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Chapter – 03
“W-Who says I was going to cry?!”
I hurriedly rubbed at my eyes.
I didn’t want to look like a child in front of Akkelte.
“But how are you going to find it?”
I had searched for the pendant the entire time I wandered around looking for Ruruka and the buzz-cut kid.
But neither the children nor the pendant had shown even a trace of themselves.
“The more eyes searching, the better.”
“More eyes? You mean you’re going to help me look for it?”
Of course, if Akkelte helped me search, the search area would shrink a little, but…
“Would it really make much of a difference with just the two of us?”
“Dummy, when did I say it’d only be two?”
Not two? Then who else was there?
As I tilted my head in confusion, Akkelte spoke again.
“Go back inside for a bit.”
“Inside?”
“Inside the orphanage. Wait there for a while.”
“…Okay.”
I had no idea what he was planning. But since I didn’t have any better ideas myself, I decided to follow his suggestion for now.
‘First, I should go back to the bathhouse.’
Even though I had checked multiple times before leaving, I wondered if maybe I’d somehow lost it there and simply failed to find it. I intended to go back and search again.
Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!
A clear bell rang out through the orphanage grounds.
That was the signal the director used whenever she wanted all the children gathered in the front yard.
“Haa… what now all of a sudden?”
I was already busy enough as it was! Things just kept piling up.
She was probably gathering everyone to introduce us to the sponsors. The director often displayed the children to benefactors whenever they visited.
Though the sudden summons irritated me in the middle of all this chaos, I also realized I might finally get to see both the buzz-cut kid and Ruruka, so I hurried toward the front yard.
Sure enough, the moment I stepped outside, I spotted Ruruka.
Even among the crowd of children, Ruruka practically glowed. Thanks to that, I found her instantly.
I quickly rushed over and plopped down beside her.
“Elia, why are you so late?”
“I was doing something— no, more importantly, I was looking for you, Ruruka!”
Among all the children, Ruruka was the only one who knew exactly what my pendant looked like.
I had desperately searched for her hoping she might’ve seen it.
“You were looking for me? Why?”
“Well, you see… I lost my pendant—”
Just as I was about to explain everything to Ruruka—
“Silence! Everyone, quiet down.”
The orphanage director shouted sharply.
Her tiger-like tone immediately silenced the chattering children.
The director looked down at us coldly.
“I clearly warned you yesterday. Today is the day our benefactors visit this orphanage, so I told you not to cause any disturbances.”
“……”
“And yet you ignored my words and caused trouble anyway?”
At the director’s icy words, the frozen children nervously darted their eyes around.
No one seemed to know who had caused the commotion.
And honestly, I had no idea either.
“A theft has occurred in our orphanage. I heard it was a necklace.”
“…!”
“The person who stole the necklace should step forward immediately. We will find the culprit today no matter what.”
The moment the director finished speaking, the orphanage entrance door clicked open.
Standing in the doorway were Akkelte… and a man who looked exactly like him.
The instant they appeared, the director’s harsh expression softened completely.
“Oh my! Your Grace, Duke Isis, and Young Master. I deeply apologize for troubling you with this disturbance. We’ll search every child if necessary, so please don’t worry.”
Wait.
Duke Isis… and Young Master?
I stared at Akkelte in complete shock.
‘S-So the Akkelte I’ve been casually talking down to this whole time… is the young lord of House Isis?!’
My face instantly turned pale white.
Because every single thing I’d done up until now flashed vividly through my mind.
This place, the Iberte Empire, had an extremely strict divide between nobles and commoners. If Akkelte had found my behavior offensive, I could literally be sentenced to execution on the spot.
‘And House Isis is…’
The Iberte Empire was a nation where the imperial family and the four founding duke houses shared political authority over major state matters.
Meaning even the emperor couldn’t simply do whatever he wanted.
When the empire was first established, the current four duke houses had apparently contributed greatly to its founding. Because of that, they had shared the greatest power alongside the imperial family ever since.
To revise imperial law, at least a majority vote was required. If all four duke houses agreed, they could even depose the emperor or crown prince—provided there was proper justification.
Thanks to such immense power, numerous political factions had formed around the founding families.
And House Isis was one of the most prominent among them.
‘What have I done until now?’
Staring blankly at Akkelte with a ghostly pale face, I finally noticed things I’d overlooked before.
Now that I looked closely, even his clothes appeared incredibly expensive, and elegance practically dripped from every aspect of him.
If my eyes hadn’t already been conditioned by seeing Ruruka all the time, I probably would’ve realized much sooner that his appearance was anything but ordinary.
For absolutely no reason, I suddenly felt irrationally resentful toward innocent Ruruka and turned to glance at her.
