episode_0018

When my parents died, when I was betrayed by my friend, when I abandoned my younger sister and ran away, her mind became endlessly corrupted, and now she has reached a state where she cannot live without cursing someone.

She was insane, but she didn’t realize it.

“Pia, please take some too.”

Before she knew it, when the children had all received their meals, Lian called Pia with a smile. Pia smiled as much as possible, holding the plate and receiving the food.

“If you don’t like the salad, you can eat it between the bread. It’s quite tasty that way.”

Seeing Lian’s innocent smile, Pia felt twisted inside. An indescribable discomfort, something she couldn’t have, lingered in Lian’s smile.

She fiddled with the fork she was holding along with the plate. Lian’s neck came into view. An unknown impulse spread through her mind.

“Lily is sitting over there.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Upon hearing Lily’s name, her vitality sank.

“My sister, my sister.”

Pia approached Lily with the plate.

“Ugh… this tastes weird.”

Lily frowned while reluctantly eating the salad. She wanted to be picky, but she couldn’t easily leave the food behind due to memories of long-term hunger.

“I have to help!”

Pia approached Lily with a bright smile. At that moment, a fork came close to Lily’s plate.

“Nom.”

“Huh? That’s mine?”

Lily looked at the person who stole and ate her salad with a bewildered expression. Pia stopped in her tracks, looking in the same direction as Lily. Nero, with lightly blushed cheeks, was eating the salad with a slurp.

“…If you don’t like it, do you want to exchange it for some meat?”

“Really? Is it okay?”

“Yeah, but I can only give you a little bit of meat in return.”

“Yeah! Thank you!”

Lily smiled brightly, causing Nero to widen his eyes and roll them. The child’s cheeks turned lovely and red. As Lily finished her salad, Nero handed over three pieces of his meat.

“Oh? Me too!”

The child sitting next to Nero plunged a fork into Nero’s plate. In response, Nero swiftly cleared his plate and said, “I don’t like it!”

“Why?”

“…This should be enough!”

Nero started eating his salad voraciously. Pia gazed at him with an empty look. At that moment, a concerned voice was heard.

“Pia, are you okay?”

“Huh..?”

“Your hands are so pale.”

Noah, who arrived late for the meal, pointed at her hand. It was then that Pia realized she was gripping her hand tightly enough to make her plate tremble.

“Oh -.. I guess my hands were shaking because I was so hungry.”

“Really? Should I ask Lian to get you more?”

Pia looked silently at Noah, thinking to herself, ‘Opportunist.’ She recalled the word she had learned during her affluent days and smiled.

“Thank you for worrying. But it might be better to eat quickly.”

“Really? Then let’s go and sit down.”

Noah headed towards where Nero and Lily were first.

“Huh? Why did you take so much salad, Nero?”

“Uh, I… wanted to eat it…”

“You don’t really like vegetables -..”

“I do! I just started liking them!”

“Is that so?”

Noah chuckled and sat across from Nero.

“Should I give you some of mine?”

“No, this is enough.”

Pia sat across from Lily, rolling her eyes and looking at Nero. Her hand holding the fork trembled. Once again, an impulse struck her.

Her emotions moved like a train with a broken brake. Unlike a little while ago, this time she couldn’t resist a cruel impulse. Gripping the fork so tightly that her hand turned pale, she suddenly stood up.

“Does anyone want more salad? There’s quite a bit left.”

“Ah, Nero -..”

“No! I’m fine! I’m full!”

Lian approached with a bowl of salad. As the atmosphere eased, Pia slid into her seat.

“Pia, would you like some too?”

“No, I’m good.”

Pia declined with a smile, suppressing her excitement with shallow breaths.

Tap.

“…?”

Her plan to cool down by eating even the cold salad failed. As she speared a vegetable with her fork, it slipped and rolled off to the side.

It was all because of the sauce making the plate slippery. She thought it would be better to eat with a spoon, but as she tried to pick up the salad with her fork…

Thud.

The vegetables fell from the fork in front of her open mouth. Noah approached, seeing her struggle, “Should I get you another fork if it’s hard to eat?”

“Oh, no, it’s okay.”

Pia forced a smile, then fiercely wielded the fork. However, the salad wasn’t easily caught, and with her rough gestures, some vegetables even fell outside.

