Vol. 1 Chapter 18: The boy with dark brown hair

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?

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t/n: illustration for the B’s-LOG COMIC.

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