I heard it and couldn’t say anything.
It will be right anyway, so there is no need for treatment.
With just a few words, I could feel what kind of life Damian had lived.
Resistance leads to another violence. An easy way to subdue violence was resignation.
Such a young child already knows that.
Somehow, I felt like my neck was tight.
“…….It’s still better than not applying it.”
I forcibly held the ointment in Damian’s hand.
“Apply later. It’ll reduce the pain.”
I could have said better things. Like an idiot, I could only do this kind of consolation.
I left the room without ever hearing Damian’s answer.
Was Damian looking at me? I wasn’t confident to see a face that resembled me.
🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸
It was time to eat.
Children brought soup that didn’t taste any good because most of the water was made, bread that had been made too old, and salads that had died out of their breath.
When I moved the cart, I looked around, but Damian was not visible.
“Was he still in the room? It’s time to eat. ”
“What are you doing? Come on, don’t carry the bowl?”
At that time, the nursery teacher couldn’t stand it and pinched me. I quickly caught my eye.
“Sit quietly and eat. Quietly. It is forbidden to talk during meals.”
At the teacher’s words, I quietly lifted the tableware.
It may sound ridiculous, but our children in orphanages learned aristocratic manners and social skills.
It was to save the troubles of the nobles to teach.
Thanks to this, the orphanage could be evaluated as excellent by the high people, and the director took great pride in this.
In the midst of only the rattling sound resounding.
I couldn’t eat much and put my spoon down.
Even looking around, Damian couldn’t be seen.
‘Was he going to skip a meal?’
It’s dinner now. If he skip this meal, he’ll have to starve until tomorrow.
‘If it’s not that……..’
“Ellie. Are you not eating bread?”
Then Tommy, who was sitting next to me, whispered, pointing to the bread I hadn’t eaten yet.
“If you are not going to eat it, can I eat it?”
I glanced at the bread once and whispered.
“No, I can’t.”
“Yeah, but you’re not eating.”
“I’m going to eat it, so don’t touch it,”
Tommy pouted at my resolute answer.
I would have made concessions normally, but today there was a separate owner.
Of course, I don’t know if the child will eat it or not.
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When the meal was over, it was time to clean up. The children were busy cleaning up the dishes they ate, the supervisor, and the utensils that the nursery teacher ate.
The place I was in charge of today was the kitchen. But I didn’t head there.
After entering the orphanage, I carefully opened the door.
There was nobody in the dark dark bedroom.
‘If it’s not here, where did he go?’
“What are you doing here?”
I turned to a familiar voice. Carsen was looking down at me.
“What are you doing in an empty room with no one? Looking for a ghost?”
Carsen threw an uninteresting joke.
“No. I’m not afraid of ghosts.”
“Hey. You don’t have anything scary.”
Carsen nodded as if it was worth knowing.
“Do you want that child to be more scared than you?”
“That child?”
“I mean the one who came in today.”
Suha Ha Na, who was behind me, replied to my question.
“I secretly heard the director talking, and he said he was a slave before coming here.”
“He caught a monster in a dark place.”
“It’s ridiculous. How does that little boy catch a monster?”
They giggled, as if telling a funny joke.
Instinctively, I had a bad feeling.
“Why? Are you interested in him too?”
Carsen frowned at his eyes, thinking I was interested.
This kid was like this.
I was terribly tormenting the children who showed good feelings for me.
Some were okay, but on occasional bad days the children couldn’t escape the violence either.
“No,”
So I shook my head.
“I’m just here to see if Betty is there.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, besides, it seems that the child is in the warehouse. I saw it on the way.”
“But the shed was told by the teachers not to go. Besides, it’s locked up. How does he get into it?”
“He used to go in with his assistant teachers?”
“What?”
“There are a lot of delicious things in the warehouse. Maybe you’re trying to secretly give him something delicious?”
Then Carsen’s face distorted. I was pretending not to know.
“It wasn’t at the restaurant before. I’m trying to give it aside. Look, he didn’t even work as soon as he came.”
“…….. .”
“Isn’t it because the director cares about it?”
The reason Damian didn’t work was because of Demian’s owner. The director was only temporarily in charge of Damian, and he couldn’t carelessly enslave other people’s slaves.
‘But Carsen doesn’t know that.’
And the fact that the people in the warehouse now are teachers who came to enjoy secret meetings without the director’s knowledge. I said with my eyes shining to inspire Carsen’s action.
