Chapter 16
The orphanage director looked at me and Rohen with a startled expression.
Then the knights who had rushed off to survey the surroundings quickly approached us. I placed Rohen in front of me so they could recognize him immediately.
“There’s no need to examine him. He’s my child. Even though his power hasn’t been awakened yet, I can feel the same power as mine.”
“Yes. We can clearly feel it as well, Your Highness.”
The knight standing at the very front bowed his head toward Rohen.
“…I wondered if he might have been abused, but it seems there was no particular problem.”
“……”
Seeing the silent child, the Grand Duke stepped in front of him. Just standing there radiated an overwhelming pressure.
“Can’t you speak?”
“No. I can speak.”
“That’s a relief. I half-doubted it, but to think he truly existed.”
For a meeting between father and son who were seeing each other for the first time since birth, there seemed to be not even a trace of affection. Or rather, it felt like the Grand Duke wanted to express affection somehow but didn’t know how, while Rohen gave off the impression that he didn’t particularly care either. That combination fit perfectly.
Murmuring what was almost a soliloquy, the Grand Duke slightly bent down and extended his hand toward Rohen.
“You exist, so that’s enough. Then let’s go. I am your father. Come with me.”
“……”
However, after looking at him, Rohen shifted his gaze to me.
“Why. Do I have to take that one along too?”
“…No. I’ll go alone.”
As if thinking of Lari, who would be left behind alone, Rohen shook his head from side to side after a long pause.
“All right. Then let’s go.”
Perhaps because of the day, Rohen seemed like a completely different person, holding my hand tightly while looking at the Grand Duke. He had no intention of taking the hand the Grand Duke offered him.
I released the hand that was holding mine and looked at Rohen.
“Don’t worry. He’ll take good care of you.”
“R-really?”
“Yes.”
Rohen, who left first for the Grand Duke’s household, would grow up well, receiving more attention from the Grand Duke than anyone else.
So there was nothing to worry about.
And finally, when the child took the Grand Duke’s hand, the man looked down at him with a subtle expression.
As if he didn’t know what to call him, he stared at the child. I lifted my head and spoke to him.
“His name is Rohen.”
“…Are you speaking to me?”
When I lifted my head and told the Grand Duke Rohen’s name, the orphanage director hurriedly shook her head from side to side.
“Aisha! He’s not someone you dare look at!”
“But I still have to say it. Rohen. His name is Rohen.”
“Rohen? For a coincidence, it’s irritatingly precise.”
Though he said it was irritating, a small smile spread across his face.
The name that the children’s mother—whose identity and name were never revealed—had told the Grand Duke was precisely Rohen and Lariz.
The woman, whose relationship to him and even name were never disclosed, was not someone he had spent just a single night with. And in the book, there is a brief mention of the children’s names.
“She said that if she ever had children someday, the names she absolutely wanted to give them were Rohen and Lari.”
Because of that, I didn’t avert the gaze I had lifted toward the Grand Duke.
“All right. Fine. Rohen. Then let’s go now. There doesn’t seem to be any need to stay here longer.”
“…O-okay.”
As if he was only now realizing that he was leaving, I smiled brightly at the dazed Rohen.
“Rohen. Don’t worry. Make sure you eat well, okay?”
Contrary to my expectation that he might say something like Can’t I not go? Do I really have to?, it seemed that Rohen had already come to terms with it overnight. He slowly nodded and met my eyes.
As if he had a lot to say, Rohen moved his lips, then let out a deep sigh.
“Y-yeah! I’ll go. I’m going now, but… you mustn’t forget me! I’ll come back soon!”
“Yeah. Take care.”
In the end, Rohen took the Grand Duke’s hand and walked toward the carriage.
Watching Rohen wave his hand like a child, I wiped away my tears.
I feel proud. Seeing Rohen leave this place in a humane way, unlike how he was depicted in the novel.
And as expected, twins really are twins. The way he hugged both dolls tightly to his chest as if they were precious and waved his hand was the spitting image of Lari.
But that was the end of it. The moment Rohen boarded the carriage, the carriage door closed, and without any time to say more, it left the place.
The Grand Duke originally didn’t think much of this place. What made him angry was after hearing from Rohen—who had left first—about what had happened here.
So for now, leaving was the right choice.
Because of that, after staring at the carriage for quite a while, I turned my body and headed back to the room.
The orphanage director glared at me as if she didn’t understand the situation, but as though something suddenly came to mind, she quickly headed to her own room.
