episode_0021

Arachne, who broke up with Zeros and Cattlena.

As the sun was almost setting, she was walking alone along the empty road, heading towards the orphanage.

But at that moment, there was still one person’s face lingering in her mind.

‘..zeros.’

The man who saved her life and willingly agreed with her opinion when she needed help.

And the man who protected her by using his body as a shield in a moment of crisis.

Although the time she had known him had not been long, the impression the boy had made on her still made her heart flutter at this very moment.

‘But… I guess it’s probably impossible to see that person again?’

However, despite her feelings, Arachne already knew about the great difference between herself and Zeros.

Unlike her, who was just a girl from an orphanage with no connections, Zeros was someone who served the princesses of this country right next to him.

Arachne could tell that, despite his origins, there was a marked difference between him and herself at least now.

‘It’s better to forget what needs to be forgotten quickly, because holding on to these feelings will only hurt your heart.’

Having already lost countless friends, she knew all too well the pain of not being able to see someone.

Therefore, Arachne thought that she had to shake off this thought as soon as possible and start living her life again.

I think that what happened today was just a fleeting, sweet dream.

So, Arachne silently walks towards the place where she should be.

at that time..

“Hey, can I see you for a second?”

“! Da.. you..?”

The next moment, a familiar voice called out to her from somewhere.

At this, Arachne bowed her head urgently to the man and showed her respect.

“Go.. Princess! Princess Elios Northhelat Dragona.”

A princess with silver hair and red eyes standing in front of him.

Looking at her, who was Katlena’s older sister, but who seemed to have a different level of majesty than her, Arachne began to automatically feel her body shrink.

And, looking at such Arachne, Princess Helios opened her mouth with a calm smile on her lips.

“There’s no need to be so nervous. I don’t mean to harm you. Rather, I called you because I wanted to give you a gift.”

With those words, Elios gestured to the guard standing behind him.

Immediately afterwards, the guard handed Arachne a pouch containing something, which she cautiously accepted.

“! This.. This is..”

Inside are shiny gold coins.

From Arachne’s perspective, it contained an unimaginable amount of money, and a look of surprise began to appear on her face.

And, looking at such Arachne, Princess Helios smiled and said to her.

“I already know that you have contributed greatly to this matter. Although it is small, please accept it as my small token of my gratitude for this matter.”

“… ”

At Elios’ words, Arachne looked at her pocket for a moment without saying anything.

But the next moment, she slowly shook her head and handed it to Elios.

“.. I appreciate your intentions, Your Majesty. But.. I can’t accept this either.”

“..Why is that?”

Elios expressed some doubts about Arachne’s reaction, which was a little different from what he had expected.

Arachne spoke to her in a sorrowful voice.

“As you can see, there are more than a dozen children who were sold off because of this incident, and among them were friends I promised to protect. Although the guys who caused this were duly punished, I still ended up not being able to protect anyone.”

“… ”

Helios remains silent for a moment at Arachne’s words.

Then Arachne bowed her head again and spoke to the princess.

“The princess said that I had a great contribution to this, but… I’m just a failure who couldn’t protect anyone. How can I… talk about compensation for this?”

“..um..”

Princess Helios quietly nodded at Arachne’s words.

Then she decided to respect her wishes and took back the bag containing the gold coins.

“If that’s what you want… I understand. But if you change your mind, come see me anytime.”

“..Thank you, my lady.”

So, Arachne, who was still feeling guilty even after everything was over, began to move forward again.

Then, suddenly, an idea occurred to her, and she asked Princess Elios, who was about to leave.

“Uh.. Your Majesty?”

“..what is it?”

Elios slowly turns his head and looks this way at the sudden call.

Looking at her, Arachne asked in a cautious voice.

“I’m asking just in case, but do you know, Your Majesty? Where my friends have gone since then?”

Orphan children sold to slave traders… no, something a little different from that.

Arachne asked with a mixture of worry and hope, recalling the last sight of them in the darkness.

In any case, since this incident has revealed the ugly truth about the orphanage, if we do well, we may be able to rescue the children who were sold away.

With anticipation for that fact, Arachne asked Princess Helios.

however..

“… Sorry, I don’t know. I couldn’t find anything like that during the investigation.”

Princess Helios answers Arachne in a quiet voice.

At this, Arachne’s face began to show disappointment again, and after saying goodbye again, she headed towards the orphanage.

And, looking at Arachne like that…

Princess Elios quietly turned away.

‘This next step is our domain. The young girl just needs to live her life like a girl from now on..’

*

Arachne returns to the orphanage after parting ways with Helios.

More than half of the teachers had been taken away, and now there was an atmosphere of deathly silence in the place, with only a few soldiers guarding the area near the entrance.

Depending on how you look at it, you might think that they should be happy now that the principal and the Dezley gang that had been harassing them were gone, but most of the children were oblivious to what was going on and just went back to their rooms, holding their breath and quietly following the words of the temporary teachers.

‘..It’s all over..With this..All I have to do.’

Arachne walks alone inside the orphanage.

However, now that the excitement and joy from earlier had subsided, a feeling of emptiness began to grow stronger in her heart.

It was all over, but in the end, there was nothing left by her side.

The friends I promised to protect had already been sold away, and I didn’t even know if they were alive or dead.

Until recently, Arachne had been doing her best with a desire for revenge for them as her driving force. But now that it was over, all she felt was emptiness.

‘..Still, I have to live for now. As I live, I will have another goal..’

Arachne, who was trying to pull herself together in emptiness while thinking like that.

It was then that she suddenly realized where she had arrived.

“..This is the director’s office..right?”

A place she had sneaked in to get her hands on evidence a while ago.

However, unlike when it was usually tightly shut, the door was completely broken and left there in the aftermath of the investigation team’s sweep.

“… .”

Then Arachne goes inside for no particular reason.

All sorts of documents were strewn about the floor, and the decorations the director had brought, including the statues, were broken and scattered everywhere.

“..But it’s still okay there.”

Suddenly, a small closet caught Arachne’s eye.

Having previously spent an entire day hiding there and raiding the director’s office, it felt like a somewhat friendly place within this place.

At that moment, Arachne absentmindedly approached the closet.

“Can’t you handle your work properly? Anyway, I told you to bring all the documents regularly, right?”

“I’m sorry.”

Suddenly a loud noise is heard outside the door.

Then, Arachne hid herself in the closet without knowing it.

There was no special reason to hide, but it was an action that he did reflexively without realizing it because of the feeling he got when he robbed the director’s office the other day.

Then, immediately after she hid herself, two people, presumably, came into the room and started talking.

“Oh, thank goodness there’s still some left. I almost got in big trouble. The princess is already so desperate to gather information about those guys.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“That’s right. By the way… I never thought I’d find a connection with those guys in a place like this.”

“I was surprised too. I never thought they would extend their reach to an orphanage like this..”

“If you think about it, for those guys who use children as experimental materials for magic, this rotten orphanage must be a hidden treasure trove. If you give them a little money, they can easily get experimental materials.”

“Ugh… They really are disgusting. Those kids who were taken away like that… They’re probably all dead by now?”

“That’s right. Because they’re the ones who think of children as lab rats. Haa… If we could get clear evidence as soon as possible, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again…”

“… ”

After finishing their conversation among themselves, they hurriedly went back to where they came from.

After some time had passed since the two people had left, the closet in the director’s office, which had been silent for a while, slowly began to open.

and..