Chapter 7
The process of taking the train was not very difficult. That’s all about sitting on the train and having a boring time. While traveling to the capital, Rosha spent time reading books or playing with the wolf cub snuggling in her arms. When the train finally stopped, Rosha groaned alone and left the train with a cage and a large eagle sitting on top of the luggage. It seemed too much for a small girl to lift alone.
“Child, is it too heavy?”
The station attendant, who found a girl who stood out and memorized her since he was checking her ticket on the train, kindly approached and offered his help. However, Rosha turned her head away from the station attendant with a sulking expression as to what she was unhappy with.
“I do not need it.”
And with an embarrassingly cold response, leaving the bewildered station attendant behind, Rosha struggled with Ray and the wolf cub. The newly remodeled train station was definitely more sophisticated than in the old days when old wooden pillars were built. But even more splendid was the appearance of Rosha, who looked like a noble child. Because of this, she was always attracting people’s attention. After passing through the train station, she rented a small carriage at the entrance instead of walking on a dark night street. Listening to the clatter of horse hooves, she leaned back almost as if she was lying on a small rocking chair.
The headquarter of the Golden Dawn Society faced the royal palace, and there was a wide road between them. The signboards of numerous shops were shining in a way that did not spoil the splendid exterior, and countless people were gathering and having a good time. Lovers, friends, and families. Each of the people who came together laughing while having a conversation.
“Sister, let’s go together!”
Among them, there were two young girls who seemed to be sisters. Like herself and Lily five years ago, the two sisters were exchanging words.
“Why did you ask me to come out? You said you wanted to play with your friends.”
“It’s good to play together.”
“I’m not having fun playing with you at all.”
Rosha was distracted by two younger sisters, as it seemed to recreate her childhood memories of herself and Dane. But it was only for a short moment. The wagon soon passed by them, and the two sisters disappeared from her sight and their bickering voices faded away. She leaned back with a heavy heart.
‘Lily must be 10 years old now.’
Her lovely little sister with blonde long straight hair. She must have grown a lot by now. The moment when Rosha was thinking about her little sister she longed for, a voice rang.
“We’ve arrived.”
Awakening from her imagination, Rosha came down from the carriage with Ray and the wolf cub at the coachman’s announcement.
“Here you go.”
Instead of saying thank you, Rosha, who gave the coachman the fee more than the amount was asked, lifted the cage and headed to the main gate of the headquarter of the Golden Dawn in front of her. When she put the seal on the pocket watch which she wore on her neck into the hole in the gate, the door opened with a pale blue light. As the gate opened, a view of another city unfolded inside.
In the middle, there was a square covered with neat gray tiles, a white fountain with a statue of an angel spewing out cool-looking water. Rosha took Ray the Eagle out of the cage and walked with an empty cage. As she was walking along the road with lighter luggage, some of her colleagues greeted her for completing her mission.
“Hey, Rosha! Today’s job was like babysitting a five-year-old baby, was it worth it?” Starting from those who were hateful, “Congratulations on returning home unharmed, Rosha.” There were also those who treated the youngest Rostelier sincerely as a baby. She nodded at them without sincerity and moved forward.
Those who looked coy on the outside, but knew Rosha well, found her red ears and giggled among themselves. Whether it was a mean reaction or an embarrassing expression of affection, she was consistent with a proper disregard when she was having difficulty responding, but there was no way to stop her ears from turning red.
A long cherry tree stood tall inside as the thornless rose bushes passed through the arched door that entwined the wall. Rocha climbed up the spiral staircase that was wrapped around the cherry tree. After taking out the key from the clothes and opening the door to her room, Rosha put down her luggage and took off her cape coat and moved to another place with only a baby wolf in her comfortable clothes.
As she went up the stairs again to the top, there appeared a room of someone who was monopolizing a single floor. Rosha lightly knocked on the door a couple times, then a soft permission ‘come in’ was heard from inside. She opened the door and stepped inside at once.
“Aren’t you tired coming all the way here?”
Noah, who was sitting in front of a desk with piles of papers, seemed to be convinced that the person who knocked on was Rosha, smiling.
“I am very tired. But what do I do, it’s Noah’s order.”
“It’s an order. I just asked for my youngest to come quickly because I wanted to see her.”
Noah, who made a casual smirk, clicked his nose playfully. When she first saw Noah five years ago, she thought he was a friendly person, but didn’t know he was such a smirk also. As the youngest one in the group, Rosha had heard all kinds of sweet words such as cute, pretty, and so on but she was still not immune to such words.
“Did you really call me early for my birthday?”