As expected, when I arrived at the room, I saw Lari standing by the window, looking outside.
I went in and hugged Lari from behind.
“Lari. Don’t feel too lonely. You have your big sister.”
“……”
“Lari?”
Lariz, who had been staying in the room, continued to stare out the window without responding to my words.
I gently stroked Lariz’s head.
“You’ll be able to meet him soon.”
“…Yeah.”
“My cute Lari.”
She must feel down. Being separated after being together all her life.
But the two of them absolutely cannot go together.
For the sake of your future…
Besides, if I twist the novel too much from such a young age, when they have no power at all, it would be impossible to predict what comes afterward.
Later on, Rohen—who went first—will think that the Grand Duke’s household is a far better place to be than the orphanage that abused them, and all I need to do is protect Lari until he comes to take her.
He did it in the novel too, so surely… I can do it this time as well.
My goal isn’t to drastically change the children, but simply to plant a few good memories in the twins’ childhood and to make sure the orphanage doesn’t disappear.
But that day, Lari, like a child who had been quite shocked, had no intention of leaving the window for a long time.
Like a child worried that the carriage might come back.
And so night fell.
I called out to Lari, who had even dragged a chair over and was sitting by the window.
“Lari.”
“…Yeah.”
Then she patted my bed with her hand, as if telling me to come quickly.
“Let’s sleep together with big sister today too.”
Normally, Lari would have run over happily like a bunny at those words, but instead she panicked and shook her head.
“Huh? Y-you’ll sleep with me?”
“Yeah!”
“No.”
For some reason, she was unusually shy and ended up lying down on the opposite bed.
I took my pillow and lay down beside Lariz.
“Big sister’s kind of regretting something.”
“Why?”
“I regret that even if Rohen said he didn’t want to, the three of us didn’t sleep together like this.”
“Why would you regret that?”
At Lari’s blunt tone, my lips twitched slightly.
“Even if Rohen looks strong, he’s actually a very soft, fragile child. I should have hugged him and slept with him, even if I had to force it.”
There are far more things I didn’t do for him than things I did.
I feel like I did my best for Lari, who follows me so well, but with Rohen, there are only regrets.
He always opposed me over every little thing, like a troublesome seven-year-old, so I feel like I didn’t pay him enough attention.
“Rohen is fragile?”
“Yes. Very much so. Rohen only acted that way because he was being an older brother and taking care of Lari.”
“…I see.”
Lariz, who would normally have thrown herself into my arms, kept a slight distance this time, only her lips trembling.
“Yes. So… I’ll be extra good to Lari to make up for what I couldn’t do for Rohen.”
At that moment, Lari looked at me with eyes that were even more moist than usual.
Her blue eyes were faint and wistful, like the moon reflected on a lake.
“Hey… do you think Rohen will really come back?”
“Of course he will. The two of you are inseparable twins.”
“I guess so.”
“So let’s sleep now. We need to sleep well today. We woke up early and got ready, remember?”
“…Yeah.”
“What should we do to play tomorrow?”
Normally, Lari would have excitedly talked about what she wanted to do, but no matter what I said, she didn’t seem excited.
“Let’s play in the room.”
“Do you want to?”
“Rohen might come back. What if I’m somewhere else and can’t find him? So I have to stay in the room. The carriage might come from far away, you know.”
“Let’s do that, then!”
I couldn’t bring myself to say that it would be a very, very long time before that happened. I was afraid she’d be even more disappointed. No matter how much I was here, she’d still been separated from her family.
I’m sorry. For not being able to tell you everything honestly.
Someday—someday, when Lari grows up a lot—I’ll be able to tell her. Like a story from the past, saying that’s how things were back then.
Only after three days had passed since Rohen left did Lari seem to give up. Until then, she would sit by the window, saying he might come back, and stare into the distance. But after three days, she started holding my hand and going out for walks.
Then, nine days after Rohen left, as usual, I sat down near the large tree, keeping some distance from the other orphanage children.
“What should we do today? Want me to read you a book?”
Lari, who had brightened up again like before, smiled widely.
“No! Let’s go look around the market together. I want to see the market.”
“Huh? We could, but… you didn’t really like going outside before, Lari.”
“I’m curious. R-Rohen will be living outside from now on… so I’m curious what the outside is like too.”
That made sense. The world she lived in had changed from his. Realizing belatedly that Lari wanted to feel close to Rohen, even in this way, I nodded.
“All right. Sounds good.”
“And I heard that today is a festival day. Can we see the festival too?”