“…Ruruka?”
“……”
But Ruruka looked just as pale as I did, nervously chewing on her lips like someone caught off guard.
“Ruruka, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“…Huh? O-Oh, it’s nothing.”
“You don’t look well.”
Ruruka’s lovely pink eyes suddenly darted toward me.
Then, all at once, her eyes widened like a startled squirrel’s. The expression looked incredibly adorable.
‘As expected of my favorite heroine! So cute…’
But only for a brief moment.
Her wide eyes slowly drooped downward.
Then her brows sagged as though she were genuinely sick.
“My stomach suddenly hurts a little…”
“Your stomach? Does it hurt badly?”
“Yeah… it hurts…”
Cold sweat had even formed on Ruruka’s forehead. She really did seem to be in pain.
Maybe that was why her face had gone pale earlier!
Worried, I brushed her hair aside gently and carefully asked,
“Should I ask the director if you can go to the restroom?”
“…Would you?”
“Of course! I’ll ask for you.”
There was no way Ruruka could be the one who stole my pendant anyway, so it wouldn’t matter if she left for a bit.
Ruruka was the same girl who smiled kindly through her own injuries after saving a slum child and gently asked, “Are you okay?”
There was no way someone like that would steal my pendant.
Besides, I didn’t even want to suspect my favorite character of being a thief.
After all, I probably knew better than anyone besides the author just how kind and angelic Ruruka truly was.
‘Hmm… she looks busy.’
I raised my hand, but the director was too occupied talking with Duke Isis to pay any attention to us.
Left with no choice, I stood up and approached them myself.
The first person to notice me was Akkelte, who had been glancing around restlessly.
“Ah, I should’ve asked this earlier.”
Walking closer to me, Akkelte placed a hand on his hip, mimicking my posture from before, and asked,
“What’s your name?”
“M-My name…?”
Because of that, both the director and Duke Isis turned their attention toward me.
Sweating nervously, I pointed at my own face with trembling fingertips.
‘Why is he suddenly asking my name? Is he planning to punish me or something?’
As I kept my mouth tightly shut and hesitated, the director answered in my place while carefully watching the duke and his son’s reactions.
“This child is Elia. She has beautiful platinum-blonde hair and green eyes. I’m sure she’ll grow into an extraordinary beauty one day.”
At the director’s words, Akkelte crossed his arms and stared directly at me.
What was he going to say now?
Execute Elia? Imprison Elia immediately?
Holding my breath, I stared only at Akkelte’s lips.
“So your name is Elia. You have no idea how difficult it was explaining the stolen item to the director without knowing your name.”
“…U-Um, right.”
Thankfully, it didn’t seem like he’d asked my name to punish me.
Still, because I felt guilty inside, I instinctively avoided his blue eyes.
Akkelte tilted his lips crookedly in confusion.
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“W-What do you mean…?”
“You’re different from earlier. Your attitude.”
After looking me up and down with displeased eyes, Akkelte turned to the director.
“It’s Elia’s necklace. The stolen item.”
“Oh! So the child who lost the necklace was our Elia?”
Placing a hand over her chest, the director sighed dramatically and shook her head as though truly saddened.
“Elia is a very popular child in the orphanage. Perhaps one of the children caused this incident intentionally because they wanted Elia’s attention.”
“…M-Me? Really?”
Having never heard such a thing before, I asked back blankly.
The director subtly turned her head and shot me a sharp glare, seemingly telling me to stay quiet, so I obediently shut my mouth.
“Elia, then why did you come here?”
“Oh! I wanted to ask if Ruruka could go to the restroom.”
Remembering my original reason for coming over, I clapped my hands and asked.
The director nodded casually.
“If it’s Ruruka, of course it’s fine. There’s no way Ruruka would steal the necklace of her best friend Elia.”
The director granted permission immediately.
As expected, unlike me, Ruruka was well-loved by everyone.
Besides, the director knew very well how close Ruruka and I were.
And honestly, considering all the angelic things Ruruka had done—sharing her food portions and kindly playing with the other children—it was only natural.
After bowing politely to both the director and Duke Isis, I returned to my spot.
“Ruruka! The director said you can go!”
“Elia… thank you so much. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay!”
Ruruka jumped to her feet and quickly hurried away.
Watching her retreating figure, I suddenly felt a strange sense of discomfort.
‘If your stomach hurts, don’t people usually hold their lower abdomen?’
But Ruruka was clutching tightly at her chest while hurrying off.
As if she were hiding something beneath her clothes.
‘…No, I must be imagining things.’
I shook my head firmly.
I was probably just becoming overly sensitive because of the pendant.
