Rosette finally decided to go with the beige dress. When she looked into the mirror after dressing up, it was blatantly obvious she looked more like an ‘ojou-sama in disguise’ rather than an actual commoner girl. 

It was the translucent skin and silky smooth hair which gave her identity away. After all, commoners worked under sun and harsh weathers, having no time to give two fucks about their skin tone. Plus they couldn't spend their already hard-earned income on expensive essential oils used for beauty purposes; if they had money it'd be smarter to fill a hungry stomach. You cannot eat beautiful hair.

Rosette asked for a long cloak with a hood which would cover her hair and partially hide her face.

Putting 30 gold coins in the pouch hung around her waist, she descended the stairs together with Issac hand in hand.

A rosy atmosphere surrounded the two giddy children. Imaginary flowers bloomed in the background, sparkly ambiance enveloped the small jumpy figures.

Hugo greeted them at the lobby. With his usual scary expression on, maids walked as far away from him as possible and from the stairs, it looked as if he was diverting the stream of staff just by standing there.

'What is he, a road traffic police?'

Rosette started worrying her teacher would stay single forever if he remained that way.

When the two finally reached the bottom of the stairs, Rosette greeted Hugo with a nonchalant smile. Issac, surprisingly, was not scared of Hugo. When he saw his sister greet the big man, he quickly did the same.

“I’ll be escorting beside you two. Duke assigned ten guards for protection. They will be watching us undercover in the surroundings. We have to be back before sun sets.”

"Alright, let's go!"

The three boarded a hired carriage to avoid attracting attention with the black carriages adorned with the Duke’s insignia.

The small carriage rocked up and down, Rosette’s bottom hurt from sitting ten minutes into the journey. Plus because it was hard to adjust the horses' speed, the constant acceleration and deceleration was making Rosette develop mild nausea.

To drive her focus away from the impending urge to vomit, she tried to start a light-hearted conversation with Hugo and Issac.

“Teacher Hugo, since we’re going incognito we have to have a background story.”

“... What are you on about now?”

“I can’t keep calling you Teacher Hugo.”

“What’s wrong with calling me that?”

“That’s no fun Teacher~ Let’s make roles for our trio.”

Rosette nudged Issac who was sitting beside her inside the carriage. Her elbow poked his ribs from the side, silently pressuring him to speak up in her favour.

“Hahaha it does sounds fun” Issac finally commented with a guilty laugh, making it a 2 out of 3 majority vote.

“For god’s sake Rosette, can you just be normal for once.”

“So! Teacher can be our uncle who’s taking us to shopping visit. We will call you Uncle Hugo~”

“I don’t like it. It makes me sound old. I am still a 23 years old in his prime, believe it or not.”

“That’s old.”

<< Critical Hit! >>

Hugo bit his lips to hold back a response, probably an insult. He probably didn’t feel smart fighting against a seven-year-old child. His lips twitched as he forced a deadly sinister smile, his forehead showed creases between the eyebrows.

'Oh my Teacher Hugo, your face will scare away all the ladies.'

Rosette felt like teasing Hugo, even though her mental age was not too far apart from Hugo’s current age. [A/N: Rosette was 20 years old in her previous world.]

However, Rosette was now physically seven years old. Twenty three was indeed 'old' for a child under ten.

‘Lololol he’s so good to tease. I can’t believe I almost got scammed into being scared of his face.’

“And Issac is going to be my big brother. We came to this town for a visit from a far far away place to visit you. And you’re showing us around town!”

“...We can do our visit even without all that”

“That’s no good Uncle Hugo!”

His face looked hurt like he's taking damage whenever the word uncle came out of Rosette’s mouth. She stifled a laugh seeing his expressions.

“So big brother Issac~ please take care of Rosette today.”

“Unn~ don’t worry I will protect Rosette.” He patted Rosette’s head with a gentle smile, befitting a kind older brother.

"Raise my salary, god dammit" Hugo complained with his arms folded.

