episode_0037

A peaceful and quiet orphanage

“Die, cursed witch!”

“Die! Die!”

Six children surrounded the girl sitting under the tree.

“Die, witch!”

A boy picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it fiercely at the girl.

The flying rock seemed like it would hit the girl’s head and make her bleed, but…

Snap!

A hand emerged from the girl’s shadow and caught the rock.

Crunch

The hand that caught the rock began to rise gradually.

Eventually, a giant figure made entirely of pitch-black shadows, larger than an adult man, completely revealed itself.

“H-ha, heeek, a demon!”

“T-the witch summoned a demon!”

“Run away!”

The children who saw the shadow screamed and fled.

“…I don’t like it.”

Ugh

The shadowy monster, having broken the girl’s neck once, returned into the girl’s shadow.

“Now I don’t like it…!”

The girl wrapped her head again and huddled up.

Squeak

Late at night when everyone was asleep,

the girl walked as quietly as possible into the building, trying not to make any noise.

“Are you really okay?”

The voice of the orphanage director echoed to her as she passed through the dark corridor.

“That child is truly a cursed child.”

‘My story…!’

The girl approached the door stealthily.

Peeking through the crack in the door, she saw a man with a top hat talking with the director inside the room.

“A cursed child…you say?”

“Yes…you may not believe it, but an entire village was wiped out because of that child!”

“The village?”

“The tragedy of Heidel Village. Have you heard of it?”

‘My birthplace village…’

The girl listening to the conversation between the director and the man bit her lip.

Considering her young age, the girl was quite beautiful in appearance.

Many of the sponsors who visited the orphanage wanted to support or adopt her based solely on her appearance.

However, everyone who heard the director’s story gave up on the girl and left. They were reluctant to meet the girl at this place.

Or they approached her and got horrific wounds from the shadows or ran away.

“Perhaps that man is the same.”

Of course, it’s natural.

Because I am cursed.

“That’s not all. There have been more than a few victims who approached that child and suffered from that monstrous thing!”

“It’s all because of you!”

“If only you weren’t born as my daughter!”

“I’m sick of it!”

The image of the girl’s parents and the people of the village came to her mind.

“I… I’m sick of it too…”

The girl drooped her head weakly.

Being abandoned again.

Here.

Like this.

As a cursed one, I will be abandoned like this.

Is there any reason to live?

I might as well just die…!

“It doesn’t matter.”

“!!!!!”

The girl’s eyes widened at the man’s response from inside.

“…Yes?”

“I said it doesn’t matter. So I want to start supporting that child.”

“Are you serious? You might regret it!”

“Haha. Me? I won’t, so hurry up and process it.”

“He didn’t… abandon me?”

A mysterious man who showed a different side from the other guests who had visited the orphanage until now.

The girl began to take some interest in the man.

“He may not be much different from those men.”

* * *

The next morning

“Hello?”

A man spoke to the girl who was hiding in a corner of the orphanage looking at flowers.

“Are you Alice?”

“….”

The man used a gentle tone, unlike the stern tone when talking to the director the day before.

The girl wondered if he was a different person from the man she saw at night.

“Um… Were you surprised when a stranger suddenly talked to you? He’s someone who lives in that city over there.”

The man pointed to the city in the distance.

“I’m running a little shop over there.”

“……But?”

“Haha. Sir, our Alice likes you. I was wondering if you would sponsor our Alice.”

“……You’re just after my body anyway.”

“All the male sponsors I’ve seen so far have been like that. They always looked at my body with strange eyes. They said they weren’t interested in the body of a child who hasn’t yet become an adult, but they always did. You must be the same.”

“My body?”

The man scratched his head.

“Oh my. Looks like a lot of trash has come after all.”

Chin

The man put his hand on Alice’s head.

“Don’t worry. I have no interest in Alice’s body at all.”

Stroke, stroke

Then he slowly began to stroke her head.

“The shadow didn’t react…!”

Contrary to Alice’s intentions, her cursed shadow moved on its own.

Her shadow had always tried to cut off the men who approached her with lewd intentions.

That’s why she thought this man would end up like the others when he put his hand on her head.

“…Does he really have no interest in my body?”

If the shadow judged it as such, then perhaps this man had approached her with genuine intentions.

“And this feeling…”

Alice gently closed her eyes and savored the touch of the man’s hand stroking her head.

“Not bad……”

For the girl abandoned by her parents, longing for affection, this was an affectionate caress filled with an irresistible love.

* * *

“Ta-da! Mister’s here! Did you have a good time, our cutie?”

A man popped out from the bushes in front of Alice.

“Hmph. I knew it.”

“Haha. You knew? Too bad. I wanted to see our Alice surprised once.”

“…There’s no way I wouldn’t notice that you came to the orphanage.”

Since meeting the man, Alice’s daily life had changed.

It was not just cowering in a corner and enduring the torment of other orphanage children, but waiting endlessly for the sight of a man coming to the orphanage by climbing up a tree.

Today, she was thrilled to see a man slowly walking towards the orphanage, but she immediately came down under the tree and sat as if nothing had happened.

“Ta-da! The gentleman has prepared a gift for our cutie Alice!”

The man took out a large gift box from his arms.

“A gift?”

“Hmph. Alice would be surprised to receive this, wouldn’t she?”

The girl received the gift box from the man.

“Open it.”

Crinkle crinkle

The girl slowly opened the box.

Inside the box were cute dolls, pretty ribbons, and headbands.

“I wanted to give our cutie things she likes, but the gentleman didn’t seem to know well. So I just bought everything.”

Dolls… ribbons… headbands…

She wanted them all.

She envied the other orphanage children receiving gifts, but she couldn’t get the things she wanted.

Those things…

“…Thank you.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Thank you… silly man.”

“Hahaha. Our cutie giving thanks! Should I bring gifts next time too?”

The girl picked up the items from the gift box.

“I’ll cherish them.”

“Hahaha. Because our cutie likes them, this man feels good too. Hahaha.”

***

Crinkle

“Ta-da, our cutie!”

The man popped out from the bushes.

“…Huh?”

But he looked bewildered as there was no one in front of him.

“Were you here?”

Then the girl rushed behind him.

“Wow!”

“You got me!”

The man fell forward.

“What are you doing?”

“Playing dead, mister?”

“Hahaha. What’s that?”

The girl laughed heartily at the man’s rhetorical question.

“More importantly, surprising the gentleman from behind!”

“Hmph. If the surprised gentleman is at fault?”

“Uncle, I’ll get my revenge with a special tickle! Come here!”

The man ran towards the girl, wiggling his fingers.

“Eek! Ruuuun!”

The girl started to run away, screaming.

The two of them laughed and ran for a while.

The child who missed her parents.

The child who longed for love more than anyone else continued to open her heart to the man approaching her.

“It’s okay, Uncle.”

“The uncle…!”

Someday.

When the time comes.

She thought she would confess her feelings to him.

Puff

“Cute little thing…”

“Oh, no… No, Uncle!”

Until that day comes.