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Chapter 02
When I opened my eyes again, I was beneath a cobweb-covered ceiling.
With a dazed expression, I slowly lowered my gaze.
Walls and floors covered in scribbles.
Toys scattered everywhere.
Several chipped bowls sitting on top of a table.
“Alright, kids. Let’s pray.”
It was a bright morning in February.
Anne, the director of Evehill Orphanage, was in an unusually good mood.
‘It’s been a perfect day right from the start.’
Even Tom, the little late sleeper, had woken up early and neatly made his bed today.
The soup she hastily prepared came out perfectly seasoned, and even the face she caught in the mirror while washing up looked better than usual.
‘Maybe it’s because today is a special day.’
Smiling contentedly, she lifted her head.
Beyond the enormous window occupying one side of the orphanage’s common room stretched a snow-dusted hill.
And atop it, far in the distance, was a long procession of carriages.
“Waaah! Duke Nongton’s really coming!”
Three-year-old Lulu tugged excitedly at the hem of Anne’s skirt.
Anne stroked the child’s head before lifting her into her arms.
“That’s right. He’s coming to take Sister Ria home today.”
“Waaah, waaah! Sister Ria’s so lucky!!”
Lulu looked around for Annelia.
But among the children gathered together in the common room, Annelia was nowhere to be seen.
‘That’s strange.’
Anne frowned with concern.
Children awaiting adoption were usually too excited to sleep properly the night before.
And on the morning of the day itself, they practically glued themselves to the windows.
But Ria wasn’t here.
‘Did she go out to the garden?’
Anne headed toward the kitchen and peered out the side window into the backyard.
But Annelia wasn’t there either.
‘So it wasn’t just my imagination that she seemed uncomfortable…’
Annelia’s adoption had been arranged a month ago.
When Anne first hinted at the news, the girl had been overjoyed.
She ate well, slept well.
She ran around energetically during playtime.
She even proudly explained to the other children what kind of family the Longton ducal house was.
But then Ria suddenly changed.
About two weeks ago, she unexpectedly burst into tears during dinner.
‘She tried not to show it, but I guess her feelings were more complicated than I thought.’
Anne let out a quiet sigh.
Then again, this was Ria they were talking about.
Ria wasn’t like ordinary children.
‘And I call myself a teacher, yet I couldn’t even notice something so obvious.’
That child…
Yes.
She was definitely special.
‘Duck stew with spinach…? Teacher! This is a crimeee!’
Annelia talked fast.
Anne still remembered how shocked she’d been hearing such a tiny, skinny child chatter away, stringing words together so fluently.
And that wasn’t all.
‘Teacher, there are no books in the playroom!’
‘No books? Then are all the books on the shelves magical books only Teacher can see~?’
‘Ughhh, that’s not what I mean. There aren’t any books Ria wants to read.’
Once she learned how to read, she devoured every book in the orphanage.
Again and again, until she had memorized them all.
Because of Ria, Anne had spent the last two years constantly visiting secondhand bookstores in town.
One day, after being pestered endlessly, she finally took the child along with her.
The moment they entered the bookstore, Ria’s large eyes sparkled brilliantly as she darted around the shop.
Then, just before leaving, she shyly held out several thick books to Anne.
‘What are these, Ria? Introduction to Magical Pharmacology?’
Not fairy tales.
Not picture books.
Magic.
A mysterious power once called sorcery in ancient times.
According to the founding myths of the Empire, the ancestors of Taranta had been sorcerers who inherited the blood of gods.
But over time, the blood of sorcerers had thinned, and people in the present age could no longer wield magic naturally.
Still, magic itself had not entirely vanished from the world.
Though extremely complicated, limited forms of magic could still be used through magic formulas.
There were only two institutions on the continent that researched and published such formulas.
The International Mage Tower, and the Imperial Alchemy Institute of the Taranta Empire.
The book Ria had picked up was a magic-formula textbook written by the Imperial Alchemy Institute itself.
