Chapter 20
“……Huh?”
“Idiot.”
“Lari. It feels so strange hearing you say that.”
It reminds me of Rohen. Maybe it’s because they’re twins and look exactly alike, but today, even the way she acts feels like Rohen.
As if she realized what I was thinking, Lari shrugged her shoulders.
“What’s strange about it? O—older brother said it too. He told me to make sure to say it every time you did something stupid.”
“He told you to call me an idiot?”
“Yeah.”
Those clear, sparkling eyes are definitely Lari’s, and yet it’s oddly unsettling.
It’s like my adorable Lari is strongly tinged with Rohen’s presence.
‘Is it because they’re twins?’
That must be it, right?
“Anyway, that’s not what matters right now, is it, sis?”
“……Right.”
“Just abandon me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why are you trying so desperately to take everything with you? You don’t have to do that…… You’ve already tried hard enough, sis, so you can stop now. You don’t have to come looking for me at the storage shed. I’ll be fine on my own. I lived there originally anyway. Just live your life again, the way you’re supposed to. Like before.”
I lifted my head and looked at Lari.
“……You’re telling me to leave you behind? When you might die?”
“You know we won’t die.”
“Even so, I won’t leave you. I won’t let any of you get hurt.”
If I hadn’t known you, maybe I wouldn’t have cared—but now it’s different.
Before I knew it, the children had become my family, my friends.
Even if I know you won’t die.
‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
“I won’t let you get hurt. There has to be a way.”
“……Then you’ll get hurt too, sis.”
“…….”
I couldn’t answer that. The truth was, I was the one in danger.
If I went too far, the director definitely wouldn’t leave me alone.
‘But she probably won’t do anything too extreme. I’ve never suffered direct abuse, and I can endure it. With time, she’ll forget about me. But Lari is different.’
Judging by what I confirmed today, she must have tried something like this in the past too—trying to take Lari away, not from inside but from outside.
For that to happen, someone had to come. The director couldn’t have handled Lari alone, so just like today, a carriage or people were bound to come.
Knowing that today’s events weren’t meaningless, I forced a smile.
“Someone will probably come again. I’m sure of that now. So if strangers come to the orphanage, just be careful then—”
But Lari only shook her head from side to side.
“Don’t overdo it.”
Lari sank down where she stood and gently cupped my cheek.
“Uh……?”
“You’ve done enough, sis. For us. You pulled us out of that hellish place, gave us good food…… That alone is more than enough. You were our light. Even if you let us go after this, we won’t resent you.”
Tears kept falling.
Why is this so hard?
Why am I so young?
If only I were at least ten years old—just over ten, old enough to go out freely—I could save Lari and the others.
“No. Still……”
“It’s true. Both Rohen and I—we had more fun in our childhood than you might think. It’s a bit sad we couldn’t roast sweet potatoes together, and that the three of us couldn’t watch fireworks together. But this isn’t the end.”
When did she become so good with words?
She was acting like the strong one, but it felt like I was the one being comforted.
I stopped what I was doing and just quietly looked at Lari.
Smiling brightly at me, she tightly tied the bundle I hadn’t properly secured so it wouldn’t come undone.
“But since it’s stuff you prepared for us, I should take it all.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Lari grabbed the bundle I packed and walked over to the window.
“Lari?”
“This isn’t the end. This isn’t how we end. So don’t worry. I can endure things well in the forest. So don’t cry alone thinking we’re leaving.”
As if telling my hesitant self not to worry, Lari climbed out the window.
“L–Lari!”
Even though it was on the second floor, the child leaped out without hesitation.
As if proving that her claim of living in the forest wasn’t a lie—as if showing that the children of the Grand Duke’s family were closer to wolves—Lari disappeared into the forest in an instant.
Watching that, I collapsed where I stood.
I should have chased after her, but I was the one who had brought her here—and the one who let her go.
“I…… in the end, I couldn’t do anything.”
I had arrogantly thought I could change the novel itself, but that was far too difficult.
I had acted like I was something special. And yet…… what did I actually do?
In the end, I accomplished nothing on my own.
