Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Come With Me!
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A fleeting thought crossed my mind—could this child be the one I was looking for?
I didn’t remember the exact face of Ted’s little brother as described in the original story, but there was one clear fact.
‘Their reunion was so touching. Ted’s brother had been waiting for his big brother all along. That meant he knew he had one.’
The poor little boy, Ted, lost his entire family and was left alone with his younger brother. To find food, he left his brother on the street for just a moment.
It was his mistake.
Because Ted’s brother got lost and vanished into the crowd.
‘Still, blue eyes aren’t that common…’
While I was lost in thought, the child stopped walking. I paused briefly at the pile of rubble rolling in front of me.
“We’re here. This is the place.”
I lifted my gaze to the nursery before my eyes. Even on this street, it stood out as an eyesore—a cramped ruin.
“…It’s a scary place.”
Just as the maid sisters had said, the nursery was terrifying enough to make your legs shake at the mere sight.
The half-collapsed stone building was barely more than rubble that could shield from the rain.
I forced my mouth open and asked,
“By any chance, at this nursery… are there still children alive?”
“…It’s closed. The kids scattered everywhere.”
“Aah…”
“So you’re looking for a child.”
“Ung. A baby!”
With things turning out like this, we were back to square one.
The boy looking at me whispered lowly, clutching the basket tightly.
“…I see.”
Seeing the boy look somehow lonely made my heart ache.
I knew the feeling well from similar experiences, and I knew that in times like these, impulsive comfort was no good—sugar was the best fix.
“Wanna eat this?”
I pulled out a few candies from my pocket and held them out. The boy’s eyes widened, and he smiled brightly as if dropping his guard.
“Th-thank you.”
The child, with his particularly white teeth amid his soot-black face, munched away happily—the first time he’d looked truly happy today. As the mood quieted, he seemed to feel he should say something and hesitantly spoke to the maid sisters.
“Um… earlier, when you were yelling at those thugs, you were so cool.”
“It was nothing.”
Even as they said it was nothing, I glanced at the maid sisters with their shoulders puffed up a bit, then at the boy.
For some reason, my heart stung.
A child abandoned by his family, living alone in this ruin.
Anyone would want to lend a helping hand to a kid like this.
So I should help just a little more.
It wouldn’t cost me anything anyway.
“Sisters.”
“Yes, Lady Sien.”
I narrowed my eyes and said,
“Can’t we take this kid too?”
He might even help in finding the Holy Knight’s brother who lived at the nursery.
“Huh?”
The boy’s eyes went wide.
I smiled faintly at him, who resembled a go stone.
“Won’t you be lonely all alone?”
“…Huh?”
At the word “lonely,” the boy’s pupils shook like a boat in a storm.
Staring straight into his eyes, I thought he must have been fighting loneliness for a long time.
Playfully crinkling my eyes in a grin, I tossed out my next words.
“Um, like, you know, weren’t you bored?”
“W-well… I-it was fine.”
“Come with me!”
This child who lived at the nursery could provide clues about the Holy Knight’s brother.
‘If he wants, I could even get him hired as a young servant in the Mirmod family.’
I smiled at the child.
A nameless little kid who had survived alone in the nursery.
“Yes. If I-if I can be of any he-help…”
He clasped his hands behind his back and blinked, his lips curving up ambiguously in what seemed like joy.
But there was a slight flaw in his words. I shook my head firmly at him.
“Even if you can’t help, it’s fi~ne!”
“…Huh? But…”
“Young kids gotta be happy!”
“Happy…”
The child ducked his head as if smiling felt awkward and nodded.
Then he cautiously stepped closer to me.
As he moved, there was a thunk as the basket bumped his leg.
“I’ll give you lo~ts of tasty stuff!”
With that, I caught his gummy smile.
And so we cheerfully headed toward the front of Pellod Street. Thanks to the maid sisters dealing with the thugs, we could exit the street comfortably.
‘The time I promised the Holy Knight is almost up.’
Before the hunting tournament ended, we had agreed to meet at three in the afternoon in front of Pellod Street.
And now it was two fifty.
The maid peering at the far end of the street narrowed her eyes and spoke.
“Is that the Holy Knight on horseback?”
“Holy Knight…”
The boy murmured in a trembling voice. I looked up at him and asked carefully,
“Why? Do you know him?”
“Yeah. He’s amazing… I wanted to become a Holy Knight too.”
Most slum kids dreamed of escaping the slums.
It was an unusual dream for the boy, but without questioning it, I nodded.
“Hope you do.”
As I finished speaking, Ted’s horse stopped right in front of the street.
He tossed off his helmet and approached me. Strangely, his expression looked urgent.
I felt a bit sorry for not finding his brother yet, but there was nothing to be done.