Rosha deliberately changed the subject of the conversation. However, it didn’t seem like it was a good decision because now it seemed like she was really expecting a birthday party. Noah woke up while looking at Rosha with a strangely playful expression. Then he approached her and playfully touched Rosha’s red ear with his fingers.
“It’s your birthday and I have to pay special attention to it.”
Noah, who looked at Rosha, who had a grumpy expression while suppressing her unnecessary embarrassment, smiled lightly and belatedly glanced at the wolf in her arms.
“Is this a wolf cub that you reaped?”
“Ah yes…….”
“It’s a very young baby, but it will take a lot of work.”
“I will not let it interfere with my mission.”
Contrary to her worries that Noah would object, however, Noah stroked her head with a compassionate look.
“It just happened to be perfect timing.. I was going to keep you at the headquarter for a while.”
“Me? why?”
“Rosha. When did you perform your first mission?”
“Since I was 12 years old.”
“Since then, you’ve been running without a break, so I want to give you a vacation.”
She didn’t know what kind of ghost took over Noah, who pampered her, but it worked just fine for her.
“I’m looking for more news about Lily.”
“You don’t have to do anything to find your sister.”
“Whatever I do during my vacation, it’s up to me.”
Of course, Rosha complained, but Noah gently grasped her shoulders and spoke.
“Yes, let’s talk about this after your birthday.”
“….”
“Rather, Rosha.”
Noah opened his mouth with a somewhat spiteful expression.
“Giselle said she wanted to pick out a dress for your birthday party.”
Rosha’s lips opened in astonishment. She rushed out of Noah’s office in an instant.
“Oh! Rosha, can I name the wolf?”
“Do whatever you like!”
Rosha, who didn’t put much meaning in the name, hurriedly descended the stairs, roughly giving permission to Noah.
***
The members of the Golden Dawn Society, known to the public, had several things in common.
First of all, they raised unique animals. There were eagles, frogs, and even octopuses in huge tanks. Second, the personality was unique. People said that Rosha has a bad personality, but the Rostelier brothers said that Rosha was shy. In their eyes, Rosha’s personality must have been pretty cute. Some have anger control disorders, while others were manic, and Rosha was normal. Thirdly, she had unique hair color, eyes, and a staff and a pocket watch with a seal belonging to the Golden Dawn. Lastly, their fashion was firm. Rosha also acknowledged all those commonalities known to the world. In particular, the members of the Golden Dawn had a lot of money, but they were more obsessed with clothes because they did not have the time to spend money or create hobbies. So, whether each person wore well or not, their personality was their own uniqueness. Rosha was also interested in clothes.
[Giselle would like to choose a dress for your birthday party.]
But there was only one reason Rocha was astonished at Noah’s words. Choosing a dress wasn’t a problem. Rosha was also confident to spend hours choosing clothes. The problem was that Giselle was the one who chose clothes. Choosing clothes with Giselle would take a whole day, if not hours. Therefore, Rosha must choose a dress for the party before Giselle did. That way, even if Giselle came, she would be able to refuse by saying that she has already decided on a dress to wear. Rosha’s feet going down the stairs in urgency got even faster.
“It’s been a while, Rosha.”
“Oh….!”
However, as Rosha ran into a person she never wanted to see, she almost missed her steps. The wolf’s body in her arms leaned forward. Rosha, who almost dropped the wolf, said awkwardly to Giselle, who was standing downstairs.
“Hello, Giselle.”
“Oh, where did you get that wolf cub?”
“By chance in the woods…”
“You have saved a cute animal like you. Oh, don’t get me wrong. No matter how cute this wolf is, it will never reach the tip of your toes.” (*I guess she meant the wolf will never be as cute as Rosha.)
Unlike Rosha, who has wavy hair, Giselle, who has long dark red hair, looked up at Rosha in an alluring posture, with her hair hanging behind her shoulders. It seemed like she would seduce anyone, but in fact, Giselle maintained that alluring posture even when she was stained with blood. Giselle, wearing a tight black dress with a split, approached Rosha at once with a smoke pipe in her mouth.
“I’ve been waiting for you. Noah bought a bunch of dresses for you, but… There are a lot of nice dresses but I have a good fashion sense. You have white skin, everything will suit you.”
“Well, there, Giselle……!”
By the way, Giselle was the one Rosha considered the most difficult among the Rostelier brothers. The other brothers cared about Rosha’s feelings and yielded even though Rosha was cold, but not Giselle. Giselle was impulsive and extremely upbeat, and although she liked Rosha, she wouldn’t yield.
“Giselle, I can choose the party outfit myself……!”
