Chapter 09
At the orphanage, the boy did have a name he was called by. But that was no different from arbitrarily giving a beast a name.
It seemed he had a real name once, but he couldn’t remember it.
What he clearly remembered was that when he was much younger, someone had called him by a kind voice.
“Do you happen to not have a name?”
“……”
“That’s good.”
Kaleo smiled faintly.
“Because now you can choose a wonderful name for yourself.”
“……”
“Anyway, welcome to the Deiamor mansion. Let’s live well from now on.”
“…From now on?”
“Yeah. From now on.”
Kaleo reached out his hand and said,
“From now on, you will live here with us.”
Kaleo took the boy to the parlor.
Soles, who had arrived earlier and was waiting, stood up.
“Father, what about Nini?”
“She fell asleep. Seems like she was crying because she had a fever.”
“I’m sorry. I should have taken better care of Nini…”
“You’ve been doing well enough. And Nini tends to have a lot of sudden outbursts. It’s not your fault, Soles.”
Kaleo lightly hugged Soles, who looked downcast as if blaming himself, and introduced the boy.
“This is the child who will live with us from now on.”
“With us?”
Soles’s eyes widened.
“I’ll explain more in detail after Nini wakes up. Dad will have a brief talk with the adults now. Sorry, can you stay with this child?”
“Yes, Father!”
After Kaleo left, Soles sat the boy beside him.
In the soft and cozy sofa, the two boys sat side by side, with sweet fruit juice and chocolate cookies placed before them.
“Here, drink this.”
Soles pushed the glass toward the boy.
The boy glanced around cautiously before quietly taking a sip. The sweetness that pierced his brain and refreshed his throat made his eyes widen involuntarily.
A smile appeared on Soles’s face as he watched.
“Tastes good, right?”
“Yes. No, it is.”
“My name is Soles. I’m ten years old.”
“I’m eight years old.”
Unfortunately, the boy was much smaller and thinner than an average eight-year-old.
But instead of pointing it out, Soles pushed the plate of chocolate cookies toward the boy.
“Eat cookies too. This is my little sister’s favorite. You met her earlier, right? The one who cried in front of you is my sister.”
The boy nodded.
“Her name is Nibelia, but everyone calls her Nini. She’s still young and gets into a lot of trouble, but she’s cute and kind.”
The boy nodded again.
“You were surprised earlier, right? Nini suddenly started crying.”
“A little.”
“She doesn’t cry often, so even I was a bit startled. Usually, Nini throws a punch before she cries.”
They happily each took a cookie.
Soles took a big bite, and the boy watched before quietly putting his cookie down.
“I don’t have a name.”
“Huh?”
“I… don’t have a name.”
“Then you can make a new one!”
Soles repeated what Kaleo had just said.
“I somehow like you. It’s like I got a little brother. Of course, I love Nini, but, well, I also wanted a little brother. Sometimes I was a bit jealous of Al hyung and Rubens.”
“…?”
“Oh, I don’t know if you know, but Al hyung and Rubens are the children of the Duke who brought you here, and they’re brothers.”
They were twelve and eight years old respectively.
“Rubens is the same age as you, so you can be friends.”
Soles was happy as if it was his own good fortune.
“……”
The boy felt distant.
He felt like he was in a dream so happy it would make him very sad when he woke up. He was so lost as if submerged in a warm, sweet drink.
“Well then, should Lima give you a name?”
“I’ll give you a really cool name!”
On the way here, the name that the Duke Deigladis had forcibly given to the girl he also took from the orphanage, aside from me, was completely forgotten.
Duke Deigladis had been staying with his family in his domain but recently returned to the capital.
On his way, he met the Deiamor family’s courier.
A note was tied to the courier’s leg. It was written by Muniel and was brief.
Please stop by an orphanage and bring back one child.
[Blonde hair, red eyes, around eight years old, boy, really handsome.]
The last description didn’t seem to help the search at all, but Duke Deigladis followed the instructions.
And truly, he found a boy with blonde hair, red eyes, about eight years old, really handsome.
The orphanage was poor, and among all the skinny children, the boy’s outstanding beauty shone.
But the Duke didn’t only take the boy from there.
He also took a girl with striking pink hair who was beside the boy.
“I want to study! I will definitely repay you, mister!”
Though her pronunciation made it seem as if her tongue muscle development was questionable, her bold request to be taken away was admirable.
So he decided to personally sponsor her.
It was a very personal decision, but the pink hair played a big role.
