Chapter 17
“Of course. The orphanage director cares more about how she looks to others than you’d expect. She’ll let us go out freely today.”
At least on a day like this.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Let’s go watch the fireworks tonight. I know a great spot where there aren’t many people.”
“Okay.”
It seemed that the shock of Rohen leaving had eased a lot by now; Lari was brighter than ever, almost like a different person.
“Then let’s wait until evening. I hope night comes quickly.”
“Yeah. Let’s wear something thick, too. It might be cold.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Smiling brightly, Lari and I returned to the room.
In one corner of the room, the sweet potatoes the three of us had wanted to eat with Rohen were rotting away, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch them. It felt as though I had lost a memory because I’d miscalculated the timing.
And if we threw them away right after Rohen left, it would feel like telling Lari that Rohen was going to be gone for a very long time, so I deliberately left them as they were.
So today as well, I pushed the basket of sweet potatoes into a corner of the room and waited until evening.
When the sun began to sink low, Lari and I put on thick cardigans and went outside. Then we headed toward a fireworks-viewing spot that people rarely visited.
“But when did I ever come to a place like this?”
I had brought Lari out, saying it was a good spot to watch the fireworks, but I felt strangely unsettled.
A low cliff not far from the orphanage. The more I walked, the more it felt like I’d been here before.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you coming?”
Urged on by Lari, who was walking ahead, I hurriedly climbed up.
Then the entire village came into view at once.
And there was no one here at all.
“How do I… know this place?”
It was as if I even knew that there was a small bench here, since I hadn’t brought a mat or anything.
Lari, who had followed me up, immediately sat down on the bench.
There was even a railing at the edge of the cliff, warning people not to get too close—it looked like hardly anyone ever came here.
But the strange thing was that no matter how much I searched my memory, I couldn’t recall ever coming here before.
Yet everything felt familiar and natural, as though I had.
Then—
“Wow. Fireworks. I guess they’re starting.”
Lari, who had already sat down and was looking out over the village, made her eyes sparkle.
When she saw that I was still standing instead of sitting beside her, she turned her head and urged me on.
“Aren’t you going to watch?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you so startled?”
“I’m not startled. They’re just pretty.”
“They’re prettier from here. Come on, sit and watch.”
Nodding awkwardly, I sat down beside Lari.
In the meantime, the fireworks began rising one by one, dozens of them shooting up in succession and painting the sky.
I had thought watching fireworks from our room in the orphanage wouldn’t be much different from watching them outside, but it was completely different. I stared at the sky for a long while.
The countless fireworks decorating the night sky were dazzling and beautiful, like something out of a dream.
They even made me feel as if I were in another world.
“Beautiful.”
“Really beautiful.”
Lari’s blue eyes shone more brilliantly than ever today.
“Yeah. It would’ve been nice if Rohen could’ve seen them with us.”
“Someday, the two of you will be able to watch them together. So just hang in there a little longer, Lari.”
“Not just the two.”
“Huh?”
“All three.”
“Don’t tell me you mean me too?”
Lari nodded shyly.
“That’s touching.”
But unfortunately, at that time, I wouldn’t be with you.
“The black figures from the novel and I have different paths to walk.”
Even if the trauma of childhood disappeared, in the end Rohen and Lariz were children who had to appear in the novel. Unlike them, I was someone who didn’t even appear in the story.
Because of that, I just moved my lips silently. Maybe she sensed it, because Lari’s face stiffened.
“Why? You don’t want to? Are you going to abandon us too, Aisha?”
“Abandon you? Where would I even go? I’ll probably just stay here. Rohen and Lari are children of the grand duke’s family, but I’m a kid whose parents abandoned her…”
They were even greedy. Even at the moment they abandoned me, they had been trying to find somewhere to sell a child, and when they couldn’t, they threw me away.
I was the child my mother had while having an affair with another man. Because of that, I could only give Lari an awkward smile.
As if she couldn’t understand what I was saying, Lari shook her round head from side to side.
“Why can’t you? What’s different just because your parents abandoned you? You’re still Aisha.”
“It is different. That’s why I’ll just stay here and run the orphanage.”
I gently patted Lari’s head.
“Then… why do you want to run an orphanage?”
“I want revenge on the director, and I want the pitiful children to grow up properly. And I just think that this is about all someone with nothing like me can afford to be greedy about. You could say I’m choosing not to be greedy.”