That night, sleep wouldn’t come. I sat on the window frame for a long time, staring at the forest.
I missed Lari, who always called me “sis,” and Rohen, who called me an idiot. I didn’t fall asleep, just stared into the distance until dawn.
And at dawn the next day, someone forced open the locked door and entered.
It was the orphanage director, seething with rage.
The moment she came in, unable to control her anger, she began tearing the room apart.
“Where is she!”
“What?”
“That child!”
“Ah! Ah! Where did she go……!!”
I stared around with my mouth agape, acting as if I knew nothing.
“Aisha!”
“Ah! If you mean that child…… she left.”
“What?”
“She said you were too scary and ran away.”
Naturally, her expression hardened at my words.
“Y–you’ve gone mad.”
“Mad?…… I don’t have any power, Director.”
“Hah. You should’ve caught her!”
“She said she was leaving—how was I supposed to stop her?”
“Where did she go. Where.”
“I don’t know.”
Seeing that I wasn’t cooperating, the director finally lost control and viciously twisted my arm.
“Ah…….”
“You’ve been acting however you want lately. I really don’t like it.”
“…….”
“Hah. If only you had kept a proper hold on that child!! No—never mind. Aisha, if you defy me one more time, I’ll send you off somewhere else, so be careful. Huh? You’re getting awfully bold just because Priestess Melodia favors you.”
What is this?
Why do I have to go through this just because I let Lari go?
Those thoughts churned in my head for a long time.
She was still fuming, and I had no choice but to rub my arm, which looked like it would bruise at any moment.
Still unable to calm down, she raised her hand again as if to do something else—but perhaps realizing it would only hurt her hand, she lowered it and glared down at me.
“That’s why I hate things like that.”
Grinding her teeth, the director continued searching the room for quite some time before finally slamming the door and leaving.
“Haha…… ha. Really…….”
Watching her go, I felt relieved.
I was glad Lari had left yesterday.
If she hadn’t, she would’ve suffered this instead.
So it was better this way.
After that day, daily life remained the same.
The director began searching the forest and kept me under watch.
Perhaps thinking I might meet Lari again, she followed me around all day long.
Because of that, I couldn’t go anywhere near the storage shed, day or night.
I just sat in the old spot on the big tree and read books, like before.
Time passed like that, and exactly one month after Rohen left with the Grand Duke, it happened.
Everything unfolded completely differently from what I had expected.
The Grand Duke, who wasn’t supposed to come for another five years, arrived at the orphanage holding Rohen’s hand.
“A carriage!”
“That carriage is…….”
Visitors to the orphanage were rare, so any visit was a big event for the children.
Especially the children who had already seen the splendid carriage of the Grand Duke’s family once before—they raised their voices even louder.
They even ran over to me while I was reading and shook me hard.
“It’s that carriage! Aisha! Aisha!”
“What. Don’t bother me.”
“It’s the carriage that took that kid away!!”
“……Huh? What?”
At that, I jumped up and climbed the small hill. From far away, I could clearly see a carriage approaching.
A silver carriage, accompanied by more knights and several smaller carriages than last time, was coming this way.
My whole body felt frozen. Was I hallucinating? I rubbed my eyes several times.
But no matter how I looked, it was definitely the Grand Duke’s carriage approaching from afar.
“It’s changed…….”
The story of the novel had changed.
That carriage wasn’t supposed to come now.
If it came now, it meant they were here for Lari.
“W–wait? Where are you going, Aisha!”
Leaving behind the excited children staring at the carriage, I quickly turned around.
I could hear the startled voices of the children behind me, but that didn’t matter right now.
‘I have to…… find Lari.’
As expected, when I started running, an unknown presence followed behind me. Because of that constant presence tailing me, I hadn’t even been able to look for Lari before.
But not anymore.
‘If I find Lari now, and investigate those suspicious people following me…….’
I might be able to find a point of contact with the Grand Duchess.
With that in mind, I ran even faster than before.
Of course, to buy a bit of time, I avoided going around the wall and instead slipped through a small hole, shaking them off as much as possible.
“Where are you…… where are you…… please show yourself…….”
At the same time, I scanned every inch of the area around the forest
