When Lennox first saw Daphne, the child looked very sick. With a body full of wounds, she seemed to have difficulty walking, and his impression frowned upon seeing her skinny body.
With a sympathetic glance, Lennox thought even if she were from the slums, it wouldn’t be a body covered in wounds to such an extent. He felt sorry for the child who said she had come to make a deal.
It was evident that she had been abused somewhere, which drew his attention.
Nevertheless, it was eye-catching to see her explaining her situation assuredly without being overwhelmed, and his heart started to shake because of her words.
I should be relieved for that.
T/n: He is stating that for her confidence and boldness despite her weak body.
With her words, Ricarda’s report, which came at the right timing, quickly caught mother’s eyes. However, for some reason, mother tried not to accept the child easily.
A condition to pick flowers; to a child who looked as if she has never been outside the gate?
Lennox questioned his mother’s condition momentarily.
For a child who would even fall by a sudden storm, that must be a ridiculous condition.
‘No. I heard that she cleared the forest path awhile ago.’
It was not completely hopeless. I recalled that an institution in the capital city had bought some magical flowers to decorate the new path.
‘Mother seems to like that child. Does she want to test her?’
Even so, I was worried that it would be too harsh.
Outside the gates, she will be able to find flowers soon if she follows the cleanly well-organized path.
Still, the weather was cold outside, and the child’s condition was ridiculous, so Lennox wanted the child to give up. However, the child accepted the conditions without hesitation.
Though it would be scary, I thought she was quite brave to agree to go and pick flowers, saying she would meet mother’s demand.
However, contrary to the momentum, she did not know the way to the gate, and she was shivering in the cold, which made me unable to send the child alone.
Ricarda’s voice flowed, saying, ‘What the hell is wrong with you, brother?’.
But, Lennox ignored those words and searched for something that could warm the child’s body even a little.
The child didn’t give up, and although she was eventually lost, she wandered alone in the dark forest and finally found a red flower, with all the wounds on her body.
‘……’
When he saw the child, who seemed to stop breathing, naturally, a curse came out of his mouth.
Lennox unwittingly held the child in his arms, ran in the woods, and headed for the hidden mansion.
After learning that Lennox had returned home, Chloe and Ricarda also returned there and could not hide their shock at Daphne’s sight, who was dying.
“…how did this happen?”
“I think while looking for the flowers …she fell somewhere. She wandered through the forest.”
For some reason, his hands kept trembling while he was talking. Even though he had seen far more wounds than this child’s, Lennox could not stop his trembling hands.
Chloe hid her embarrassed eyes and calmly looked at Daphne’s condition. Her gaze turned to Daphne’s sore leg and then she saw all the wounds on her body, and at last, she looked at the red flower held in her hands.
It was only then that Chloe confronted how much pain the child had suffered from her conditions.
She couldn’t understand the past her who thought this child could handle that much.
‘I thought it was reasonable… why come now?’
Is it this way I regret it?
Why did she give her such an option, even though she knew that the child’s state wasn’t good?
It was as if I was possessed to do it.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made that delicate child go into the forest in the middle of the night.
However, even if I deny it with all my might, there occurred no miracle for the injured child to be fine.
Faced with that, Chloe closed her eyes tightly.
It’s the worst.
A sense of shame that was beyond description struck her.
Only then did Chloe remembered Daphne’s eyes.
Those eyes that were desperate to live.
It wasn’t until Daphne’s appearance reflected herself as a child that Chloe admitted to her incomprehensible cruel mistakes.
She breathed in a sigh and spoke words of regret.
“I’ve done something too harsh to this kid… Ricarda.”
“Yes, mother. Shall I treat her?”
“That’s a request.”
Eventually, with a sigh of regret that she couldn’t swallow, she gave her permission. After receiving permission, Ricarda quickly took Daphne to his vacancy and began treatment. From the bruises on the body to the swollen legs, It took almost a day to pour out mana before showing a slight improvement.
The treatment progress led to the completion of primary treatments such as splinting or bandaging.
When he was done with that, Ricarda got up from his seat exhausted.
“Strangely, it consumes so much mana. It seems like this child’s body rejects the mana.”
Ricarda shook his head, but he did not want to give up.
“I have to find a better way. The way to treat her efficiently.”
Seeing the child struggling to breathe, Chloe couldn’t resist the disgust at the regret that enveloped her. Even so, she couldn’t leave the child’s side.
Lennox, too, could not leave the child’s side because he remembered how energetic she was, unlike a child, even when she was shivering in the cold.
Even Ricarda, exhausted, fell asleep next to the child.
It was the day when the four people gathered together in that little room for the first time to become a family.
