🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter~06
“What’s wrong with my hair color?”
Every time she heard those words, Kiara would storm off to the orphanage’s backyard.
She didn’t want to look at the faces of the nobles who had come to adopt children any longer, and she wanted to be alone.
Thinking back on it, there had never been a single good thing about being born with red hair.
Because it stood out so much, she was often on the receiving end of the orphanage director’s anger.
When she lived on the streets, she was an easy target for the other homeless children.
And now she couldn’t even be adopted because of this hair color?
Does that mean no one cares about me for who I am?
Am I someone no one can ever accept?
The heart of Kiara, who had never known despair before, gradually began to crack.
Please… someone, notice me.
Please choose me, like a miracle.
Her longing became so desperate that Kiara believed if someone ever chose her, she could spend the rest of her life grateful to them.
She would entrust that person with her soul in an instant and spend her entire life yearning for their affection.
But that person never appeared.
To hell with God.
Kiara ran away from the orphanage.
There had to be no such thing as God.
No matter how much she prayed, her wish never came true.
After that, she drifted from place to place.
She was chased away, kicked aside, and forced to crawl through the dirt…
Then one day, she managed to hide inside what was at least a relatively safe place—a train station.
“Your rose-colored hair was beautiful.”
It felt as though the entire world had stopped.
She couldn’t believe it.
Fidelia Jonas probably never knew.
Even if Kiara had only been someone else’s replacement, even so…
That was the first time anyone had ever said something like that to me.
That was the very moment the owner of Kiara’s soul was decided.
That was why Kiara fell into a panic for the first time in her life.
Where am I?
She had lost Fidelia Jonas.
Looking away for a moment had been her mistake.
She had naturally assumed Fidelia Jonas and Sanna would follow behind her.
Believing that without question, she had walked for quite some time.
By the time she came to her senses, she had wandered away from the bustling streets and into a comparatively quiet one.
Standing blankly in the middle of a road where elegantly dressed people passed by, Kiara thought to herself.
Fidelia.
What if I never find her again?
It felt as though the world was spinning around her.
Pull yourself together!
Kiara slapped both of her cheeks.
She had to stay as calm as possible.
If you get lost, stay where you are.
That was what Fidelia Jonas had taught her.
First, I should get out of the middle of the road.
Kiara walked over to the edge of the street and stopped in front of a tea house.
I’ll stay right here until Fidelia and Sanna come.
That was when it happened.
“Lord Hernan, perhaps even now…”
“If you’re going to keep talking about work even after we’ve come outside, then keep your mouth shut and go back to the estate.”
“Y-Yes, sir…”
Hernan?
Kiara whipped her head around.
It was a familiar name.
“Because of that Hernan Cleor fellow, I was told to go down to the Jonas territory, and now suddenly you’re saying he met some child and can’t come anymore?”
A familiar name!
Hernan Cleor.
The man who was definitely acquainted with Fidelia Jonas!
“I never understood why you liked that man in the first place!”
Kiara remembered every word Sanna had angrily shouted the day they first met.
She even remembered the name Hernan Cleor.
“Tsk. In the end, it’s my fault for hiring a workaholic.”
“A-Are you going to fire him?”
“Soon enough.”
The man presumed to be Duke Hernan Cleor—the one Fidelia Jonas had liked, the one who knew her—was sitting at one of the outdoor tables of the tea house.
His well-kept blond hair, blue eyes, and the arrogant way he sat with his legs crossed made it obvious that he was a man of high status.
Besides…
If he looks like that, then it has to be him.
He was fairly handsome.
There was no way Fidelia Jonas would have liked an ugly man.
If he was someone Fidelia Jonas liked, then he should at least be that handsome.
If it’s him…
Maybe he’ll take me to Fidelia.
As if under a spell, Kiara began walking toward him.
Sanna and I searched frantically for Kiara.
From one end of the festival street to the other.
There wasn’t a single place we hadn’t searched or asked around about.
“Sanna, did you find her?”
“No!”
Two women soaked in sweat and panting in the middle of winter were impossible to miss.
I felt like I was going out of my mind.
Where on earth did she go…?
Suddenly, one place flashed through my mind.
Danger Street, right next to Renton Street.
It was lined with cafés and tea houses that catered exclusively to nobles, which was why it hadn’t been included in our search area from the beginning.
But what if Kiara had wandered all the way there?
A chill ran down my spine.
The public safety there is terrible, too.
Countless possibilities raced through my mind.
My imagination refused to stop and vividly painted the worst-case scenarios.
No.
I grabbed Sanna by the arm.
“What is it? Where are we going?”
“Danger Street.
It’s right next to here, so she might’ve gone there.”
“Are you serious?
That’s pretty far from here…
Besides, only those noble jerks go there!”
Sanna’s eyes widened.
It wasn’t surprising.
She had a habit of lumping every member of the upper class together as bad people.
Upper class equals nobles equals bad people.
Growing anxious, Sanna nervously bit her nails.
“We’ve already reported it to the police.
Let’s go there first.
You never know.”
Sanna nodded, and we hurried out of the festival street.
And the moment I arrived at Danger Street, I saw it.
“Ah! You’re seriously so mean!”
Kiara was shouting at the top of her lungs at Duke Hernan Cleor.
Ah.
This is completely insane.
Duke Hernan Cleor looked at the red-haired little girl standing before him.
“Are you Hernan Cleor?”
The child, whose upturned eyes resembled those of a cat, blocked his path and asked.
The way she lifted her chin radiated confidence.
His aide, Louis, who had been rubbing his face beside him, stared with his jaw practically hanging open.
Then again, how many people would dare stand before Duke Hernan Cleor with such blatant rudeness?
She was even speaking to him informally.
Duke Hernan Cleor could not tolerate rude people.
That was common knowledge among the upper class of the Corvaliu Empire.
Many noble families had ruined their businesses after earning his displeasure.
The red-haired child had appeared just moments after Louis had been forced into silence by a single glare from Duke Hernan Cleor.
She had casually walked over and stopped in front of them as though she had known him for years.
Then, without any hesitation, she asked who he was.
How rude.
Duke Hernan Cleor gave a slight nod.
It was an acknowledgment.
“Do you know Fidelia?”
The hand lifting his teacup paused.
But as though nothing had happened, he smoothly brought it to his lips and took a sip.
“She’s my guardian, but I lost her.”
Only after the child finished speaking did Duke Hernan Cleor finally respond.
“So?”
He tilted his head.
“What exactly do you expect me to do?”
The cat-like eyes of the child narrowed even further.
Though to Duke Hernan Cleor, it wasn’t threatening in the slightest.
“What do you mean, what should you do?
I’m asking you to help find her.
I’m just a kid who’s gotten lost.”
“Why should I?”
Duke Hernan Cleor’s expression remained astonishingly unchanged.
“Wow…”
The red-haired girl let out a dumbfounded exclamation.
Then she frowned.
“I think you’re kind of mean.”
“Cough!”
Louis choked violently on his drink.
When Duke Hernan Cleor shot him a cold glance, Louis quickly covered his mouth with both hands and turned away, desperately trying to suppress his coughing.
Watching him with obvious disdain, Kiara glared at Duke Hernan Cleor again.
She had apparently decided to be shameless to the end and even raised her chin defiantly.
“Fidelia liked you, didn’t she?”
“And?”
“Can’t you at least help find a lost child for someone who liked you?”
It was pure sophistry.
A completely unreasonable argument.
Duke Hernan Cleor answered.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“…”
At that, Kiara pressed her lips tightly together.
