Palimony

Chapter 82 – My precious person

(Vanette’s PoV)

I fell in love with a small person… I wanted to laugh at myself, for even if I tried everything I could, this love would never come to fruition… I genuinely thought that at first.

He already loved a certain small person, after all, there was no way it could work… But I still wanted to be as close to him as possible.

I learned that love is a painful feeling. It’s a very painful feeling, because it refuses to allow you to give up on the impossible, no matter how many times you tell yourself that you have no hopes of success.

But then… Then… Then I woke up. Someone is knocking on my door really loudly… I feel like I had a really bad dream just now.

“Old lady, please open up! My little sister’s fever won’t go down!” I could hear someone shouting from outside. I suppose he must be unable to afford some medicine, so he came to me instead.

“I’m coming, so stop shouting!” I exclaimed, then opened the door shortly after.

The man outside was holding a small girl on his arms, probably his little sister.

“Let me see…” Ignoring the stunned man’s gaze, I put my hand on the nape of the girl’s neck… It was a bit hot, she probably had a fever, “Can you open your mouth and say ‘ah’?” I asked the girl.

She was quite weak, but did as she was told, “Great job.” I gently patted her head as I said that, “I’ll make some medicine for you, so please eat this in the meanwhile.”

I then threw the honey-based candy, that mama taught me how to make, into her mouth. Then, I turned around and started making the medicine.

“Ah, hey… What happened to the youkai-like old lady that lived here?” The extremely rude man asked me.

“Grandma is out on a trip. I’m taking care of the house for her in the meanwhile.” I replied with the excuse that we had decided upon together with Mathilda, which seemed to convince the rude man.

“Oh, I see. I’m surprised to see that the granddaughter of that old lady is so beautiful though, please let me treat you to a meal as thanks for helping my little sister.” The rude man was being a bit too obvious about his annoying intentions.

“No thanks. Give that food to your sister instead, so that she gets plenty of nutrients and grow up well. Children are a national treasure after all.” I replied.

But after this day, that annoying man kept on coming to my house, claiming he had some illness that he needed help with, even though it was obvious that he was just faking it.

One time he even said that he needed a date with me in order to cure his aliments… It was sickening. This is the reason why I preferred the old lady look in the first place.

But then, in one of the days that I was trying to get that annoying man to go away, while also trying to deal with actual visitors who needed help, little Ma arrived and said, “Grandma, I’ve come to play!”

“Sorry, things are a bit crowded here right now…” I told him.

It only took him one glance to realize the circumstances, so he said, “I’ll help you with that.”

“I’ll be in your care.” I replied.

It didn’t take long for little Ma to throw the rude man away. Things definitely feel a lot better after that.

“Old Vanette’s medicine was quite helpful, so thanks for taking care of her home while she is away.” A woman from the neighborhood, that often came to me for medicine whenever she needed something, said that after I gave her the medicine that she needed.

“When will the granny come back?” A small child asked me after I gave her some candy. She probably thought of ‘granny’ not as someone that gave medicine, but as a nice old lady that gave her sweets… Though that much was fine.

I just patted the child’s head and said that I wasn’t sure. I’d like to give a clearer answer to this girl, but I wasn’t sure if I would go back to the old lady look, so this was the best I could tell her.

And then, after dealing with the rest of the people that had come for medicine, I was eventually able to serve some tea and sweets for little Ma that came to help me.

“You should go back to your usual appearance, Grandma! I hate it when those weird men approach you!” Little Ma said.

… I’m happy that he became jealous for me, but this was not the way I wanted him to look at me, “A little person told me that it would be better for me to look younger.”

“Who said that!? What if someone dangerous tried going after Grandma’s eyes!?” Little Ma exclaimed.

I’m also happy that he is worried for me, but, “Little Ma, I’m a dragon. Humans are not dangerous for me.” I told him. In fact, It’s more likely that I end up harming whoever comes after me instead.

“Even so…” Little Ma still seemed troubled about it, “Was it the person that Grandma likes that said that?”

