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Chapter 8
It would have been nice if I could have gone with Saintess Melodia alone, but as expected, the orphanage director followed closely behind us. She even kept pressuring me the entire time.
‘When the saintess leaves, I’m not going to let you get away with this.’
That thought did cross my mind, but I simply smiled brightly like a child who was enjoying this moment.
“Yesss~.”
The root of all problems. The perfect example of a horrible human being.
Sure enough, when she saw me smiling and looking at her, she glared at me while grinding her teeth.
“I’ll let this one time slide, Aisha. But you mustn’t throw tantrums.”
“Yes! Director!”
I raised my voice cheerfully like an innocent child and pulled Saintess Melodia’s hand even tighter.
And so, we walked and walked for quite a while.
When my legs began to ache a little, Saintess Melodia tilted her head in confusion.
“But where are we going? Is this the back road of the orphanage?”
Around that time, the orphanage director’s face, which had been watching us uncomfortably, turned completely pale. If we left the orphanage building and walked toward the mountain-like area behind it, the only thing there was the building where the twins were locked up.
“W-Wait. Wait!”
The director grabbed my shoulder and hurriedly stopped me. Since I had no way of resisting an adult’s strength, my body stopped against my will, and that irritated the saintess.
“Why are you stopping us, Director Seril Sandra?”
“T-There is nothing over there.”
“Nothing?”
“There’s nothing there. Aisha. Don’t trouble the saintess and let’s go back.”
Her face was full of hostility, as if she might hit me at any moment.
“No! It’s there!”
“There?”
“I definitely saw them over there! The children! They’re definitely there!”
At that moment, the warehouse building came into view, and Saintess Melodia’s expression hardened.
“There are children there?”
“N-No. It seems Aisha must have seen something wrong.”
“No! Saintess! Please listen to me! I really saw children there!! Please believe me! I really met them!”
“You haven’t been sleeping well lately, so perhaps you saw something that wasn’t there, Aisha. I’m also worried that you’ve become so thin because you haven’t been getting enough sleep. Let’s go back right now and have a doctor examine you.”
The orphanage director moved toward me as if she was about to pick me up immediately, her expression sharp as though she was trying to hide her own disgrace.
Her intentions were so obvious that I took a small step back, and only then did Saintess Melodia step slightly in front of me.
“It seems like you are hiding something.”
“N-No, that can’t be true!”
“If that is not the case, then shouldn’t we first listen to what the child has to say?”
“No. That place is just an abandoned warehouse. If you go there, it’s nothing but garbage.”
“It’s true! There were children there!!”
As if waiting for my voice, a banging sound came from inside the warehouse.
Earlier, I had told the twins that if they heard my voice from outside today, they should shout loudly.
Fortunately, they seemed to understand me well, because the two of them continued pounding on the thick iron door.
The saintess had been caught between the director, who desperately tried to stop us, and me, who insisted we go there. But when she heard the sound, she seemed startled and immediately ran toward the warehouse.
“My goodness…! I didn’t imagine that, did I? I clearly heard something from inside! Aisha was right!”
“N-No. You must have heard wrong.”
“……Are you treating me like I’m an unreasonable person? Was I the only one who heard that sound?”
The holy knights who had been following behind shook their heads firmly.
“I heard it as well, Saintess Melodia.”
“Me too.”
“It seems the only person who didn’t hear that sound was the director.”
The orphanage director’s face grew paler and paler.
“W-Wild animals wander around this area, so perhaps you mistook their sounds for…”
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go inside.”
“N-No! I’m telling you, there’s nothing there! Coming all the way here just because of a child’s words was a mistake from the beginning!”
The orphanage director became angrier than ever and grabbed my arm tightly.
She looked down at me with a frightening expression, as if she might hit me at any moment.
She’ll definitely beat me badly once we return.
I had already expected that. But I never thought she would grab my arm so openly in front of the saintess.
Because of the difference in height between an adult and a child, it felt like my arm might be pulled out of its socket.
It hurt so much that tears almost came to my eyes.
“It hurts, Director…”
“Be quiet, Aisha. I kept overlooking your behavior because you were such a clever child, but it seems you’ve started getting too bold.”
