I Was The Hero, But I Woke Up as a Phoenix Princess! – Chapter 133

Chapter 133
“No, this is just a Gold Knight. How could he erase his tracks right under my nose?” Verafia mumbled, burying her small face. “And it’s obviously not because he discovered this young lady. Hmm… such caution, it’s clearly a conspiracy.”
“Hey, be careful, young lady. This is not a place you should be.”
Just as Verafia was deep in thought, a low, husky male voice suddenly sounded.
The young girl looked up, and the surroundings were no longer the bright and prosperous market streets of Rubiel City. Grayness and poverty were the main colors of the scene. In a lifeless atmosphere, a middle-aged man in ragged clothes happened to meet her exquisite eyes.
Seeing the girl’s face, the middle-aged man was slightly stunned. He then focused on the girl’s clearly expensive dress and shoes and mocked her slightly.
“A young lady from a noble family? Such a nice dress and shoes. If they get dirty here, even if your father kills all of us, we wouldn’t be able to compensate for it!”
Verafia seemed to not understand the meaning in his eyes. She just looked up at him and seriously shook her small face. “I’m not afraid of getting dirty. Uncle, do you live here?”
“Tch. People like us can only stay here. Well, lady of a noble family, why aren’t you at home playing with jewelry and caged birds? Why did you run to the slums where people like us live?”
“Slums?”
Verafia’s eyes flickered, and she immediately raised her small face seriously.
“I want to find someone… he should be in these slums. Uncle, since you live here, can you help me?”
The girl’s pleasant voice was as beautiful as a lark’s song, extremely pleasing to the ear.
The middle-aged man looked at the noble lady in her expensive dress with a beautiful face, holding up her skirt and running to him. He then looked up at her delicate, jade-like white face, her big eyes looking at him innocently, and asked in a clear voice. He couldn’t help but say mockingly.
“What kind of person would a noble lady like you be looking for? Young lady, don’t blame me for not warning you, the slums of Rubiel are not like your family’s manor!”
“A child like you, who doesn’t even bring an attendant, running to a place like this, the hoodlums living here… not everyone has my eyesight…”
Suddenly, the middle-aged man’s voice stopped. He noticed the beautiful young girl beside him thrusting a money bag into his hand.
“Young lady, what do you mean by this?”
The middle-aged man frowned, but his gaze inadvertently fell into the money bag the girl handed him. The shining silver coins inside almost made him gasp for breath.
“Uncle, this person is really important to me. If you can help me… I’ll give you all this money!”
Verafia said with a serious expression. Although the uncle who looked very poor spoke with a sarcastic tone and was very long-winded, the broad-minded Young Lady Verafia naturally wouldn’t care.
Of course, the girl wouldn’t waste time talking here, so she might as well use money.
— This small bag of silver coins was something Verafia had picked up yesterday when Ig failed to bribe the cavalry commander Ogers. Using it now was quite appropriate.
As expected, facing the silver coins that he could hardly earn in his entire life, the middle-aged man’s gaze quickly wavered. He forcefully stuffed the money bag into his embrace, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and asked, “Lady of a noble family, what do you want to do?”
“Hey, as I said, I just want to find someone!”
Verafia crossed her slender hands on her chest and shouted, raising her face. She noticed the hesitation on the man’s face, and her suspicions grew.
However, the middle-aged man only hesitated for a while before nodding in agreement.
“Lady of a noble family, if you really want to do this… don’t blame me for not warning you. There are many people in there who have ill intentions towards nobles like you, let alone a beautiful little girl like you!”
“I’m not afraid! And this young lady is also a Mage, a very powerful one!”
Verafia paid no attention to the middle-aged man’s warning. She grabbed the staff she had bought not long ago, waved it a few times, and then raised her porcelain-white cheeks and complained reproachfully.
Hearing the girl’s crisp and lively voice, the middle-aged man didn’t say anything more, but turned around and led the way.
Since he had warned her several times, but the girl was still insistent, he had no reason to continue.
Verafia smiled, revealing her small white tiger teeth, like a child whose request had been granted. She raised her fair neck proudly and followed him into the slums.
……
As the only place where the lowest people in the city could live, it was filled with dirt, poverty, dilapidation, as well as disease and violent crime.
In the slums of Rubiel City, in addition to the vast majority of poor humans who had nothing, there were also many orcs who had earned their freedom through their own efforts but still could not obtain citizenship and leave Lansiat.
The poor residents in worn-out clothes looked vigilantly at the young girl behind the middle-aged man, her elegant dress appearing particularly bright against the dull background.
The girl’s pristine white boots landed on the worn-out ground, the slight heels making crisp sounds against the gravel. Verafia looked around and couldn’t help but rest her chin on her hands, frowning and saying.
“So this is what the slums of Rubiel are like? Such a terrible environment… doesn’t your lord care about it?”
“Lady of a noble family, what do you think the slums should look like?”
The middle-aged man snorted coldly. Although this naive noble lady had paid him a lot of money, he couldn’t help but vent his dissatisfaction.
“People here, after working all day, can only get half a loaf of dark bread. When do noble lords like you think of us unless it’s time to collect taxes?”
“Even the Duke, do you think he really doesn’t know about the slums in his city like you naive young lady? But our lord prefers to spend millions of gold coins every year to raise tall and mighty knights rather than spend a single copper coin on us.”
“This…”
“Hmph, miss, don’t say that. Things have been better for us these past few years. At least here, Master Sok provides us with bread for free, otherwise, do you think a noble lady like you wouldn’t have been robbed yet?”
Verafia stopped for a moment and raised her face with a little surprise.
“Provides you with bread for free… there are people like that? Um, can you take me to see him?”