“No.” I instantly replied.

“Does that person make Grandma happy?” He asked.

I threw some cookies towards his mouth, then refilled our teacups.

“Well, I guess just being together with them makes me happy.” I vaguely replied.

He started pouting a bit, so I decided to roughly stroke his head, “Hey, what are you doing, Grandma!?” He asked.

“Curing your pouting?” I asked back.

“That’s not how it works…” Little Ma said that, but he didn’t try to stop me… He really is, way too cute and way too troublesome.

Some time later, after little Ma had already left, the young lady also came to my house. The annoying men don’t come when she is around, so it’s quite convenient to have her visit.

“Did your headache get better?” I asked her.

“Yes, thanks to lady Vanette.” She replied. Her complexion looked better, so she probably wasn’t lying.

As I thought of that, I poured her some tea, but… For some reason, she was drawing something and kept on looking back and forth between me and her drawing. I had a bad feeling about that.

“What are you drawing?” I asked her.

“Lady Vanette is so beautiful, that your gorgeous appearance alone inspired me to create! My store has lots of cute shoes and clothes, but I think that my next line of products should probably appeal to a sexier audience, like lady Vanette.” She explained.

The bad feeling only increased with her reply… “And why are you planning new products in my house?” I asked.

She gave me a mischievous smile, and said, “Because I’m designing clothes and shoes that I want lady Vanette to wear!”

… Never mind mischievous, this is more of a terrifying smile, “You will model for me, won’t you?” She asked me.

Something told me that I should not refuse her… But at the same time, I really didn’t want to do it, so… For now, let’s investigate it a bit further, “What are you designing?” I asked.

“High heels! The concept behind them, are shoes that are so sexy that you’ll want to be stepped on by whoever is wearing it!” She instantly replied with some nonsense that would never sell, “I’m fairly sure that Michael will buy them.”

Why would little Ma buy those…? I tilted my head while I thought that.

The young lady seemed to notice my confusion, but she also seemed to be hesitating a bit on how to reply to my unvoiced question… After a small while of silence, she eventually said, “Michael probably likes sexy people.”

… Her reply didn’t seem to be very honest.

“In any case, lady Vanette will probably look great in both red and black, so I want to try those first before going for other colors!” The young lady suddenly said that, obviously diverting the topic away from little Ma.

“Can’t you just ask Mama to model for you?” Figuring that she probably wasn’t going to tell me what was the real reason she was thinking about little Ma buying it, I decided to just plainly ask her to choose someone else as the model.

… The young lady gave me a kind smile in response to this statement… It’s definitely faked, “Lady Liren is, of course, a very beautiful person, but… She already suffered so much from seeing her daughter fall in love with someone of a different race, you know? I’d rather not ask more of her now, and instead ask lady Vanette who would definitely try to look prettier for her loved one.” The young lady said.

“You’re doing it out of consideration for mama?” I asked her.

“Yes, you see… Lady Liren even cried as she worried about lady Vanette, you know?” As the young lady said that, she showed me her earrings and necklace… They were made of dragon tears.

“Mama… Cried?” I asked her. I didn’t expect mama to cry… Sorry, mama, I’ll reflect on my actions.

“Yes! And not only that, I also suffered a lot from the stress of the search! See this!” Then, the young lady stopped pretending to be a good girl and showed her true colors.

And even though she was obviously manipulating me, she did have a bit of a bald spot on the back of her head. It was usually covered by her hair, so it wasn’t easily noticeable, but… I can believe that this was caused by stress.

… I suppose I do need to help the young lady out, it’s better than having her hold a grudge at least.

And then, I was roped into doing a lot of modeling for her…

“Is this much enough?” I asked her after a long modeling session.

She gave me an extremely happy smile and said, “Yes, it’s enough for now!”

… She’s the kind of person that can’t ever be satisfied, isn’t she?

I guess… Even among little people, there are some beings that one should never make an enemy of.