A burst of laughter from behind made me turn my head. There were six children of the same age as me who gathered together and laughed at me.
“I heard your mom’s dead?”
“……”
“Everyone said it was good! I heard that your mom was an awful person!”
The cute girl with the scarlet hair easily brought out those cruel words which didn’t go well with her appearance.
‘It’s annoying.’
I am annoyed, but what can I do here?
‘That’s it, let’s just go in.’
As if she didn’t like the way I ignored and went back as usual, there was a sound that called me, “Hey! Hey!” from behind.
I ignored her and continued to walk forward but, I had no choice but to stop abruptly at the girl’s word.
“I heard your dad killed your mom.”
“….what?”
“Your dad locked your mom in the spire until she died! We also heard that your dad abandoned your mom and you!”
“…..”
That’s what the kids around me said and started to discuss with each other.
“How much did he hate you to have you thrown away!”
“He must have killed her because she was bad!”
“Then you must be bad, too! There’s no way you can be good since your mother is evil!”
With or without malice, those words began to stir up my heart, which was still frail. I don’t think my heart wants to be torn apart and suffer anymore. Because it felt so unfair, I wanted to get angry, cry, and scream.
You’re not supposed to get angry here if you get angry here…
‘… Why not?’
First, it’s you guys who insulted my mother and then criticized me.
‘No, but they’re still kids.’
Well, let’s think it’s not a malicious word since they might not know what’s right or wrong words to say yet.
“Really, it serves you right!~”
Several children opened their mouths at the same time as if they had been forced out.
At that moment, I felt something snap in my head.
‘It serves you right ?’
I started to think whether I would’ve let them go if they tried to pull themselves back together.
Are they really doing this because they cannot distinguish between good and evil?
It just cannot be because they don’t know… No. This was pure malice. They despise me because I am a wicked woman’s daughter.
I looked at the children with more profound eyes than usual. Within the eyes of the children, there was no such thing as a mistake, nor a sense of guilt.
At first glance, the expression that looked pleasant seemed quite different from the knight I had seen a while ago.
These children with evil thoughts started to burst into laughter. They laughed at me to the fullest and ridiculed me. They did it as if they could as if it had been decided that they should do it. No one has ever taught them those words.
I slowly lifted my head to the sky.
Since when did my world become so gray?
It’s a sunny and clear sky, but I could see nothing but the dark sky that was turning black without a glimmer of bright light.
A ridiculous laugh came out at my sight as if the end of this scene had come.
“Ha, ha, ha.”
The children flinched at my laughter and attempted to open their mouths once more. I lowered my raised head and looked at the children again.
The children paused for a moment with my cold gaze, but they quickly opened their mouths to look at me with momentum.
“But still, don’t you think I’m better than you guys?”
“…what?”
It was a small voice but the surroundings were quiet and I could reach the children. The children blinked at my voice mixed with ridicule.
Then, as soon as they were insulted, their face started to turn red.
“I became an orphan when my mother died, but you are not.”
“Hey!”
“You’re an orphan like me, so why are you taking it out on me?”
As if they didn’t understand, they lowered their heads and their faces grew redder and redder as though they were about to explode.
With a shame-filled expression, they kept their mouth shut.
Or the face with the head down.
With them having different expressions, I sighed and looked at them.
“If you don’t want to hear this, don’t talk like that.”
The cold gaze dampened the children’s spirits a little differently than before. They didn’t think I’d take it this way, so they were a little embarrassed.
Everyone began to feel uneasy and embarrassed. I didn’t want to have any more arguments with these kids who were just thinking about bothering me.
‘Yes, there’s no use making enemies.’
I guess I’ve to be careful about my relationship with other people because I don’t know how I’m going to die.
I tried to leave the silent children behind and go back to my room. But contrary to my mind, the world seems to have no desire to send me back to my room easily.
The forgotten Ulinee approached me and grabbed me.
As she frowned in astonishment, she began to resent me with a fierce look.
“Oh my Goodness! What a cruel thing to tell to your friend!”
“…..”
You’ve been watching quietly for a while.
