episode_0120

The shame of wearing a dress had long since flown away.

Rather, seeing that the kids in front of me weren’t wary of me, I thought it was a good thing I came dressed like this. If they were just scared, we wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation.

The problem is… … when I gathered all these children in front of me who were looking at me with curious eyes, I ended up not knowing what to say.

I couldn’t say outright, “I’m from the same orphanage as you. Do you recognize me?” There were too many of them for that. Daniel probably wouldn’t tell anyone else even if he noticed my identity, but I don’t know about the other nine.

“… … .”

And only after thinking about it that far did it occur to me that I really don’t know any of these guys.

It’s a given. Even with friends you’ve known for 10 years, you often discover aspects of them that you don’t know about. But if it’s children you’ve only known for a few months, you can be proud of your memory just by remembering their faces after 10 years.

… … I wasn’t particularly proud of it.

“Look, Sister.”

Claire came up to me blankly, put her arm around mine, and pulled me along.

I took a step closer to the children.

“Sister Sylvia.”

Claire added,

Those words were directed at me, but they were probably meant for the children to hear, not me. Claire probably knew that she shouldn’t tell the children the whole story, but she probably wanted to give them a hint.

And hints are, literally, just hints. Even if these kids ask you again someday with confidence, you can just deny it with all your might.

After hearing Claire’s words, several children stared blankly at me and blinked. Blink, blink, blink a few times, a light of understanding came into their eyes, and soon their faces slowly turned to surprise.

And the light of that understanding engulfed the children next to me one by one like a wave. I looked at the child next to me, then looked closely at my face again, and realized something. And then I opened my mouth blankly as if I was just as surprised.

It took less than a minute to repeat that several times.

These kids all remembered me. They knew my identity in less than a minute.

I couldn’t even remember their names.

“This person is,”

Claire said, still holding my arm tightly, as if she thought I would run away somewhere soon if she didn’t.

… … The last time we were all together like this, when I was kidnapped by Lucas and became a member of the royal family.

Claire still hadn’t quite figured out what had happened, but it seemed like she thought something like that might happen again.

“This is Princess Sylvia Pangriphon, the princess of the Pangriphon royal family.”

Some of the kids were startled. Some of them were awkwardly bowing, wondering if they should say hello, and then they looked around and saw that the kids around them weren’t moving.

Everyone was still young. Even though 10 years had passed.

Does that mean I still look young to other people?

My head was so confused that I couldn’t think logically.

“We became close friends at the academy and invited you. When we heard that we were protecting you, we wanted to see you in person, so we brought you here.”

The playful look she had shown Leo had disappeared somewhere, and Claire explained to the children in a soft voice, as if that was the way it had to be done.

I thought about Claire after I was gone.

It’s not that I hadn’t imagined it until now. I imagined it many times even after breaking up with Claire. I thought, “I hope she’s doing well. She won’t grow up to be crooked because she’s with Grace.” I imagined it like that. Until we met again at the academy.

And after we met, there was no need to imagine anything.

Claire was honest and hard-working, but also had a cheerful personality, was good at making friends, and was easygoing… …so I had that kind of Claire by my side.

But can we really say that that is Claire’s true appearance?

Just like Claire in the original work, who grew up in the royal family fighting with Alice after going through such a twisted experience, isn’t it possible that she ended up with that kind of personality due to unavoidable circumstances?

Claire, who was the center of the children’s lives, disappeared right after I disappeared… What would she have said to the children and how would she have comforted them?

“How is it, isn’t it pretty?”

Did you get prettier?

That’s what Claire said to my ears.

Claire, who was now smiling as if she was hugging my arms with both hands, said that as if she was bragging. As if she was proud of herself.

“The princess is curious about our story, what about you?”

“… … .”

The children’s eyes lingered on Claire, then they all turned back to me.

“Shall I tell you our story?”

In normal circumstances, this would sound ridiculous.

There are many nobles who do charity work. Whether it is out of genuine sympathy, religious reasons, or a desire to show off their generosity, there are quite a few who donate money to relief work in the slums, run orphanages, and even visit them.

However, it would be rude to tell such a long and pointless story to such a grateful person and turn him away. The places where nobles and commoners lived were different, so naturally most nobles had no intention of listening to the stories of commoners. Even if they were the ones helping the commoners.

But Claire said so.

As if that’s what I wanted.

and-

Yeah, honestly, that’s what I was hoping for.

*

Emma had a talent for cleaning. It wasn’t just about being good at mopping. She was good at judging the size of an object and figuring out where it would fit, and how to stack boxes to fit one more in the storage room. That’s why she said she was currently receiving maid training. When she gets a little older, she’ll probably work at the main office for a few more years, and then meet a good man and get married.

Oliver excelled in swordsmanship. He wasn’t as good as Claire, but he could see that he would at least grow to the point where he could help his master when he fought. That’s why he said he was currently receiving training. When he gets older, Oliver will be one of the guards at the entrance to this territory.

Chloe had a talent for taking care of plants—

One by one, they told me their stories as if they were giving a presentation.

They were all different. There were some kids who ended up working in similar places, but there wasn’t a single kid whose talents were exactly the same.

And all of them were the kids I had tied the curtains for.

“… … .”

While I was listening to the children’s story, I didn’t say anything.

Actually, I remembered that day.

I was just going to go out with Claire. It was Claire who told me about the kids.

The kids… the kids are still inside.

Only after hearing Claire’s words did I go upstairs and try to save the children.

If Claire hadn’t said that—

But the children, the children who smiled as if they knew who I was, proudly introduced themselves. As if they were going to work hard so that I would never regret saving them.

And Claire, next to me, listened to the story with a bright smile on her face.

I’m embarrassed.

It’s shameful.

I wanted to go somewhere and hide.

The feeling was similar to wearing clothes that don’t fit.

I… I’m probably not as good of a person as these guys think.

“… … Sylvia.”

While I was listening to the story, someone next to me suddenly tapped my shoulder and spoke to me.

It was Alice.

Alice, who spoke to me from the opposite side of Claire, looked a little worried.

“… … .”

Are you okay? I didn’t hear that question. Alice also knew what kind of kids were proudly talking in front of me.

And Alice probably thinks I saved those kids. Or at least, she thinks I did something to deserve their gratitude.

“Shall we take a break?”

I nodded slightly at Claire’s question.

I moved my body and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby.

When I didn’t say anything, the other people here didn’t say anything either.

Oh, that’s not what I meant.

And yet, I don’t know what to say.

So I just sat there for a while, catching my breath.