I craned my neck to look up at him stoutly and asked,
“Sorry, haven’t found him yet. Let’s go look quick!”
“…Lady Sien Mirmod.”
“Ung?”
I glanced at him absentmindedly and startled.
The rims of his eyes were bloodshot.
“…I think I’ve found my brother.”
And the beautiful Holy Knight’s gaze was fixed on the boy beside me.
“…Who are you?”
The boy stared at him with an icily cold face before standing firmly by my side.
“I don’t have a family.”
I couldn’t figure out what was happening.
In the razor-sharp tension, I kept rolling my eyes to grasp the situation.
***
Though it was a long-awaited brothers’ reunion, they couldn’t exactly fight right there in front of Pellod Street.
We left the street and headed to the adjacent block.
In a rush, I used ten spare bib handkerchiefs the maid sisters carried to wipe the child’s face and body.
Not a big loss.
Because that wasn’t what mattered!
Right now, Ted and his brother were raising their voices in argument instead of a touching reunion.
“I’m sorry, hear me out. I didn’t abandon you.”
“…No, you did. This guy abandoned me.”
Rage and hatred filled the boy’s face.
“I… I kept searching… all this time.”
“Liar. You left me in that filthy street—I remember everything.”
Ted’s pained gaze fell on the boy’s shriveled left hand.
He rubbed his dry face and let out a long sigh. The boy watching him asked in a voice laced with hate,
“But you… you became a Holy Knight.”
“We were so poor back then… I couldn’t find you. I’m sorry, Acid.”
The boy’s hate-filled eyes glared at Ted before him.
“Don’t call me Acid. I don’t have a name like that.”
There seemed to be a misunderstanding between the brothers, but since the novel didn’t detail an extra’s family history, it left me awkward.
‘I thought they’d hug it out as soon as they met.’
Watching their conversation spin around me, I pressed my forehead.
I wasn’t the sacred heroine, Saint Melodia, so I had no way to bridge the emotional chasm between the brothers.
“What do we do?”
Glancing at the little boy who kept trying to hide behind me, I sighed deeply and rummaged in my pocket. Out came sweet chocolate.
“Here, chocolate.”
“Th-thank you.”
Like a young pup mistaking a stranger for its mother, the boy kept leaning toward me.
Seeing the boy clearly wary of him, Ted’s face twisted in anguish.
He looked so pained that I asked softly,
“…Ted, did you abandon your brother?”
“Absolutely not. I’ve been searching… all along. On purpose… to find you, I stayed here… couldn’t go anywhere else… kept at it.”
Seeing his earnest eyes, I nodded.
Having read the novel, I knew how much Ted cherished and loved his brother.
But the boy seemed oblivious.
It was definitely a scene absent from the original. In the story, Ted’s brother found his family thanks to the saint and was happy, always grateful for the saint’s help…
‘There’s a misunderstanding now.’
At this moment, the boy was trembling.
If left in Ted’s hands, he’d be scared and on guard forever.
He might get hurt even worse than living at the nursery.
I usually didn’t meddle in family matters, but considering their personality differences, time was needed.
I took a deep breath and said,
“Listen up, both of you. I’ve got a solution.”
At my words, their confused gazes fixed on me.
I let out a long sigh and thought.
“Baby, wanna live with me? Just for a while.”
“What do you—”
“Ted, don’t you think it’s better to give Acid—no, your brother—some time to think?”
Even as I said it, I wasn’t fully confident.
Would this child choose me, whom he’d just met today, or his one and only family he’d lost?
“I…”
Acid swallowed dryly.
I nervously licked my lips too.
His gaze flicked between Ted and me.
I tightly gripped the boy’s hand and boarded the carriage.
The earlier events flashed through my mind like a short panorama.
The boy had chosen me over Ted.
And he’d snapped at Ted not to call his name.
Hurt by family, the child had shut his heart so tight that he’d follow a stranger over his own brother.
Surprisingly, Ted gave up reclaiming his brother easily.
He looked at me with eyes half ambiguous, half filled with trust, saying only, “Please take good care of him.”
Instead, I, growing impatient, had asked him,
‘Ted.’
‘Yes.’
‘You really won’t regret this?’
To my question, Ted had replied earnestly,
‘…Please take good care of my brother. If you do that, I am yours.’
I nodded and answered,
‘I’ll cherish your brother lots. This isn’t just to make you my ally.’
But I couldn’t wait forever.
I didn’t have much time. There was a clear one-month deadline. Unless I could delay Axel’s arrival.
‘Still, Ted, come to me within two weeks.’
At my words, he had given a subtle smile and bowed deeply.
‘…I’ll think it over and keep it in mind. One thing I can promise—’
‘Ung.’
‘I’ll never forget what happened today.’