Chapter 18
As expected, the director’s face stiffened the moment she saw me.
“Aisha. You came. I called that child.”
“Ah, Lari. Since I’m the one taking care of the child, I came together.”
“Is that so?”
“Is it a problem if I’m here?”
“…It’s not something you absolutely need to be here for.”
Perhaps because of what happened last time, the orphanage director was openly hostile toward me. Sensing that, I acted even more confidently.
“But it’s not something I mustn’t be here for, so I’ll stay by their side.”
“……”
“Aisha. Have you finished all the work you were given?”
“Yes. I finished a week’s worth yesterday.”
“You finished it all in one day?”
“Yes! Because I have to play with Lari. Oh, right—I also finished Lari’s work. You told Lari to do it last time, so I made sure it was done.”
As I said everything I wanted to say, I hid Lari behind me.
“…Impressive, Aisha. Next time, I should increase your workload.”
“If you do that, the other children will hate it, saying I’m being treated specially. Whether it’s good or bad, if you’re unfair in an orphanage, the backlash will be huge.”
“You really never lose an argument.”
“That’s not true! Could it be that what I’m saying upsets you?”
Since I still had to remain here after the children left, I tried to keep things within reasonable bounds.
Of course, the sarcasm that slipped out unintentionally couldn’t really be helped.
“Director…?”
I trailed off as I called to her. The director’s face, which had been looking down at me uncomfortably until just now, relaxed.
It felt as if her negative thoughts—Don’t get swept up by what a child says. She’s nothing more than a wormlike brat—were pouring out unfiltered.
“Why would I be upset? I’m annoyed, but I’m fine. If anything, I like smart children. Smart children are useful in many ways.”
“Yes! I’m smart!”
“That’s right. And whose words should you listen to?”
“Yours, Director!”
“Good. And if you listen to me well?”
“You’ll praise me! And if you praise me, you’ll grant one wish!”
Only then did the director approach with a satisfied expression and pat my head.
“So don’t talk back to me.”
“Yes!”
“Anyway, the reason I called you today is because I haven’t been able to pay attention to that child, Lariz or whatever, so I thought I’d give you something tasty to eat.”
“I was worried you were going to hit us!”
I revealed my honest feelings without hesitation. At my unexpected words, the director pouted.
“Hit you? Why would I ever do that?”
“I’ve seen you do bad things to kids who don’t listen sometimes. So I was really worried. But you won’t hit Lariz, right? Or me?”
“…I will never hit you. But know this—if you go around telling people things like that, you’ll be in big trouble.”
I nodded with a delighted expression.
“Yes! I won’t.”
“Good.”
“Oh! But then I guess I should go tell the other kids.”
“Tell them what.”
Perhaps because every word I said grated on her nerves, she snapped her head around and glared at me.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I didn’t say you hit us, but just in case—if Lari and I suddenly disappear, I told them to say that something happened to me because of the orphanage director. I told them to spread the rumor. To the kids.”
Half of it was true, and half was a lie.
It was true that I told them to spread word in the village if I disappeared because of the director. But saying that the director did something to me was a lie.
The more exaggerated children’s stories become, the less adults believe them.
That’s why I didn’t say that part. Still, the director’s reaction was more extreme than expected.
“W-what! That’s nonsense!”
The director didn’t know it, but I always prepared stopgap measures like this. This was the first time I’d actually used one, but for someone as greedy and sly as her, this was the right way to deal with her.
“It’s not nonsense. It’s true.”
At my words, her face turned deathly pale.
“Go out right now and cancel it!”
“You said you had something to say to Lari, didn’t you? After you finish saying that.”
“What?”
“There’s not going to be anything happening today anyway, so you can just cancel it later. Ah—unless something is going to happen today, and that’s why you want me to go cancel it right away?”
Her hands trembled violently. I just tilted my head, acting as if I truly knew nothing.
“You really are…”
“You told me not to talk back, so I didn’t… but do you not even like this kind of talk?”
In the end, as if trying to endure it, she clenched her fists and trembled before slowly nodding.
“Aisha. Even kindness has its limits, so be careful. I’ll show you what happens when a smart child uses her mouth the wrong way.”
What a joke.
Kind, my foot. She wasn’t kind at all, yet she seemed to live under the delusion that she was a very gentle and benevolent person.