“My cute Rosha, of course I believe your vision. But no matter how much you want, you can’t win. I can choose the clothes that suit you better, so just trust me today.”
Giselle, as if she waited long enough, dragged Rosha and headed to the dressing room. Giselle put the wolf cub in Rosha’s arms on the sofa and began pulling out the dresses hanging from the hanger.
‘Today will be a long and hard day…’
Rosha was dragged into the dressing room by Giselle’s hand, holding back her sigh.
****
Meanwhile, Noah, who was left alone in the office, began to review the remaining documents. However, whenever he focused on work, he kept feeling something like hallucinations. For example, Rosha’s reddish ears or her deeply stiff facial expressions vividly emerged because she did not know how to express her feelings of shyness.
“Who….”
Each time, Noah rubbed his face with dry hands and wrapped the leaking laughter like a sigh. When he first brought her here, she was a small child who was only ranked 777th. He took extra care of her because she was the youngest of the brothers who belonged here, and he had no expectations. A child who had a vain hope that she would surely be in the top 100 and chase after the demon was unfortunate. However, the child has rapidly increased the ranks within a year, as if the amount of power she had while asleep was recorded incorrectly. Obviously, innate magical power could not be increased with effort, but Rosha did it. And the wonderful girl grew up quickly five years later, and now the word “lady” was more suitable than “girl”. Her growth brought a strange sense of gratitude and joy to Noah, who taught and cared for her.
‘I’m starting to find little kids are cute, I guess I’m pretty old.’
Noah, who shook his head as if it was a silly thought, tried to focus on the paperwork again. Then, he heard a knock at the door. It wasn’t Rosha this time.
“Come on in.”
When Noah’s words were over, it was Aaron with gray hair who came in. He was well dressed with a suit like a middle-aged gentleman.
“Looking at your good expression, you must have finished your work well.”
“When have I ever made a mistake?”
Aaron replied vaguely, as if he didn’t like even the smallest doubts about his work.
“Rather, I heard something from Kashin.”
Aaron took off the bowler he was wearing on his head and lowered his voice in a different meaning than when he was earlier.
“You can find him right?”
Noah’s hand stopped trying to work on the documents.
“Please tell me, Noah. Who do you have in mind to go on this job?”
Until then, Noah, who was looking at the documents, raised his head and gave an unknown smile. But as soon as Aaron saw his smile, he sensed the ominousness. It was the smile that Noah usually made when making unexpected decisions.
***
12 o’clock on the hour.
Lying on the sofa, Rosha was relaxing and playing with the wolf. The white wolf’s teeth were so sharp, even though it was a wild beast, so Rosha slightly hit the back of his nose whenever the cub bit her painfully.
A lot of dresses were piled up beside Rosha. At Rosha’s plead, Giselle had to compromise with a suitable dress. She looked at the weary Rosha with sad eyes and sat down on the sofa next to her.
“Rosha, why are you already so weak?”
“…..”
“You don’t think I’m too much, do you?”
“Of course.”
Rosha gave up the quarrel with Giselle and tickled the wolf’s belly. The little beast now listened to Rosha well instead of whimpering.
“By the way, Noah…..”
“What’s about Noah?”
“Don’t you find him suspicious?”
“Is it because he urgently summoned all of us to headquarter?”
“…..”
“No, because it’s your birthday.”
Probably from the age of 13. Noah started to take care of Rosha’s birthday. But it didn’t matter as all the Rostelians in the Golden Dawn loved Rosha. Giselle wasn’t even concerned about him urgently summoning them for Rosha’s birthday.
“Rosha, did Noah give you a vacation?”
“Yeah? Yes Yes…….He gave you one too?”
“Yes, he suddenly offered me a vacation.”
“Did Noah eat something wrong?”
“It’s not just us.” Giselle opened her fingers and began counting the number of vacationers Noah had arranged.
“The bad guys Aaron, Casper and Eric also got a vacation.”
It was strange. Everyone was working hard but only certain people were given vacation. Besides, they had nothing in common except that they were all in the top 100. Their personality, taste, and recently assigned missions were different. Rosha, too, like Giselle pondered Noah’s intentions for a while, but there was no answer. Whatever it might have been, no one would be able to find an answer until Noah directly told it.
“It’s late. Can I go to bed now?”
“Oh, Rosha. If anyone hears you, they think I’ve forcibly held you here.”
‘I was forced ….’ Rosha held back what she wanted to complain and returned to her bedroom, holding a wolf cub in her arms. Now she can finally rest. Even though it was the day before her birthday, she had a puzzle in her heart.
***