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Chapter 6
I don’t know what the fairies want, but…
Seeing him tucked away all alone in such a secluded corner naturally made me worry.
I had thought to wait until he adapted, but seeing him like this, it seemed like he would stay the same indefinitely, so I approached him.
└[The original male lead candidate usually opens up quickly if the female lead talks to him a few words.]
Comments like these, which other fairies agreed with, naturally caught my attention.
“Hey, Leon.”
“…….”
“Even if it’s hard right now, this is a place where kids like you gather. If you stay with them, you’ll feel better soon. All the friends here went through the same thing.”
I spoke trying to comfort him, but Leon’s expression didn’t improve.
Though his messy bangs still covered his eyes, I could see his lips pouting slightly—clearly something had triggered him.
“I’m leaving here.”
…Did he misunderstand me as saying, “Live here forever”?
“No, I didn’t mean that you can’t leave… I just meant that while you’re here, you can at least feel comfortable…”
“No. Go away. I hate you.”
Leon had already built up enough misunderstanding that he didn’t even look at me and buried his face in his knees.
This was our first real conversation, and it ended like this.
The fairy comments that had been pestering me to get him to open up had the following reaction:
└[A grumpy little kitten? I like it even more.]
They wanted me to see this?
‘Such outright liars…’
It wasn’t the first time I’d been deceived, so why did I believe them again?
I left Leon and returned to my room, silently promising myself to filter the fairy comments much more carefully from now on.
A few days after Leon had misunderstood me, one night…
“Ugh…”
I was pulled out of dreamland by a strange sound.
‘What’s that? Is someone having a nightmare?’
Or maybe someone was crying. At night, when it’s quiet and dark, some children often cried out of fear or because they missed their mothers.
‘Sigh… I guess it’s up to me, an adult, to comfort them.’
Of course, I was physically still a child. But even a small body can feel reassuring if it’s nearby.
Sitting up, I saw nothing in the room but the gently rising and falling blankets accompanied by soft breathing.
It seemed to be coming from another room or the hallway, so I rubbed my sleepy eyes and carefully got out of bed.
“Ugh, huh…”
The dark hallway.
I thought maybe someone had fallen on their way to the bathroom, but instead of footsteps, I heard only faint, muffled groans.
‘W-what…? It’s not a ghost, right?’
The eerie atmosphere made my body tense automatically.
‘Should I go back to my room…?’
I hesitated, unable to take another step, but luckily, the fairy comments appeared at my ear again, despite it being late.
└[OMG, maybe the spirit of a child abused to death in the orphanage.]
Even scarier!
‘Why do you make up such horrific stories!’
I forced my reluctant feet to move across the floor toward the source of the sound.
Even as I crept along, the wooden floor creaked with every step, adding to the sinister atmosphere.
‘If you’re going to appear, just show yourself already…!’
Rustle.
I stepped on something and quickly covered my mouth to stifle a scream.
‘What is this long cloth doing in the hallway…?’
I vaguely remembered hearing that ghosts drape themselves in cloth to hide their grotesque appearances.
I stiffly turned my neck toward the cloth.
In the dark corner of the hallway… there was…
“…Leon?”
What I had thought was a bundle of cloth revealed a tuft of red hair trembling slightly through the gap.
‘He must have been under the blanket, so from a distance I couldn’t see him.’
Judging by the sounds I’d heard earlier, he didn’t seem to be in a good state…
“Leon, are you hurt?”
When I sat beside him and placed a hand on his back, he flinched sharply.
└[Sickly male lead?]
└[The male lead has a rare disease, but now the female lead can heal him.]
That sounded like a bizarre setting, but it wasn’t the time to argue about that.
Perhaps sensing I was harmless, Leon, with trembling hands, grabbed my sleeve and buried himself in my arms.
“Are you okay? Should I call a teacher?”
His head on my shoulder shook slightly from side to side.
“I… I’m…”
Thankfully, he didn’t seem hurt, but his reaction was like encountering some terrifying monster.
└[All male leads have some kind of trauma, btw.]
Between personality tests, appearance, occasional illness, and trauma… being a male lead was hardly easy.
But that wasn’t important now.
I gently patted Leon’s back, feeling the warmth and dampness of his small body.
“I…”
“Yes. I won’t tell anyone. If you want to say something, go ahead.”
“I don’t want to die. Please save me…”
“What?”
Hearing those words come from a child was shocking.
I immediately sensed this was more than something comfort alone could fix.
‘What could have happened?’
I stayed by Leon’s side, stroking his back. Gradually, his trembling subsided.
He soon became quiet, only breathing softly. I thought he had fallen asleep while sitting, but the occasional grip on my sleeve suggested otherwise.
I gently freed his hand and whispered softly:
“Stay here a moment. I’ll be back soon.”
I headed for the orphanage kitchen.
Some ladies would bring snacks for the children instead of donations, and I had noticed something useful back then.
I stood on a chair and carefully took a paper bag from the cupboard.
Inside was cocoa powder mixed with sugar.
‘One child… no, two at most can have this without it being noticeable.’
└[Sneakily taking something for yourself too.]
I might as well prepare one for myself.
I boiled water in the kettle on the stove and prepared two warm cups of cocoa.
When I came out into the hallway, Leon was still where I had left him.
“Here, drink this. Don’t tell the director.”
The sweet aroma caught his attention, and Leon slowly lifted his head.
His bangs were damp, showing he had continued crying even while I was preparing the cocoa.
“Did you have a scary dream?”
Leon seemed willing to talk and nodded obediently.
“It’s okay. It was just a dream.”
He shook his head firmly at that.
“What if… someone comes to kill me?”
It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to die—he feared being killed.
Not knowing the situation, I tried to reassure him.
“I’m here, and there are adults coming and going. Nobody can just come in.”
“But… my mom…”
Leon’s eyes welled up again.
“Some scary men came. Mom hid me because she said I couldn’t be seen.”
“……”
“They kept looking for her. And…”
He said that with orders to erase all traces, his mother’s pleading voice was gone, and he heard the men’s footsteps leaving.
Leon had listened to everything from inside the wardrobe.
After it quieted down, he came out but couldn’t see his mother again. He was left alone.
‘That… was murder.’
└[This twisted child abuse world.]
└[And he heard everything.]
It became clear why Leon had built such walls around his heart.
If I had gone through that, I’d distrust people too.
└[What if the adults sell the child again?]
Indeed. I hadn’t believed the fairies’ warnings about trafficking in orphanages, but… if those mysterious men offered money to find Leon, what would happen?
“Did you tell the director or any teachers?”
“No…”
“Good. If they’re not trustworthy, it’s better to keep that hidden.”
He had kept it to himself for so long and finally told me, but if this secret spread recklessly, it would be dangerous.
“You don’t need to be so tense. From what I’ve observed, the adults here are petty and cautious—they wouldn’t talk to scary men anyway.”
Although the director liked money… the orphanage was supported by nobles, so no one would dare do harm.
The area was reasonably safe, and there were local guards who could help if anything happened.
I explained this, citing evidence of imperial oversight and orphanage support.
I don’t know if Leon fully understood, but he seemed a little reassured.
“Still… I have to leave.”
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
He had said before that he would leave. Perhaps he had relatives or an adult he knew?
“There’s someone I need to find.”
“Who?”
“The person my mom told me to find. Someone who can… punish those men.”
Leon tugged at the collar of his shirt and pulled out a silver pendant engraved with something.