* * *
Daphne’s mouth began to leak a sobbing sound mixed with sorrow.
“Sa- save….”
“I don’t want to die…”
“I- I don’t want…!”
Daphne began to have nightmares.
Seeing Daphne crying for her life, Ricarda, who complained about his tiredness couldn’t leave her side. He appeared to be in deep thought with his sunken eyes because of the continuous rejuvenation magic.
Lennox earnestly whispered as if he was casting a spell that it was okay and that he would not let her die.
Ricarda didn’t leave her side, saying he would develop a magic trick to expel nightmares.
“Mom… don’t die…”
When Daphne found her mother in a nightmare, Chloe put off all her work and stepped forward, holding Daphne in her arms and patting her back.
The patting and soft whispering did not stop until Daphne stopped crying, expelled the fear of her dreams, and fell asleep comfortably.
Was it because of Chloe’s voice and stable pat, or did regular heartbeats stabilize her?
Fortunately, Daphne was able to escape from her nightmare and fall asleep.
* * *
Daphne woke up.
Lennox abandoned what he had been doing to Ricarda’s joyful voice and ran into Daphne’s room.
Chloe, who had been quietly working, ran as soon as she heard the news, with a fountain pen in her hand and arrived in the room.
She remembered the face of Daphne, who looked at her hair color with her round eyes and said that her mother had taken her hair color for her.
‘How can a child go through such a thing and say a sweet thing?’
Her appearance saddened Chloe even more.
Lennox thought Daphne was a smart child who could find her path to future.
Boo hooo-
However, as he overheard Daphne’s crying alone in the room, Lennox realized he was wrong.
While he went to the kitchen and returned with porridge and medicines to eat on a tray, Daphne was crying as if she was trying to shake off her sadness away.
It was not until she was left alone that she felt relieved and burst into tears.
Lennox, looking down at the hot porridge, decided to stand still and wait until the cry was over.
And beside him, Ricarda also sat down and listened to the cry.
Chloe also stopped trying to put the cigarette to the pipe with hesitation and quietly put it in her pocket again.
“I guess she’s finally relieved.”
At Lennox’s words, Ricarda nodded.
“She’s still a child.”
“Yesterday, she said she’s seven years old.”
“A 7-year-old kid is hiding like that and crying out of breath?”
At Ricarda’s question, Chloe put a sad smile around her mouth.
“If you look at that child, you can learn about the environment in which she grew up. Daphne….”
She must have been living in a more severe environment than we imagined.
At first glance, Daphne’s words may not have been exaggerated.
When Chloe said that it would have been worse than that, Ricarda’s expression was full of worry.
“Are you going to take that child as a successor?”
In response to Lennox’s question, Chloe spoke firmly without changing her expression.
“Of course, since Daphne risked her life and kept the conditions, so I have to keep the promise too.”
Chloe smiled bitterly as she looked down the glass jar in her hand.
Although the conditions I brought out must have been challenging, Daphne fulfilled the requirements adequately. And above all, that poor child risked her life to bring me a present.
No matter how cold she was, she instinctively felt that she would not let go of this child who was already engraved in her heart.
“And I really like Daphne. Did you see those eyes? It was like looking at my childhood.”
Chloe laughed deliberately to turn on the grave situation.
“I think she’ll do things smartly like me.”
“Brother and I don’t know when mother was young.”
Behind Chloe’s proud voice, Ricarda’s grunting voice came out.
Lennox smiled as he watched the two, who naturally began to quarrel.
Less than a week has passed since she arrived, but Daphne was already seeping into the lives of the three.
* * *
The first time we spent together,
Lennox’s affection has poisoned Daphne.
After hearing Daphne’s words not to be friendly, Lennox regretted leaving quietly.
‘I was like a hedgehog. Phew, I didn’t want to leave like that.’
Daphne must have been nervous, but I couldn’t say anything like a fool.
‘You’re a fool.’
Well, it’s only been a few days since we met. Daphne has lived in a harsh place until now; that’s why it must have been hard for her to believe us.
‘So I should have answered her quickly.’
Lennox blamed himself for not answering quickly and tried to ask Daphne for permission to let him treat her well the next day.
‘But why the hell I’m getting busy suddenly?’
Lennox managed to calm down his irritation that came with the feeling of being tangled with work.
But when he barely got back from work, Daphne who was already asleep was still suffering from her nightmares.
‘I’m sorry, Daphne. You said you didn’t like this, but I’ll excuse myself.’
When Daphne’s appearance was not stable despite the patting, Lennox overcame his exhausted body and hugged Daphne.
And he patted her back regularly, humming lowly the lullaby he had once heard.
The lullaby continued until her harsh breathing calmed down.