Chapter 115……………………………..
“That happened a few days before Riena was adopted by the Cassius Duke’s family.”
Angela began speaking, moistening her dry lips with her tongue.
“The director suddenly said that instead of introducing you to the Cassius family, she would introduce Riena.”
“Wait a moment. Why were they trying to introduce me to the Cassius family in the first place?”
“Oh… right. You don’t remember anything at all.”
“Please start explaining from there.”
“The Cassius family sent word beforehand that they wanted to adopt a child. They said it would be best if the child was the one who had been closest to the Duchess.”
“I was close to the Duchess?”
“Yes. The two of you got along very well.”
“But how could a high-ranking duchess and an ordinary orphan even…?”
“She used to come to our orphanage often to do volunteer work. She played with the children frequently.”
So Sheryl Cassius’s good deeds hadn’t been limited to simply sponsoring the orphanage.
“The Duke of Cassius had heard a little about you, but it seems he didn’t even know your name.”
“So they sent Riena instead?”
“Yes. The director disliked you. She seemed to think that if you were adopted by the Cassius family, it might cause trouble for her.”
Angela gave a faint smile and added,
“Compared to obedient Riena, you would openly confront the director whenever she bullied the children. You always spoke the truth, so the director would often have to back down.”
Idel had that kind of personality?
It was a little surprising.
The Idel I had sensed from her diary had seemed timid and withdrawn.
Perhaps that personality had formed later—after she lost her memories from falling down the slope and spent years being oppressed by the Wallace family.
“Besides, Riena resembled the Duchess of Cassius, didn’t she? The director insisted that showing Riena to the Duke would increase the chances of adoption.”
Angela lowered her eyes.
“Well… the two of them had never actually met.”
“Why not? Riena was also at the orphanage.”
“By the time Riena arrived at our orphanage, the Duchess had already become too ill to continue her volunteer work.”
A few months later, her condition worsened and the Duchess eventually passed away.
“The director even falsified documents so that this wouldn’t become a problem. She moved forward the date that Riena supposedly arrived at the orphanage.”
“Why go that far?”
“She seemed certain. Certain that something good would happen to her if Riena were adopted by the Cassius family.”
Angela swallowed nervously before continuing.
“T-to be honest… I saw something. One evening, I saw Riena entering the director’s office. It felt strange.”
“Why?”
“The way she went into the office looked so calm. She used to be terrified of the director and would turn pale whenever she saw her.”
“…And after that?”
“After that?”
“Did Riena continue behaving differently from before?”
“Hmm… now that you mention it, maybe she did. But she was adopted just a few days later, so I didn’t see her much after that.”
That must have been after Riena regressed.
After returning to the past, Riena must have gone to the director, and the director then arranged for Riena to be adopted by the Cassius family.
Did Riena make the proposal first?
Something like: introduce her to the Duke instead of me, and she would help the director in the future.
“Ah!”
Angela suddenly clapped her hands as if remembering something.
“Yes, it was definitely strange. Even though you were sent away to another orphanage, she didn’t seem very sad.”
“That was when it happened?”
“Yes. The director hurriedly sent you to another orphanage, making some trivial excuse.”
“So she intended to get rid of me before the Duke of Cassius came to visit.”
“That’s what I think.”
“…And not long after that, the director met her end.”
After hearing from Riena about the child abuse that had taken place in the orphanage, the Duke had executed the director.
“S-she must have done it to silence the director!”
Angela suddenly shouted, her face turning pale.
“The director knew that Riena wasn’t actually the child who had been close to the Duchess…!”
“Calm down.”
I rubbed Angela’s trembling back, but she didn’t stop shaking.
“Idel! Help me! I might be next!”
Angela clutched my arm tightly as she pleaded.
“At the time, the children spoke well of me so I was spared, but I also know Riena’s secret!”
“It’ll be fine. That was more than ten years ago.”
“No! For a long time I felt like someone was watching me! Recently it’s gotten worse!”
Dark circles hung under Angela’s eyes as she hugged her shoulders.
“I don’t have the strength to keep running anymore. You’re the only person I can rely on…”
Seeing her like that, I finally understood why Angela had only come to find me now.
Because I now had the mine and my own power.
Angela, who feared Riena and the Cassius family so much, could never have approached me when I was the wife of the Cassius family’s young duke.
Tracking my whereabouts after I had been secretly adopted into the Wallace family had likely been for her own safety.