In fact, that girl was also in the carriage that had just arrived at the Deiamor mansion.
But before getting off, Nibelia suddenly cried and returned to the Deigladis mansion.
Thump, thump.
“When will Father come back….”
Rubens Deigladis yawned widely while repeatedly bouncing a ball off the wall to relieve his boredom.
“It would have been nice if we were taken to the Deiamor mansion too. I wanted to see Soles and Nini after a long time. Right, hyung?”
Al, who was quietly reading a book, answered with a smile.
“Yeah. I wonder if Nini has grown a lot?”
“How old is she now? Five?”
“Four. She turned four this spring.”
“Wow, still that young?”
Rubens was surprised and got hit in the chin by the ball bouncing off the wall.
“Ugh, well, then she’s still a baby…”
Rubens mumbled as he barely held back tears.
“I hope she won’t be mad that we gave her a late birthday present.”
“I like Nini’s honesty.”
Al chuckled thinking of the neighbor’s younger sibling.
The last time he saw Nibelia, her chubby baby fat partly buried her facial features, making her look like a plump puppy.
Though she insisted she was a cat, which was a strange claim.
“Her behavior is definitely cat-like.”
She was especially wary of strangers, poked with fists when annoyed, and never hid her feelings.
“Also, she sleeps a lot.”
Al closed the thick book he was halfway through reading and placed it on the side table by the sofa.
Then he suddenly opened the door.
“Hic!”
There stood the pink-haired girl.
The pretty girl startled and stepped back.
“Why? Looking for the bathroom?”
Al asked with a smile. His dark red eyes were arrogant and intimidating for a twelve-year-old.
“I felt eyes on me while reading. It was annoying, so I came out. So, why have you been lingering by the door?”
“Th-that…”
The girl made an innocent expression and clasped her hands over her chest.
“I’m sorry. Lima was just…”
“……”
“Lonely and scared being alone…”
“……”
Al smiled as he looked at Lima.
“I see. Sorry. Still, you’re a guest, and I didn’t treat you properly. I’ll send some snacks and a few books to where you are. Do you know how to read?”
“A-a little…”
“Then read and wait quietly. When Father comes back, we’ll meet again.”
“Ah, um…!”
Lima hurried to continue the conversation, but Al closed the door faster.
Rubens frowned watching.
“Wow, hyung was harsh.”
“I think she’s worse for eavesdropping on our conversation.”
“She said she was lonely and scared.”
“Rubens.”
Al asked,
“Did you hear what she said earlier?”
“What? That she can read?”
Al nodded to Rubens’s answer.
His younger sister seemed like a mischievous kid who loved to play, but she had a decent sense of judgment.
“She’s young but impressive. We saw that orphanage too; it was really old and poor. They even taught reading there.”
“That’s amazing.”
Would they really have the means to teach reading in an orphanage that starved the children?
Then where did the girl learn reading?
If she taught herself alone, she must have pretty advanced intelligence, but why was her pronunciation worse than a four-year-old next door?
“…She’s doing it on purpose.”
She was deliberately faking the pronunciation.
“Though I can’t completely rule out the possibility that she’s lying.”
That’s suspicious too.
Al’s mouth curved into a slight smile.
“Do you dislike her?”
Rubens asked carefully.
“But Father said he would sponsor her and brought her here.”
“I don’t dislike her.”
Al sat back down and reopened the book he had closed.
“It seems interesting, so I’ll leave her be.”
“You just made a really awful face.”
“That’s because I take after Father.”
“Father makes evil faces well too, but it’s different from yours!”
“Then maybe I take after Mother?”
“…I take after Father.”
Rubens bounced the ball off the wall again as Al focused on reading.
Thanks to the regular bouncing sounds, he quickly immersed himself in the book.
Lima returned to her room, avoiding the eyes of the servants, and leaned against the door, sitting down with a thud.
“Wow, that was really scary…!”
Lima put her hand on her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through her skin and ribs.
“I’m only twelve, why am I so scared!”
After puffing out her cheeks, Lima finally calmed down after some time.
“Ah, by the way…”
She looked around the room.
This was a guest room. Like the magnificent and lavish mansion, the guest room was also very spacious and luxurious.
The furniture, blankets, curtains, all with subtle tastes, were obviously high quality.
But Lima sighed heavily as if displeased.
“If I had known, I should have written from the start that the female lead was the lost daughter of the Duke family. But I never thought I’d be possessed by the novel I wrote.”
