Who Dares Touch You
Lefonya swallowed dryly. Since the green gem hadn’t been discovered, it was far better to play the part of a terrified child.
“It… it hurt so, so much…”
“Hurt? Don’t make me laugh. Hey, this place is crawling with brats in far worse shape than you. You hear me?”
The director popped the lid off the ointment with an exasperated snort.
“Ha. You really went through a lot of it, didn’t you? …Hey.”
Having checked the contents, the director casually hurled the tin across the room. She could have just set it down gently—why did she feel compelled to throw everything?
A scowl almost flickered across Lefonya’s face, but she caught herself in time and put on a sniveling, petrified whimpering act.
“Here I was, trying to treat you nicely, and you dare steal from me?”
The director lunged forward to shove Lefonya’s shoulder. But before the woman’s fingers could even brush her fabric, Lefonya threw herself backward with a loud thud, feigning a dramatic fall.
She landed as softly as possible so it wouldn’t actually hurt.
“Huh?”
The director blinked, glancing back and forth between her own open palm and Lefonya sprawling on the floor.
Well, of course you’re confused. You never actually felt your hand hit anything, yet down I went.
“Ugggh…”
Lefonya whimpered pitifully, playing up the pain.
“Y-You haven’t learned what real pain is yet, have you? Huh?”
Haven’t learned? I spent over a decade learning it. That’s precisely why a pathetic little threat like this doesn’t scare me in the slightest.
“Get up and follow me.”
The director dragged the fallen Lefonya out of the room.
“N-No! I don’t wanna!”
Lefonya let out a token screech of terror. Giving the director that rush of petty superiority was the fastest way to get this over with.
Even so, she refused to go so far as begging for forgiveness.
The director marched at such a vicious pace that Lefonya stumbled while scrambling up the stairs, taking a hard knock to her knee.
Just you wait. You’re going to pay for that later.
Lefonya was dragged out of the basement.
“I’ll show you what real pain is tonight. A lesson you won’t ever forget.”
You don’t need to teach me. I already know it far too well.
The orphanage hallway was dead quiet, everyone else asleep in the dead of night.
“Do you know what kind of filth I hate most in this world?”
It wasn’t a question that called for an answer, so Lefonya held her tongue.
“Thieves who take what’s mine, just like you! Demanding taxes when I’m the one earning the coin, taking a cut when I’m the one supplying the slaves! And you have the nerve to sneak into my office and steal my ointment?”
Anyone with eyes could tell this luxury salve was nothing like the cheap sludge kept in the director’s office, yet she claimed it as her own without a second thought. She hadn’t changed a bit since Lefonya’s past life.
“Wake up! Wake up, you useless runts!”
The director slammed her palms against the thin partition walls, waking every sleeping child on the floor.
“Gather in the dining hall! Right this instant! Anyone who drags their feet is getting a beating!”
Used to this routine, the children scrambled out at once. A few shrill shouts and heavy thumps against the wall were all it took for them to leap to their feet.
Their faces were pale with terror, well aware of what usually followed such a summons.
Only Lefonya remained perfectly calm.
She wants to discipline me in front of everyone, doesn’t she?
It was painfully predictable. Trash like this always operated from the exact same playbook. Having suffered through it endlessly in the past, nothing about it surprised her.
The moment they crossed into the dining hall, the director moved to shove her again.
Naturally, Lefonya anticipated the blow, curling herself into a tight, protective ball and tumbling across the floorboards well before the strike could connect.
“Owwie!”
She let out a theatrical shriek for good measure.
When dealing with bullies who wanted to flaunt their dominance, putting on a convincing show was the quickest way to end the ordeal. Prolonging it wouldn’t bother Lefonya much, but it would only torment the frightened children dragged out of bed to watch.
“Hah. Look closely, all of you. Take a good look at what happens when you dare take what belongs to me.”
At the director’s chilling bark, the assembled children shivered in unison.
The woman stepped closer to Lefonya. How many strikes will it be this time?
Lefonya curled inward, tucking her head safely between her arms.
It’s fine. It’s not my first time, and I’m used to it.
Just as she squeezed her eyes shut—
Whoosh—CRASH!
“Guh-kck!”
A terrifying impact rattled the walls, accompanied by a choked scream from the director as something tore through the air and slammed into the opposite corner.
Startled, Lefonya peeked out from behind her wrapped arms.