“Is that… like what you said before… about getting sick if you eat too much?”
When I didn’t immediately agree with her, Lari’s eyes hardened slightly.
Cold eyes.
Eyes devoid of emotion, like those of a beast—eyes that resembled the grand duke.
I hadn’t realized it before seeing him, but after seeing him, I knew for sure. That gaze that made your heart sink was exactly like the grand duke’s.
Anyone could tell the twins were his children.
“So it’s like that?”
“Ah… yeah. That’s right. People need to know their place. I know mine, so I’m getting by at the orphanage. I won’t be greedy for more than that.”
“…I’m going to be greedy.”
“What?”
“I’m going to be greedy so that the three of us can be together… in that place, the grand duke’s household or whatever.”
It was strange.
The one beside me was Lari, not Rohen, yet I felt the presence of a strong man in her eyes.
“Big talk for a kid.”
“…Just wait. I’ll make it so you can’t say things like that.”
“I’ll look forward to it. To the day we can all be together. But don’t push yourself too hard, Lari. I’m happy enough just being a part of your childhood memories.”
So please, live happily.
Don’t think about me. And instead of getting tangled up with the original story and dying after doing something bad, just don’t.
Holding words I couldn’t say in my mouth, I pulled Lari into an embrace.
“Our Lari is too kind—that’s her problem. I don’t need to worry.”
“…You’re the one who worries.”
“You’re calling me ‘sis’ again? You haven’t been calling me that lately, so I was kind of sad.”
“…You were even sad?”
“Yeah. But it makes me happy that you’re calling me that again.”
Lari stuck out her lips slightly and buried her face in my chest.
Why is she so shy? So cute.
“…I’ll call you that often, sis.”
“Now you’re really Lari. Yeah. Call me that often.”
“Mm.”
And so I watched the fireworks while stroking the child’s head.
Fireworks that would never come again—brilliant and beautiful.
And finally, as the fireworks began to die down, Lari clenched her fist tightly.
“Then until the next time we meet Rohen, Lari has to work hard too.”
“Okay!”
And just like that, another day came to an end.
Several days passed.
Before we knew it, it had been fifteen days since Rohen left.
It was only fifteen days, yet it felt as though more than a year had gone by.
In the meantime, Lari seemed to be doing well, eating heartily and acting even braver than usual.
But as expected, the orphanage director was trouble again today.
Around lunchtime. After eating in our room as usual and putting down our trays, one of the caretakers approached me with an awkward expression. The timing was almost too perfect, as if she’d been waiting for me to come out.
“Aisha. The director says to tell that child you’re with to come to her office.”
“What?”
“She says you’re not to come—only the child.”
Just looking at the caretaker’s troubled expression, I could roughly guess the situation.
Not wanting to make things harder for her, I nodded.
“Okay.”
“Right. Should I take the child there for you?”
“No, it’s fine. I know the way well, so I’ll take her myself.”
So the duchess’s side had finally started moving. I had thought that after Rohen left and the director disappeared for a while, she would talk things over with the duchess’s side and scheme something—and that day had finally come.
Now the holy knights who had guarded this place were gone as well. There was no one left to ask for help.
“So I’ll have to protect her.”
Watching the caretaker walk away, I tightly grasped Lari’s hand as she sat quietly in the room.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“To see the director.”
At those words, I felt Lari’s hand stiffen in mine.
“Why…?”
“We have to face it at least once. I’ll go with you, so don’t worry. We’ll just go and come back.”
I held Lari’s trembling hand more firmly than ever.
“We need to know what she’s going to say. If we avoid it now, she’ll try to grab us by force like last time. So let’s just go this once.”
“And if…?”
“I won’t let go of this hand, no matter what, so don’t worry.”
To make a plan, I first needed to see how the other side would act. I didn’t know how the director would try to take Lari in the novel, so I needed to understand the situation.
If she got violent, I would have to make Lari run immediately.
After hesitating, Lari slowly nodded.
“If you say so, sis, then it can’t be helped. Don’t worry. I trust you.”
“Yeah. I’ll protect you no matter what.”
With that, we left the room together. The path to the director’s office felt unusually long.
Halfway there, the thought of turning back crossed my mind, but there didn’t seem to be any way to avoid it.
In the end, we knocked on her door and went inside.
“We’re here!”
