Chapter 39

I figured it out immediately.

“They’re pickpockets?”

Before I could even be shocked, the little girl Edmund was holding by the wrist suddenly changed.
Her face, which just moments ago had been all babyish lisping and bright smiles over candy, twisted sharp and mean.

“Tch!”

The nanny reacted at once, voice cutting.

“What a wicked little brat!”

The girl struggled wildly in Edmund’s grip.
Meanwhile, her “brother” tried to lunge at Edmund—only to be blocked by Willace.

“Let go of her! You’re rich, this tiny pouch means nothing to you! Don’t be so stingy!”

“You think we begged for candy just to look cute?”

At that, Willace clicked his tongue in disgust and said coldly,

“Then we’ll call the city watch. You know the punishment for thieves is having their hands cut off.”

That made the children scream louder, spewing curses.

“Let go of my sister! I’ll kill you!”
“Waaah! Help! Brother!”

While I froze for a moment at the sudden chaos, the situation just kept escalating.

Almost too perfectly timed, a patrol of the city watch appeared.

“What’s going on here?”

The children’s faces went deathly pale.
Even Willace looked more startled than anyone—he hadn’t meant to actually hand them over. He just wanted to scare them.
He wasn’t the type who could stomach seeing children punished that way.

The guard looked us over and quickly assessed the scene. Judging by his tone, he’d seen these kids before.

“You two again? You filthy rats!”

He reached out with a rough hand to seize them.

“This time I’ll make sure you learn your lesson!”

If I just stood by, these kids really would be dragged away.

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

“What seems to be the problem?”

“Oh? Madam, aren’t you the one these pickpockets targeted?”

I shook my head calmly.

“No, not at all.”

“But that coin pouch—”

“I dropped it when I bumped into this child. That’s all.”

I picked up the pouch as if nothing was wrong, then pulled out a few coins and handed them to the children.

Everyone was shocked—the guard, Edmund, Willace, even the nanny.
But the most surprised of all were the kids themselves.

“Uh?”
“What’s this?”

I smiled gently.

“You helped me realize I’d dropped it, so this is a thank-you.”

Then I kept repeating, “It’s nothing,” until the guard eventually left.

The children were still frozen, clutching the coins.

Once the guard was out of sight, the boy finally blurted, hesitant,

“What is this? Why’d you lie for us?”

My voice turned cold.

“What—disappointed? Should I go call the guard back right now?”

“D-don’t!”

Startled by my sharpness, the boy flinched.
He clearly hadn’t expected me, who’d been so kind earlier, to suddenly turn icy.

“Since I shielded them in front of the guard and even gave them money…”

I kept my voice firm.

“Don’t misunderstand. Do you think I excused you because I felt sorry for you, because I thought pitiful kids deserve to be forgiven even after stealing from me?”

The boy’s silence was answer enough.

Still, he didn’t bolt. He didn’t attack again, either.

Instead, he stepped in front of his sister protectively and said, with surprising strength for someone so small,

“Then punish me. Leave her out of it.”

“Brother!”

I couldn’t help but smile faintly. Then I asked something unexpected—so unexpected that everyone, even Edmund and Willace, looked puzzled.

“Are you two actually blood siblings?”

“What business is that of yours?”

The boy’s eyes were fierce, his voice bristling with defensiveness.

That alone told me enough.

“So you’re not, then.”

“What does that matter?!”
“He is my brother!” the girl shouted.

Both of them yelled at once, indignant.

And that only made me smile warmer.

They both looked startled at my reaction.

I watched them for a moment, then spoke softly.

“Enough. Go.”

Their thin little bodies trembled, eyes going round. They were so gaunt it looked like their eyes were all that remained.

The truth was, there’d been no real harm done.
Neither Edmund, nor Willace, nor even the nanny had any real intention of letting such little kids be maimed for thievery.

The instant I told them to go, the tension drained from everyone’s faces.
The nanny even let out a very obvious sigh of relief.

But the children still looked up at me, confused, disbelieving.

“Really? Why?”
“Why would you let us off?”

I shook my head.

“I’m not letting you off.”

“Then what…?”

I lowered my voice.

“If either of you had tried to save yourselves by sacrificing the other, I wouldn’t have helped you.”

But the boy had thrown himself at us to protect his sister.
And when he begged for punishment, he’d begged that only he suffer, not her.
Meanwhile, she cried and screamed for him.

They truly cared for each other, blood relation or not.
Who could deny they were siblings?

“So this isn’t forgiveness. It’s a reward. A reward for not abandoning each other.”

“……?”

“Don’t do anything this reckless again. If you really have nowhere to go, find Delrenos Monastery.”

“Monastery?”

Most orphanages in this world were awful.
The only halfway decent ones were those run by temples or monasteries.
And around here, Delrenos was known as one of the better ones.

The children stared between me and my companions, then slowly backed away.

Just before disappearing from sight, the little sister peeked out from behind her brother—and bowed her head to me.

“Why’d you do that?”

“…Hm?”

We’d put some distance between ourselves and the others, leaving just me and Edmund.

Out of nowhere, he asked.

“Just because.”

“You never do anything ‘just because.’”

“Oh? You’re saying you think that highly of me? How touching.”

Edmund frowned.

“Don’t dodge the question.”

“I was angry too. But… even so, they cared for each other like real siblings. I thought that was admirable.”

More than admirable, really.

“…I was jealous.”

Because I never had that.

Or rather—
I’d never been trusted like that.

Those two kids clearly weren’t blood-related.
But they’d been ready to fight and cry for each other, like true siblings.

A sour ache rose in my throat.
The memory of the last words from “that kid” stabbed me again, like nails in my chest.

—“You act smart, but you’re really just stupid. Go die.”

I had thought of that girl as my real sister.

“Unnie!”
“Hana-unnie!”
“You’re my favorite person in the world!”

But I’d been wrong.
I was the only one who thought of us as family.

“Let’s pool our stipends and savings! Then we can live together!”

I only realized the truth too late—after trusting her cost me everything.

“What do you mean the contract was canceled?”
“The deposit was withdrawn as a penalty fee. It’s all gone.”
“Then… my money…?”

The note she left before disappearing said it all.

“I never liked you. Not once. I never thought of you as my sister.”

That had happened just three days before I fell into this book.