‘Now you’re going to pretend you don’t know and abuse me together.’
It was so clear that she was going to discard me and throw away even the little favoritism she had for me.
“Where did you learn such mean words! By chance! Was it because you resemble your mother, your personality is like hers as well?”
Though I let go of the backbiting, it was a sound that could reach not only me but also the children behind me. When I flinched and tried to say something, she began to admonish me again as if she didn’t want to hear it.
“I can’t help it because I can’t even see the attitude of repenting! Daphne, I want you to know that there is no rice for you until you reflect on what you’ve done wrong!”
“…..”
“You have to answer it!”
“…yes.”
I nodded in response to the voice, which would never let go unless I answered her.
The reply was greeted with a laugh from behind. Unlike usual, Ulinee sided with them, not me, and the kids who were lively again started laughing at me as if they were excited.
And Ulinee didn’t bother to point out that look.
“Then go to your room and think about what you did wrong! I’ll check it out later!”
“Yes.”
She let me go when I heartily responded.
I could hear children laughing in the background. With all those childish sneers behind my back, I headed to my room.
***
I closed the door with a force that made a squeaky noise that I did not want to hear.
The door, which failed to fit the door frame properly, was barely closed by my body’s force.
A very small, old room.
No, looking at the warehouse, I sat on the floor and buried my head on a hard bed.
A mother who died for being a villain, a duke who doesn’t think of me as his child.
‘I’ve become an orphan.’
It was a decided story anyway, and I thought I would not feel any feelings, but my heart felt strange. It seemed that this throbbing and worrisomeness feelings would explode if someone touched it the wrong way.
I buried my face in bed again to ease the feeling that was coming up.
‘In the end, my world will be gray and get darker and darker and eventually, I will die.’
People who blame me for being the daughter of a wicked woman.
Children in the nursery who show pure evil.
The employees of the nursery who are now likely to enjoy the abuse openly.
A nursery director who will tolerate everything.
‘Who will I be killed by?’
‘I can’t think of any details.’ The wretched original novel didn’t help me much.
‘I also have to go along with this story and die…’
When I think of death, I see a cold, hardened mother that I saw a while ago.
‘…No.’
I don’t want to die.
I want to live.
Like a time limit, I didn’t want to tremble in fear, thinking that tomorrow would be the day I die. I didn’t want to die miserably, like the flow of the novel.
‘…My mom wouldn’t want me to die like that either.’
Even though we never had a conversation before, wouldn’t she still think like that?
If she wanted me to die, she would not have given at any rate the consideration to breastfeed me or hug me as a child.
I thought there was only one person who didn’t wish for my death and it seemed like there was hope for my future. Regardless of how terrible her figure looked, I began to reconsider my mom’s face in my mind and raised my head.
The sun was setting before I knew it. The winter days are short, so it should be around six o’clock right now.
As soon as I realized the time, I heard footsteps outside. I was nervous at the sound of footsteps of about two or three people, and the door opened with a loud noise.
“Have you done some reflection?”
“…..”
I just shook my head with no expression.
Ulinee, looking at my figure, looked at her seniors behind her. She looked at the women who used to abuse me and sighed heavily.
“I’ve been spoiling her too much so far. Seniors were all right. A child this rude…”
I looked up at Ulinee with an expressionless look.
“I’m going to have to teach her a lesson.”
Her seniors burst into laughter at the harsh words.
“You truly take after your mother since your hair is an ominous purple. I don’t want to see it.”
“I see, you still haven’t reflected on yourself and that won’t work. You’re going with me somewhere tomorrow.”
I flinched and shivered at her words.
“If you go to a place where there’s plenty of people to scold, then you’ll probably wake up!”
Ulinee naturally stepped in between them and led them out laughing together. Then after saying not to even think about coming out, she left the door open and disappeared.
Where are you taking me?
Is it a scary place to see since you said with a threatening, intimidating look?
“…taking me somewhere and I guess I was beaten to death.”
I was able to predict how my death would happen after this situation.
I’ll have to get out of here today to live.
That way, I won’t die as planned.
I had to get out of here to live.