><><><><><><

Cobbled-stone lined streets, a buzzing town market lively with several people walking in different directions. Chatters ensued. Colourful fruits displayed on stalls. Smell of cooked street food wafting in air.

“This is heaven!”

“Rosette, stop going off on your own!”

Hugo warned from behind her, carrying several paper bags full of Rosette's impulse shopping. She grabbed whatever caught her interest from stalls aligned in the market, making sure to sweet talk with the shop owners while she did so.

"My~ Such a friendly miss. I can't give you a discount, but I'll add two more coco fruits because you're cute"
"Ara, are you two shopping together with your uncle? I've never seen such beautiful and nice kids. I'll give you a discount because I'm happy so see such a sight"
"Little miss!! Try this juice I'll make sure to add extra syrup for you and your brother"

Even Hugo, who was usually avoided by people, had his atmosphere softened when accompanying the two bright happy children, and people no longer avoided him when he walked.

When Rosette saw a stall selling spices imported from neighbouring countries of Dimitry Empire and Koran kingdom, she did her best to prevent herself from burying her face in the neatly piled mountain of spices.

‘Indian spices! Chinese spices! Oh my god!'

The smell wafted in the air lingering near the store, and Rosette inhaled a huge breath before emptying out reluctantly.

It felt familiar.

She suddenly felt nostalgic of her mother's home cooked meals from her previous life.

Rosette had been busy trying to keep herself alive since she'd transmigrated, that she had little time to reminiscence her past world - a world where she had a warm family, a world where technology was convenient, a world where she didn't have to worry about when she'd die.

And she would love to think that she didn't die in her previous world. That would hurt her parents.

Rosette could imagine her mom and dad's kind smile when she closed her eyes, and they'd kindly call her name.

But she wasn't there to answer.

She felt herself holding tears back. Now that she had seen something which reminded her of her family, she suddenly felt alone and stranded.

Is my mom doing okay? Will she sleep well if I'm not there?

What about my caring dad who says few words but would always say the right things to make her happy?

Her memories started flashing to times when she placed her head on her mother's lap as the two would gossip for hours about her university life.

She started remembering the little moments like her mother nagging her about lazing around after school.

Her dad who would always be her moral support when she felt like everything was going awry.

She no longer have them.

She no longer have those moments.

Sadness came in like waves.

Rosette felt a warm drop of tear roll down her cheek, and quickly wiped it away with a sniffle. When she saw Issac looking at her teary eyes, she blinked to get rid of the tears and put on a smile.

But Issac was not dumb, he instinctively knew Rosette's smile hid her pain. He just didn't know what triggered such a sad look on a previously happy child.

Rosette pushed her nostalgia and memories into a chest and threw it to the back of her mind.

'It doesn't matter how I end up where I am, I have to make the best of the situation I'm in.'

With such strong resolve, she decided to resume her shopping.

Naturally, she was an eager customer who spent considerable amount of time sniffing different piles of spices before buying a large amount. Hugo ended up with one more huge bag to carry.

Pulling Issac’s wrists, she dragged him around from stall to stall enthusiastically. Issac looked like he resigned from resisting as he just unenergetically let himself be dragged around with a sheepish smile.

They walked around market for a large part of the morning. When she reached the water fountain strategically placed at the middle of the market, she spotted a signboard advertising a magic tool shop.

‘Of course magic tools exist.’

If there is any modern technology that couldn’t be overcome in medieval European setting, let it be electricity or something like telecommunications, the load is always transferred to ‘magic tools’. This is just a convenient plot for isekai novels.

“Uncle Hugo~ I want to go there.”

“Wait-”

Before Hugo could finish his sentence, Rosette again rushed off towards the store dragging Issac by his wrists.

After entering the shop whose shelves were packed with several ‘electronic-appliance-looking’ tools, she smiled in glee wondering what kind of things are sold here.

However, when her pupils shook reached a certain spot in the store. Rosette dazedly stare at a person standing in front of an aisle. 

A young boy wearing a long dark cloak hiding his hair and face.

He was glowing a golden hue.

Above his head were words written clearly in English letters.