Chapter 37
Perhaps he had heard our words all too clearly, because Jeffrey—who had already put quite some distance between us—staggered.
Did I speak too loudly? Still, no matter how I looked at it, there was no changing the fact that Jeffrey was a completely unnecessary person to us. More precisely, someone we should absolutely never associate with.
So I alternated my gaze between Rohen and Lari.
“Let’s run away.”
“Huh?”
“He looks like he’s about to come over and start nagging again, so let’s hurry and run.”
And as I watched him, I quickly grabbed Rohen’s hand.
“R-run?”
“Yeah. Lari, wake up. Let’s run like we used to back at the orphanage.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Lari, who had been pulling herself together while talking to Jeffrey, hurriedly nodded.
Sure enough, Jeffrey was striding toward us as if he meant to approach. We snickered and slipped away from him.
“Wait! We should clear up the misunderstanding before you go!”
There was no way we were going to listen to that. I had no intention of getting along with Jeffrey. Thinking we shouldn’t give him any hope from the start, we quickly left the area.
Without saying where we were going, as if the destination were already decided, Lari led us somewhere. Perhaps she had fully come to her senses now—she was walking more energetically than ever.
Because it reminded me of how we used to be at the orphanage, my heart fluttered for some reason.
‘Still… it was hard back then, but I think those were pretty happy memories. Just remembering them makes me feel this joyful.’
Times when we were happy among ourselves, without caring about anyone else. They were far shorter than the days we would live in the future, or even than the days we had already lived—but even so, there were no memories as precious as those etched into my mind.
‘I hope Rohen and Lari feel the same way, at least.’
I looked at Rohen running close beside me. Since coming here, he had spent most of his time wearing a blank expression, but now his face looked much brighter than before.
“Why are you staring like that?”
“I’m just happy. These times, when it’s the three of us together… they’re so precious. I was wondering if I was the only one who felt that way. But your face looks the same, Rohen.”
“Well… yeah, it’s nice. Ah, I don’t mean that you are nice or anything, just… this time, running like this.”
Muttering so softly that the end of his words was barely audible, Rohen suddenly moved ahead of me.
Do they even realize that I only just got up today?
Still, maybe my body’s recovery ability really did surpass that of an ordinary child. A body that couldn’t even get up just a little while ago was now walking—and even running.
‘My recovery has always been incredible.’
So much so that it felt like someone must have given me a recovery potion. Even when I got seriously ill, I would recover quickly—it was nothing unusual.
‘Was I… always like that?’
Then—
Memories that might or might not have been mine mixed together and rushed in.
Had I ever been seriously sick when I was young? I didn’t think so. Then why did I keep forming these strange, oddly certain thoughts?
Suddenly, my head began to ache. Memories of strange dreams resurfaced, making it hurt even more.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh?”
“Your face has gone completely pale.”
“Ah… no, it’s nothing.”
Unlike last time, the headache quickly subsided.
“But is it really okay for you to be running?”
“Yeah! Strangely enough, my body recovered really fast. You don’t need to worry.”
“Then that’s a relief. Let’s hurry.”
It was really strange.
To the point where I wondered when I’d ever been sick at all, my condition kept improving. Once the headache disappeared, even running felt light.
That was when—
“Noona.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll keep making times like this for you. Times like these, that are so precious.”
“Come on! We’re here!”
“Huh?”
Right as Rohen was saying something, Lari—who had dashed ahead—shouted.
“Ah… yeah! But Rohen, what did you say?”
“Nothing. Let’s hurry. Lari’s waiting.”
“Mmm….”
In the end, deep in the forest, we found a small pond. Dense trees crowded around it, yet above the pond alone the trees were strangely sparse, as if sunlight seeped in only there.
A pond that was neither very small nor very large.
Flowers bloomed all around it, and soft, cushiony grass encircled the pond.
“Wow, it’s pretty.”
“Right, Noona! I found this place not long ago too. No one comes here, so it’s really nice.”
Looking satisfied, Lari circled the pond and then plopped down nearby. She must come here often—only the grass around where she sat was flattened. When I sat down beside her, Rohen followed and sat down as well.
“Don’t the maids follow you or anything?”
“No! They just told me to come back on time. They scold me a little if my clothes get dirty, but still… there’s no one who really makes a big deal out of it.”
I stroked Lari’s cheek as she smiled brightly.
“Lari.”
“Yeah?”
“From now on, if anyone says something to you, we’ll answer back together.”