So I smiled brightly at her, who couldn’t even control her emotions in front of a child.
“Hehe. I was just joking. There’s no way I’d actually do that, right?”
“……”
“Though it kind of sounds like I might have.”
“You’re trying to toy with me.”
“You always look so scary whenever you look at me or Lari, Director, so I just said it as a joke. I said it at the market too. And here and there.”
I stuck out my tongue slightly and met her gaze.
Isn’t it ridiculous?
Seeing how, last time, the twin Rohen went to the Grand Duke as his child, she must have known that Lariz was also the Grand Duke’s child—yet she didn’t even think of sending him.
Which means the Grand Duchess must have told her to deal with the Lariz who remained here.
The intention behind calling only Lariz here today felt completely transparent.
At first, she probably didn’t know the twins were the Grand Duke’s children, but now she must have known.
Because she must have contacted the Grand Duchess.
So she must have received her next orders.
Originally, the director’s style would have been to make deals with the Grand Duke’s side. Given that she had already abused the children, I thought she’d grab the Grand Duchess’s hand again.
Instead, I expected her to ask why only Rohen had appeared back then, or whether I knew something—but she asked nothing.
As if she didn’t even want to mention that the child she had abused, the one she had locked in that storage room, was the Grand Duke’s child.
I looked back and forth between her stiff face and Lari.
“Oh! By the way, the reason you called us was to give us something tasty? Wow! Lariz, it’s something delicious.”
At my words, Lariz—unusually perceptive of the atmosphere—smiled and nodded.
“Something tasty! I like it!”
“…That’s a relief.”
The director, who had been wearing an uneasy expression, watched us belatedly react to the mention of food and rang the bell on her desk.
The door opened, and an incredible spread of food appeared before our eyes.
Desserts of all kinds were laid out on pretty plates, as if they’d been prepared in advance. There were so many dishes that they soon filled the entire table.
They were probably made by the orphanage teachers—some were a bit clumsy—but they looked quite impressive.
“Come over and sit.”
“Yes!”
In the meantime, the director seated us on the sofa.
There was a huge cake, sandwiches stuffed with ham and eggs, and even milk.
“Go on and eat.”
But despite the overwhelming amount of food that made our eyes widen, neither Lariz nor I touched anything.
Even though the director told us to eat, we didn’t move at all for quite some time.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“I’ve never eaten things like this before, so I don’t know if they’re tasty.”
“Huh…?”
Lariz spoke first. I added my own thoughts to his words.
“That’s right. We’ve never eaten things like this, so we don’t know how to eat them.”
“Well, yes, that makes sense. Of course you wouldn’t know—you’ve never had anything so fine… I’ll explain everything. So eat.”
It was a truly unexpected sight. The woman who was always so overbearing gently held a fork and moved it around.
“Oh. So that’s how you cut it.”
“Yes. You cut it like this and eat it. Now that you know, go on and eat.”
“Yes! …I’d like to say that, but on top of that, I ate a lot at lunch, so I’m not really hungry. If I eat more now, it feels like my stomach might go bang and burst.”
At that, the director sitting beside us twitched her nose.
“I-I see. But today, you must eat all of this before you leave. It’s the last thing I’m giving you—won’t you regret it?”
“Leave? Where are we going?”
“A carriage from the temple has come. It seems that child, Lariz, is special… the priestess Melodia asked that he be brought to her.”
I looked at the director as she spoke so confidently.
I know it’s a lie. I know—but suddenly, I became curious. What would happen if, just this once, I let go of Lariz here?
Would it have been fine even then? They’re strong children.
When I first saw the children—and even in the novel—it wasn’t mentioned, so I didn’t know, but they had survived by sneaking out through a hole in the storage room and hunting in the forest.
Perhaps because of the power in their bloodline, the children were sturdy and felt no fear.
If anything, the weak one is me, a powerless human. When it comes to survival, the twins are far superior to me.
In the book, Lariz probably sensed the danger in advance and ran away.
Sure enough, in the story, after Rohen left, the Lariz who remained alone endured five years in the storage room—until Rohen returned. The director must have tried several times to capture him, but the child escaped again and again, and so was never caught.
And so, five years later, Lariz reunites with Rohen. He suffered, but was healthier than expected.