“You said he caught a monster, right? He must be very good at skills, That is really cool!”
“What?”
Also, when I showed interest, Carsen opened his axe.
“No way! How is that weak kid strong? He couldn’t move in front of us!”
‘People say they saw it.’
I tilted my head, swallowing the back words.
“Then Carsen is stronger?”
“All, of course!”
He raised it up and shouted quickly.
‘It’s simple,’
I pulled out the bread I had hidden behind. Carsen screamed like a crucian crucian carp on the bread rolled out.
“What is this, why is this?”
“Just. I am full……… .”
You like this. right?
As I said so, I leaned my upper body towards Carsen. Carsen’s face began to blush little by little.
“Well, I’ll eat something like this… well.”
Carsen wandered away, coughing away and moving away from my side.
It was clear to go to the warehouse.
I looked at the idiots moving away and moved quickly.
When I opened the window, a cold wind ran over my face.
It was hard to get my feet soaked in the covered snow, but it was patient.
He hid himself in a tree, killing his footsteps.
“I mean, I’m alone here eating delicious food.”
In the distance, Carsen and his group were seen creeping inside.
And not long after that, I heard the raging screams of angry nursery teachers.
Warehouses are places where children are not allowed to enter.
Because all the groceries were there.
“You are all trying to do stuff again! you’re like these troublemakers!”
” No! Because there must be a child here…….!”
“It’s noisy, these guys! Then what’s the bread in your hand?”
“This, this is ……! ”
Carsen’s face turned white.
Before long, Carsen and his group were taken to the teachers.
‘This will happen when you lose your mind to the tasteless bread.’
“dummy.”
After a lot of laughs that I had endured, I got up.
The disturber disappeared. So, it was time to find the protagonist.
‘But he wasn’t even in the room.’
As I pondered, I thought of Carsen’s words.
“He caught a monster in a dark place……..”
The most familiar thing to the child was darkness.
So, maybe.
I looked toward the dark snowy forest behind me.
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The lamp shook, making a rattle in the cold wind.
Even adults were reluctant to enter the forest covered in darkness.
What about the pouring snow and cold wind?
‘I’d rather not have it.’
I went forward with earnest hope.
But my thoughts were correct.
Shortly after entering the forest, Damian was seen sitting against a tree.
He crouched and stared blankly into the darkness.
There were no cloaks or blankets to cover the body.
“……..Damian.”
I approached Damian’s side. Until then, Damian didn’t look at me.
“……..If you stay here, your body will freeze. Stop and get up.”
“…….. .”
“You were caught by those kids and teachers. You’ll be no able to sleep comfortably today.”
“……… .”
“Besides, you haven’t even eaten.”
He kept silent as if He couldn’t hear my call.
Chewing my lips, I bent my knees and made eye contact with Damian.
The faint light of the lamp turned his black hair red.
“This is a bodily injury.”
“…….. .”
“How hard is it to suffer from a cold?”
Then Damian looked up and looked at me.
The boy’s eyes were seen through his bangs, slightly distracted by the wind.
His gaze looking still. It was a time when I stopped without knowing.
“They’ll come back anyway.”
A soft voice flowed through the dry lips.
“What?”
“Even if you get caught……That’s all. Come back.”
“…….. .”
“I’m comfortable here,”
Damian said, looking back into the dark.
I had to keep my mouth shut.
There was also such a content in the original novel.
After being adopted by Duke Shuetz, Demian was described as having excellent swordsmanship from the time he was formally taught.
The Duke asked Damian if he had ever learned a sword, and Damian had no choice but to learn a sword to live in the dark. ‘Replied.
I thought it was alluding to a gloomy growth process.
But I was wrong.
This could not be expressed as a mere tragedy, this child put himself in deep darkness.
Because it’s comfortable.
It is also because of that holding the sword.
The hand that held the lamp ran into strength.
‘Where’s the person who wants to win alone.’
Something inside of me seemed to be boiling Even though there was no object in front of my eyes, I wanted to say how it could be.
I shook my head as I looked at the darkness beyond the lamp.
“No, I don’t have it now. Even if I come back, it will disappear soon.”
“……… .”
“I promise. I risk my life.”
At the last words, Damian looked at me with a bit of amazement.
But it wasn’t wrong.
When the Duke of Schuetz comes to find Damian, Carsen and his group are driven out of the orphanage.
According to the original story, I would be mixed with them.
So it wasn’t a lie to say I would risk my life.
By the way, Damian’s expression looking at me was a little weird.