episode_0006

“It worked out well, right, unnie?”

The two people in front of her seemed like good people.

Claire found it fascinating. Even though she was still young, she wasn’t oblivious to other people’s emotions.

From her earliest memories, she roamed the alleyways. Her earliest memory was of herself holding a battered can, begging on the street corner while being harassed by alleyway thugs.

The thugs warned Claire that if she got caught by the police, she would be in big trouble. So, whenever she saw the police in the distance while begging on the street, she would quickly slip into the alleyway to hide.

Although Claire was still too young to have a quota, if she were just a little older, she would have had a quota. If the thugs didn’t meet the quota assigned based on their age, they would be beaten until their faces swelled up. And those swollen faces were quite helpful for begging.

But the reason they didn’t assign a quota to young children like Claire wasn’t out of any sense of pity. It was simply because even if they were assigned a quota, they wouldn’t be able to meet it.

If they had any hint of pity, they wouldn’t have sold Claire to the orphanage for money.

The old man who regularly visited the thugs saw Claire, immediately handed money to the thugs, and bought Claire. Even though Claire was still young, she could easily tell that she had been sold. She had seen the exchange of money for goods several times.

Of course, the orphans under the thugs only received a meager amount of money, no matter how much they brought.

“You’ll fetch a good price.”

Claire remembered the old man’s smiling face as he took her to the orphanage. It wasn’t a memory that could easily be forgotten.

Life in the orphanage was better than being under the thugs.

The porridge had a watery texture, but at least she could fill her hungry stomach at a set time every day. As long as she listened to the old man, she wouldn’t be beaten. And most importantly, even if she did get beaten, it was rare for her to be left with any visible scars.

Moreover, at the orphanage, Claire met the first “good person” in her life.

Silvia.

With the title of “Black,” she seemed to be the oldest among the children. But there wasn’t much of a difference between Claire and her. Well, at a glance, they almost looked like they were the same age.

But since the old man said so, Claire decided to believe it. Silvia didn’t seem to mind being called “unnie.”

She may have looked a bit embarrassed, but that was the end of it.

When she first heard the title of the leader of the group, Silvia thought she would be someone who hit the other children. The “leader” designated by the thugs was always like that. To avoid being beaten, you had to listen well.

But… Silvia was different.

“Are you hungry? Here, have some more.”

Even though the portions were small, she shared her portion with the children who were just staring at their empty bowls.

She didn’t hit anyone or shout.

She laughed without showing any anger, and when the children whined, she tried to comfort them with kind words.

Meeting someone like Silvia for the first time in her life, Claire found her presence truly fascinating. In a way, Silvia seemed more “adult” than the old man, who might have lived longer than all the children in the orphanage combined.

And it seemed that other children had similar thoughts.

The children followed Sylvia.

Sylvia, who was usually quiet, reluctantly told old stories to the children as they whined. Most of the stories had overlapping content, with only the names of the characters and the endings differing slightly, but the children, who had nothing else to do, wanted to hear those stories.

In reality, Sylvia had not been the leader of the children for a long time. It had only been about a month since Claire had come to the orphanage and until the orphanage burned down.

But for Claire, that month was the happiest and most peaceful time she had ever experienced in her life.

After the orphanage burned down, the old man died, and they escaped with the children.

Sylvia led the children towards the city center.

And the process was truly… a series of unbelievable miracles.

Without catching the eyes of the police officers on the main road, without getting into any trouble with the thugs in the alleyways, Sylvia boldly made her way through the heart of the city.

And somehow, they made it this far.

“The children’s condition is not very good.”

A man with a stylish beard said as he examined the children’s sleeves.

“They seem like they haven’t eaten anything for days.”

The lady beside him added.

Occasionally, people passing by on the street would drop coins into Claire’s tin can and send sympathetic looks her way. But they had never seen anyone actively checking on their condition and expressing concern like this.

“Where did you come from? Are there more children like you?”

“I don’t know.”

When the child whose hand was held by the man said that in a frightened voice, the man nodded and let go.

“Is there someone who brought you here?”

“Oh, that’s—”

Sylvia unni.

The person who brought all the children, including Claire, here was Sylvia unni.

“Good. Right, unni?”

The two seemed like good people.

Perhaps Sylvia unni knew the truth and brought the children here to find a place to stay.

It didn’t matter how she knew… what mattered was that from this moment on, they would be much safer than they were at the orphanage.

“….Unni?”

But the gentle voice that was always heard when she spoke was nowhere to be found.

She turned around.

Surely unni was at the back of the group—

But there was no one behind Claire.

“Huh?”

She quickly turned around.

There were people walking on the main road. Carriages were passing by on the street, and many people were bustling in the shops.

But Sylvia unni was nowhere to be seen.

“Unni!”

Claire shouted, but there was still no response.

“What’s wrong?”

A lady who had come over asked.

“Who else was there?”

“Unni, unni is gone!”

As Claire spoke, the lady’s expression immediately turned serious.

“Wasn’t there one more person originally?”

“Yes, unni was at the back but…”

The lady immediately turned to her husband and locked eyes with him.

“Don’t worry.”

The lady knelt down to Claire’s level and said.

“We’ll look for her. We’ll definitely find her.”

“Really?”

Normally, Claire wouldn’t have asked in that manner. Claire had always hated asking questions to adults so much.

Claire was that anxious.

She was afraid that Sylvia might suddenly leave her side, just as she had suddenly appeared.

“Yes. We will definitely find her.”

But the lady didn’t scold Claire, didn’t curse at her for being annoying, didn’t even hit her.

She simply stroked Claire’s hair with her hand.

Claire nodded.

After that, things went well.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to realize that they were the Marquis and Marchioness of Grace.

Inside the Marquisate, there was a newly built orphanage, and the Marquis and Marchioness warmly welcomed the orphans who had come to their estate.

And it didn’t end there. As time passed, the number of orphans increased.

The orphans all wore clean clothes, ate proper meals in a clean environment, and grew up healthy.

Education was also ensured. Although the orphans all came from back alleys, some of them were smart enough to enter the Imperial Runedrium Academy, and their martial arts skills were exceptional.

One of them even had a relationship with Grace’s eldest son that could be as close as siblings.

Claire said so.

Adopted by the Marquis of Grace at the age of ten and becoming “Claire Grace,” Claire, with her exceptional martial arts skills, was able to enter the prestigious Imperial Academy at the age of fifteen, where only the most outstanding individuals from noble families start their higher education.

However, even during that time.

Claire had not been able to find Sylvia among the new orphans who had arrived.