in the eyes, somewhat nervous.
“But big brother helped us! Even though you were badly hurt before, you still helped us! So, please accept this!”
She spoke as if reciting a lesson, her words quick and a little halting, as if she had rehearsed it many times before finally finding him.
Eze didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he opened the pouch to see what was inside.
About 30 silver coins—not a small amount.
Even in a large city like Tafia, that was enough to support an average family for several months.
For mixed-race children already struggling in life, it was an astronomical sum.
When Eze had been in a very poor state, Anna, out of pure kindness, had helped him within her means.
Eze’s actions back then had also been partly to repay that kindness.
Therefore, this reward was something he could not accept under any circumstances.
He tied the pouch back up and placed it in front of Anna again.
“It was nothing. No need to be so polite. I can’t accept this money.”
“But…”
“You must have a hard time coming up with such a large sum since business has been bad, right? I’m staying here… temporarily without worries about food or clothing, so you need it more than I do.”
He deliberately added “temporarily,” so it wouldn’t sound like he planned to freeload forever.
Vielliane, catching the hint, covered her mouth to laugh quietly.
Eze pretended not to see.
Anna glanced at the pouch on the table, then stood up, picked it up, and once again held it out with both hands.
“Big brother, please accept it! When someone helps you, you have to repay the favor—that’s what my sister always taught me!”