“……S-Sorry. But… I heard voices…”
It hurt terribly, and because she was pulling upward with so much force, I couldn’t even pull my arm away. No, trying to move only made the pain worse.
So I endured the pain and barely managed to speak.
“Then you should have told me first.”
“But… but… I thought you wouldn’t believe me…”
I mumbled like a frightened child as much as possible.
Seeing me like that, Saintess Melodia quickly grabbed the director’s hand. Only then did she release my arm.
“Stop, Director Seril Sandra. It seems the child is frightened. Also, if you hold a child like that, of course she will be hurt. Have you always treated children this way? Is this why such behavior seems natural to you?”
“N-No. Of course not. I always take care of them with love.”
“I find that difficult to believe. But we will discuss that matter later. For now, let’s go open that door.”
“W-Wait. That place only smells bad.”
However, the holy knights had already gone there.
Without hesitation, they kicked apart the thick chains and locks.
The director, who had been holding me moments ago, turned pale and rushed toward them, but the holy knights showed no hesitation.
“Ah…! W-Wait!”
Meanwhile, Saintess Melodia had already run inside the opened warehouse.
And when she saw the twins coming out of that filthy place where no human should have been forced to live, her face turned pale, and she staggered as if she might collapse.
Her hands trembled as she covered her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing.
“T-There really were children…”
I followed after her with quick steps.
I didn’t forget to act like a child filled with anxiety, someone who didn’t know what to do.
The orphanage director, who had already gone ahead after the saintess, wouldn’t notice me anyway, but I had to prepare for any possible situation.
Just as expected, the twins came out of the warehouse, but they simply stood by the doorway and showed no intention of stepping forward.
The saintess hesitated for a moment before walking toward them.
Given her personality, I expected her to immediately hug them, but strangely, she didn’t do anything excessive.
She simply looked at them from close range.
“You children… how did you end up here…?”
But as I had instructed beforehand, the twins didn’t say anything.
If they tried to reveal everything at once, it would only make them choke on too much food after starving for so long.
So the best situation was not to reveal everything right now.
‘Even if we expose everything now, there’s nothing we can do.’
They were only children with no one backing them.
Honestly, they were the kind of children that could be abandoned somewhere and nobody would come looking for them.
The twins being discovered this time would certainly lead to an investigation of the orphanage, but that was all.
No matter how much the saints pitied the children in the orphanage, they were still human.
They probably hated troublesome matters.
Besides, the only person who truly cared about the orphanage was Saintess Melodia.
Although they operated the orphanage according to the teachings of their god, who said everyone deserved mercy, the others considered the orphanage nothing more than a troublesome place that didn’t make money.
‘That’s why many saints used to visit the orphanage in the beginning, but now only Saintess Melodia and the saints who succeed her come here.’
Because of that, even if we exposed the fact that the orphanage director abused the twins, it wouldn’t benefit us.
‘Saintess Melodia will try to pursue this matter, but the other saints will obviously just tell her to let it go.’
To outsiders, Director Seril Sandra was not a particularly bad person.
Especially when it came to adults.
She was the perfect example of a person who was weak toward the powerful and strong toward the weak.
She had worked so hard behind the scenes with the people around her that even serious incidents didn’t shake her reputation.
That was why even if I said right now, “The orphanage director abused us,” it wouldn’t matter.
‘So I should be satisfied with this.’
Meanwhile, the saintess, unable to endure the silence, spoke to the children again. She even waved her hand.
“I’m not a dangerous person. I’m a saintess.”
“……”
“……”
Even after hearing her words, the twins only moved their eyes around nervously.
Watching them, the saintess became more and more devastated.
It seemed she had never seen children like this before, and she couldn’t hide her shock.
“My goodness… What happened to you that you can’t even speak to people anymore? Hmm?”
She was the kindest person I had ever met.
Even just from her appearance, she gave off the feeling of a gentle person.
But just because someone looked kind on the outside didn’t mean the twins would easily open their hearts.
The saintess, saddened by the children who wouldn’t answer, shifted her target to the director.
“Ha… Just what kind of treatment did they receive… that they became this afraid of people?”