Right before her eyes stood a pair of familiar leather boots, planted firmly where the director had stood only a heartbeat ago.
“Haah… haah…”
Ragged, furious breathing cut through the silence.
Lefonya slowly raised her head.
Unlike the immaculate gentleman she had first met, his trousers were heavily creased and disheveled, his shirt untucked, and his vest completely unbuttoned. His sleeves were shoved past his elbows, revealing swollen, taut arm muscles laced with violently bulging veins. His platinum-blond hair was wildly tossed, falling in tangled strands across his forehead.
“…Teacher?”
It was Habelian.
Hearing her small voice, Habelian looked down.
His crimson eyes locked onto Lefonya, who was huddled on the bare floorboards with her arms shielding her head.
The moment their gazes met, Lefonya froze completely, forgetting even to uncurl herself.
Rudeum had promised to bring the three Craitan men, but she never imagined they would arrive this fast—nor did she expect Habelian to be the very first through the door.
“How dare… Who laid a hand… on you?”
Choking on the words, Habelian bit down on his lip so hard it nearly bled.
Before Lefonya could even blink, a tempestuous wave of Aura swept into the dining hall as the Duke of Craitan and Pelens burst through the threshold.
“Fonya!”
Lefonya turned at the desperate call, meeting Pelens’s gaze as he rushed forward.
The second he saw her, Pelens’s blue eyes wavered in absolute horror.
More specifically, his gaze locked onto the way she was curled up defensively, as though bracing against a relentless beating.
“I will butcher you.”
A low, lethal mutter vibrated through the room. It hadn’t come from Pelens, nor from the Duke.
Astonishingly, the vow to slaughter had ripped straight from Habelian’s throat. His gaze swept over every inch of Lefonya with razor-sharp scrutiny.
And that was all it took.
Igniting his Aura in an explosive burst, Habelian crossed the room in a flash, grabbed the half-conscious director by the collar from the rubble in the corner, and dragged her out of the dining hall like a sack of garbage.
THUD—BOOM!
The instant he stepped outside, a horrific crash shook the foundation of the building.
Why is Habelian… so furious?
This was utterly unrecognizable from the Habelian she knew. While Lefonya tilted her head in bewilderment, the Duke rushed forward and dropped to one knee before her.
“Fonya.”
The Duke’s face was completely drained of color. His trembling hands reached out, gently cupping the small hands she still had wrapped around her head.
“Ah.”
Only then realizing she was still huddled in a defensive ball, Lefonya quickly straightened up.
“I shouldn’t have… I should never have left you alone. Once again, I… I have failed you again.”
The Duke’s eyes traced every bruise and scrape marking her skin.
His expression was a raw, agonizing mixture of suffocating guilt and sheer terror. Beside him, Pelens stood in rigid silence, visibly struggling to swallow his mounting rage.
…This got way bigger than I planned.
Her original intention was simple: guide the three Craitan men to this abusive orphanage, greet them without a scratch, share a heartwarming reunion, punish the abusive director together, and return to the ducal estate amidst laughter and relief.
She hadn’t wanted this heavy, suffocating atmosphere dripping with remorse.
I never dreamed they’d burst in during a scene like this!
Still, they had come in person to reclaim what had been abandoned and lost, so did that count as a success?
While Lefonya warily read the room, Habelian strode back into the dining hall after disposing of the director outside.
Seeing how his clothing was even more rumpled than before, he had clearly moved with vicious violence.
“Lefonya.”
…Huh? Did Habelian just call me by my name?
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Taking long, brisk strides, Habelian knelt down directly in front of her to match her eye level. His gaze darted frantically over her body, inspecting every scrape.
As Habelian leaned in close, the Duke quietly yielded a bit of space.
Lefonya knew through Rudeum that Habelian had panicked upon finding her missing from the intended orphanage, but she never anticipated this level of frantic concern.
“Uh, u-um… N-No, I’m not.”
Flustered, she blurted out a denial, but the prominent cuts and bruises scattered over her skin made the lie utterly embarrassing.
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all!
Carefully gauging the room, Lefonya decided to try steering the mood back toward the lighthearted relief she had originally envisioned.
“Um… I’m ‘kay.”
Yet the instant those innocent words left her lips, the faces of all three men hardened into stone, looking as though they had just received a collective death sentence.
Well. The mood is officially ruined.