“Is that okay?”
Lari shook her chubby, round head from side to side. Her hair swayed like seaweed every time she moved—it was really cute.
“Yes. Lari, listen. You and Rohen are both true children acknowledged by this family. So you don’t need to feel intimidated like before, and you don’t have to just endure people who ignore you.”
“Ooh….”
“You’re precious children. More precious than anyone else.”
“Noona, you’re the same.”
“Huh?”
As I was comforting Lari, Rohen snorted and tossed out his words.
“So don’t say things like only we are precious, only we matter. If we’re precious, then the person we treasure—you—are precious too.”
“Ah… yeah….”
“That’s right! Noona is precious! Neither Oppa nor I can live without Noona. So Noona, you should treasure yourself too.”
“……Yeah!”
But you and I are fundamentally different. I’m a child who doesn’t know who her parents are, whom no parents come looking for. In the world of the novel, I’m someone who’s only mentioned in passing—and you two are….
‘The Grand Duke just isn’t good at expressing it, but he cherishes you more than anyone. Sometimes that love goes too far. And the mother who gave birth to you also wanted to protect you no matter what.’
I tightly held the children’s hands.
“Yeah. We’re precious.”
That was when—
Lari glanced around, then suddenly ran into a patch of bushes not far away. Startled, I could only blink.
“Lari?”
“There are wild strawberries here that Noona liked. And I planted potatoes here too, the ones you liked. You know, Noona—if someone hates us like before, we can hide here.”
Then she hopped back out like a rabbit, both hands full of wild strawberries.
“Eat some. They’re really good.”
Lari sat back down beside us, and I picked one of the strawberries she offered and ate it.
“It’s delicious.”
“Right? It is!”
Even so, my gaze was still scanning the surroundings.
A forest adjacent to the Grand Duke’s estate. I could roughly tell where we were. A vast forest along the road leading to the Grand Duke’s residence.
It wasn’t officially owned by anyone, but the people of the empire considered it the Grand Duke’s forest and avoided entering it.
There were no particularly dangerous animals, but there were stories of people occasionally going in and disappearing.
The novel mentioned this place only briefly as well.
It was rumored to be where all kinds of evil deeds by the Grand Duke’s household took place. That’s why people avoided it. Because of that, the twin masterminds often treated this place like their own home.
This forest was also where they brought the female lead after kidnapping her.
Mother’s forest. The deeper toward the center you went, the more lush and verdant it became. But along the outer edges stood extremely dangerous-looking trees, as if forbidding outsiders from entering.
‘Just like the past. You’ll often come here and make it your sanctuary. Because here, there’s no one who threatens you.’
A perfect place for children, as sensitive to sound and smell as beasts, to hide.
“No one comes here. And I buried all sorts of things I brought out here!”
Lari surveyed the area with a very satisfied expression.
“A hideout, huh….”
A place free from anyone’s interference, somewhere to escape to if something happened. I examined the nearby trees.
A place filled with massive trees. The forest was so dense that every tree was huge and lush.
“It’d be nice to build a hideout up in that tree.”
“A hideout?”
“Yeah! We build a treehouse up there. Make a roof too, and store emergency food there. So we can stay even when it rains. Like before, we leave small markers on the way here, and anytime, anywhere… even when we can’t all be together, we can meet here.”
It sounded like nothing more than a dream. I just thought a place like that might become a kind of refuge for the children’s hearts.
Honestly, even if such a place existed, I wouldn’t be able to climb up. Unlike Lari and Rohen, who climbed trees so well it was hard to believe they were human, I couldn’t climb at all.
“A hideout….”
“Noona, how do you come up with such amazing ideas?”
“I just saw it in a book. In a book.”
Lari and Rohen looked up at the tree at the same time. For quite a while, neither of them said anything.
Did I say something unnecessary?
It was just a half-complaint, something I blurted out, but they seemed to be thinking about it quite seriously.
Worried they might actually try to build something so absurd, I hurriedly changed the subject.
“But anyway, it’s impressive that you found a place like this, Lari.”
“Hehe. But actually, lately I’ve been sleeping more, so I haven’t been able to come here much. Once I came here and accidentally fell asleep, then went back really late in the evening.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! So the maids said it put them in a difficult position. They said if I caused trouble like that, everyone would end up hating me, so they told me not to do it again. That’s why I couldn’t come.”
“Did they scold you?”
Lari shook her head side to side.
“No. They didn’t hit me, so it wasn’t scolding!”