Most likely, she had intended to take me to the Cassius family and reveal the truth in order to escape Riena’s grasp.
But when she heard that Riena was being deeply loved by the ducal family, she must have decided it was useless and chosen to live while constantly running away instead.
I comforted the trembling Angela.
“Alright. I’ll protect you as much as I can.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I learned about the past I had forgotten.”
“Thank you, Idel. And I’m sorry. I just stood by and watched when the director replaced you with Riena.”
“No one can live perfectly moral lives at every moment.”
Considering that the children had testified in her favor back then, Angela probably wasn’t a bad person.
Moreover, the novel had said that aside from the director, any other orphanage staff who abused children had definitely been punished by the Duke of Cassius.
I was just thinking that I should arrange a place for Angela to stay when we returned.
Then—
“Right! How about we go to the orphanage together?”
Angela, who had been repeatedly thanking me, suddenly made an unexpected suggestion.
“The orphanage?”
“Yes. After the director and the other teachers were dealt with, the orphanage closed down, but the building is still there. If you go there, you might remember something.”
“Well…”
I wasn’t actually the real Idel, so I wasn’t sure visiting her old home would make me remember anything.
…But after fighting the divine beast, I dreamed of Idel’s past life.
I had asked the divine beast before if something like that could happen again. Its answer had been vague—it might happen, or it might not.
Still, there was no harm in trying.
However, there was one thing bothering me.
I looked out the carriage window.
The streets were now dyed red by the sunset.
It was almost dinner time—the time I had promised to spend with Terrence.
After hesitating for a moment, I asked Angela,
“Where is the orphanage?”
“It’s not very far from here.”
After hearing the exact location, it turned out to be a place reachable within an hour by train.
“Shall we go now? I don’t mind.”
The orphanage building wouldn’t disappear if we visited later.
But…
My heart has been pounding nonstop.
I had just learned a series of shocking truths.
It was only natural that my mind hadn’t calmed down yet.
Honestly, returning to the imperial palace like this, having dinner with Terrence, and calmly revealing the truth felt impossible.
For now, I wanted to see the orphanage with my own eyes—the place where Idel and Riena had spent their childhood together.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like if I went there, something really might come back to me, just as Angela said.
Terrence did say he was free tomorrow too, right? Then I’ll postpone dinner until tomorrow.
Even if I left now, I could return to the imperial palace by dawn tomorrow at the latest.
“Please take us to the Central Train Station.”
After opening the carriage door and giving the driver that order, I looked at one of the imperial knights.
“I’m sorry, but could you go to the imperial palace and deliver a message to His Highness the Second Prince?”
“Please give me your instructions.”
The knight answered firmly, then rode off alone toward the palace.
Meanwhile, the rest of us headed toward the capital’s central train station.
Not long afterward, I stood before the entrance of a shabby building that looked ready to collapse.
“This was our orphanage. Does anything come to mind?”
“……”
“Idel?”
Without answering Angela, I stepped through the gate as if possessed.
The building somehow felt familiar.
The familiar hill behind it.
The familiar yard.
And the small animal enclosure.
Thump, thump.
My heart was beating far faster than before.
“Master, what’s wrong?! The divine power inside your body is going wild!”
The divine beast, which had been quietly resting in my handbag, spoke urgently in my mind.
“Ah, dear…”
Then another voice—faint, yet far more sacred and heavy than the divine beast’s—echoed.
“The seal on the memories is breaking. As expected, letting the beast’s power enter your body before was the problem…”
Before I could hear the goddess’s words to the end, my consciousness was swept far away.
To the same place—
But a completely different time.
A completely different life.
Flashback
A child was squatting in front of the animal enclosure.
The child, with dull silver hair, muttered weakly,
“Rabbits are lucky.”
I asked,
“Why?”
“They’re cute. The kids like them, and the teachers like them too. I wish I were cute like a rabbit. Then everyone would like me.”
“Riena, you’re already cute.”
“Only Idel says that. Everyone else says I’m gloomy. If I were really cute, I would’ve been adopted already… Huh? What are you doing?”
“Hold still for a second.”
“…Why are you suddenly tying my hair?”
“Look. If I tie it into two pigtails, it looks like rabbit ears. Your hair is pretty silver, and your eyes are red like a rabbit’s, so you look even more like one.”
The child touched her hair awkwardly and murmured shyly,
“Thank you.”
