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Chapter : 06
They said she wasn’t in the playroom.
They searched all the other places a child usually frequented—the dining hall, the kitchen, and more—but the result was the same.
“Where in the world did that tiny child disappear to?!”
Glenn searched the estate alongside the servants.
Eventually, he pushed past them and began running around alone, desperately looking for the child.
“Young Lady!”
“Elisha!”
“Lady Elisha!”
Those military boots had been the final gift from his closest friend.
[I’m glad you survived.]
What a foolish man he had been.
Who would sacrifice their own life just so someone like him could live on and remember them?
The more Glenn thought about it, the tighter his throat became.
And at the same time, he was afraid.
Afraid that time, busyness, and life itself would eventually make him forget.
His obsession with those boots had been an act of atonement.
A way of saying:
I haven’t forgotten you.
A way of repenting for never being able to say thank you.
But now, none of that mattered.
Not those boots.
Not the worn leather.
Nothing.
[I brought this because I wanted to give it to Grandpa.]
[Grandpa is super cool!]
Compared to that child, those old boots meant absolutely nothing.
“Elisha!”
By now, his throat burned dry, and thick beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
[I don’t need it.]
He had pushed her away with words like that.
[It’s nothing special.]
He had tried not to grow attached.
But deep down, he already knew.
[How could I possibly resent him?]
Just like her—
He would have no choice but to love this child too.
And because he hated admitting that…
Because he hated the idea of becoming attached to life again when he had so little of it left…
He kept speaking harshly instead.
…Yet it had all ended up like this anyway.
Swallowing the bitterness rising in his throat, Glenn forced his legs to keep moving.
All he prayed for was that she was safe.
Then—
As he turned the corner of the rose garden, he spotted a tiny foot sticking out from between the bushes.
…No way.
He hurried over and frantically shoved aside the branches.
And then he saw her.
“Grandpa……”
Curled up into a tiny ball while hugging his military boots tightly against her chest—
Fast asleep.
“Don’t go……”
The child mumbled in her sleep while clutching the dirty old boots like treasure.
Why did she care so much for an old man who had done nothing but push her away?
Why was she trying to hold onto him even in her dreams?
Glenn stood there for a long moment, eyes reddened.
“Elisha!”
At that moment, his son came running over from the distance.
Apparently, one of the servants had informed him.
Glenn stopped his son before he could wake the child.
“We found her, didn’t we? She’s sleeping peacefully, so don’t wake her.”
Carefully—so carefully he wouldn’t disturb her—Glenn lifted the child into his arms.
“But the boots—”
“What difference does staying one more day make?”
In truth, he no longer had any desire to leave right now anyway.
He began walking back toward the estate.
“Grandpaaa……”
Behind the sound of his footsteps came the child’s sleepy mumbling.
And the next morning—
News arrived.
During the night, Tenson River Bridge had exploded.