“Hoo, hoo…”

Unable to eat a single bite of salad, Pia eventually switched to using her fork for the meat, which went smoothly this time.

For some unknown reason, a triumphant feeling rose deep within her as she chewed and swallowed the meat.

“Phew!”

She choked.

“Cough, cough!”

As Pia coughed, tears in her eyes, Noah rubbed her back, looking at her with concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Cough, yeah… thanks.”

Struggling, Pia barely managed to express her gratitude. After much hardship, she finally finished her meal.

***

After Rania’s visit, Mia didn’t conduct any experiments for over a week. She was busy casting unknown spells throughout the house, and her outings became more frequent, possibly due to matters outside.

Thanks to that, I had some free time left over. During that spare time, I helped Noah with the children’s education.

“This is 1 and this is 2.”

Starting with simple number education.

“You have to be very careful with fire. Especially, you have to be more careful with knives because you can get hurt if you use them incorrectly.”

I taught various simple cooking methods.

“The kids don’t seem to know much, so there’s a lot to teach.”

Noah taught how to speak accurately, write, and read. After speaking to a certain extent, Pia taught about manners.

Pia didn’t seem to want to teach the children much, but after Lily said she wanted to learn with the other children, she started teaching properly.

Education took place in the restaurant or spare room, and now Noah and I were teaching the children in the restaurant. Today, with a little break in mind, we handed out paper to the children and asked them to draw the pictures they wanted.

Among the discarded sheets Mia said were okay to use, the children were drawing pictures.

The pens the children were using to draw were items received from Mia.

When Rania came, the cookies and juice she prepared seemed to be quite pleasing, and when she said she would give them if they wanted, the children asked for pens to use.

Because the children asked for pens, they could receive as many pens as there were children.

One by one.

The children drew diligently with tightly closed lips.

“It’s somewhat peaceful.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Noah and I, not having much to do, looked at the children absentmindedly and had a quiet conversation.

“It seems like the kids are learning faster than expected.”

“Yeah, I was surprised too.”

“After they speak to a certain extent, I want to read them a picture book… I’m thinking of making one.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

At Noah’s mention of making a picture book, I briefly thought about a picture book in the world of comedy.

“In the world of comedy, picture books were often used as summoning scrolls or prophecies.”

When children innocently say “A dinosaur appeared,” a real dinosaur appears and destroys the city. The ground shakes, the children’s bodies float up and down, but the child continues to read the fairy tale book as if completely unaware.

After finishing the book, the teacher either laughs and says, “You did really well!” or grabs the children by the waist and runs away. Generally, it’s safer to be next to the teacher who says, “You did really well!”

“Just in case, let’s not help.”

Because a terrible accident could have occurred, they suppressed the desire to help the children.

“I don’t remember much, so I’m a little worried.”

“How about making it with the kids? Let the kids create the story itself.”

“…! That’s a good idea!”

Shrugging his shoulders at Noah’s praise, he smiled back at Noah.

“Hyung! I drew this!”

Nero’s bright voice pierced between the two. Nero showed a picture full of clumsy circles and lines.

“This is hyung, this is me, and this is Lian hyung!”

“Then what about this?”

Pointing to a character wearing a skirt with a flower drawn on its head, Nero blushed and mumbled.

“That’s… a secret.”

At those words, Noah looked shocked with his mouth agape.

“Noah, are you thinking ‘My little brother has a secret from me?!’ right now?”

“…! H-how did you know?”

Noah turned to me with a bewildered face. It was funny to see him write ‘shock’ on his face and say that.

“Well, it’s written all over your face, isn’t it?”

“What? Really?”

Noah touched his face in surprise. Then Nero and I burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, no, that’s not what I meant… I meant it’s written all over your expression.”

“Oh, I see.”

Blushing, Noah avoided our gaze.

“Oppa, I did it all too! Yo!”

“Me too! Yo!”

The children who had just started learning polite language came running with drawings. The kitchen was filled with an unusually peaceful atmosphere.

“Phew… I can finish the rest later.”

Mia checked the state of the protective magic surrounding the mansion several times before heading towards the laboratory.

“Well then, shall we slowly resume the experiment?”