‘H-ha ha, I think that book might be a liiittle difficult for our Ria. How about Teacher picks another one for you?’
‘…One. The objective of magical pharmacology is to standardize the production of materials required for magical research.’
‘Ria?’
‘Two. Magical pharmacology is founded upon all magical formulas composed of straight lines and curves with predetermined gradients!’
‘…R-Ria.’
‘Three. Pharmacology is classified as a subdiscipline of magical studies, and its most fundamental principle is—’
‘O-okay, Ria! I get it.’
That day, Anne bought several books she couldn’t understand in the slightest: Foundations of Magic Formulas, Basics of Magical Pharmacology, Advanced Magical Theory, and more.
As they left the bookstore, she failed to notice the shopkeeper staring at them with eyes so wide they looked ready to pop out.
A few weeks later, a letter bearing the seal of the Longton family arrived at the orphanage.
‘They wish to adopt Ria?’
In short, this was what had happened.
The bookstore owner, deeply impressed by Ria memorizing a magical studies dictionary cover to cover, told his wife about it.
His wife mentioned it to a regular visitor at the library where she worked.
…and that young man, as it turned out, was an old academic acquaintance who exchanged letters with an administrator serving the Longton family.
‘It’s an unbelievably strange coincidence, but…’
If a great noble house like Longton wanted to adopt Annelia, Anne had no reason to refuse.
‘His Grace has long hoped to form a precious bond with a child around Annelia’s age. Should the adoption proceed successfully, generous regular sponsorship for Evehill Orphanage will also be guaranteed.’
Anne was proud of Annelia.
Partly because the orphanage’s finances would finally stabilize, yes.
But there was something greater than that.
When she first found the abandoned infant in the mountains and carried her back here, she never imagined Annelia would grow into such an extraordinary child.
“Lulu, Sister Ria is a blessing. She’s kind, cute, and a genius—the smartest genius in the whole world.”
Anne hugged Lulu tightly, and Lulu nodded vigorously.
“Yep! Everybody knows! Sister Ria’s a genius!”
That’s right.
Ria absolutely was a genius.
Just look at this.
Even the great Duke Longton himself had personally come to escort her.
All the way to this tiny, shabby orphanage hidden at the farthest edge of Abner Territory.
Carefully setting Lulu down, Anne turned proudly toward the children.
“Alright, everyone. Ready to go welcome our guests?”
“Yeees!!”
At last, it was truly time to receive their visitors.
“Welcome, Your Grace.”
I secretly watched the bustling crowd gathered in the orphanage garden.
Someone among them greeted Teacher Anne.
“It’s an honor to meet you. Just as your letter described, this is truly a beautiful place.”
He was the butler of the Longton family—a man I knew very well.
And beside him…
“We can skip the unnecessary formalities. Where are the children?”
A calm yet oppressive deep voice.
The man who had been my adoptive father in my previous life.
The instant I saw Lambert Longton, my heart pounded violently.
Frozen stiff, I crouched lower behind the barn.
Duke Longton looked younger than I remembered.
Well, naturally.
Time had turned back.
Teacher Anne answered politely.
“The children are inside.”
“Is that child inside as well?”
“Well, actually…”
Anne hesitated and trailed off.
Perhaps because of the distance, I couldn’t hear the rest.
I leaned slightly out from beside the barn to listen more carefully—
“What? The child is anxious?”
The Duke asked gravely.
“Yes. Since a few days ago, she’s been a little…”
A deep frown formed on his face.
After silently contemplating for a moment, he spoke.
“…I see. You said she was a precocious child. Perhaps she’s afraid of having her environment changed.”
He tilted his head slightly toward the administrators around him.
As if waiting for the signal, the administrators immediately began surveying the garden.
Holding my breath, I clutched the bundle hidden beneath my sleeve.
My palms were already drenched in cold sweat.
‘Why… why?’
It should have arrived by now.
“Why isn’t it coming…?”
